#dreamsmp analysis

[voidoffline]

Dude c!Slime died and came back - I think more *normal* than he was before. Like ofc he seemed all wrong, and at first I had just brushed it off as a result of maybe whatever Purpled had told him after he was kidnapped

But thinking about it more?

I think he’s just stopped hiding.

Maybe all his golly-ness, permanent smile and silly voice, was just him trying to be human. I mean. After his death he sounded less lively. Less human.

Maybe his disguise… worked after all.

Slime truely did succeed in seeming more human. More open and happy, sure he was *oddly* happy and cheery. But he was already odd so, what’s one small thing? But that as well was probably an act. If he’s been watching for so long he’s surely seen the effects a happy person can have on others. People were kinder and less violent towards people like Ghostbur, or Ranboo. People were nicer to those like Quackity’s before they got mean and cold. Charlie saw cheerfulness. So he mimicked that. And it worked to keep him alive

He thought everyone knowing he wasn’t human would be his downfall. And maybe it would have been - would Q have ever trusted Slime if he showed up clearly spying on him within his walls, with a dead expression and cold yet calm voice? No. Quackity wouldn’t have trusted him - and he probably would have thought Slime’s lack of knowing basically everything as some sort of joke

But instead, Quackity was met with a silly cheerful guy with a big smile - who seemed full of innocence as he tried his best to understand the world around him. Even if he didn’t know what simple things like snow were

And in truth part of that innocences was there.

But if he’s wasn’t trying to be human… would anyone have noticed?

If he didn’t show innocences or cheerfulness the same kind that people like Ghostbur had, would they have hesitated to kill him when they found him snooping around in their walls and spying one them? No.

Slime’s disguise worked. Somewhat. And Quackity just helped him in being more human.

Now Slime doesn’t need to pretend to be happy. Now he doesn’t need to look human

Now Slime knows what it’s like to be human.

[pizzainator]

I watched Jacks stream oh my gosh...

I thought I could handle a Dsmp stream in 2024 but nope. just- that felt SO much like just a stream that would happen in like 2021. the wandering around falling into random creeper holes, chat telling jack to get philza to help him, and to find michael, the mobs interrupting and how unplanned it all was. unscripted lore my beloved forever and ever.

the way that it's like in tommy and jacks conversation- they're talking about things in character that also relates to (presumably) their feelings in real life. just gosh...

when jack and tommy said their goodbyes and jack looked back at technos house to see the sun rising- like its so perfect in a way that the incidental roleplay always was. Like in the way I know I'm reading into it but it still works and it feels like real life when something happens and you find yourself in that moment and life looks almost like a movie- everything in it's proper place for the scene- but it's all just coincidence. the sun didn't rise because a writer wrote that it would. the sun just rises and falls and the conversation just happens to end at that exact moment.

idk just- I really felt it. It captured the feeling of peak dreamsmp that I've missed so much.

I don't even have a problem with nuke ending personally I think it's perfectly fine as an ending. How I've always seen it is: Everyones been hurt by everyone and violence begets violence so the great final act is nukes that will kill everyone that have all ready been launched so it can't be taken back. Then in the prison tommy sees the early parts of the server through Dreams pov and sees the good that was there at the start and how much that has been corrupted since and he wants that simplicity again (he and dream were even friends at one point) before everything went terrible for everyone. Dream turns his back on his plan that he's been building up to for so long cause what he really wants is the same thing as tommy. for things to be simple like at the start. but it's too late- its too far gone. the nukes have already been launched there's no going back. just the hope that maybe in another world things could've been different.

(also the added context of nuke ending being an elaborate character/relationship/map reset to setup a season 2 that never happened.)

So there's my nuke ending defense lol. I know it wasn't very popular with a vast amount of people and that's okay too.

I think ending something like dsmp was never gonna be easy or satisfy everybody, with how many individual povs there are and storylines. I always expected there to be things left unfinished. (unfinished symphony ;) Even if that's pretty unsatisfying for us viewers. (there's a particular stream I really wish had happened with foolish, dream, and eret)

idk there's a post I always remember when thinking about the ending that was like: "Maybe they couldn't write a happier ending at that time in their lives." (super paraphrasing) obviously talking about techno's passing. it's a bit assumptive but the CC's have talked publicly about how much that has affected them (of course it did). With something like that I imagine giving your minecraft server/roleplay character a happy ending is the last thing on your mind.

Todays stream felt like grief and nostalgia and complicated feelings for a time that has passed but still left it's marks on you:

“are you happier?” “I'm getting there”

like, that just says it all.

[pigeonstab]

I think reading people's explanations and representation of Killer's conditioning recently has given me a better understanding of c!Tommy's conditioning in the DreamSmp. (I won't speak too much on Killer's story simply because I don't know it enough and I don't feel confident to speak on it, if someone does and wants to add to thsi though I'd be happy to hear that take)

I think my problem at the time of the DreamSMP was that I didn't really understand how that conditioning worked. I found it weird that Tommy would be changed to the extent that he was with what "little" Dream did to him, but in hindsight I do think it was a given.

