#quackity meta

[mikaikaika]

Team Red´s gaslight,gaslight,gaslight strategy

#Absolutely love Quackity going META ?????? MY GUY IS GONE #qsmp #ElQuackity #Jaiden #Cellbit #Charlie slimecicle #Baghera #Purgatory day 2 #Team red #Fav

[antimony-medusa]

Oh no no I did not have to sit through Charlie saying “full penetration Minecraft sex” repeatedly and whatever the hell is going on with Foolish’s unwilling love triangle and Wilbur’s TNTduo handjob analogy (which I then transcribed, it was about sex) for people to get into the tags and say that the creators are uncomfortable with romantic or sexual depictions of their characters. Those men are fucking on-screen.

#like obviously don’t show it to them #but they made it PRETTY CLEAE that this is gay sex island #qsmp #wilbur soot #charlie slimecicle #Charlie slimesicle #Quackity #discourse #I guess #fandom meta

[em-um-canto]

I want the fandom to think about how MUCH WORK AND BUROCRACY qsmp will have to go to

Like say

For Quackity to do the right thing and employ the egg admins back

To do that in the correct way the team (that is currently BEING REBUILD FROM SCRATCH) will have to make contracts for the admins

Contracts that HAVE to go according EACH COUNTRIES' labor laws

Contracts that NEED TO BE TRANSLATED to each of these countries' official language (and each translation need to be made official by a professional translator)

And giving the amount of countries we know admins are from (US, Mexico, Brazil, France, Portugal, England, South Korea, Germany ... and maybe more)

THAT WILL BE A LOT OF COMPLICATED PAPERWORK TO FULFILL

So yeah, it's gonna take A LONG TIME to sort all this stuff

#qsmp #qsmp admins #qsmp meta talk #like if it were up to me i'd cry colapse give up and end it all idk #even though quackity goes to law school all this stuff is OVERWHELMING as fuck damn #my thoughts and prayers for the rp admins hope to see them somehow again

[quacktities]

I feel like the appeal of C! Quackbur (to me at least) is just how versatile it is as a ship and the range it has.

You want a subtle rivals to lovers, mutual pinning and longing but one of them is repressing his own feelings because he hates himself too much to let someone get attached to him ship dynamic with a political backdrop? You want longing gazes, knowing looks and the unspoken truth that, maybe, just maybe this relationship and understanding between them goes deeper than either of them let on or want to admit? BOOM. Lmanburg election arc Quackbur!

You want all of that but with more tension, high stakes, mental illness, a very "forbidden romance" vibe with an enemies that have been in love with eachother for a long time but can now finally be on the same side and possibly act on their feelings dynamic (but theyre doomed by the narrative so it was never going to work out. Or maybe it will, who knows. Maybe this time they find solace in eachother. Maybe this time Quackity stops him before its too late. Maybe this time it doesnt end in flames. Who knows. Its up to you really, if you keep telling the story over and over again, maybe this time they get their happy ending here and it doesnt have to be a tragedy. Your choice really). Pogtopia era C! Quackbur!

You want fucked up grief and angst and reminiscing on the past and being haunted by what could have been? You want seeing the spectre of your dead friend (if he was truly your old enemy, why does he feel like a past lover to you) and wondering if maybe he remembers everything you both went through the same way you do and if maybe his heart aches when he sees you the same way yours aches when you see him but you know he isn't the same and you'll never see the old verison of him ever again... but hes here... as a ghost.. and that has to be worth something right. (Is it a miracle you can still see him or are you forever being tormented by what you can never have?). BOOM, Butcher arc C! Quackity and Ghostbur (or Aftermath C! Quackbur as I call them)

