#dictating who technoblade true friends are

[midnight-stormm]

Technodad deserves the biggest hug in the world. The hate towards george, unnecessary hate at that is ridiculous. Ppl rather believe the misinformation that was being spread around than watch the 2 hour long vod bc that's how long the event was or even clips that SHOWED the truth that george wasn't being malicious. That george said several times to donate to the charity linked that was PINNED in his twitch chat and if you donate to him, the money would go to charity.

Everybody was making jokes throughout the event! Everybody was having a good time even technodad stated how much fun he was having. Why ruined it just bc you hate george?!

Its just sad overall that technodad had to see all this unnecessary hate towards one of his sons friends on an event that honoring his late son and his legacy.

They both deserves an apology.

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

It’s now been one year since George’s dethronement and the subsequent fallout, and... man, it exemplifies so much about Dream’s character.

It’s so fascinating, possibly one of my top 5 favorite events in the story. I would even go so far as to call it one of the last situations where Dream's stance and behavior are genuinely morally gray and justifiable... while at the same time, it holds some terrifying foreshadowing for the manipulation tactics he would later use during his most reprehensible acts.

First off, the dethronement itself.

In summary: he joins Quackity’s prank stream, tells George that he isn’t king anymore, and reinstates Eret.

To be completely fair, Dream has legitimate logical arguments for why Eret would be a better king than George. George was being attacked by Technoblade and others, he did arguably violate neutrality by joining Mexican L’Manberg and griefing L’Mantree, and he was appointed just as randomly as he was removed.

Additionally, Dream is keenly aware that most of the server resents him (though he doesn’t acknowledge the reasons why that is), and is level-headed enough to factor his reputation into his decisions. It’s believable that Dream still held some care for George and wanted to shield him from the fallout of his own choices, despite his outburst the previous day. And yeah, if a symbolic peaceful leadership role is all that’s desired, Eret is probably the most well-liked candidate. Had the switch to George not occurred in the first place, there would have been no issue.

But the concerning parts of this event have nothing to do with who is being promoted or replaced, but rather how Dream goes about it (and the fact that a single person can decide these things, but I digress). Throughout the conversation, Dream tries to dictate George’s own thoughts to him, but later reacts badly when Sapnap does something similar to him (with actual evidence to back it up, his “I don’t give a fuck about anything” comment). He initially tries to frame dethronement as a mere suggestion, asking George if he even wanted to be king in the first place. When George hesitates and goes quiet, Dream goes through with it anyway. And then, when George shows sadness over it, Dream outright denies that George feels any real sadness and starts claiming that he didn’t want to be king - even though George had never said that during their exchange. At one point, he insists that George must want to get revenge on Tommy, saying that no longer being king would give him the freedom to do so. Once again, this is projecting a sentiment that George has never expressed.

It’s eerily similar to the gaslighting he later uses on Tommy: telling him that he doesn’t really hate Dream despite what he says, insisting that he’s his best (or only) friend even when he’s hurting Tommy and taking his things, giving confusing reasoning that’s framed as both punishment and protection at once. What Dream does to George is obviously not as severe, but it’s frightening that he’s capable of using these tactics even on someone he considers his friend.

We should also note that the dethronement occurs very publicly, on another person’s stream, and completely without warning (George later says he had no idea that this would happen, at 33:18 of the VOD). No private conversations, no encouragement to abdicate willingly, no attempt to gauge his true feelings. One would be able to dismiss this as either a storytelling convention or as Dream simply not being skilled with sensitive emotional matters... if he hadn’t immediately started making fun of George for simply feeling surprised and hurt. The intentions might have been reasonable and fair, but the circumstances quickly devolve into humiliation.

(As an aside, Dream seems to really like defaulting to “baby” as an insult. Maybe I’m just reading too deep into it, but he frequently tries to present himself as the most rational and mature party in every conflict. This makes his dichotomy with people like Tommy very interesting, and his more charitable attitude toward Tubbo easier to... oh, wait, he revealed later at the destroyed Community House that he always thought of Tubbo as an idiot and was using him the whole time. But this post isn’t about that so LET’S GET BACK ON TRACK - )

Later on, the members of Mexican L’Manberg meet with Badboyhalo about a possible alliance with the Badlands to take the throne back. Dream then fires “warning shots,” killing them on their own land without a chance to retaliate. This demonstrates Dream’s tendency to jump to extreme solutions, to solve problems with an overwhelming show of his strength at the slightest indication that mere talking will be ineffective. Only afterwards does he verbally warn them to back off.

(Moving forward in time again, I find it strange that Dream calls Mexican L’Manberg’s theft of the throne - an illegal but nonviolent action - an act of war, while his sudden assassination of Quackity as mentioned above was technically the first aggressive action in this conflict, and yet it is largely ignored. Time and time again, Dream escalates conflicts and then, only after blood has been shed, he attempts to claim that he is the only just and logical party.)

His tense conversation with Quackity, Sapnap, and George reveals even more of Dream’s sense of ownership and personal responsibility for the entire server, while also exposing the hypocrisy of this mentality. He calls George a tyrant (around 58:44) for protesting his removal from the throne, despite the fact that Dream himself is the person who holds the power over this entire situation. When he criticizes Quackity for involving himself in the matters of the Greater Dream SMP, Quackity calls him out for strong-arming L’Manberg into exiling Tommy for a relatively minor crime, and for essentially holding everyone in the country hostage by building walls. And yes, Tommy’s exile offers very important context, because the very person who was supposedly wronged by his crimes was George. All of this conflict is happening because of a king who is no longer king, and a vice president who is no longer vice president (at the time, Tommy was on indefinite probation). As Dream himself admitted, the griefing would not have been a major issue if it weren’t for the status of those involved - but now that both parties have been demoted, why should it continue to this extent?

The specific events of the later El Rapids arc can be saved for a later post, but it’s very interesting that many of the tactics the protesters use are directly analogous to Dream’s go-to strategies: giving ultimatums, rigging TNT explosions, and even attempting to frame Eret the same way Dream and Puffy attempted to frame Tommy. All Quackity and the others in Mexican L’Manberg did was turn Dream’s own behaviors against him, whether this was intentional on their part or not. Guess it takes a hypocrite to know a hypocrite, ya funky lil duck man

And you know what? I’m feeling spicy, so here’s some often-overlooked trivia for you. I'm still laughing about the fact that during their argument in this stream, Dream blamed Quackity for Schlatt’s election... despite the fact that Dream endorsed Schlatt first and encouraged Quackity to do the same:

(From this VOD, during the conversation with Wilbur and Tommy about pooling votes. Oh, Dream also gave Schlatt a gun. Not that important, but very funny.)

Even though everyone was starting to acknowledge Dream as a puppetmaster while the Exile discourse was happening... I don’t remember anyone ever calling him out specifically for this? Or on his flip-flopping between sides during the rebellion, which he admitted was because he wanted chaos to win (see 2:38:00)? I don’t know. That’s a bit of a tangent. Have fun with that receipt, though.

Like... I think there’s an argument to be made that Dream was a sympathetic antagonist before and during the L’Manberg Independence Arc. He took extreme measures in the Final Control Room and by blowing up the gate to L’Manberg, but he did show a sense of honor by agreeing to private negotiations with Tommy and returning everyone’s stolen belongings when the war ended. He has always been ruthless, cold, and controlling, but not always pure evil.

But he didn’t stop meddling with those peaceful resolutions. He continued to sabotage L’Manberg’s affairs as early on as the elections. His crossing of the moral event horizon during the Exile Arc didn’t come out of nowhere. Whether you believe he was pushed into villainy or he simply gave up on rationalizing it, the seeds for his manipulation tactics were there far earlier than many realize.

So yeah.

TL;DR? Dream has some very good reasons for doing what he’s doing here. He’s also being a massive tool.

[bewaretheidesofmarchyall]

The Time Traveling Cabinet

So! Time travel AUs are fun. But what if, instead of sending back Tommy and Wilbur, we try something new for a change?

Concept: Time Travel AU, but the people getting sent back in time are the New L’Manberg Butcher Army.

Ranboo, Fundy, Quackity, and Tubbo are all scattered into the past on December 16th, and it only gets More from there.

Beginning

- Somehow, the New L’Manberg cabinet are all sent into the past at different points of the events of December 16th.

- Ranboo is sent back during the fight in front of Technoblade’s house.

- Fundy is sent back once Punz starts attacking the execution.

- Quackity is sent back a millisecond before Techno’s pickaxe hits his face.

- And Tubbo is sent back right after seeing the pillar and thinking that Tommy is dead.

Ranboo

- Ranboo gets sent back to about a week before Tommy joined.

- He is, understandably, confused.  But he mostly just vibes, leaving cryptic messages, building stuff, and exploring. It's nice to get a break from executions and warring and the messy life in the present day.

- He befriends Tommy again, and they burn down George's house again. This time, Dream barely cares. He doesn't need a reason to hurt Tommy yet.  

- Ranboo also gets to meet his best friend and future husband again!

- Tubbo's a lot less guarded, more willing to speak his mind, doesn't have firework scars on his face and arms. Tommy's still a gremlin, but he's a gremlin with dreams and schemes.  Ranboo doesn't know what to think about this.

- He doesn't get involved in the L'Manberg Revolution or any of the big conflicts, saying something about "preserving the timeline".

- He can’t change anything important anyway. According to the message anonymously whispered to him in chat every time he was stopped from changing something, multiverse creation is disabled until the arrival of all parties.

- Ranboo doesn't feel that bad about it. He isn't in the mood to create paradoxes, and there's nothing during the revolutionary time that he'd really change.

- Except.

- Didn’t Eret do some kind of betrayal thing?

- Ranboo can't recall what they did. Probably just switched sides, and people got mad about it, as people attached to sides often do.

- Then, on August 2nd, he hears explosions.  Against his better judgment, Ranboo sneaks over to L'Manberg to see if Tubbo and Tommy are okay.

- They aren’t.

