#sorry abt the length i kinda went insane

[aiden-aka-neru]

what's gunner au (idk anything abt this im sorry feel free to just talk abt it for a long length of time 😭)

YAY-

Sorry this is late- So the Gunner au is about Tunner, this guy↓

Who canonically has a gun.(REMEMBER THAT OH MY SIGMA) Fun fact: He likes to protect people(Remember that)

So basically, he js got tired of people being petty and people who just hurt themselves on purpose(No not SH) so he just went insane. He shot people with his Gun.

Is bro biased? Yessir🗣️🔥🔥

I would type more but I just came back from a pool party so I’m eepy😭

Musics that kinda inspired but not at same type since it’s something totally different (Except PUSH UR T3MPRR cuz people literally pushed his temper)

[badnikbreaker]

@spiinsparks​     /     sonic & amy!

The last of the badniks falls and the battlefield — two on a hundred, it was never fair to the machines — quiets and the tactician swings to face the hero, eyes carefully empty.  It’s not offense — it’s not Amy Rose’s petty feelings.  That kind of selfishness isn’t allowed in a war, isn’t allowed anywhere, and hasn’t been allowed since the first time she tried to make a miracle and failed / since she got so many people killed.  No, it’s not — it’s not about Amy, really.  It’s just ———

They can’t fight like this.  They can’t fight with Sonic like this, and neither can anyone else except Ava.  For all the changes she’s experienced since the war began, Amy is still loving, primed to notice and correct others’ pain, gentle and (  under layers of armor and callouses and fresh scars  ) capable of gentleness.  They’re attuned to no one more than Sonic / who they had to grieve, losing that essential part of their chest / and they’ve noticed that things are wrong.  Off.  Broken / like them?  like Knuckles?  like Silver? / and cold and...

Well.  She can’t blame him, after six months of harm.  But this can’t go on.  It’s impossible to be out in the field with him when he won’t slow down, when she’s so reckless.  It’s not about Amy’s hurt (  her best friend doesn’t trust her or worse / well, neither does half of the world, so it’s an old pain, though no less serrated for it  ) or Amy’s heart (  she loves him and he doesn’t want to hold her or be held  ) or Amy.  THAT’S NOT ALLOWED.

“Sonic,” they say, stepping over the remains of the badniks the pair had finished not - quite - together, a hand raising to get his attention.  Green eyes scan him for wounds — he doesn’t look badly injured, thank Gaia — as her hammer disintegrates and they reach his side.  Better to have these sorts of conversations out on the field, where it can’t bring down anyone’s morale.  “That fight was reckless, and could have been finished faster and safer if you hadn’t gone on your own,” she says, not - judgemental, but not gently, either; restrained, careful, placid.  VICE - COMMANDER / SOLDIER.  “You’re not fighting with me so much as fighting in my...vicinity.”

It hadn’t felt right to bring it up / they failed him, Amy Rose failed him / but THIS CAN’T GO ON, and if Amy Rose doesn’t want to have this conversation, it hasn’t mattered what Amy Rose wants in six months.  “You don’t need to like me, but we need to be able to fight like allies.  What’s going on?”

[adoringhaikyuu]

they find out you hooked up with their friend/teammate before you started dating | 3

characters: akaashi + iwaizumi + osamu + suna + (gn!reader)

requests: can you do a part 2 to the 'he finds out you hooked up with his best friend' with iwaizumi, suna and bokuto ? thank you and i LOVE your page 💞• by anonymous + s skfhsk s please do a they find out you hooked up with their friend/teammate before you started dating for suna osamu (even better if yn hooked up with his twin omfg) and akaashi 🥺 i love your writing please i will pass away • by anonymous

warnings: the second one is a lil angsty and the last two have suggestive tings 

notes: y’all are too sweet, everyone is 18+ in this! (i’d already gotten another request for bokuto by the time i got the first request so he’s in pt two) + they’re all different lengths btw sorry abt that <3

part one | part two | part three

akaashi:

so you and bokuto hooked up like way before you and akaashi started dating

it was in high school but it wasn’t like there were any feelings involved

...okay maybe he ended up getting a lil crush on you but he got over it

your friends had dared you to hook up with someone to loosen up and you were too nervous to ask your real crush, akaashi (plus you’re not even sure if he was at that party)

and bokuto was kinda chatting u up so u thought why not

(this was before akaashi let him know that he liked you)

it wasn’t until one day that the three of you were hanging out that akaashi found out about it

bokuto had been talking to you and his best friend about this girl he met at a café, he wanted to ask her out but he wasn’t sure how to go about it, so he was asking you two for advice. 

“i’m thinking i take her to watch the stars and then i can swoop in and do my special move. that’ll have her swooning for sure, right?” he smiled to himself and looked at you both as if for reassurance that he was going about this the right way.

akaashi was about to respond when you spoke up first. 

“that thing you do with your tongue?” bokuto nodded, his brows raised up and down, showcasing his confidence. you shook your head immediately, “that’s a little too bold to do right away don’t you think?”

he deflated a bit,  “well... i’m not––” he backpedaled, looking to the side to cover his tracks, “not gonna do it right away...after... a couple dates maybe?” 

before you could say anything else, akaashi spoke up, placing a hand on your thigh to get your attention. you turned to see him looking at you intently, brows slightly furrowed, a small frown on his face. 

“how do you know about his special move?” 