Tommy's whole exile arc starts with a complete uprooting. Dream gives Tubbo, the new president of L'manburg an unfair ultimatum. His best friend Tommy has to be exiled from L'manburg or he'll cage the nation in.

And Tubbo has been run ragged by his recent presidency. He has so much responsibility weighing on him when he's only sixteen or so, all the adults around him are expecting him to lead and to care of the nation while no one is helping. And this is right after not only his own first canon deathbut the destruction of L'manburg! Both extremely traumatic events that he's had no time to recover from. And there's so much pressure weighing on this decision. Tommy's life means little to those in L'manburg at the moment. With his aggravating personality— (born I think from a need to be seen, to be acknowledged, to be loved) —has already caused problems for Tubbo with the adults that are relying on him. People expect him to keep Tommy in check and Tommy is not helping. Their relationship is getting more distant and strained. So when it comes the time to choose, Tubbo feels he has no other option than to play into Dream's game. He has to exile Tommy.

This first element is decisive for what the rest of Exile is going to be like. Because it puts doubt into Tommy's head. Because Tommy lives in absolutes and to him his best friend was forever. (This thought of his is exactly in the same vein as his need to preserve the past). Because if Tubbo can exile him then what else is he wrong about?

And this is exactly what Dream needed, the chips fell exactly where he needed them too and I'm so insane about that. Everything was in place so that Dream could make Tommy doubt Dream's identity as "the bad guy" as the antagonist who was the first to try and rip the L'manburg dream apart.

—

Dream uses multiple tactics to dismantle Tommy and the way he goes about it is so interesting too and the first thing he does is so specific:

He makes a hole. He tells Tommy to put his stuff in it. He blows it up.

This is playing into one of Tommy's biggest weaknesses, this is ripping his belongings away from him, this is making him lose his progress. It's touching that part of Tommy that feels just like having L'manburg taken away, or his brother etc. And Dream sets up this expectation day after day, he comes, he makes a hole, he blows up Tommy's stuff. And Tommy's always been a spitfire, at the start he keeps fighting it, fighting for what's his and for respect and that's always met with violence. That's met with punishment.

In this way Dream sets up the expectation that taking away Tommy's things is normal. That letting him keep things is generous and he shifts the scale of what's acceptable to do.

The other big part of this is guilt tripping, and Tommy makes this extremely easy because so many people already hate him. He's got a big personality he's alive and he likes to prank people and insult them and he's annoying. He creates problems for the people he loves. And Dream takes that and he uses it. To make Tommy believe that he's an awful person, that he deserves nothing, and so Dream taking away his things is simply retribution, it's Dream making him into a better person, this is improvement. "This will show Tubbo that you've changed, that you're a better person" and since there's that doubt. He believes this.

On top of this Tommy's starting to lose himself. Firstly because all of what he knows has been turned on its head but also because he doesn't eat enough. His food keeps getting blown up. He's got almost nothing but seawater. He's seeing the ghost of his brother on a nearly daily basis, a pale copy of the great man, the visionary Wilbur used to be, acting upbeat and silly, unable to feel sadness as he keeps extracting it from himself, this unable to empathize with Tommy. (Ghostbur is really tragic. But even with how bad it was for Tommy's mental health to have him around he was probably the most helpful thing Tommy had. Ghostbur made him logstedshire, with a little cabin. Not just the shoddy tent he'd been sleeping in. He gave him the compass that pointed to Tubbo. The one thing he felt was his own once again, and a permanent reminder of his best friend. Maybe the care of a big brother transcends death and madness. Or maybe it was just a lonely ghost whims.)

And at some point Dream becomes the only constant in his life. That's what makes his visits become something Tommy looks forward to. And Tommy starts to believe the things that Dream repeats to him that "Dream can't be the bad guy because he's trying to make him a better person. One that's loveable. That's not annoying". And if Dream says to Tommy that they're friends then... Isn't it true? And boom now Dream is using Tommy's isolation and need for human contact to control him. He lets Tommy keep some things to gain his favor, and he even twists his punishments as something that are in Tommy's best interest.

Dream makes sure that Tommy understands that he has control over Tommy's life. When Tommy is in the nether ready to jump into lava Dream catches him. 'it's not your time yet' because he gets to decide that. He decides whether Tommy lives or dies.

And for all of this Dream's been playing keep away with the people around Tommy. Because the only Reason Tubbo didn't visit Tommy wasn't because he hates him like Dream said, it's because Dream has never allowed visitors. And when Tommy sets up his beach party. Inviting all the ones he loves Dream is delighted to intercept the letters from ghostbur. and god, after all Tommy's been through. He set up tables and chairs and parasols, he made cake. And I cried when no one showed up. But Dream showed. And Dream sweet talked Tommy into obedience again.