You want all of that, but hey. What if we brought back the guy. What if it didn't have to end in death? What if they could reunite and speak again after everything? Would they even get along? You want the culmination of years of pinning, grief, hurt, and mutual obsession? Do they truly love each other, or have they fallen in love with the idealised verisons of each other they have in their own heads? Maybe this time, they'll actually get their shit together and talk. There really isn't anything stopping them now, other than themselves and each other. Maybe C! Quackity finally finds someone who respects him, is dedicated to him, and can engage with him on the same intellectual level in C! Wilbur. Maybe C! Wilbur finally finds someone who makes him feel human and can challenge him and his more self-destructive behaviours while still loving him in C! Quackity. Maybe this time, they get to understand each other, and they get to heal. Maybe this time, it's not too late, and sure, they dont have the healthiest relationship, but they're working on it, and they're okay for once. Just this once. Maybe. Or maybe you don't want that. Maybe it is too late for them. Maybe they'll never have what they once had, and they're both left with bitter hatred and longing for the past that grows weaker by the day as the rose tinted filter starts to fade. Maybe they make each other worse. Maybe the closest they ever get to being close to each other is by hurting each other. Maybe the only times they hold hands are when they're catching each other's bloody fists. Maybe they're both too far gone now. Maybe they've hurt each other too much to ever be vulnerable with each other. Maybe it's just too late for them. Maybe it was never meant to be. You want a joker card ship dynamic that can either end in healing and a happy ending or in an even more fucked up tragedy? Or both! Why not. BOOM. Post revival C! Quackbur

#i love them both and their unique history so much. i wish more people talked about the 'aftermath“ era and the lmanburg era #c! quackbur #c! Wilbur soot #c! Quackity #tnt duo #tntduo #dream smp #dsmp #mcyt #dsmp meta #??? maybe?? #analysis (???) kinda?? #i say a thing #can you tell im not normal #this ship genuinely changed my life

[swordfright]

Since we're talking c!Quackity...one of the interactions that fascinates me is the conversation between him, c!Wilbur, and c!Tommy when crimeboys visit Las Nevadas, because it contains this snippet of conversation:

This snippet comes in the middle of a larger conversation wherein Wilbur, more or less freshly revived, is grilling both Tommy and Q for details about how to get into the prison to see Dream. After this, the conversation moves on to navigating the visitation system. This snippet is framed within the context of Wilbur wanting to visit Dream, Tommy trying to convince him not to, and Quackity...? Well, okay, what is Quackity trying to do here? What's his goal in this conversation? He readily supplies Wilbur with info about the visitation and security systems (while Tommy actively withholds and obfuscates this info), so does that mean Q is trying to normalize his own visits by encouraging other people to visit? That's possible, but what interests me more is the question of, like, what the hell is going on here in a broader sense.

The simplest view of this conversation is that it's an argument between two people who are diametrically opposed, and Quackity is the third party here, a guy who doesn't seem particularly invested in either outcome. Which begs the question, why does he bring his own visits up at all? Q is the one who cuts in and mentions that he's been visiting Dream, which at this point isn't a secret on the server but it's also not something Q seems interested in discussing at length. The torture visits are something to be flaunted, not talked about. My assumption, given what we know about Q as a character, is that he's leveraging his experience with navigating Pandora in order to impress Wilbur. Information is something that can be negotiated, brokered, sold - so he's letting Wilbur know he has something Wilbur wants.

This is classic Q behavior right up until the end, where he gets oddly touchy about the torture being brought up. This moment has always struck me as weird, especially considering the handful of other times Quackity doesn't care whether people know (the conversation he has with George comes to mind, as well as the path he asks Foolish to build.) So there are three possibilities here:

that Q is bothered by Tommy saying the quiet part out loud;

that Q has only just found out about Wilbur's gratitude to Dream in the last 5 minutes (literally) and doesn't want to give Wilbur a reason to oppose him right now;

there's something about Tommy specifically knowing about and acknowledging the torture that rubs Q the wrong way.

Personally, I don't see option #2 as viable, given that Wilbur and Quackity are already beefing over how close to Las Nevadas Wilbur can build stuff. That's part of the reason Wilbur is here in the first place: to execute some chernobyl-grade negging. It's not world-ending beef, but given the propensity for mid-tier beef to turn into world-ending beef on this server, it's not nothing. Point is, Quackity and Wilbur have already been at odds with each other for this entire episode. Is Quackity less likely to tolerate conflict involving Dream? Absolutely, but I don't think avoiding such a conflict is his primary reason for acting the way he does here.