- Yep, the country has been blown up, and to make things worse Eret leads the L'Manbergians into a death trap that takes more canon lives than anything else in SMP history.  Ranboo's legitimately horrified.

- He sticks around for the peace era and helps rebuild, maybe works at the embassy a little. Mr. Boo is not allowed to be a L'Manberg citizen due to being American, but he remains on good terms with the country.

- Basically, Ranboo learns the true history of this "just a drug van" country, and what it actually stands for.

- He's ready to wait it out until December, so he can get back to the present day with no complications.  One problem: He isn't alone anymore.

Fundy

- Fundy arrives to the Pet War confused as can be.

- He's pretty sure he's dreaming. That's the only explanation for him being in one of the worst times of his life again and Ranboo being there too for some reason.

- So, he tries to stop some of the pet murder, to varying success. He can't kill Sapnap during the duel or save Fungi, but he can save some of the chickens and Leonard the enderman and such.

- Leonard is his emotional support monster. He’s going to need one.

- Next, Fundy finds and yells at a bewildered Wilbur.

- Wilbur isn't allowed to hear the whole rant, but he does get 1) He screwed up as a father, 2) He's probably dead?? This does not help his paranoia and self-loathing.

- Fundy also gets to chat with his younger self, who according to one Ghostbur Soot was 14 at the time of the election? I don’t know, fox/phoenix/trickster demigod aging is weird.

- The conversation goes along the lines of:

“Do they ever start taking us seriously?”

“...Yes. Definitely. Sure.”

- Finally, Fundy tells a heap of lies about what he's like in the future to look cool.

- He’s generally is a fan of this situation because time traveling from the future means one thing: Attention. And it has been a while since he's gotten any of that.

- (Ranboo tries to stop him from messing with the past. He's only sometimes successful, and gets roped into Coconut 2020)

- In summary, Fundy clings to his moment in the spotlight, tries and fails to get closure with his dad, and gets to observe the unraveling ball of angst and issues that was his teenage self.

Quackity

- Quackity is sent back to the day of the election.

- He has to see his naive younger self screw up history and plan a spring wedding with Schlatt. It's awful.

- After trying and failing to assassinate the drunken dictator during his speech, and getting the memo about not being able to change the past in big ways, Q runs over to spawn to wait for Wilbur.

- Wilbur shows up after dying to Punz, and Quackity helps him get to Pogtopia for the first time. 

- There, Quackity chats with him and Tommy. He explains as much as he knows (which isn't much), and offers to join the rebellion.

- Wilbur doesn't trust him for five seconds. Honestly, Q's still wearing the Butcher Army uniform. He’s covered in blood!

- So, Quackity is sent out into the night in an offhand "don't call us, we'll call you" way. On the way out, he tries and fails to murder Technoblade. He's got a hit list, and he's going to complete it.

- Meanwhile, Past Quackity does not get along with Future Quackity at all.

- Past Quackity was a neutral good idealist. Future Quackity is a machiavellian, chaotic neutral guy with a murder list. They despise each other.

-Quackity tries to settle things with Schlatt. Not sure how well it works, but he does try.

- He also maps out complex strategies for how to change the future once all members have arrived. He's got Plans.

- Ranboo is very opposed to these Plans. Fundy is mostly onboard with these plans.

-Finally, Quackity desperately hopes that the last member of the party will arrive before the festival. Maybe, just maybe, he can do something to stop the execution.

-Unfortunately, the festival arrives, and Past Tubbo gives his speech, and Technoblade is given the order.

-The execution goes according to plan.

-Then, in the wreckage of the Red Festival, a figure appears.

Tubbo

- Tubbo has been having an awful day.

- First, he fails to execute Technoblade. Then, he finds out that he killed his best friend Tommy is gone. And now he’s standing smack-dab in the middle of the worst thing that ever happened to him?

- It’s all way too much. Tubbo runs away.

- Tubbo disappears for a solid week before finally accepting that he isn't just imagining all of this as a weird stage of grief.

- He then returns to Pogtopia in a suitably dramatic moment.

- Despite the fact that they're all in the past, Tubbo's probably going to end up as the character who gets the most focus. He's having the most Emotions about all of this.

- He's got to deal with his coping mechanisms (Ignore and Avoid) being taken away because he's back in the place he tries to forget.

- On top of that, he has to deal with the fact that he feels guilty about Tommy's death, but can't even process that because Tommy's technically still alive in the past (and in the future, but Tubbo doesn't know that).

- And he has to deal with seeing Wilbur again, and figuring out why Wilbur made him president.

-He’s going to go through a lot.

Character Motives

- Ranboo: Preserving the timeline so they can get home vs. Wanting to keep his friends safe and caring about L'Manberg now.

- Fundy: Fixing things for his past self, and getting closure with his dad.

- Quackity: Completing his hit list and completely changing the timeline. And punching Schlatt in the face.

- Tubbo: Dealing with the various emotional turmoils listed above, getting Tommy and his past self to run away from it all.

- Past Tommy: Finding out what the actual fuck is going on, and protecting the Tubbos (Tubbi?). Also, he wants to know what happened to upset Future Tubbo so much. (His regular Pogtopia motives are also there).

- Past Fundy: Measuring up to how great his future self said their life was.

- Past Quackity: Not becoming his future self at any cost.

- Past Tubbo: Regular Pogtopia motivations, but now he has both Tommy and Ranboo to worry about.

- Past Wilbur: Wilbur already believed that he had a scripted role, and was always going to end up the villain. Well, now he has confirmation of just that. Awesome!

He actually goes through with it. He actually blows it up. He doesn't know if he's proud, disgusted, terrified, or what, but he knows that it's not up to him to go against fate.

And if fate demands a grand finale and a little trinitrotoluene on the side? He can do that.

[chalky]

The Commodification of c!Tubbo

This essay is unnecessary but I think about it too much so here you go

At this point, y’all are probably sick and tired of me rambling about c!Tubbo, as this is about all my original posts are. But, I feel as though this is an important aspect of his character that is either swept under the rug or never given any second glance.

Whether intentionally or not, Tubbo has been constantly commodified by allies and enemies alike (don’t even get me started on the fandom, that’s for a whole other post). Like, throughout the entire story of the Dream SMP, Tubbo has been looked down upon as a yes man, sidekick, or extension of another character who is incapable of making decisions for himself, which is such a degrading thing to experience for so long and explains why his character values himself so little.

This is a long one, heads up!

 I want to break up this dehumanization and commodification into three categories:

Tubbo is either a pawn (something to be used), a trophy(something to be owned), or a scapegoat(something to be blamed) to others.

Tubbo Seen as a Pawn:

Wilbur loved Tubbo, but his treatment of him during the Pogtopia arc was definitely sad to see. (Note: Wilbur was spiraling and his mental health was in shambles. He couldn’t help his paranoia and he deserved way better than the ending he got, but that doesn’t absolve the effects of his actions on others). First he took Tubbo on as a spy, a very dangerous role that landed him dead, but throughout Tubbo’s service Wilbur saw him as an obedient pawn, while not a loyal one. A pawn ready to turn to whatever authority figure commanded him best. His remarks about Tubbo being a yes man back this up, and the way he warns Tommy that Tubbo will betray them erases all of Tubbo’s identity and reduces it to that of a spy (again, this is born of Wilburs paranoia, this isn’t his fault).

Dream made it very clear that he regarded Tubbo as lesser than a toy, so obedient and trusting that he wasn’t worth keeping alive because he was so boring to him. The whole speech about Tubbo being worthless wasn’t even directed at him despite him being right there. Dream only addressed Tommy as if he was the one whose opinion on Tubbos fate mattered.

Jack Manifold literally used Tubbo’s trust to attempt to kill Tommy, saying that he was a sweet guy but way too gullible. No better way to treat someone as a pawn to further ones own agenda than by literally using them. (Him talking about how he’d be there to comfort Tubbo after the assisted murder of his best friend still mildly disturbs me).

Quackity managed to talk Tubbo into going through with the Butcher Army, using Tubbo’s power to further Quackity’s agenda (which, by Quackity’s own admission, did not revolve around the protection of L’manburg.) Quackity didn’t care that Tubbo was against violence, and pushed his concerns to the side in favor of his own ideas and kept comparing Tubbo to Schlatt whenever he acted in a way he disagreed with.

Speaking of, THE CONSTANT DISREGARD OF HIS DECISIONS AS PRESIDENT. His Cabinet never listened to him and lowkey every stream they had together was a bit frustrating to me (I’m also a sensitive bitch). They didn’t respect him in any way and undermined his authority UNTIL THEY NEEDED HIM TO SAVE EVERYONE’S LIFE. (Elaborated on in Scapegoat Category).

Technically, as much as I am a Tommy apologist, Tommy’s constant insistence that the Disc War needed to involve Tubbo kind of fits under this category. As much as Tubbo was happy to help, his involvement wasn’t really necessary, but Tommy needed someone to help him. This involvement nearly resulted in his willing death.

The only reason Dream even wanted to kill Tubbo, on top of perceiving him as useless, was to hurt Tommy and give him something of a “hero origin story” like Batman and his parents or Spider-Man and Uncle Ben. So, literally by Dream’s definition, he wanted to fridge Tubbo.

We could refer to Wilbur assigning Tubbo to presidency as Wilbur using him to make the explosion of L’manburg hurt more, but that feels like a stretch to me.

This may be a stretch, but after Tubbo is executed and Tommy starts getting mad at Technoblade, Wilbur eggs Tommy on by saying “Think of what he did to Tubbo,” while Tubbo is literally right there. His emotions on the event doesn’t matter to Wilbur, only how it impacted Tommy.

Tubbo Seen as a Prize/Trophy

The constant referral of Tubbo as something to be owned by someone, like during Wilburs speech of “he’s your Tubbo!”, is a bit off putting though I don’t think it’s meant to be malicious. Very rarely is the sentiment reversed, seen when Ghostbur gave Tubbo the Your Tommy compass, furthering the idea that Tubbo is an object, something to be sought after and secured with little opportunity for him to own something himself. It’s always “Tommy’s Tubbo”. Also when Schlatt gloated about having “his very own Tubbo”.