But that's where Dream made a mistake though. He had a careful balance of praise and punishment and tactic after tactic until then. And it was a stupid, easy mistake. He just pushed too far. Tommy taking the time to build the long tower to jump off of, taking a literal look down at the bigger picture and at the ground at the bottom is what allowed him a moment of clarity. A moment to decide that he wanted to live but not like this. And it's what led him to aim into the water and then run away from his place of exile.

There are so many aspects of Dream's manipulation that make this work. It's a gradual increase, so gradual that Tommy can't see what's wrong until he's almost ready to give up on living.

[shiraoyagi]

watching mygo and avemuji is a big slap in the face reminder that i am TERRIBLE at analyzing TV shows/movies

[mrclownery]

Thoughts from my story I didn't wanna retype on here

This is coming from someone who was an AVID c!crimeboys fan btw

[draconixiaa]

dream's mask and symbolism

recently (or rather, some time ago, at this point) i saw a post on the symbolism over dreams mask but i felt awkward just putting my own opinions on a reblog so my spiel will appear here:

the purpose of a mask is to hide and/protect someone's face, whether it be about identity, physical image, or safety during a pandemic. thus, a person using a mask has something to protect: usually one of the three aforementioned concepts.

the mask: whole

cdream, his skin, obviously does not have a mask, but the characterization of him having a mask originates from cc!dream's facelessness. the popularity of that concept made it so that it is popularly accepted that cdream dons a mask wherever he goes, and the fact that his skin does not change much throughout the majority of the server also helps in the wide acceptance of this theme.

therefore, we establish that cdream wears a mask throughout the majority of the dsmp, up to ctommy unmasking dream during his disc confrontation and cquackity doing the same in prison, and then also after the prison arc until the very final lore stream.

physical image

cdream hiding his face means that he has something to hide & protect, and in literal terms, this would be his physical image. when someone wears a full face mask, no one would be able to know what they truly look like, and this gives them an element of mysteriousness, and in cdream's case with the simplicity of his mask, allows him to be even more terrifying. this also leads to my second point: by hiding his physical image, no one would be able to see how his appearance changes over the course of the storyline.

characterization

cdream's character changes drastically throughout the storyline of not just the disc saga but also with l'manburg/manburg/pogtopia/etc and the prison arc. he begins with pure intentions, ends with the same intentions, but all throughout, his method of reaching his ultimate goal changes: from manipulation, to war, destruction, and self-sacrifice, etc, etc. he becomes more and more desperate, more and more willing to do whatever he can to achieve his goal. he also initially refutes that he is a villain, but then changes to embrace that role more and more.

meanwhile, cdream is wearing a mask. his physical appearance does not change much; people are able to keep on easily believing that cdream is a powerful and ruthless character without much emotions. oh right, masks also hides someone's faces. literally and figuratively, as he further embraces his role as a villain, cdream dons a physical mask and a verbal one to distance himself from the server to be seen as such an evil character.

this image of a powerful and evil character is what the masks does for cdream. he (or this image of him) is everlasting, almost like a higher being, and a malicious one at that.

characterization II

but, in all truth, cdream is very vulnerable. for as much as he claims that he has destroyed his attachments, these very feelings of protection and homeliness are what drives him to do what he says and does, especially as revealed during the dsmp finale. he changes so much behind that mask.

the mask: destroyed

as mentioned above, this occurs arguably on two occasions: the disc confrontation or also in prison. both have similar but also different implications.

disc confrontation

it is at this finale that ctommy gets his moment; he shines by breaking away cdream's protective shell and getting his rightful vengeance by killing him twice before sending him to prison. he pressures cdream with the presence of the server to take off all of his armor, and proceeds to kill him. for some fans, the armor represents cdream's mask-- particularly the helmet-- since he is always seen with his armor on in the server. as is with almost every other pvp-oriented person on the server, but ive digressed. taking off the armor is part of taking off that which is hiding what is inside cdream: his physical body, and his well-being. perhaps in the scene where he is compelled to throw his armor into the hole is part of him letting go of his image of a tyrant, but personally, i'd disagree, since the disc confrontation was all planned and organized by cdream; the armor, perhaps, is just the first layer.

the confrontation was all supposed to be under control-- his control. the armor and hole scene, cdream probably would've predicted; he went along with ctommys commands without much resistance, and honestly, this moment is just as symbolic to ctommy as cdream. just as cdream is pretending to let go of his image, or his powerful image is forcefully shoved off of him: ctommy is doing to cdream what he did to ctommy. this is the retribution of the golden rule: treat others how you'd want them to treat you. just as how cdream stripped ctommy bare of all his friends and protection in exile, thus also ctommy to cdream of his items and the power that he held from having them, including both the advantage in pvp and his frightening image. dream probably knew this was going to happen, since thats what you do when you want to kill someone. but, after the armor and the hole scene, ctommy kills cdream-- once, which was alright, fine, he also knew this was going to happen, and then twice. by the time he came back after his first death, cdream was screaming for mercy.