My current theory is that it's a combination of #1 and #3 - Quackity seemingly enjoys implying that he's been torturing Dream, but rarely talks about it outright unless it's with Sam. I can't think of many examples of him discussing the torture openly with other characters. I think it's not a stretch to say he enjoys the power of suggestion, he likes making people wonder, he likes making people scared, but he's not really prepared for someone to bring it up so boldly and directly the way Tommy does here. As for why this bothers him, my best guess is that the torture is actually kind of...difficult to talk about with people who aren't directly involved (i.e. Sam and Dream.) It's an incredibly demanding habit that takes up much of Quackity's time and energy, not to mention it's insanely intimate. Like I just don't think it's a stretch to say that Q probably just straight-up doesn't know how to talk about it in a way that's upfront, rather than gloating or flaunting or vaguely implying. Another reason it's likely difficult is that, based on the interactions we've seen, Q probably isn't used to other people bringing it up at all. Tommy's remark catches him off-guard in a very literal way.

The "Don't say that, not even as a joke," really gets me though, because it's such a defensive thing to say, coming from a guy who up until now has been very clear about how little interest he has in defending the indefensible. Is this comment a sign of remorse on Quackity's part? Fuck no, but I do think it's an admission of something. Keep in mind that Quackity's mannerisms when speaking to Tommy are almost identical to the way he speaks to c!Slime. This is evident in a number of streams from the Las Nevadas era, but especially this one: Quackity's tone of voice, language, demeanor, all of it is calculated to evoke the same kind of mentor-mentee relationship he has with Slime. And it makes sense - at this junction in the story, Q views Tommy as someone who's young and impressionable and fucks up a lot, someone who could use Q's advice, someone who's easy to manipulate.

If I were to hedge a bet, I'd say the primary reason Quackity reacts to the torture comment with defensiveness in this scene is because Tommy's remark reminds him that he needs to stay in control of the narrative. I think this is why Q brings up his visits (not the torture, but the visits) earlier in the conversation: "Tommy, you know about this, right?" He's testing Tommy to see how much he knows, and is taken aback when Tommy is prepared to bring up the nasty stuff. Q can walk around with Dream's blood on his shirt all he likes, but once the story's out, it's out - Quackity will no longer have control over who knows and, more importantly, what they think. If anything, this moment is a fleeting but noticeable admission of Quackity's insecurities surrounding the torture in specific. If he's going to properly manage his alliances, he would do well to maintain control of info surrounding, uh, how he spends his time.

#c!quackity #dream smp #dsmp meta #c!tommy #long post

[calamitydaze]

cquackity really is the protege of everyone he’s ever felt less than— he learned violence from cschlatt and performance from cwilbur and revenge from ctechno and detachment from cdream. when he’s backed up into the corner and the new big man on the block is pushing his face into the dirt he thinks “how do i learn from this, what can i take from you, how do i make sure that next time we cross paths, i win”

#perpetual underdog i love uuuu #c!quackity #my meta #1k

[chris-spacehere]

Thinking about how when qfelps got taken by the federation, cellbit new instantly, he put posters up and everyone went on looking for him, cellbit didn't rest until he could find him, everyone was there for felps, cellbit was there for felps.

But quackity? Noone cares about him, noone loves him, who would? He ruins everything, he is a good for nothing, an attention seeker, he was gone in the wedding and only 1 person asked where he was, and now he's probably gone forever and noone will ask themself where he's gone, he isn't worth it.

#qsmp #quackity #meta

[hamletteprinceofdenmark]

Even though I will be making fun of Wilbur for saying “psycho competitive” for the rest of time, I do want to emphasise that what he actually said was that c!tntduo were in a “psycho competitive relationship that can be construed to be romantic but it's not explicit.”