Tommy shows more possessive behaviors when dealing with the discovery of Ranboo and Tubbo’s marriage, asking about permission and insisting that Ranboo stole Tubbo from him. I’m sure this is subconscious, I know Tommy values Tubbo as a person but he still reduces Tubbo to an object to guard because he treasures his friend.

Another more vague example would be the fact that Schlatt exiled Wilbur and Tommy, but kept Tubbo as his right hand man even though it was clear he was on POG2020’s side. It was a way to insult Tommy, a way for Schlatt to add salt to the wound by keeping his best friend.

The Dream Team captured Tubbo very early into the Revolution, keeping him in a hole and holding him for ransom (this could be played off for laughs, I just remembered it). They also burned down his base, unrelated really but I remember it.

We could also count the way that Dream kept threatening to kill Tubbo if Tommy didn’t return the disc, but this feels like a mixture of pawn and prize, while still dehumanizing as it compares his value to that of music discs.

Yes, I am going to take c!Tommy joking about killing Michael to get Tubbo and Ranboo to break up so he can get Tubbo back seriously. The way he glared at Michael while holding an axe was just for the stream to see, if it was a joke I feel like he would have said it out loud. Even if it is a joke, laughing about taking something Tubbo loves away just to ruin his relationships is a bit yikes and frames Tubbo as something to be won back. You can ignore this if you didn’t see that moment as canon, but there are plenty of signs pointing to this being in character. (Also to be noted, Tubbo didn’t want to show Michael to Tommy, so Tommy ignored him and asked Ranboo instead, who immediately showed Tommy to Michael despite Tubbo’s clear worries)

Tubbo seen as a Scapegoat

His cabinet flip flopped back and forth on the decision to exile Tommy every five seconds. Whenever they spoke with Tubbo, they were all “You’re right! We’re going to listen to you! We have to do what’s right!” and then they hear a half baked plan and completely switch up on what they already agreed to do. (This happened twice. One at the sit down meeting where Tommy revealed Spirit and the cabinet joined Tommy in his mocking, only to blame him for how the meeting ended. Twice at the exile). So when Tubbo had to follow the original plan to, you know, make sure their country wasn’t put under lock and key until every citizen was eventually killed, his cabinet acted so shocked and betrayed and he was Schlatt and a dictator. It’s very true that he went against their plan (THAT THEY MADE FIVE MINUTES BEFOREHAND AFTER HAVING ALREADY AGREED TO THE FIRST PLAN FOR DAYS), but the way they treated him afterwards, as if he was a vile person for keeping his country safe, heavily impacted Tubbo’s mental state for a long time after. What I’m saying is Tubbo was set up to be the villain in that scenario, accidentally by his allies, and purposefully by Dream.

Tubbo was blamed for the destruction of L’manburg by Dream and a few others (also himself)

TUBBO IS CONSTANTLY BLAMED FOR THE BUTCHER ARMY ARC DESPITE IT BEING COMPLETELY THOUGHT OF AND LEAD BY QUACKITY (This is predominately fandom based).

The full blame for Tommy’s exile has rested on Tubbo (I will never forget Tommy calling him a monster), despite the fact he was manipulated and backed into a corner by Dream. Even when everyone has come to understand that Tommy was manipulated by Dream, the same doesn’t go for Tubbo and he’s hit with “imagine exiling your best friend” jokes many times.

Wilbur puts the decision of blowing people up at the festival on Tubbo’s shoulders, absolving him of the blame.

Schlatt made Tubbo tear down the L’manburg walls and the important signs so he could have to deal with the blame (though Quackity took the fall for this).

This is more theory based, but I fully believe Wilbur made Tubbo president right in front of Techno to egg him on to attack L’manburg. Since Tubbo would be the president, he would take the full brunt of Techno’s wrath (and he and Tommy did), and the destruction fell onto him.

So! With my text evidence we can see a recurring pattern in the way that Tubbo has been used by many people over the history of the server without much regard for his feelings. There are very few times when people besides Tommy ask how Tubbo feels about a situation, leaving him to his dark thoughts without anybody caring. Even during the Final Disc War, when Tubbo was literally moments from death, nobody asks how he is. Nobody (except Quackity once) checks up on him, and he builds up his community by himself. Until Ranboo came along, and I am not overexaggerating this, nobody was with Tubbo to support him. He had no support system and nobody cared. They just assume that he is always fine and if he wasn’t, it isn’t their place to intervene. Tubbo is just not respected, feared, or acknowledged unless he has someone by his side, or unless he’s doing something bad in which case he’s unhinged and evil and sure to have a villain arc.

This is just something to find interesting:

The only few characters Tubbo is actively involved with that hasn’t looked down on him as a sidekick or an object has been Foolish, Puffy, Ranboo and Technoblade. You could make an argument of how Technoblade referring to him as “government” could be dehumanizing but I don’t think I’ve actually seen him do that in character? I could be wrong though. Really, Technoblade takes him seriously, but way more seriously than c!Tubbo warrants. Like, he’s looking for a tyrant to beat up and Tubbo is literally just a guy with a lot of issues struggling to keep a handle on his cabinet, which I find funny. But, jokes aside, Technoblade saw Tubbo as a legitimate threat during his presidency and is respectfully cautious of him and his nukes presently, which is surprising to me. Ranboo adores Tubbo and all of his chaos that people are unaware of because they don’t get to know him well enough. Puffy just wants the best for all the kids of the server and knows how to be respectful of their feelings, and Foolish is respectful of Tubbo, if a bit annoyed and intimidated by him.

The point of this essay is just to show that there is a pattern to these things. This is how Tubbo is treated, this is why Tubbo is prepared to die for whatever because because he doesn’t feel he’s worth anything while alive, and this is why it’s frustrating to see characters call him a follower, pawn, or yes man. And here’s the thing: I DONT KNOW WHY THEY TREAT HIM LIKE THIS??? Why him? I can’t really find out why this started to happen.

To sum some things up, no I don’t think every character who treats him poorly is completely evil. Again, some of this seems to be subconscious, some of this could be argued to be OOC, I just wanted to bring this pattern to light.

[wewinbees]

thinking about techno’s speech at the november 16th war...

“i did not spend WEEKS planning this revolution... for you guys to go in and replace one tyrant with another.”

at that time in canon he was obviously talking about jschlatt and tubbo, but really at the end of the day that war had been a chance for DREAM to take control. that arc was when the final antagonist being dream became clearest, and how he’s been carefully manipulating events to get things to go his way since the start. dream says it later, tubbo was just a political puppet. he was being controlled by dream, quackity and the rest of the cabinet. his title was temporary and nothing but decorative.

tubbo and tommy have both called techno a tyrant before, trying to call out his hypocrisy for chasing power, but really i never understood that comparison because techno isn’t interested in systematic power over other people. he never has been, it’s the one thing he’s been clearest on. he said he wouldn’t restart the antarctic empire with philza because they were too authoritarian and the start of his retirement he even refused to make a castle because of what it represented compared to the rest of the village! he wants power, yeah, but he wants power for personal control over his life. he needs it more for security than for a power thrill because he’s continuously proven right about violence being ‘the only universal language’

if dream wants to consolidate his power to gain back his control over everyone in the server, techno just wants it as a safety net, for himself and for his friends. really, if techno hadn’t been stockpiling equipment he would have died during the execution. he’s paranoid at heart, and since he was proven right, it’s harder to condemn him for everything he did after. or at the very least, it makes him less likely to go back to retirement. he blew up L’Manburg as revenge, not just as an anarchist.

all i’m saying is i think it’s very interesting that technoblade specifically has teamed up with the server’s true tyrant multiple times. they’ve both acknowled they’re just using eachother, there’s no emotions in their team-ups but after the 16th and the final destruction of l’manburg, it’s pretty clear dream’s the real dictator and those events are what helped him get there. and without techno neither of them would have been nearly as successful! techno is essentially the catalyst for dream’s rise to power and dream recognises that! it’s why he’s so intent on having techno on his side, that’s why he saved him back at the execution, it’s because in the end of the day technoblade is just another tool to him, another stepping stone on his way to power.

techno has acknowledged that dream’s not a good person, but not because of anything that happened with L’Manburg or his power over the server but because what little he finds o it about what happened with TOMMY. here we have techno focusing on people, not the bigger picture and strangely not on dream’s power over the server. if techno ever realises how much control dream really has outside of an interpersonal level, he is probably the only one who can genuinely put a stop to him, but right now he sees him as an ally so he’s not going to do anything. not even mentioning whatever the favour is.

i’m just getting worried that his complacency with dream is going to stab him in the back, because i’m still struggling to picture anyone else ending up in that prison. everything that happens next is gonna depend on what happens in the next techno stream, because without knowing his intentions for the future, it’s really impossible to tell.

[appleflavoredkitkats]

dream smp war 2 updates

doing a second chain post! i thought it would be appropriate if i did since it seems like there’s a new era of wars coming our way. 

(this post will keep updating by reblogged additions, so feel free to save this post somewhere or follow me to check for new updates every now and then!)

and ya’know, i thought wouldn’t be able to do this, but i realize that where else am i gonna infodump but here? so yea. here i go again.