the cdream deaths are also widely interpreted as him losing his mask. or at the very least, it cracks. maybe ctommy was merciful enough to leave the last bit on, or maybe it was all shaken off as cdream begged and pleaded to be let to live-- and then the reveal of the revive book in his hands. but before that, when cdream was being killed: this is the physical shaking off of his very precious lives, the two extra chances he has at living, something preciously irreplaceable. thus, cdream realizes that the situation is spiraling out of control. he has to time this very well, between satisfying ctommy's anger and the reveal of the revive book, as well as his life. this is a gamble on his life. at that moment, cdream is showing his own true desperation, freed from his mask out of fear of death, freed from his mask by ctommy (the very person he sought to control, and the very person seeking to destroy him). look at the irony!

prison & cquackity

perhaps the mask also represents the control the cdream believes that he has over his surroundings. in the prison, cdream is either maskless (going with the above scenario), or half-masked (for cquackity to finish destroying).

either way, cdream's maskless-ness represents how he has no protection, no outer image, nil, none. this protection manifests itself in cdreams mind as the perceived control he has over situations because of the image he believes he has created for himself, because with this villainy, he can control the movements and actions of others. in the prison, though, when he is fully unmasked, he is all open for his visitors to see and tear open and look for themselves: who cdream truly is. maybe this is a good thing, that people will be able to see his true self-- not a villain, but a man with hopes and dreams. thus, when cquackity comes around, what he does is tear cdream, already unmasked, further apart. there is no more armor to protect him, and inside the prison, all thats left of cdream is his real body, and his real mind. and by real i mean unmasked, and not faked.

i like the other interpretation better though: that cdream goes into the prison half-masked. he still has a semblance of control, because he has punz, and technoblade, right? he planned for himself to go to prison... but what he didn't plan for was cquackity's deal with the warden. this is when he loses the rest of his mask, because this is when he loses complete control over not just the situation, but what happens to his own body, and he also can no longer influence other people, because he has no more power. he's being starved, tortured, and confined in a box with no escape nor contact with anything outside the prison; when cquackity comes, csam shuts down the ability for anyone else other than cquackity to visit cdream. so this, the point when he loses the rest of his physical mask is the same as the point when loses the rest of anything, any thing else that he could possibly have control over.

the mask: re-made

after prison, what does cdream do?

cdream gets his armor again, and he puts his mask back on. this mask physically and symbolically hides the effects of the prison on his being: the scars of both the body and the mind. he goes back to being powerful, being a big bad end-game boss, hiding in his mighty prison of which no longer traps him but is his safe place (a whole analysis post on the prison can be made holy) but also to others, the evil villain's lair... cdream resumes his status quo from before the prison. but, he is Not Alright underneath the mask-- but who can tell? who would want to tell, and try to see underneath the mask?

because on the server, there aren't many people who are willing to uncover the mask that cdream has laid over himself, the act that he puts on to be a villain in order to achieve his goals. part of the reason why cdream's 'mask' never gets 'taken off' is because no one cares enough about the true him-- and funnily enough, the only four/five people on the server are: cpunz, ctechnoblade, ctommy, and cquackity. and chbomb lmao. but thats besides the point: half of the people care about his "true self" because they are friends and close allies, while the other half want to reveal it to be able to hurt and destroy him. everyone else only think too shallowly about him: to them, cdream is an evil character harboring evil intentions, and thus the reasons behind said intentions are also similarly evil-- because they need a face to despise.

but its important to note that it isnt just cdream aiming to make himself a villain; it is everyone else as much as he. it's like a negative feedback loop, and i also want to point out that it was all started by cwilbur, who was the first to antagonize cdream as a major villain.

so, both during and after the prison, this feedback loop is why the villainous image of cdream persists. during the disc confrontation, all that happened was that the people were shown that cdream is not strong but weak. yet, just because he's now weak and defeated doesn't mean that the shadow of his villainy won't haunt him or the other uninvolved server members.

the mask: the end

at the very last stream, what is known as the dsmp finale between cdream and ctommy: something shifts. at the very end of the stream, after they argue and argue and argue, trying to get the moral upper hand, tommy trying to gain sympathy, displaying to the world all their differences and oppositions as if they can never, ever agree... ctommy gets killed in the heat of the argument. he gets revived. and he undergoes a revelation.

here, ctommy is very crucial to the moment because he gets dream to take off his helmet, which, in that moment, likely represents cdream's mask. because it is only after that moment that cdream starts talking about the real reasons why he's doing stuff, that he wants everyone to be a happy family, just like how he did privately to punz on the night after the butcher army. here, cdream starts being genuine; he asks: "is it not too late?" to his greatest nemesis.

here, the mask represents all the false narratives that he put forth, and perhaps all the sins that came along with them, and it reveals him: he who did evil for the sake of good, he who sold his soul for the world, he who told his friends, showed his friends, that he is evil-- for the sake of all of his friends and their friendship. it reveals him, as a man, his true face and physical appearance, taking off a bit of the armor that protects him.

this moment where cdream takes off his mask and starts asking if its possible for change is a culmination of cdream and ctommy's character: mutual understanding and hope.

the mask is like a wall that prevents cdream from seeing eye-to-eye with anyone, from reaching mutual understanding from anyone (except for cpunz ig, who supports him no matter how evil he is). by getting cdream to taking off the mask, he gets cdream to reveal the truth, but also understand that there is hope for the future. a better future.