That’s not actually shutting down a romantic interpretation of their relationship. In fact that is acknowledging the romantic undertones. What I would interpret that as - and I agree with cc!Wilbur if this is the case - is that you can certainly read c!tntduo as romantic but that that is hardly the most interesting or rich angle to analyse them from.

Personally, what makes c!tntduo so engaging to me is how they have this incredibly complicated history with each other, hate each other, love each other, and still choose over and over again, to connect. They are irrevocably entwined as self made foils for each other. They have chosen again and again to deliberately mirror each other, in action, in dialogue, in theme, despite everything they both do and don’t agree on.

For me, c!tntduo is about them being all levels of fucked up together. Persuing a serious romantic relationship would be super bad for both of them actually. They’re not healthy together. But they do need each other. They can’t escape each other now.

That’s where the appeal of the duo lies. Which, at least to me, is a far more interesting character study and exploration of what people can mean to each other than whether they kiss or not.

#dream smp #tntduo #c!tntduo #wilbur soot #quackity #also cc!wilbur is not the be all and end all of your fandom experience #if you want to ship c!tntduo go right ahead and dive into that fan made content #y’all need to understand what death of the author actually means #what ‘canon’ is - especially in a murky medium like the Dream SMP - is actually like - fully irrelevant to your enjoyment of the product #as long as you’ve got clear understanding and boundaries on what is fan made content vs content creators content #- and that content creators are free to do their own thing and don’t ‘owe’ fandom storyline’s/character beat’s/interpretation’s #that it is still very much their own creation #but that fandom can have its own space that can also be a lot of fun #like - you guys can have so much fun and so much less anger and misery over things #save that emotion for shit that matters #don’t let being too online ruin your day #my meta

[kadextra]

I still can’t believe cc!Quackity said what we currently have from the qsmp is 🤏 this much. And what has yet to be revealed to us is like, 1000 times that. I’m already going crazy over what’s happening now what do you mean???

In the current state of the story we have gotten confirmation on some of our theories, the main one being that the Federation & Code entities are opposing factions. It was something we weren’t sure of the past months. but as always when answers are discovered, new questions pop up too… and it’s very cool how improv can happen suddenly and spin the lore in directions we don’t expect. predicting things is getting harder, and that’s a good thing- love when stories throw me into the unknown

The only thing I fully believe will happen is discovering the truth about the Code’s organization & its name in the near future. I think all of us have been getting major vibes of a lead-up to that

#it’s likely one of the island residents will ally with them too #just a bit of meta commentary :] #qsmp #text post #Quackity

[mikaikaika]

I feel like the whole Tubbo-Quackity-Fred fiasco is just a whole bunch of unfortunate circumstances and everyone has valid reasons for their actions.

Tubbo has no reasons to believe Fred betrayed him and here comes Quackity with fabricated images and with a book that does not even seem like Fred wrote. He does not know Quackity's reasoning and from his point of view it just seems Quackity is just interfering in a place where he has no place to. He trusts Fred wholeheartedly and now seeing how Quackity has a whole investigation/stalker room for them of course he doesn't trust Quackity.

Quackity on the other hand, has faced so much torture and evils at the hands of the Federation to the point that he can read or write, has lost memories of what his life was and left him estranged from the whole island. So he is completely valid in his reasonings in trying to prevent Tubbo or someone else to end up with the same fate. However my only concern is who is it that handed him the fabricated images and that person might have other motives for this.

Fred completely trusts Tubbo and is trying his best but he is literally stuck between a rock and hard place. On one hand, Quackity has them encaged and is threatening not just their whole life and also Tubbo's - someone she cares a lot about. On the other, if the Feds find out how close they have gotten to Tubbo especially after he was already exiled once ; god knows what they are gonna do to him. Now we as viewer have some inclination that Fred doesn't like the Feds but even for us its merely a theory much less for the islanders.

All three of them are completely valid in their reasonings for their actions and there doesn't seem to be a wrong or right person. It's just wrong people wrong time.