(if you wanna check the first dream smp war post-war updates, it’s here!)

without further ado, time to explain whatever the heck just happened last stream! timeline of events might be funky because a lot of things happened, but i’ll try my best to at least mention everything that went down in the streams.

wilbur, tommy, tubbo, eret, quackity, and a confused hbomb’s stream - september 22

summary: schlatt and quackity win presidency, tommy and wilbur are exiled, some friends have become traitors, some foes have become allies, and technoblade joins the game.

the first streams that came from this honestly were very calm. legit the calm before the storm. tubbo was hanging out with niki, eret, and hbomb and eret reveals to tubbo that his first pufferfish that was stolen by fundy was actually in eret’s possession all along. eret gladly returns the beloved pufferfish to tubbo, and they rename it back to it’s original name “phukkit”.

then, everyone begins going in the server as each campaign stands on the podium waiting for the event to begin. wilbur, tommy, and tubbo first stray away from the group for a bit to watch l’manberg one last time. tubbo introduces to them his secret bunker in the lake for them to seek refuge just in case pog2020 loses. inside the bunker’s chests are some freshly brewed potions for wilbur and tommy to use in the future.

tubbo then brings tommy to the benches outside tommy’s little house and they play one more music disc together. here, tubbo gifts tommy the pufferfish he just gained earlier today, and tommy promised to treasure it dearly.

now, the event begins, and wilbur begins announcing the results. luckily, everyone is here this time. in last place is coconut2020. a funny thing about this is that fundy actually committed tax fraud and got around 100,000+ votes to be counted in the google form just from coding some bot to vote for them. in third place is schlatt, in second is quackity, and pog2020 wins the number one vote.

here’s where the plot twist happens: quackity and schlatt apparently agreed to combine their votes if pog2020 doesn’t win. therefore, quackity and schlatt got 47% of the votes as pog only got 46%, making schlatt and quackity the shared president of l’manberg. tommy protests to these decisions, but wilbur accepts it with ease, and the two merely step down the podium in shame as they watch schlatt take a speech.

schlatt went on full dictator mode-- the first decree he signed as president is to revoke wilbur and tommy’s presence in l’manberg, exiling them. tommy was confused at first before wilbur demanded him to run to the bunker. schlatt immediately conducts a search party for him, electing tubbo as his right hand man to personally hunt the two down. obviously, tubbo would do it hesitantly, and he doesn’t actually get to meet the two in the bunker at all.

a lot of the nation was quite torn from the election results. quackity and george seem to be supportive of schlatt, niki, tubbo, and eret seem to despise schlatt, and fundy and jack seem to just blindly support him as well despite being l’manbergians. punz, ponk, and hbomb were there as well, but it was quite difficult to know who they were siding with since they kinda just got pushed around by everyone at the end.

using invisibility potions, wilbur and tommy escape the bunker to go somewhere in the forest to find their new home. they find a nice hill to make a small house in, and they later name this new nation “pogtopia”. they run into some conflicts though as wilbur and tommy forget to bring an enderchest with them, and they need some of the materials in them now if they want to build up a defense.

and then, in the middle of nowhere, techno tweeted:

wilbur claims he doesn’t want to trust techno right away because he was american, but they do consider having him as an ally later on.

firstly, let’s get back to l’manberg. upon schlatt’s request, the walls of l’manberg are being torn down. i heard somewhere that this might’ve been done thanks to fundy’s suggestion, but i’m not sure. everyone complies, and wilbur and tommy visit l’manberg one last time before it gets taken apart. as they watch fundy and tubbo tear down the wall, wilbur sings the l’manbergs national anthem. (the wall also eventually gets expanded past l’manberg, but i’m not sure how far they’ve built it)

speaking of fundy, fundy’s kind of in a weird place right now. he seems to unhesitantly side with schlatt in this election, and allows his policies easily as if he didn’t care about anyone else in l’manberg. knowing this, wilbur actually disowns fundy. it wasn’t in front of him, but he does say that he is extremely hurt by him in front of techno and tommy.

before i talk about the rescue of techno, we gotta go back to quackity and schlatt for a bit. quackity actually caught tommy visiting his place to get an enderchest, but i believe he doesn’t tell schlatt about it. quackity is quite interesting because while he does believe in some of the policies schlatt believes in, he also believes that schlatt is taking this dictatorship too far. even he thought exiling tommy and wilbur was a big deal, and he aims to be the voice of reason to be able to change schlatt’s mind about his policies. moreover, he wants to discuss matters with tommy and wilbur as well to get on their side too, but wilbur doesn’t wanna talk to quackity because, fourth wall break, he believes they’re progressing far into the story too much if they do, and honestly, valid reason lmao.

do note that quackity is trying his best to tear down schlatt’s evil dictatorship. he’s secretly been advocating for niki and is helping her escape schlatt’s grasp when she needs it, and he eventually talked to schlatt near the end of the stream to be more mindful of quackity’s opinions because without him, schlatt wouldn’t have won. there’s some toxic relationship plot device being used here between schlatt and quackity, and i’m interested to see how this will all play out.

back to tommy and wilbur, they call techno and actually consider his help. tommy says he will run back to spawn and tell him when to join so that he can bring him to their secret base. eret tries to help them and supply them with goods, but tommy and wilbur refuses his help profusely. finally, when tommy reaches spawn, techno joins, and my god, all the three streams i watched just went “TECHNOBLADE????” all at once. 

on schlatt’s end, he claims that techno’s arrival was part of schlatt’s plan all this time. on the other hand, techno claims he’s only here for wilbur and tommy. i fully believe techno would be with wilbur and tommy, but of course, i can never be sure. just don’t discount the possibility of a traitor!techno happening sometime soon.

even if ponk tried to kill techno and tommy as they tried to escape, tommy was able to kill ponk before techno got hurt. they eventually arrived to pogtopia, and there, wilbur declares that he will be a different man from what they know of him pre-election. i’m thinking there’s going to be more violence surrounding the war, and also some strategic planning. they want to get tubbo as a secret agent for them to tear schlatt and quackity apart, eventually leading to the downfall of the dictatorship. niki might also be someone crucial here because she and wilbur have been exchanging messages secretly, so there’s going to be some niki action too.

then, schlatt makes another announcement. after the walls have been torn down, he declares l’manberg gets a new name-- manberg. niki protests, and wilbur and tommy and rightfully disgusted, but schlatt wasn’t going to do anything about it.

everyone in pogtopia, before they can stack up on some resources, have to go back to the dream smp because they comedically have to get a visa for one day for when ninja joins the minecraft server. they were greeted peacefully (and techno steals some potatoes!!!), and it was definitely fun to see so many people in the server all at once. evetually, schlatt does grant them the visa, and they leave. they talk to tubbo one last time, and tubbo warns them about techno being allegedly “paid” by schlatt to betray tommy and wilbur. tommy regards it for now, but after that, they leave to return to pogtopia.

in pogtopia, they begin mining for resources. in the ravine they found below their base, tommy found a strip mine that leads EXACTLY BACK to his bunker. this will be used for a secret passage for them just in case they discreetly want to return to the dream smp.

this is kinda where the main plot stuff ends for wilbur and tommy’s streams, but in eret’s stream, apparently he and bad found pogtopia. they find techno silently, gifting him with potatoes, and leaving promptly after.

on quackity’s end, he’s really trying to convince schlatt to become more open-minded about this entire presidency. there’s some real tension going on between these two, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they break it off for quackity to join pogtopia. it really seems like they’re hinting it to become that way.

now, it seems like everything’s done, but nope. on eret’s stream, fundy single handedly burned down the l’manberg flag that niki built. FUNDY BETRAYAL AND ERET REDEMPTION ARC. niki is LIVID at fundy, but she wasn’t able to talk to him as he left the server immediately. we don’t know what fundy’s true intentions are, but it’s assumed that he’s siding with schlatt for now. eret at least tells niki they’ll try to rebuild it with concrete so it can’t be destroyed.

JUST AS ALL THIS SHIT CONCLUDES, SAPNAP JOINS. he only joins so he can catch up with everything he missed. eret and niki explain everything to him, and sapnap says he will have to talk to dream about this. he then leaves afterwards.

conclusion: BE HYPED. BE HYPED FOR PLOT. SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION TO THE ENTIRETY OF THE DREAM SMP FOR THIS AMAZING PLOT. DON’T SEND THEM HATE; MAKE CONTENT FOR IT INSTEAD. these people probably worked hard improv-ing/making plots for these, so show your love and appreciation for them!!!!!

[alexthemagicaldevil]

Of Medea, Jason, and Other Tragedies

Some of you might remember a post I made a little while ago comparing how Quackity and Technoblade fit into the lore of the DSMP. Here are my thoughts via a 3k words of angst:

Read it on AO3

There was nothing left of L’Manburg.

It was something universally understood and known. Something that was never questioned. Something that everyone just accepted so that they could move on and not think about the nation that had too many traitors, too many broken promises, too many memories. It was something that everyone thought they believed so that they wouldn’t go looking for little pieces left behind, pieces that miraculously survived the desimation.

But Quackity knew the truth. Those little pieces could be found without looking too hard, whether it be in the fractured relationships of the SMP or the physical evidence that managed to not become ash at the bottom of a crater. And Quackity, well, he held both of those pieces in the palms of his hands.

In one hand, he held the souls of those fractured by L’Manburg’s memory. Fundy and his desperate need of a stable family, with a past scarred by a father that went mad and nightmares that haunt his waking actions. Sam and his futile attempts at control, gradually being poisoned as he pushes everyone away and tries to single handedly keep the server’s god locked in his own prison. Purpled and his lack of legacy, even in a place he so heavily influenced and his skills so valued yet so dismissed. Foolish and his beautiful builds and broken heart, running away from his destructive past and wanting peace despite the possibility of godhood sitting at his fingertips.

In the other hand, Quackity held a poster, one of the last remaining remnants of the place he had once fiercely declared home. He has no idea how it survived. Most of the physical pieces of L’Manburg that could be found were sections of buildings just far enough away from the explosions, items in random chests, or whatever was on the citizens at the time. Yet somehow, through all the fire and TNT, this poster had survived.

Technoblade. Wanted dead or alive.

Quackity had found it relatively soon after Doomsday, wandering around the crater where L’Manburg once stood. It was slightly singed on the edges and an entire corner was gone, but there it was, lying on the ground innocently, Technoblade’s mocking eyes staring at him with something like satisfaction.