(we dont talk about the nuke)

cdream personally taking off his mask during this time also directly contrasts with how ctommy and cquackity forcibly takes it off of him. there, they are removing the illusion of control cdream has-- to the people of dsmp, and then to cdream himself; yet, despite having everything taken away from him, he still holds close to his heart his ultimate goals. but, at the nuke finale, it is cdream deciding to reveal his thoughts and feelings himself, and this is crucial to his character's growth. even with all his armor on and cpunz is with him, he takes off his mask, his emotional barrier of sorts, to be able to tell the truth: his truth.

Conclusion

cdream's mask has been crucial to his characterization throughout the different arcs and storylines. while in physical depictions, it is an object that hides and protects one's physical appearance, it also affects the image of his character by providing an element of mystery and notoriety.

through the disc confrontation with ctommy and the torture cdream experienced by the hands of cquackity and csam, we can see them forcibly remove cdream's mask and do away with whatever semblance of power and control cdream has-- both over the people of the server, as well as cdream himself.

when cdream returns from the prison, it's as if nothing had changed; this is because of how established his image already is, and this emphasizes his loneliness (with the exception of cpunz) and continues to cast shadows on the rest of the smp.

finally, in the dsmp nuke finale, cdream ultimately decides to take of his mask on his own and reveals his intentions, displaying strong character development and hope.

tldr: the mask protects cdream, assists in his spiral to evil, and is also a tool used to represent changes in his characterization and his situation.

[lilyminer]

Thinking about how all throughout his time housing c!Tommy in the second half of his exile c!Techno was routinely running into c!Dream, but hiding Tommy from him. Techno kept secrets from one of the only people who was usually on his side, not working with him nearly at all. But it was worth it to Techno cuz in his eyes him and Tommy were finally on the same side against a common enemy(Tubbo)!

But then after a single, quick reunion, Tommy turned his back on him, stood with Tubbo again against everything Techno knew about Tommy’s experiences (not much, but that ain’t his fault). And once again Techno was the feared enemy surrounded by people who hated him, even the kid he had given so much to protect.

While I’m sure the story would’ve been different if Techno knew the full extent of Tommy’s exile, it makes perfect sense to me that Techno would go back to Dream. He had already gone through the execution, seen the effects of Wilbur’s death, lived through Manburg, L’manburgs influence still plagued his life and threatened his security. He was retreating back to those he could trust and knew would look out for him, not look at him like a monster or a weapon.

Sorry guys I know it’s been a long time since I brought up this morality debate but I still think man’s was so valid.

[bleue-flora]

All of these hot takes are really making me feel left out lol. So um hot take:

c!Dream is autistic and the consequential misunderstanding and miscommunication is a root of all the problems and conflicts.

(Note: I say this as someone who is autistic and after being diagnosed at the age of 20, discovered that at the heart of 90% of my conflicts, now and in the past, is a failure in communication from being misjudged and misunderstood.)

[nocinovae]

I have many feelings on the situation around abuse and power dynamics and assault that are coming to light at the moment. For the most part I feel that other peoples rage and statements are worded better. Though I had some thoughts and as someone who enjoyed psychoanalyzing fictional characters I have some realizations about c!Wilbur that I think some people will appreciate. Other than that Support and Listen to Victim. Don’t Put Streamers on Pedestals.

I hate how much I and so many people loved c!Wilbur for being a morally flawed traumatized mentally ill character.

The type of villain to enjoy in media but in a “I like them as a bad person. They fill the role they were written for very well.”

We took them as a “this is a bad person to enjoy through media” character. He showed the experience of how trauma and mental illness can effect relationship and morals.

I felt like I could take him as a caricature, an exaggerated form of many of my own insecurities and dark parts of myself.

BUT NO All c!Wilbur was was a self insert character of the writer’s desire for control and power over the people around him. Same with any of his other “characters” that we all thought were meant to be satire dark comedy of disgusting men in the world.

And he let us all believe this. It’s ironic the way he literally had his self insert pity oc kill himself after not having his apology accepted for all the harm he caused. How he was so distraught with having to actually work for redeeming himself more than just his words that his actions that he thought would resolved that was killing himself for a second time.

All the nuance and grey area I loved saw in c!Wilbur has been destroyed with the truth we all now see in William Gold. And that goes for so all of his artwork.

At least with this new lense on the artist we can take another view of his art and see deeper into the truth of What a Disgusting Piece of Shit this man is.