#qsmp #Quackity #Fred #Tubbo #Frubbo #Pen pals #Meta #Analysis #Mika mumbles

[citywolf]

I find it so weird that we have Two code-alligned people (Slime + Eoiles), two fed-alligned (ElQuackity + Jaiden) and two anti-fed (Maxo & Cellbit)

2 were on green, 4 on red, and 0 on blue

2 special ticket holders? All have had recent lore (Jaiden and Feds, Cellbit and his murder spree, Slime and Codeflippa, Etoiles and the code, Maxo and the Bomb, ElQuackity and ... Everything)

I just feel like the lineup is so interesting, what do they all have to do with EACHOTHER. What's the common thread? People who are easily controlled? Admittedly I don't know enough about Maxo, and Etoiles doesn't really fit the bill but Cellbits blind bloodlust, Jaiden's allyship with Cucurucho, Slime's attatchment to Juanaflippa above all else, ElQuackity literally working with the eye guy?

Maybe it's people the Eye guy thinks are the most dangerous to the feds? ElQuackity is essentially just a traitor wherever he goes, Cell is murdering workers, Etoiles is the rebellions go to guy, Maxo has a full atomic bomb and wants vengeance, Slime lost his daughter and has no qualms with murder

Jaiden stands out there, but she's harmful to the feds in a more subtle way. Her friendship with Osito is positive for him, but for the larger federation goals it gives him too much individuality, too much identify separate from the federations goals. I mean, she's clearly effective enough to be called in to help train him, right?

Still, I'm not sure of anything. PLEASE comment or rb with your ideas and all that !!

I just find it interesting that the opposing alignments are all in the SAME team, and not opposites. Wouldn't it be easier for the eye to put people who already disagree at odds? Is it just to make them hate people they're friends with? because it more accurately makes them CLOSER with people they could've had falling outs with. Like what's the long con there?

Just... So many thoughts....

#qsmp #federation #purgatory #q!quackity #elquackity #q!cellbit #q!etoiles #q!jaiden #q!maxo #q!slimecicle #qsmp meta #qsmp theory

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

it’s interesting because since The Fight both q!forever and q!cellbit have been spiralling beyond control (cellbit arguably even prior to that). they’ve become increasingly paranoid, sleep deprived and isolated in different ways. forever has lost trust in most if not all of his friends and by partaking in this paranoid manhunt, has made those friends lose trust in him too. while cellbit can’t stop looking behind his back at all times in case someone’s watching him and has to constantly tell himself he’s doing all this to protect the very people he is now hurting. they’re each trying to ostracise the other. forever has blocked cellbit's access to as many places as he can and cellbit has tried to turn people against his friend so they back him up at the trial. forever is trying to tell himself that this is all part of a bigger plan, that cellbit is smart and wouldn’t do those things to him out of nowhere, but at the same time he recognises that, real or not, to protect them or not, he did awful deeds that cannot be mended, not even by time. cellbit is following a plan that’s supposed to help protect those around him, but the thing is that theres no one around him anymore. he says that lying is the hardest part of it all, he prays that saying things so absurd and unlogical makes people—the people who love him—realise there might be something off about it. and the worst part is that forever knows there needs to be something more! that cellbit, the cellbit he loves, would have come up with an insane plan like that! but it doesn’t matter!!!! to forever, if the cellbit he cares about made him suffer willingly, if that cellbit chose to do the things he did to him, then thats not someone he wants around anymore. that’s not someone he wants around his son. forever is angry, cellbit is guilty and they’re both so, so alone.

#qsmp #forever player #quackity smp #quesadilla smp #cellbit #q!forever #q!cellbit #meta

[tobi-smp]

"can quackity be redeemed?" "can dream be redeemed?" “can sam/phil/wilbur-”

redemption isn’t something you Earn, it’s something you Do.

redemption isn’t being forgiven and it’s not doing enough Good to erase the bad that you’ve done (to Fundamentally and Totally become a “good person” when you look at your life in its totality).

redemption is a Choice that you consciously make to become a better person. it’s recognizing that what you did was wrong and that something needs to change and putting in that effort to try to change. Anybody can be redeemed, Anybody can make that choice to do better.