He should have left the thing there. It would have eventually faded away like the rest of L’Manburg with enough time under the elements. Or maybe he should have burned it and forgot it was there in the first place. Whatever he should have done, picking it up, carefully folding it, and stuffing it into his back pocket was definitely not it. But he did. And it stayed with him for a long time.

At first, it was just there, a burning reminder in his back pocket of all he failed to do and what he promised to accomplish. It was there as he built Las Nevadas from the ground up, barely noticeable besides the constant nagging reminder in the back of his thoughts. It was there when he hired Purpled and Technoblade to take care of the Eggpire that had gone on for far too long, growing heavier and heavier each time the Blood God looked at him. It was there when he found out about Kinoko Kingdom for the first time, how the only three people he thought he could trust, the reasons he built Las Nevadas in the first place, left him behind without a second thought.

(The poster didn’t feel heavy then, but it did feel like it was laughing at him. Low and monotone, coming from deep within his memories.

The poster didn’t feel heavy then, but the two rings threaded through a chain around his neck did. They felt like shackles threatening to weigh him down and drown him.

Quackity removed the rings and hid them in a chest after that. Somehow, though, they still felt suffocating).

The poster was there for everything, tucked away in his back pocket, even when he began recruiting members for Las Nevadas. Through Foolish and Fundy, Purpled and Sam, and even through Slime. It knew everything, Quackity would find himself thinking. Of course, there was no way for a poster to know anything, but it didn’t stop the thought.

It wasn’t until after Wilbur visited him with Tommy after his revival (and so many memories of Pogtopia) that he finally took the poster out of his pocket. He was alone at the time (as he always is these days, it feels like, even surrounded by other beings) and in his unfinished casino. Sam had left nearly an hour ago to continue his duties as the Warden at the prison. The echoes of their conversation reverberated through Quackity’s mind.

Technoblade is going to the prison to see Dream tomorrow, he remembers saying. I trust you know what you have to do.

Of course, Sam had replied, the intense green of his eyes sparking in the dim lighting of the casino. You’ve done your part. Now I’ll do mine.

Quackity stared at the glass of whiskey in his hand. It had always Schlatt’s drink of choice, when he was still breathing. The smell reminded Quackity of the long nights he spent as Vice-President to a man barely sober enough to stand, let alone run a country. How many times had he put the smallest amount of poison in Schlatt’s drink, hoping that this time, it would be enough to end him for good? How many days had he spent hiding bruises and putting on fake smiles, wondering if it was all worth it? How many nightmares had he endured, thinking about everything Schlatt did and made him do?

He drank all the whiskey in one go. It burned his throat and pooled like fire in his stomach.

The glass made a satisfying thud on the counter as Quackity set it down. It was then that he finally reached for the poster in his back pocket, holding it almost gently in his scarred hands. He traced the edge of it with his finger, thinking deeply.

Quackity unfolded the poster, one fold at a time. The folds were deep from the sheer amount of time it’s spent in his pocket. It was honestly a miracle that it was still intact, given the state it was in when Quackity found it and the constant strain it’s been under since.

When Quackity finished unfolding the poster, he placed it against the wall and used his empty whiskey glass to hold it up. It looked just like he remembered, even back when the Butcher Army was first created. Sure it was faded and threatened to fold on itself at any moment, but it was still there. The reward, Technoblade’s face, the L’Manburgian flag.

Quackity stared into Technoblade’s red eyes. It was only a drawing, but whoever had done the picture nailed the resemblance to the Blood God. The scar over his eye and lip itched just looking at it.

“You know Technoblade,” Quackity found himself saying. “Before we met, I always had a healthy respect for you. Who didn’t? Everyone was in awe over the Blood God, the most terrifying fighter of our generation, rumored to never be able to die.” He sighed. “Of course, fighting was never my strong suit. You found that out first hand,” he added with some humor, though it felt flat. “Still, a part of me longed to do what you do. Words can only get you so far, get you so much respect.

“They say you should never meet your heroes. Something in that has to be true, because ever since I’ve known you, my life has been nothing but one bitter failure after another.” The poster didn’t reply, and Quackity understood with some absurdity that he was literally talking to a poster as if it were a real being. Still, he continued on.

“Well, maybe that’s giving you too much credit, but it sure feels like that. It’s just,” he trailed off slightly, moving his hands around, trying to figure out some way to articulate his point. Words were supposed to be his weapons, but here, vulnerable and trying to express something that’s been gnawing at him for so long, they scrambled in his throat. “Somehow you come out of every battle, every conflict without a single mark, yet I’m punished for every decision I’ve made since I came to this Primeforsaken SMP.”

And those words, Quackity realized, are when the floodgate inside his chest burst.

“No matter what you do, who you hurt, who you kill, what everyone wants or tries to accomplish, you have never paid for anything you’ve done to the people of this server. I remember when we took down Schlatt with Pogtopia, how you were so insistent that the government had to be taken down, all the while talking about how it was the people’s choice to live how they wanted to live. Well guess what, shithead? The people, L’Manburg, us, we decided that we wanted a government, one that listened to us and one that we could trust. And what did you do once the people made their choice? What did you do after we had called you our friend and said you didn’t have to live by our ways if you didn’t want to? You called us traitors. Said we used you, when all you ever wanted was an excuse to push your own anarchist bullshit down the throat of any server that would give you the time of day. You’re somehow the biggest hypocrite I’ve ever met, even in a world where Dream runs around as the Admin.

“But that’s not even the worst of your sins, isn’t it? I’ve watched you blow up countries with no remorse, execute a child on the whim of a dictator, corrupt and hurt every single person I’ve ever cared about, destroy what I put every ounce of my heart and soul into like it was nothing.”

There were tears aching behind his eyes now. Quackity took a shuddering breath, trying to calm his hurting heart. He thought about Schlatt and his time in Pogtopia, thought about Tubbo and Tommy and Niki and every other L’Manburgian face as they realized the nation they loved was gone at Technoblade and Wilbur’s hands. “And what were your consequences for all of this? What karma did the oh so powerful universe decide you deserved?

“Nothing. Not a single, goddamn thing. For all your violence and bloodshed, you get to live in a nice cottage in the Arctic, filled with friends that celebrate your birthday, and not a single regret.”

Quackity smiled blankly at the poster, raising his hands. By now he was full on pacing in front of it, his shoes making soft noises against the tile. All the while, Technoblade’s red eyes watched his every move.

“But what about me? Prime knows I’m the furthest thing from a saint this server has to offer, but at least I had good intentions. I went against Wilbur during the elections not because I wanted power, but because I saw what he was doing and no one else was going to call him out on his bullshit. I mean, come on! Running a single party election in a so-called democratic nation? Now, that doesn’t mean I didn’t do bad things. I should have left Schlatt the moment I realized just how bad he was. I shouldn’t have waited until after he ruined L’Manburg and executed Tubbo to join Pogtopia. It haunts me every waking moment.” Quackity stopped his pacing for a moment, lost in the memories. Tubbo screaming, the flash and bang of a firework. The explosion of color from the second firework immediately after, because the first one hadn’t been enough. The burning in his chest as he was hit with a firework of his own.

“And then, after you and Wilbur decided to blow it all to kingdom come, I did everything I thought was best for L’Manburg. I helped people. I rebuilt everything you destroyed and made it better. I wanted to hunt you down and make you pay for everything you did.” His scar began to itch again. “But I guess we both know how that turned out.

“And what were my consequences for this? For doing my best, realizing my mistakes, trying to fix them, trying to protect those around me? What karma did the oh so powerful universe decide I deserved?

“Everything. I was punished for everything. Every place I called home, every person I called a friend, every time I fell in love, anything I tried to protect, every time I tried to be happy, I was punished for it. Somehow in this fucked up version of the story, I’m the villain that needs to be punished for their actions, while you’re the blameless hero that gets a happily ever after!”

Quackity was near yelling at this point. It felt good to let out all of his emotions after so long, putting everything into the open even if no one else heard him. He forced himself to calm down slightly, running a hand through his hair.

“Have you ever heard the story of Medea and Jason?” he asked abruptly. The air of the casino seemed to shift uncomfortably with his sudden change of tone, lighter and lower than before. “You probably have, with your obsession with Greek Mythology and shit. You know something interesting about Medea, though? Even though she did horrible, and I mean horrible things, she never lost the favor of the gods. She abandoned her country for some random dude she fell in love with, plotted the murders of her brother and father, as well as murdered a princess with a poison so strong that it killed anyone she touched, and even killed her own children. Yet she doesn’t pay for any of it. Through all of the murder and sorcery, the kept her favor with the gods, and was allowed to have a happy ending. Hell!” Quackity let out a barking laugh. “She doesn’t even die as far as anyone knows! Greek mythology is known for its love of horrible and dramatic deaths, yet of all of the myths she shows up in, never once does it mention her eventually dying, even of old age! Sounds like someone else we know, doesn’t it?”

He paused for a moment, as if expecting a reply. Of course, there was none.

“Now Jason, Jason, on the other hand, we see something interesting. You see, he loses his favor with the gods, specifically his patron Hera, because he was trying to marry another woman even though he was already married to Medea and had two children with her. Can you imagine your patron goddess being the lord of marriage and family, and then you trying to marry another woman? The balls on that man, I’m telling you. The point is, none of his heroic deeds mattered in the end. He lost favor with the gods, lost his wife and children, and ended up dying alone, crushed under the weight of the Argo. The only thing left to immortalize his heroism ended up being the cause of his death.”

Quackity suddenly paused. His words echoed in the casino around him. No longer was he pacing. Instead, he stared long into the distance, as if he could see something through the thick walls. The weight around his neck was nearly unbearable. When he spoke again, it was just above a whisper.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is you are an awful lot like Medea. Doing horrible things left and right with the gods still choosing to favor you, still getting a happy ending despite all the pain and grief you’ve caused. But…” he trailed off, looking back at the poster. It may have been his imagination, but Technoblade’s eyes seemed less mocking, somehow.