[transbeeduo]

Y’know the fact that it’s the anniversary of C!Tommy’s revival got me thinking, why was his limbo like that. (The original one not the one where he was forced to watch DNF clips that’s just hell I think)

I mean like, everyone else’s limbo seems to be reflecting at least some aspect of their life, with Wilbur’s being a train station and Ranboo’s being an isolated island in the middle of the ocean. But Tommy’s was just a void. A empty nothingness. Which honestly seems scarier than any of the other limbos, due to it being just a depravation of ANY senses. What did he do to deserve a limbo like that?? It seems more like a punishment than any of the other limbos, besides maybe Ranboo’s. Was it just like reflecting how he felt as he was dying?? Alone and isolated and empty?? The fact that Wilbur was also there makes me wonder if Tommy somehow went to Wilbur’s limbo, and just wasn’t able to register it the same, due to the train station not being relevant to HIM, only to Wilbur. There’s definite proof limbo’s r connected, with Glatt’s gym and Mexican Dream visiting Ranboo in limbo. So it’s not too farfetched to think two people could be sent to the same limbo. Maybe limbo changed based on whoever’s perceiving it?

[passions-and-pupils]

So spoilers for the newest chapter 16 (1 on 1) of my fanfiction Tubbo The Completely Innocent Citizen on AO3 but I just want to talk about the parallels here.

So first there is the conversation between Tubbo and Tommy who had known each other for a very long while. Tubbo talked about his past coming to haunt him in the form of Puffy finding him after all these years, and Tommy related heavily but had no clue how to help.

Then there is the conversation between Ranboo and Aimsey who had known each other a very long while. Ranboo talks about the guilt of betraying his past and joining the very people he sought to destroy and Aimsey related heavily- except they knew how to help. They reassured Ranboo that he owed nothing to the people who raised him and said that if he won’t do this for himself then he should at least do this for those still in the program he escaped.

Then there is the conversation between two new characters given the nicknames Fluffy and Drista. They have a similar dynamic in the way that they have obviously known each other a while however the trust isn’t quite there. Fluffy wants to help Drista but Drista doesn’t think it’s possible. She feels trapped in her life and is confused as to why Fluffy hasn’t given up yet. Fluffy offers a solution a way to get not only then both out, but everyone else in the program. Fluffy wants to do exactly what Ranboo failed to.

In the end we have three types of relationships

Trust and help- Ranboo and Aimsey

Trust but no help- Tubbo and Tommy

And, No trust but help- Fluffy and Drista

And in case you’re wondering yes there is a fourth

No trust and no help

But they would never talk to each other sooooooo

Any way I don’t know if I worded this right but I just wanted to talk about it cause I really like this chapter

[coffeegnomee]

An analysis of having a rigid character in mcrp vs being swept up into playing a character in mcrp.

I was reflecting on dreamsmp and qsmp the other day and realized they both lost me when the lore shifted to a rigid character of the streamer.

Quackity approached the late-game lore as a cold, calm, businessman, completely devoid of the goofy, unserious charm that is Quackity. And in qsmp he was the alcoholic father. 

I didn’t watch much of qsmp, but I got similar vibes from Celbit and… heck I forget his name. The one who became president. 

Like they approached every stream from a very serious point of view, getting into character before the serious moment happened, not chatting with chat in the lulls between yapping as they journey from one destination to another. 

And they lost me. 

That’s not what the medium of streamed Minecraft rp is about.

What it is about is logging on, bantering with chat, walking around the server, and then other members approach, they take the lore seriously, and subtly change it from a normal interaction with another streamer into something that is moving the plot forward.

There’s two examples from the dsmp era.

Tommy is the obvious one, and doesn’t need much explanation. Especially in the exile arc he would be fine and happy and bantering with chat until Dream showed up. Then the tone shifted. He always had moments where he was his annoying happy self before being drawn into the serious character he was developing. All of it was an act, but he planned to let his character be moved from one emotion to another through the conversations that happened.

But the same happened with Foolish, which I find fascinating since it was widely acclaimed that Foolish doesn’t really lore. Not on purpose at least. He’ll never be the one to overtly plan something, but he’s one of my favorites to follow because he will always get swept up into it.

I followed the Foolish/Leo lore through clips and tiktok, and it was the only aspect of qsmp lore that could draw me in. 

And in the dsmp, the L’sandburg arc and everything that happened at the summer home never had server-wide implications, and yet it captured the charm of the early months of the dreamsmp.

There was a day when Sam joined vc but shifted into the SamNook character and stopped actually talking in vc, just playing the animal crossing noises while writing in chat.

Foolish played along for a bit, and then they both returned to building in the hanging gardens, Sam making a tree while Foolish was doing like material collection I think, talking to chat.

Sam continued only communicating in chat until one moment when it was more helpful if he began actually speaking about the tree instead of being in character.

And I, and Foolish, literally jumped, forgetting that Sam was there and we weren’t talking to SamNook as a real npc.

It was so bizarre. 

We were swept up into the lore of the moment, and kept there through the efforts of the other streamer. 

And again, this happened one day when Bad and Foolish were arguing and Dream showed up in vc as Dreamxd, talking just to Foolish as if he was in his head and Bad couldn’t hear him. The conversation that followed was so hilarious as Foolish had to manage two streamers who refused to acknowledge that they could hear each other.