the question is not “can this person make up for what they’ve done wrong?” or “can this person get the people they hurt to forgive them?” because that’s not always what Doing Better looks like. sometimes the Right thing to do is leave the people that you hurt alone, sometimes it’s Unfair to expect someone to forgive you at all, sometimes there Is no way to fix what’s been done. sometimes to become a better person you have to accept that you Can’t fix the past, but you Can change your future. that putting in the work to change is worth it anyways.

the difference between a character like dream and characters like quackity, wilbur, or even sam isn’t that dream Can’t be redeemed, it’s that he isn’t likely to make the Choice to redeem himself. he tells himself that he’s better than sam because he’s not in denial about the things he’s done, but what it really shakes out to is that he doesn’t Care what impact his actions have. even when He’s the recipient of the damage he causes he’ll blame somebody else (namely, tommy).

sam works off of denial because if he accepted the damage he’s caused for what it is he’d crumble. he views what he does as strictly necessary, justifies it to himself no matter what, because if he doesn’t he’d fall apart from the guilt and anguish. dream knows Exactly what he’s done and he’s had nothing but a good time doing it.

likewise, I find the question of “can Quackity be redeemed” or “can Wilbur be redeemed” a frankly baffling one, because by all accounts they are currently in the process of Trying To Become Better People.

slime asking quackity if revenge is ever worth it and quackity telling him No, It’s Not. leading into purpled killing slime in Direct response to quackity’s actions, in the aftermath of quackity thinking that dream had escaped Because Of His Own Actions. followed by quackity Deliberately not seeking revenge on purpled and instead working tirelessly to try to Help his friend.

and again, when we see him next it’s him promising to be there for tommy, to protect him because he wants to Choose to be there for the people who are important to him rather than choosing to Hurt out of revenge.

and yes, that Did definitely get lost in season four being.. what it is. but it is Undeniably at the Very Least a set up for a redemption arc. quackity has finally recognized that revenge and lashing out won’t get him what he wants, that it just hurts the people that are important to him and makes him Unhappier in the long run.

and wilbur is. Doing His Best. he desperately Wants to be a better person, but he doesn’t know How to do that. he’s fumbling and making massive mistakes because he was in a bad place before and now he has no real perspective on what’s happened while he was gone or even what’s happening Now.

he’s directly tied his own morality to the way that other people see him. and to that end he thinks that to be Redeemed, to be a better person, he has to get Forgiveness. and in a way, I think that has to do in part because he doesn’t want the redemption process to be Painful, he wants it to be easy because he wants it to not hurt anymore. and feeling that way doesn’t Diminish someone’s efforts to try to be better.

but what this means is that he’s been avoiding the parts of Becoming a better person that hurt. he’s still a messy person whose prone to making bad decisions and big mistakes because he hasn’t Really examined the bigger fundamental problems with things like his Mindset or the ways he lashes out when under pressure or insecurity yet. and again, I reckon a big part of that is because he doesn’t know How, he doesn’t know How to recognize and learn to cope with those messier parts of himself without falling back into that self-hating mindset that literally killed him.

he’s not a bad person for this, and this doesn’t take away from the fact that he Is in the process of redemption. it means that it’s going to take time, that it’s going to be Hard. and sometimes that’s just the reality of bettering yourself as a person. it is Okay to be at a part of your journey where you don’t know what to do yet, it is Okay to still make mistakes and be a messy person. the important part is Wanting to do better and Putting In The Effort.

#dream smp #dreamwastaken #awesamdude #quackity #wilbur soot #meta #long post #nobody's gonna see this because of twitchcon #but I simply do not control the speed at which I think #and I do not have the patience to wait any amount of time after writing to post #You Get It When You Get It

[swordfright]

A thing i want to add to some of the really good c!Quackity meta recently: one of the things that makes him nuanced and at times sympathetic despite his Obvious Villainy (propensity for violence, selfish ambition, mania, tendency to develop one-sided obsessions, and the chronic insecurity that feeds into all these behaviors) is that, at least in my view, he’s clearly enamored with the idea of the good person he could be if he was willing to put in the work to be that guy.