“I have hope. Maybe you’re not Medea. Maybe, just maybe, you’re Jason. You’ll do something so terrible that you’ll lose your favor with the gods, lose everything that ever mattered, and you’ll be crushed under the weight of what once proved your worth.” Quackity walked forward, reaching out his hand. His fingertips stopped less than an inch from the surface of the poster, just hovering. Waiting. Contemplating.

“But I can’t wait for that to happen. I can’t wait for the universe to finally decide you’ve lost its favor.”

He dropped his hand. “You once said something, Technoblade. You said: treat others as they have treated you. That was your excuse for everything you’ve done. I tried to enact that saying once before, and I lost a life because of it. This time around…”

Quackity finally snatched the poster from the place on the wall, rattling the glass in the process. He refused to acknowledge that there was the finest tremble in his hands, making the poster shake.

“Well, the universe already made me the villain of this story. Might as well act like one.”

Quackity ripped the poster to shreds, piece by piece, one of the last remaining pieces of L’Manburg destroyed at his hands. Soon it was so shredded that it was unrecognizable, a pile of paper falling softly to his feet. When it was gone, it felt like pressure was relieved from Quackity’s shoulders. For the first time in a long while, he smiled genuinely.

He walked out of the casino, leaving the pile there for another day. He was sure Slime would clean it up without much fuss.

And if the weight around his neck grew to be nearly unbearable-- well, that was no one's knowledge but his own.

[crypty]

Rät

I come from scientists and atheists and white men who kill God They make technology high quality complex physiological Experiments and sacrilege in the name of public good They taught me everything Just like a daddy should

Almost everything Tommy knew, he learnt from Wilbur. How to make speeches, how to strategize, how to fight. They rebelled against Dream to make potions. They rebelled so everyone could benefit. They rebelled against tyranny. He would do anything for his brother. Tommy went to war with Wilbur but only found out what he lost afterwords. Sacrifices for everyone, put the burden on the children who fought for the land. The foundation of L’Manberg was blood, after all. 

And you were beautiful and vulnerable And power and success God damn I fell for you your flamethrowers Your tunnels and your tech I studied code because I wanted To do something great like you And the real tragedy is half of it was true

Wilbur was powerful and successful. He was general of an army, fighting against a nation much larger than his own. Tommy watched everything the brown haired man did. He wanted to be just like Wilbur. He wanted to be as charismatic and influential as his brother. He wanted to be great, to do great things. He ended up sticking with his brother to the end. He did end up doing great things, both of them. Both brothers ended up seeing their hard work blow up in front of them. Only one had a choice. 

But we've been fucking mean We're elitist We're as flawed as any Church And this faux rad west coast dogma Has a higher fucking net worth I bit the apple 'cuz I trusted you But it tastes like Thomas Malthus Your proposal is immodest and insane And I hope someday Selmers rides her fucking train

They ran for president. Tommy would have been Wilbur’s vice. The ones who fought with Wilbur, the ones loyal to him, would have been high ranking in their new government. Tommy trusted Wilbur. When they were exiled, Tommy stuck with his brother. The new government was flawed. Schlatt was a horrible president. He was drunk and abusive but he won the game of politics. Tommy hated him. He and Wilbur formed Pogtopia. He would have followed Wilbur to hell. Eventually, he did. 

I loved you I loved you I loved you it's true I wanted to be you And do what you do I lived here I loved here I thought it was true I feel so stupid I feel so used I feel so used

He loved his brother. Tommy felt broken when he died. As he saw the crater where his nation once stood, as he fought for what little remained, he loved his brother. He wondered if, at the time of his death, there was enough of Wilbur to love Tommy back. He fought for L’Manberg. He fought for his friends. He wondered what Wilbur fought for. He wondered how much was lies. He wondered how much his general used his blind loyalty. He still loved his brother. That’s what hurt the most. 

I was your baby Your first born The hot girl in your comp sci class And I was Darwin's prep school dream Bred born and raised to kick your ass I fell for circuit boards Rocket ships Pictures of the stars If you could only be what you pretend you are

Sapnap and George were left alone. The Dream Team. The ideal friendship. They were everything. They were strong and powerful. Two were genuine. Their leader wasn’t. The Dream Team fell apart. They should have seen the warning signs. They should have noticed Dream faking everything. They should have noticed the power hungriness. They watched the stars and fell into his trap. They should have noticed Dream’s manipulation. They were everything and then they were nothing. 

When I said take me to the moon I never meant take me alone I thought if mankind toured the sky It meant all of us could go But I don't want to see the stars if they're just One more piece of land for you to colonize For us to turn to sand

Dream ruled the SMP. He wasn’t a king or a dictator but he was the leader. He was a good leader for so long. Not all agreed. When Wilbur declared independence, George and Sapnap were the first to take Dream’s side. All three were ambitious and believed they could win. When the first battle came, George realized he was fighting and hurting his friends. Sapnap realized he was fighting children who didn’t truly know what war meant. Neither wanted the war to continue. Dream didn’t either. The war ended quickly. There were smaller battles, smaller wars. Nothing that involved a whole nation. No one in the Dream Team wanted that. As they kept upgrading, they watched L’Manberg have fun. They watched them lose and sometimes win. L’Manberg lost so much. Perhaps that was why it crumbled to dust when Schlatt came. 

Because we're so fucking mean We're so elitist We're as fucked as any church And this bullshit west coast dogma Has a higher fucking net worth I bit the apple 'cuz I loved you And why would you lie And then I realized You're just as naive as I am You're so traumatized it makes me wanna cry

Dream, George, and Sapnap. Some of the strongest fighters in the land. The best armor, the best weapons. They could buy, or steal, anything they wanted. The three of them trusted each other, relied on each other. Why would any of them betray the other two? Dream left them. He wanted more power. He landed himself in the prison and changed. He seemed smaller, sadder. Sapnap visited his old friend. He seemed traumatized. After the visit, Sapnap went to George’s houses. They talked. Sapnap returned to his own house and broke. 

You dumb bitch I loved you I loved you I loved you it's true I wanted to be you And do what you do I lived here I loved here I bought it it's true I'm so embarrassed I feel abused

He yelled at Dream in the prison. It reminded him of earlier arguments. Fights with clenched fists and subtle begs for Dream to go back to normal. Fights that broke their already crumbling friendship. Sapnap once wanted to be his friend. Confident and powerful. The land of the Dream SMP where Sapnap built his home. He should have seen the warning signs. His friend hurt him and now he didn’t know what to do. 

Well I don't wanna eat the rich I'd have to eat my hero's first And my tuition's paid by blood I might deserve your fate or worse But I don't need your goddamn money I don't need jack shit from you So when I speak you bet your life my words are true

Quackity was Schlatt’s right hand man. They were friends, perhaps more. He joint his votes with Schlatt’s during the election. When George bailed on him, Schlatt was Quackity’s hero. He went through so much to stay with Schlatt. He went through abuse, verbal, mental, and physical, to be with the president. He oversaw the Festival to keep power. He saw a young boy get torn apart by rockets to keep his position. He snapped by the end. He didn’t need Schlatt. He learn from the former president. He changed. 

Let me level with you man As someone guilty of the game I took the help I took the cash I would've taken your last name So if any girl on earth Should get to make a call about this It would be me and as I see it You're a dick

He tried to talk Schlatt out of it. By the end of his presidency, he was more drunk and crude then ever before. Quackity saw a man who had helped him and Quackity wanted him to be better. Schlatt wouldn’t change. Schlatt stiill saw himself as above others. Quackity rose up in the past few months. He took Schlatt’s help and influence. He took anything he was offered. Perhaps that’s why he wanted to help Schlatt. He saw Schlatt at his glory and his fall. He saw the best and worse and everything in between. Schlatt was beyond saving. 

So fuck your tunnels fuck your cars Fuck your rockets fuck your cars again You promised you'd be Tesla But you're just another Edison Because Tesla broke a patent All you ever broke were hearts I can't believe you tore humanity apart With the very same machines That could've been our brand new start

Fuck everything that Schlatt had. His power, his office, his mercenaries, his land. He tried his best to break the people who resisted him. He destroyed what the country stood for. He showed everyone his true colors at the Festival. He forced Technoblade into killing Tubbo with rockets. The same fireworks that could have signaled a new land. The same boy who represented the future. Schlatt destroyed L’Manberg, even if Wilbur was the one who blew it up. 

And the worst part is I loved you I loved you I loved you it's true And sometimes I feel like I still fucking do I lived here I loved here I thought it was true I'm so embarrassed I feel abused

The part that made shame rise in Quackity’s throat was that he did care about Schlatt. Maybe he still did. He lived in Manberg, he loved its president and yet he saw it turn to rubble. He was ashamed to have been the one who worked closest with Schlatt. Some people forgave him, some didn’t. Tubbo forgave him. He worked with Tubbo, after Schlatt’s death. He amassed enough power to still be part of the government. He wondered if it was worth it.