Without realizing it he was swept up into the lore. And he took us along with him. 

The reason this matters to me is the Lifesteal smp.

In Lifesteal, Zam takes this concept of casual banter with chat and moves it, when the moment arises, into something that is suddenly extremely RP.

In an instant it can go from random conversation into something that is moving his character forward and changing the fabric of the server.

I think we saw it best with the Joker arc. 

Every Joker day began with a threat given to either Minute or Jumper. Something to goad them into lore. 

He had no real plans, just a threat that he would do, a base he would blow up, if Minute or Jumper didn’t do anything to stop him. And he let them do anything they wanted to stop him. 

It was completely unplanned.

And you could hear in his voice the changes from, here’s my silly plan for the day, to, you just unlocked the Joker.

Changing it from a casual stream to something overly lore. Not going into it with a perfect character but using the encounter itself to bring out the character.

Interestingly enough, we all know that the Joker arc landed weirdly in relation to pb&j and how they were swept up into the lore.

And I think, in part, it had to do with the a flipping of roles compared to my above analysis about Foolish.

Zam was, more often than not, the one who was live AND the one who was going to take lore seriously and bring others into it. 

Vs Foolish being live and Dream/Bad/Sam being the one to take it seriously.

It broached a new style of mcrp, one that created streamers/characters who were resistant to doing lore, I think because they didn’t have the stakes behind it of being live. They were there for their recording, but they always knew they could cut it out of their YouTube video and it wouldn’t matter to their characters.

You only have to look at the difference between the Jumper/Zam yap session and Minute confronting Clown and Leo to see the difference going live had on them being wrapped up into the lore. 

Lore they did not expect to be doing when they first went live. 

As opposed to Jumper’s stream where she killed Mappic - she went into that with a plan and a character to play.

As opposed to Ash’s streams when he had a character and plan to execute.

They lost me on those streams because it was obviously so planned out and they entered the moment completely in character and resisted changing in response to anything that was said to them. 

Why does it matter? 

Because a character’s 3dimentionality comes from being fully fledged out. 

And you can make an extremely complex and compelling character when you draw on aspects of yourself. It doesn’t (and probs shouldn’t) just literally be you, but if you willingly draw on who you are as a person, the character comes alive. 

And the medium is Minecraft live streaming. It’s long winded. Time in the story passes by similarly to how real life time passes - day to day something new happens unlike a book or movie where they have to cut things out.

And the stories you create when you approach the medium of live mcrp is substantially different than any book, movie, or video. 

The method of storytelling allows you to explore a character over 100s of hours of content rather than a couple hours. 

And for my money, boiling that character down to something you put on for an hour or two at a time around completely unrelated grind streams, is so much less compelling than if both merged together and you never knew when a moment would turn from casual banter as a streamer into a character moment. 

[kaiokentimesten]

As a loveless aroace person love is a core theme of dreamsmp ♥ your identity should not affect objective analysis of media

[pigeonstab]

I remember a lot of people being confused about why the discs in the DreamSMP were so important and to me it's mostly because c!Tommy is a character who's had everything taken from him time and time again; His country, his brother, his best friend, and eventually in the exile arc even his identity and his freedom. The discs aren't just discs because they're the one thing Tommy deems are still his the one thing he owns by right.

And it's never been about the discs, (apart from the memories they hold. How they're a symbol of a time past. One that c!Tommy is constantly trying to get back. They're a relic of the values L'manburg held and a token of his friendship with tubbo among many things) but it's about having something to do. Having a goal.

It's not rationality that leads c!Tommy to fight for them so hard, it's obsession. Both him and Dream forget about the discs entirely, they forget the reason they wanted them in the first place and it becomes a fight for power, a fight to prove who's right and who's wrong more than for the discs themselves.

Just like c!Wilbur lost sight of what I'Manburg was supposed to be. It's a funny thing how in trying to preserve something you twist it until it's unrecognizable.

[normal-enderman]

LMAO no you are absolutely right with those tags on my post. It's the Watchers making the softboys do evil things in the death game guys! "It's all jokes guys, you shouldn't be taking it seriously" (same person then goes on to write a 6 page analysis of watcher Scott)

It's such selective and favorable perception, and it's also extreme toxic positivity because you will get witchhunted for ever labelling a character evil or abusive etc etc. Anyway sorry for this LOL absolutely no pressure to reply. Just wanted to say yeah you're right and I'm glad you understand and I'm sorry for your DreamSMP loss. Every now and then I wish I had been into that instead of traffic because lordy

YEAH I'll be so real I do not understand what the Watcher lore even is but the whole way the Life Series fandom works is super weird just, conceptually. It's not to say the canon content is BAD, but it's absolutely not what the fans make it out to be amongst themselves, they really are just conjuring stuff out of thin air half the time and it's very strange. On the one hand, I love the creativity and freedom of interpretation.... but on the other hand, it doesn't seem like they actually follow through on that freedom? There is a very distinct and well-defined fanon, and fanons which deviate from this aren't seen as valid, despite the fact that they're all equally lacking in canon basis due to the canon material being so bare-bones when it comes to narrative throughline. It's people trying to make emotional narratives and storytelling out of a series that was clearly intended to be "fun ytuber competition between ccs" and not deeply emotional lore and storytelling. The Life Series fandom is trying wrangle story out of a fundamentally incompatible medium, which I admire deeply for their creativity, but I also wish they followed through on their fast and loose approach to canon by allowing different fanon interpretations to exist without?? Policing some for being "wrong" or "bad"??