What is the c!Slime training montage, if not a monument to the version of himself Q wants to be remembered as? The version of himself he presents to characters like Slime, Tommy, even Sam on rare occasions, is the Quackity he wants to go down in history, the version of himself he wants to have been. The issue is that he’s seemingly not even remotely interested in actually behaving like that version of himself. The legacy monologue (and honestly huge chunks of the LN series) is so revealing because it’s an act. Q is crafting the story of himself, but he’s all tell and no show - because showing would require him to, yknow, change his behavior.

#these thoughts aren’t terribly well phrased bc i should’ve gone to bed hours ago #but there’s a specific c!Q moment that lived in my brain rent-free #one of his weirdest conversations w c!Tommy #i might make a post about it #but it’s bedtime now lol #c!quackity #dsmp meta

[conarcoin]

some dream smp characters and the jungian archetypes i think fit them (not everyone bc my brain isn't large enough for that)

dream: the ruler. duh. don't think this one needs to be explained.

bbh: the rebel. i honestly struggled a lot with bbh here? however, i think his warmongering attitude with the badlands pre-egg makes it clear when i think about it

tommy: the hero. another obvious one, i think.

fundy: the explorer. i'd call him an almost textbook case, at that.

wilbur: either the magician or the ruler, i can't for the life of me settle on which one, but i'm leaning towards the latter.

schlatt: the magician. many people would probably say ruler, but i honestly think he's more magician-aligned. "i can make things happen" is peak schlatt, moreso than "power is everything".

eret: the caregiver. at the end of the day, eret just wants everyone to be safe, happy, and loved.

quackity: the lover, with some elements of the magician. i think quackity is a very relationship-driven character before all else.

techno: the rebel. easiest one.

connor: the everyman. another textbook example, except i think he also has explorer elements? connor wants a place to belong, and generally tends to believe that anyone can be good.

slime: the sage. is this a hot take? i feel like a lot of people would class him as the innocent or the jester but i don't really think those fit. dunno.

#my meta posts #dream smp #dsmp analysis #badboyhalo #tommyinnit #fundy #wilbur soot #jschlatt #eret #quackity #technoblade #connoreatspants #slimecicle

[cgogs]

TNTduo at Niki's birthday party closing conversations, small breakdown Link to my transcript: x

The scene starts with Wilbur telling Quackity he's going to blow up Manburg, and walking off to do just that while he has an audience (Niki+Karl+Chat) to witness it. Quackity is left to try and talk him down.

Q's tactic switches from "You're not going to do this." to "You don't want to do this. " to "You don't have to do this."

Because between each effort to de-escalate and talk Wilbur back from the edge, Quackity is being proved wrong between each tactic. "You're not going to do this"-- which is less Q calling Wilbur's bluff, and more Q trying to appeal to his better nature-- is met with an immediate somewhat heated rebuttal as Wilbur's takeaway is that Q is trying to act like he's better than him:

Quackity is so confused by this spiel about chaos that he actually isn't sure Wilbur is even talking to him. And because the situation is delicate, and Wilbur's response to absolutes ("You're not going to do this") is to get defensive, Q has to form a response that disproves his assertion without actually saying 'you're wrong.'

He can't outright challenge Wilbur's projection but asserts that he doesn't want this, while also trying again to appeal to Wilbur's senses. Both logical AND emotional: Manburg is special to people, and don't blow up something important on impulse or you may regret it.

Wilbur sheds this off immediately, asking instead to sing Q a song like they had been at the party before. Quackity agrees to buy himself some time while he searches for him.

Now this is where it gets interesting. Wilbur is pointedly and purposefully showing warning signs, playing up his instability and impulsivity. While he sings the anthem, he changes some of the lyrics to be about blowing up L'manburg and shows exaggerated frustration to messing up. This is theater. This is essentially him, again, flashing bright colors and calling attention to himself. (I say this is a farce because of how Wilbur responds later, bear with me) Wilbur slams his guitar and frustratedly declares he's going for the button. Because Quackity's previous attempts to appeal to his better nature have failed and (in his perception) made things worse, he finally comes down to Wilbur's level and tries to bargain with him. That's what this has been to Wilbur-- a negotiations table under the guise of intervention.