I feel so used I feel so used Take me to the moon Because I feel so used I feel so used

~~~

Inspired by Rät by Penelope Scott

Masterlist

https://thelullabyer12.tumblr.com/post/639129395216433152/masterlist-of-2021

[24-guy]

I spent 2 hours on writing notes from the prison podcast stream.

Now I don’t know what to do with them, so I’m putting them here. 

No need to read them, there is just some interesting stuff I noticed, things like tones and how many times somethings are brought up. 

if you do, though, I apologize  for spelling errors. 

start stream

techno "did the calculations" on how long it would take to mine obsidian with the amount of mining fatigue they had. we knoe this is true.

dream has been writing, it is the only thing hes been able to do with the limited items he has. its his "diary"

techno teases over fanfics on wattpad

"the only thing ive written is my diary" do the revive books not count, then? or what is in the revive books that isnt writing?

techno focuses on that nobody is watching - dream doesnt comment on it - dream doesnt know about the voices?

techno is supposed to break dream out, but he hasnt got many ideas "ill get to it later"

techno enjoys prison - sees it as a vacation

techno has an optimistic outlook.

go with the flow

dream sees harming himself as exhillerating techno disaprooves

dream tells techno quackity has been torturing him everyday. techno is only surprised by the every day part

dream mentions the revive book techno remembers being told about that asks "yeah you can bring people back from the dead. yeah so how do you do that" - curious tone, seems genuinely interested for innocent meanings dream responds " i have.. the knowledge and then i get a book and then i burn it" - hesitant at first, then vague but seemingly honest reponse

techno asks what the knowledge is, incantation/password/expelliarmus dream says "something like that" slowly, then quickly says he doesnt know and that he "doesnt know how schlatt had it" - going away from the topic original book - there are more than one it is a book is what youre saying - t well... i mean, it was a book that i memorised and that now i can recreate - d techno tries again to get the knowledge he wants to revive people dream doesnt want to tell techno because he wouldnt be the only one who knew techno tries to bargain saying that if dream died, techno coulld bring him bacl dream knows they wont kill him because he can revive people

dream says no, techno says "you forgot how to write it down didnt you dream says he didnt, that he did it recently, techno repeats again that dream forgot brings up wattpad again. dream says he wrote it down for tommy. he doesnt mention wilbur to techno. bring up the homeless situaation prison is dreams house cell is boiling apparently makes a joke about cali rent prices

nobody visited the cell "we stopped anarcy" "when we get out of here" no though ahead going into this situation (techno) "just as far as i need to" dream doesnt know what techno means by stream schedule, techno jokes about dream's lack of schedual techno usually trains always looking for new combat, reasearching constant arms race no idea when a government will arise or opressing people is always prepared has a good amount of gear he also plays golf somewhere offers a game with dream no way to describe it somewhere farther than his house

dream asks about tommy techno hasnt seen him canonically, only knows he stole acouple months ago - as far as he tells dream

dream asks about carl carl is doing well

dream asks about the family its doing good, apparently, new foxes, got steve who will break him out dream writes about steve "i will write evrrything down because its hard to remember" another fanfic joke

dream asks whos feeding them they feed themselves its probably fine

milld break for 4 wall break

gist or jist

prison podcast offers, agrees that is all this is

technical difficulties

podcast bros

eating potato

dream offers his thoughts on what would happen of he tried to revive somebody who is alive two technoblades human meat sheild

dream wants to try no death first what could go wrong nothing else to do

techno house is man vs nature conflict floor has ants floof brings ants spilled pet food dream has a revivebook techno tries to read it first hit with book a small wait throw into lava DreamXD joins broke the table fixed table a god dream "cloned himsef" god looks exactly like dream feels like a question to ask earlier dream summoned dreamxd ask for wish ask for bell dream gets mad because no escape dreamxd leaves sellout timer goes off techno makes money as dream questions his life dream sits in corner hole techno aims to be annoying we count channel members for a bit

dream and techno friend bonding time?

summons dreamxd for reviving nobody dream writes this in his diary as techno rings bell tries again, it doesnt work creative mode is a known thing by mortals they know how deadly it is

warden on vacation

techno hasnt written anything he has at least 4 books in his inventory, going from the top 2nd space to the top 5th space. the fourth book is called information and is signed by dream. dream throws a potato in the lava techno asks for the revive book again, this time to see of dreamxd will come back because it is a different person summoning him dream says no

techno needs a bell to sell out for the *brand*, ritual and tradition dream put the bell in church prime no twitch primes for dream - hes a heratic (no contract) dream makes no profit dream has lots of raw potatos for 5-6 months

techno asks if dream has any friends dream says not really, they turned against him techno knows the feeling being betrayed by closest friend happens every tuesday for techno

dream mentions being visited by a few people techno asks if any tried not to torture or kill him dream says yeah like he wasnt expecting the question/(as techno put it) "he hesitated"

sapnap - didnt torture or kill him - but he said if dream got out of there, then he would - techno says hes gotta raise his standards

bad - was the best - treated dream the best - techno says hes a cult leader - dream is surprised so techno tells him about the egg - techno wasnt clear - bad hasnt viseted since 4-5 months ago - techno says even he has friends - egg was attacked - big crossover episode not clear what is going on

techno - last time they saw each other was dooms day - been a while - lot has happened - techno doesnt now whats going on currently on the server - he knows nothing - "people" tell him who died and who came back

tubbo - asks about tubbo - tubbo is chillng - snowchester named - commune - a little sus - dictator - no rushing to conclusions - tubbo has nukes - big crater - a hoby - could be meteor

ranboo - asks about ranboo - ranboo is also chilling - brings up tubo's nukes now

dream points out that techno said he didnt know anyting and then said about a new place, nukes, and a lot more dream doesnt know anything - less than techno

ranboo (again) - dream says he used to visit a while ago and then stopped coming - techno asks "ranboo used to visit?" - ranboo visited "a bit" - probably visited the most - sapnap visited - tommy visited a couple of times - bad visited - and quackity - quackity visited the most, only because hes visited daily

more potatos pog potatos

ranboo (x3) - techno asks how dream knows ranboo - "um... its just a.. long story" - techno replies sarcastically about how they dont have any time to go through it, theyre so busy with the bell - dream "i dont know him very well. he just visited a few times and that was it." - techno just repeats alright, its either bored or thinking - dream "and then i havent seen him since then so thats why i was wondering where hes been, if hes been around" - techno " ah... im not sure. i havent been around fpr like the past couple of months, honestly."

techno went on  atraining montage, played golf

dream asks about the plan to get out mining fatigue 3 doesnt mean they cant break blocks, its just approximately 370 times longer breaking obsidian takes a bit over 4 minutes math = obsidian block gone in 25.7 hours. an alarm break in the right spot break block in toilet elder guardian below the cell techno can take him if techno somehow dies dream brings him back could be out in 2 weeks havent been visited for 2 weeks nothing to lose dream has to break obsidian techno wants to end stream techno came up with idea so dream has to do it dream starts bell ringing for cheerng him on techno sounds happy that dream is doing it voices are mentioned - theyre laughing techno has perfect track of time techno is gonna annoy dream the entire time techno is a lookout there are only 4 books we only see the 4th name floof interrupts momentarily tommy killed a cat because dream liked it 300 dogs in the cell joke

channel member bell dream regrets his life again techo's plan? bell was a better investment dream has 10 bells in e chest techno doesnt techno wanted to go for more so techno could ring bell again

end of stream

[thatsinterestingveryinteresting]

essay/analyzing/theory time folks

 probably taking this a bit seriously but i find theorizing and doing these types of things fun, so here we go.

also i know it really isn’t that deep but let a girl hope.

here’s the thing. i absolutely adore the idea of traitor tommy: the angst, plot, shock, excitement, everything. i know techno and wilbur were already deemed the traitors but i think tommy might have a chance? also techno didn’t really betray them, but that’s for another day. but, since i have nothing else to do right now, here are my theories on why/how traitor tommy could/might possibly happen

btw spoilers i guess as of nov. 22 streams

Few things that can completely overturn the traitor tommy thing

i know the traitor tommy thing might never happen, solely for the reason that tommy is considered as the protagonist, or main character, at least from the viewers’ perspective.

tubbo. tubbo is the only person tommy truly trusts. tommy won’t betray tubbo under any circumstance and can become very a little  worried when tubbo’s harmed/in danger/killed. tommy was willing to blow up l’manburg after tubbo was killed, despite his obvious distaste of the notion. tommy’s loyalty literally may never shift.

tubbo also has melohi, another disc of tommy’s. tommy gave it for trust in the fact that he will never betray tubbo, so that might be true.

also, i’m spewing out ideas as i go along, and then again, anything can happen here on out.

anyways, here are the theories/reasons.

Tommy still wants his discs back.

now, a few things to go over

as far as we know, skeppy/dream have the last (?) of tommy’s discs . Now the thing is, there are only a few things that can occur so tommy can get his discs back:

it’s just that easy and tommy can ask - that’s not happening

he never gets his disc back - this could drive the next story arc but kind of unlikely? the disc war initiated pretty much a lot of things i think

duel - that won’t go well

war - very possible

spy - information for dream? badlands (for some reason, though unlikely)?

traitor/betrayal for the next war

Now all those listed above, can or cannot happen based on how the next few weeks will go, however, we are focusing on traitor tommy.

tommy could make a deal with Dream for the discs, depending on how desperate tommy is. tommy’s discs are the last thing he needs before he can be at peace. it’s the most important thing to him and was what basically started everything. betraying l’manburg could be one of the most interesting and best things he can do so he can get his discs once and for all. 

apparently, the disc is planned to be burned soon on a stream, so in an act of desperation or impulse, deals could be made for the disc.

Chaos (by extension of the discs)

in return for saving the disc, war could be declared upon l’manburg because... well... chaos. dream strives for chaos and tommy’s betrayal will invoke that in the best way. if tommy ever is that desperate, he’s putting his reputation, trust, and allies on the line. He’ll be alone but have his discs, so will that truly put him at peace?

he’s losing the trust of tubbo, his best friend, unless tommy and tubbo decide to betray together

after all, whatever tubbo does, tommy is likely to follow.

Power

“Tommy, when I said you’re never gonna be president, you’ve got to understand, that wasn’t-, that wasn’t a challenge. That’s true. You’re never gonna be president, Tommy.”

Spiting Wilbur could be a possible reason for betrayal, but then again wilbur is dead and that will put him against tubbo, in which tommy’s loyalty is too strong for that. unless he had a change in ideals for some reason.

the thing is, tommy gave up the title of president just for his discs , so that brings up the question, what will he do after he gets the discs? 

if the discs were something so important, would tommy want to get back to the title he was offered before giving it away for those discs?