And hey, you can still get into the DreamSMP, I have a playlist of all the plot related streams I can dm you if you want. Everyone talks about the DreamSMP fan experience being hell, but that was mostly due to how intense the fandom was in 2020-2021 + how shitty a lot of the creators were and how badly the SMP was managed. But since that's all in the past now, I expect you'd actually have quite a smooth experience. Main thing you need to be aware of is unfortunately it's not the most feminist SMP. BUT it is extremely queer. As in nearly 100% of the characters are explicitly canonically queer and the Dream SMP is seen as homonormative society. Anyway, thanks for the ask! I love to nerd out about fandom culture and minecraft roleplay so I ate good with this ask ^w^

[thedoozerarchive]

TAGS IN USE

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Some tags may be empty as the appropriate fancontent for them has not yet been archived. Additional tags will be added over time as its relevant fancontent is archived.

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FOOLISH

Foolish and all of his various characters across different streams, smps and media.

⟡ #foolish (general tag for all foolish fancontent) ⟡ #cc!foolish (IRL content creator Foolish) ⟡ #c!foolish (Foolishs roleplay character from the DreamSMP) ⟡ #q!foolish (Foolishs roleplay character from the QSMP) ⟡ #bb!foolish (Foolishs character from the Bussy Burrow multiplayer stardew farm) ⟡ #fam!foolish (Foolishs character from the FAMsmp) ⟡ #r!foolish (Foolishs character from Rust Kingdoms) ⟡ #tr!foolish (Foolishs character from the Realm SMP) ⟡ #jeffrey bacon (Foolishs character from OPQ) ⟡ #pistachio (Character voiced by Foolish from Once upon a Jester) ⟡ #doozers

PEOPLE

Characters and Content Creators are kept under the same tag. Certain catergories are on their own seperate post due to the length of their lists.

[DreamSMP Character Tag List]

[QSMP Character Tag List]

[The Realm SMP Character Tag List]

CrunchCraft

⟡ #awesamdude ⟡ #karl jacobs ⟡ #kkatamina ⟡ #sykkuno ⟡ #tinakitten

Roomies and Friends

⟡ #blau ⟡ #corpse husband ⟡ #fuslie ⟡ #kkatamina ⟡ #peter park ⟡ #shxtou ⟡ #sykkuno ⟡ #tinakitten ⟡ #valkyrae ⟡ #vgumiho

ORDEM PARANORMAL QUARENTENA

⟡ #benito camelo (Quackitys character) ⟡ #carol (Bagis character) ⟡ #diego thalles (Pactws character) ⟡ #emília ⟡ #lucie pocharde (Bagheras character) ⟡ #luis miguel kennedy (Roiers character) ⟡ #wallace

ONCE UPON A JESTER

⟡ #jan the wizard (Karl Jacobs character) ⟡ #stracciatella (Corpse Husbands character)

[SHIP/DUO/TRIO/GROUP TAG LIST]

MEDIA/GAME

⟡ #bhcl (Blockey Hockey Creator League) ⟡ #cotl (Cult of the Lamb) ⟡ #crunchcraft ⟡ #dsmp (DreamSMP) ⟡ #famsmp ⟡ #irl ⟡ #mcc ⟡ #once upon a jester ⟡ #opq (Ordem Paranormal Quarentena) ⟡ #qsmp ⟡ #rust kingdoms ⟡ #squid craft 2 ⟡ #squid craft 3 ⟡ #the realm smp ⟡ #valorant

MISC

⟡ #kelp ⟡ #koc ⟡ #totem of death

FORMAT

⟡ #analysis ⟡ #animation ⟡ #cosplay ⟡ #fanart ⟡ #misc

YEAR POSTED

⟡ #2021 ⟡ #2022 ⟡ #2023 ⟡ #2024 ⟡ #2025

MONTH POSTED

Formatted as #[month] [year]. For example #january 2021 or #november 2023

ARTIST TAGS

Simply search for the username of the user youre looking for, for example #[username]. If they have since changed their user after their posts have been been archived you may need to search using an older username.

CONTENT WARNINGS

You can block any tags you don't want to see on your feed in Tumblr settings under filtered tags.

[How to filter tags]

⟡ #cw blood ⟡ #cw body horror ⟡ #cw death ⟡ #cw drugs and alcohol ⟡ #cw emetophobia ⟡ #cw eyestrain ⟡ #cw gore ⟡ #cw suggestive ⟡ #cw trypophobia ⟡ #cw unreality

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