He gives up all his ground. He's making a deal. He'll go along with Wilbur's plan if his own doesn't work. This is quite the risky gamble. Quackity is relying on his ability to pull off this meeting without a hitch, and to Wilbur's liking, to prevent the entire city from being exploded. But this is the corner he's been pushed into by Wilbur's threats. Wilbur has finally put a crack in Quackity's collected persona, and he knows it immediately. He patiently waits to hear all of Q's suggestion (when previously he was quite the interrupter andy) and responds only to make sure Q means it. Because this is what he wanted! He wanted Q to set up this meeting. This was Wilbur pushing Q into doing something he'd been apprehensive of beforehand. An actual negotiations table. Real talks. He relaxes immediatley, a hard contrast to the persona he was putting earlier.

Something interesting to note is how Wilbur leaves the game but not the VC-- meaning it's no longer possible to press the button. This is the equivalent of him putting the gun down. Quackity is instantly relieved, believing he has successfully talked him down from the ledge.

Now THIS is where it's obvious Quackity has lost. This is where the fact that this was a setup is most obvious. His concession means Wilbur holds the sway of the bargain completely, compared to the high ground Q held at the beginning of the interaction, not giving up any ground. Wilbur is calm, he has precise demands, he gives Q a deadline that Q doesn't even try to fight even though it makes his life quite a bit harder.

The speed at which Wilbur switches up, because Quackity has handed over all the power! And before he was so all over the place, speaking erratically, convincing Q that he was far more gone than he actually was. And now that Q is bending to him, he knows exactly what he wants and leaves amicably once he has it.

But note: This deal relies on Wilbur's satisfaction. He tells Q he'll be watching. He says, if plan A goes wrong, I'm pressing the button... And Q tells him,

Yes. This means the conditions of the bargain are up to Wilbur's judgment. He calls the shot. They came into this with, "I'm going to blow up Manburg and you are going to watch." and ended with Quackity essentially... agreeing. And he realizes it a little here:

The relief of Wilbur standing down is soon soured by the realization of what exactly must come next, and what happens if it doesn't. From Wilbur's perspective, he's convinced the VP to set up a cabinet meeting to negotiate terms. From where Quackity's standing, this feels like he's diffused a bomb.

Which is actually a sentiment quite a few people have expressed, namely and most obviously: Ranboo. There are only two times the word 'bomb' is written in The Wilbur Van despite TNT being a main plot point.

Ranboo saw something in Wilbur. He saw a man trying his best to carve out a legacy and a man at his lowest trying to gain redemption. But unfortunately he also saw a man with an insatiable pride, a man who was a living bomb about to explode and, scariest of all, he saw a bit of himself. [...] “I have an idea,” Ranbo began, his words echoing around the cave, “I know what to do. I know how to defuse the bomb and make you realise how frivolous this whole thing is.” he smiled.

If Wilbur had opened with "Set up a cabinet meeting before the week is done or I blow up the country." Quackity would NEVER have thrown Wilbur a bone. Wilbur is weaponizing his own instibility here, leveraging the button over Q's head to get him to scramble to negotiate with him. This is a pattern Wilbur is privy to (the vassal conversation, Inconsolable Differences). That is why this is all specticalized, obvious, and public.

He calls out to Quackity, specifically, that he wants him to watch Manburg blow up. He tells Quackity to follow him. He says he's glad for the audience, though Quackity is the only one he's showing off to, because Quackity is the only one who has something Wilbur wants. Niki tearfully and desperately pleads with him as well and is entirely ignored, while Quackity has his full attention. Because Quackity has something he wants.

This is a power play.

And he does!

#dsmp #tntduo #dream smp #my meta #c!quackity #c!wilbur