i honestly don’t know, but before the war, power was a very strong reason for why tommy could have been the traitor, as well as protecting l’manburg.

the concept of power seems to be fairly important to tommy. wilbur only gave tommy presidency just to take it away to a degree, to break his heart, which wilbur would know how to do since they’ve been through pretty much everything together (plus they’re canonically brothers).

even further, techno said it himself.

when tommy and wilbur were exiled, the first thing they realized was that they didn’t have any power over the country they built. wilbur realized this, hence why he spiraled into madness. tommy, however, he was nailed in on the fact that they could have won, that they had to take back l’manburg because schlatt was tyrannical.

techno was right, schlatt won fair and square, yet pogtopia still did a coup and became what they believed they were fighting against. tyranny. government.

schlatt

just a reminder, tommy’s idol used to be schlatt. as far as i know, quackity is planning on resurrecting schlatt to be able to rule l’manburg, meaning overthrowing tubbo.

so, that begs the question, did tommy’s previous adoration of schlatt ever change?

i mean, he did kinda hesitate to put an arrow between his eyes when wilbur told him to, and that was before wilbur said to wait. maybe a stretch

Corrupt Tubbo

 tubbo hasn’t done anything except rebuild l’manburg, but imagine this. he used to be a part of schlatt’s cabinet. he has no real experience as a president and like, he’s young. but anyways, tubbo wouldn’t know much about running a country, so the only place he can get some type of information of this would be from working with schlatt and implement it in his administration. lowkey down for that

under the circumstance in which tubbo becomes a corrupt president, tommy would be conflicted towards tubbo being his best friend and tubbo being the tyrannical leader that every. single. president. had become.

 wilbur was a good president but limited the members of l’manburg, built walls, etc. schlatt was, well, schlatt. he was a bit mean to his citizens and cabinet, was a literal dictator, exiled one of the parties, and was just... evil vibes. the only ”good” thing is that he was elected properly.

anyways, realizing how similar tubbo’s administration could be to schlatt, tommy could, again, betray l’manburg/tubbo in order to bring him back to his senses or on the more evil side, overthrow him?

Just out of spite

maybe he gets tired of being called a child. making a deal of some sort and betraying the nation could do that in some weird way. even though ghostbur doesn’t remember it that much, his presence can be enough to remind tommy that he is always seen as the immature child of the group despite his desperate retorts explaining that he’s not.

by betraying l’manburg, he might think that people will think of him differently? as someone who went to the “dark side” in a desperate attempt to be seen or listened to like technoblade. he won’t be called a child if the strongest person on the SMP is behind him.

i mean, tommy has matured, compared to him during the revolution. he seems to think more about what he should do, he tries to be a leader, taking weaknesses, strengths, circumstances, etc. into consideration for example, as he does in MCC.

i can understand how frustrating it is to be called a child and too much stress can just make someone snap. he makes the deal and he’s not going to be called a child anymore.

it’s unlikely but it’s a fun little mini-reason

tubbo

if tubbo becomes a traitor, tommy most likely will follow. that’s it.

chaotic good

tommyinnit is “chaotic good” according to wilbur.

however, wilbur’s reasoning for this seems to be a bit interesting. 

While Tommy may seem lawful on the surface (due to his keen understanding of the codes and conventions that he must follow) he still flips his values radically based on tiny non-emotional changes in his environment. 

again, tommy’s values can change the minute something changes in his environment. for example, tubbo being murdered by techno.

the second tubbo got killed, tommy was willing to blow l’manburg to smithereens

so you don’t know what could happen since tommy’s ideals can change within a second

despite everything, i’m only holding on to hope when it comes to some sort of tommy/tubbo corruption arc. it’s possible, but not 100%. honestly, any kind of betrayal i’m down for but it’ll take a bit to regroup and recollect.

im genuinely just a sucker for a main character turned bad guy kinda deal. reminds me of the end of “murders” by miracle musical. like, after the main character did everything they needed to, they’re alone. they defeated the bad guy, they thought they saved the city/town/community, but just pan out. look at the destruction around the main character. as a viewer, you were only encapsulated in the main character’s perspective because they’re the main character, but look around. see that everyone despises them. they don’t see them as the protagonist the viewer thought they were. 

[spectraldagger]

okay but concept.

it's always "blood for the blood god," technoblade- but what about the technoblade that has structured his own sense of morality? the technoblade that cares deeply for those around him, going to the ends of the earth for a friend- especially one that's proven themselves to him as someone who's not only worthy of his love, but worthy of the world's love.

the concept of techno has always been so lovely to me, because yes, he's got this exterior that's riddled with almost a crushing sense of reality and lack of reliability- but if anything, I think technos true fault is that he's too reliable. he's the very foundation of stability. he breathes consistency for the sake of "ethics," for the sake of "helping others."

he's such a good villain.

he's a good villain, because he's almost like an overbearing mother in a sense. he means well, but means well at the expense of comfort- means well in a way that he pushes his own sense of morality onto other's for the mere fact 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯.

at the end of the day, what and how do structured governments really effect him? can you really tell me, that if he hadn't destroyed l'manburg... they would've tampered with him in some way, if he had just moved out and lived his life as he pleased? no, of course not- and he obviously knows that, but techno was riddled with revenge not for the purpose of thinking he was in the right, but because the very conceptualization of a government is a damper on his name. sure, governments are bad and push friendships apart and whatever nonsense- but government also means control. government means that he, technoblade, has to submit, and I honestly think that's more of an offense to him than anything.

technoblade is so oddly matriarchal, he's this angel of chaos that illicits an immediate fear response, because if you're not dictated by his personal sense of morality... you should be afraid, and you should be weary of your step.

he's just such an odd character in this world specifically- this world where morality is hard to come by, and he's deeply guided by those he loves along with his ego. they're such odd contrasts, and I think that's why a lot of the fandom tends to side with him? because although they think the egocentric exterior is a bit, a sham to simply downplay the deeper part of him that cares for his family and friends- it's still a part of him, and it's still something that guides his decisions.

(rant over,,,, these are such basic generalizations but I've been thinking about his moral contrasts for a second and just needed to w r i t e it down)

[felinedetached]

Firstly, "I don't know where Schlatt came into the picture so I'm confused."

You brought Schlatt into the picture when you said that it wasn't Wilbur who won the election, implying he's not a dictator because whoever won the election was. This isn't true, because two parties can be dictators at the same time.

Second, "Dream declared war first. Period."

Even if this is technically true, Wilbur and Tommy spend like 80% of their time interacting with Dream about L'manburg antagonising him over it, after breaking multiple server rules about stealing, before declaring that their area is not just a faction, but a seperate server, even though, I repeat, they refused to help pay for server upkeep. Additionally, Wilbur started this distinction as a war when even before talking to Dream about emancipation from the Dream SMP he asks for a revolutionary skin. They were the first ones to describe it as a revolution, which by definition is "a forcible overthrow of a government or social order". E.g. they were the first to talk about force.

In relation to establishing a "no factions" rule; entirely OOC this server was never supposed to be an RP server. It was just a fun server for Dream and his friends to fuck around in, with more people added as Dream got to know them, and it wasn't until Wilbur arrived that the server started turning towards RP at all. Therefore, a "no factions" rule was never required.

Thirdly, "he broke his own rules by griefing and stealing" — you know that rules in wartime are different from rules outside of wartime, right? Like, that's a whole thing? They were at war, lol, I really don't know what you wanted him to do there.

Fourth: I don't know what you were going with when you brought up Nikki and Jack Manifold, considering that both of them are European and therefore don't change the fact that it's a European ethnostate at all. Even if it was specifically a British ethnostate, Jack Manifold is... from England. Which is a part of Britian, which is a part of Europe.

Fifth: Wilbur didn't require a corruption arc to do anything? He got Technoblade on board almost immediately after being exiled and started making plans to overthrow Schlatt and disrupt his plans pretty quickly. Tubbo was immediately instituted as a spy, after all. It wasn't until after Wilbur's corruption arc that things got into full swing, but they were being planned from pretty much the first moment they got exiled. Also, you can't base people's reactions to things based on the five minutes after the event happened, because when bad/traumatic events happen most people require a grace period to process them? Wilbur hadn't completely processed his loss to Schlatt before he got exiled, so we don't know what would have happened if he lost. We do know what would have happened if he won, though, and it entirely aligns with Wilbur as a dictator. 

I know Wilbur said "Killing Schlatt wouldn't do anything" but you know what else he said? "We're not democratic, I've elected myself" and "we just kind of made ourselves the leaders, and then we had a vote and he won — in a coalition government, which was completely legal — and now we're trying to overthrow him." Both of which are him acknowledging himself as a dictator, and as the bad guy in this situation.

Wilbur declining the title of President is down to the fact that by the end of his arc, he'd changed as a person? He'd openly admitted he was previously a dictator and openly admitted that Technoblade converted him to anarchy. When he blew up L'manburg, it was the end of a self-destructive spiral and more indicative of him blowing up his own demons than anything else.

Finally, I've already openly admitted I think Dream's actions are reprehensible. The excessive manipulation and emotional abuse was well over the line, and I have openly said this multiple times. His long term goals, however, aren't "making everyone follow his rules", it's "return the server to how it was before governments", which is anarchy. The Dream SMP was an anarchist society before L'manburg formed the first government on the server.

Because it comes down to this: Dream isn't a ruler, he's a god. He's the server admin, and he created those rules out of character as base rules for the entire server before it became an RP. In character, he just enforces the pre-existing server rules, which aren't c!Dream's and are actually pretty basic + would work with an anarchist society fine, given that it's basically just "no iron farms, don't go to the end, don't grief/steal".

Anyway, considering I'm also a Wilbur apologist, and just actually acknowledge the character's flaws, I guess I'm also a dictator apologist! What do you know.

A reminder: L'manburg was not founded to fight tyranny. It was founded as a drug van and dressed up as a fight against tyranny in order to gain sympathy for their side. But L'manburg was founded by a dictator, its first democratic election was originally supposed to be rigged in Wilbur's favour and was designed to cement Wilbur's place as the leader of L'manburg. Its founding was about drugs and power, and if you think it's about fighting tyranny you've fallen for the propaganda L'manburg released and the revisionist history Ghostbur — a known unreliable narrator — wrote.