“oh, um...” you blinked a few times and then looked back to bokuto. “we kind of hooked up?” you turned back to your boyfriend and you could see the thoughts processing in his mind. “it was only once though–”

“and what a time it was!–” 

you turned back to look at the loud boy incredulously and he shrugged. “what? i’m just saying you know what you’re doing–”

you rolled your eyes, “you’re not helping here.” you turned to face akaashi fully, taking his hand in yours. you noticed he was a little tense, clearly uncomfortable. “if it makes you feel any better, it’s not like i liked him or anything...to be honest i would’ve hooked up with you that day if i was brave enough to ask you...” 

he looked up at you, eyes wide and quickly glanced down, his cheeks turning pink. 

bokuto spoke up, “wait a minute, so i was second choice?” he crossed his arms and sunk down in his seat, mumbling to himself like a kid. 

you were about to make a comment when you felt akaashi raise your hand and pressed a soft kiss to your knuckles. he gave you a soft smile, “i would’ve liked that...i was too scared to ask you out for a while, bokuto-san is actually the one who convinced me to in the end, so i guess he’s off the hook for using his move on you...” 

bokuto perked up again, “oh great!–”

he pulled you closer to his side, his face serious. “but don’t ask y/n for any more kissing advice or i’m kicking you out.” 

iwaizumi:

when iwa found out that you and oikawa hooked up before you started dating, admittedly he felt a little jealous

but it was mostly just his insecurities, he was used to everyone fawning over his best friend 

and the thought that you were potentially one of those people wasn’t surprising but it kinda upset him

what if you wanted to leave him for oikawa?

you and oikawa were actually the ones who told him that you’d hooked up, while the three of you were hanging out at your place, not thinking much of it since it was a one and done kind of thing for both of you

but you’d noticed the way he’d gotten a bit quieter afterwards, the way he seemed a bit more tense

you waited until oikawa went home to say something

he came back to sit on the couch after locking the door behind his friend and you turned to him. “baby?”

he grunted, eyes focused on his lap. 

“look at me please?” your voice was soft and he couldn’t help but listen, looking up into your eyes sheepishly. you put a hand on his arm, “what’s wrong? i can tell something’s bothering you.”

he looked away and shook his head once, “it’s nothing i just...”

you squeezed his arm reassuringly and he sighed. “just started thinking about you and... shittykawa.”

you moved to sit in his lap and his arms immediately came around to hold you. you placed a hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes fondly and sternly to get the message across. “haji listen to me, i love you and only you. i would never leave you, okay?” 

he nodded but you could tell he was still in his thoughts, so you went on. “i love how thoughtful you are, how sweet you are to me and to your family.” you kissed a spot on his face between every sentence. “i love your voice in the morning when you wake up and the way you tell me you love me every day. i love the way you hold me,” you trailed your hands down to his arms. “and i love your strong arms––” you let your fingers trace his veins and he shifted under you, flustered from your touch and your words. “i love everything about you, haji. i hope you know that...”

he brought his hands up to your cheeks and pulled you in for a kiss, “i know, doll. thank you for that. i love you too, so much. it drives me insane how much i’m in love with you.” his cheeks were dusted pink as he spoke to you and it couldn’t have been more endearing that he was still nervous around you, despite having been together for a good while now. 

“any time.” you smiled, pulling away after giving him another sweet kiss. “plus, you’re a way better kisser than him.” 

he threw his head back and laughed, his hands squeezing your sides as he looked back into your eyes, before kissing you. “oh i’m so telling him that.” 

osamu:

you and atsumu had hooked up once in high school 

...technically

see you were both kinda wasted at a party when it ‘happened’ 

the most you did was kiss and feel each other up, but after you accidentally moaned osamu’s name–––

things ended pretty quickly after that

you don’t know if it’s because you were drunk and mistook atsumu for his brother or if you were secretly wishing it was him, or both

all you know is the two of you agreed to never speak of that ever again

it was embarrassing enough for the both of you

but unfortunately it was one of those memories that came back to haunt you every now and then...even years later, now that you were dating osamu, and living with him

you visibly winced as you thought back to the awkward silence and the way the two of you paused when you said osamu’s name. you shouldn’t have been thinking about this, especially not now, when osamu was literally cooking dinner for you in your home. 

you spaced out for a bit and hadn’t noticed your boyfriend calling for your attention until you saw his hand wave in front of your face. you blinked quickly and looked up at him, “hi! yes i’m here–”

he raised a brow and laughed, amused, coming around the kitchen island to wrap his arms around you and put his head over your shoulder. you sunk into his embrace and he hummed, “what were you thinking about? i asked you what side dish you wanted and you were completely spaced out.” 

you shook your head, “oh um, nothing. i think what we had yesterday would be fine.” 

you tried to move on but he wasn’t having that. he narrowed his eyes as he turned his head to look at you. “well if it’s nothing then you won’t mind telling me, hm?”

his tone was calm but you could tell that he was suspicious and starting to get a little worried. you took a deep breath and buried your face in your hands––it’s not that you wanted to hide it from him, you were just embarrassed is all. 

your shoulders sunk down and you meekly admitted to what you were thinking about, your voice muffled by your palms, the only word osamu able to decipher being his brother’s name. 

he took a sharp intake of breath and stood up, rolling his eyes. “’tsumu? what did that idiot do now––”

you shook your head and took your hands away from your face. “no...it’s not something he did...it was me.” 

osamu crossed his arms and looked down at you, more curious now. “what happened?” 

“it’s not...it wasn’t recent––” he only looked at you blankly, silently telling you to continue. 

you sighed, “well we...hooked up in high school.” you could see his jaw clench. “it was only once, though. and he didn’t––we only kissed and we were fully clothed. honestly it only lasted a few minutes.” 

that seemed to put him at ease a bit more. “well that’s––fine...”

you looked down, “that’s not the bad part.” 

osamu’s hand came under your chin and tilted your head up to look at him, the look in his eyes warm. “come on, you can tell me.” 

you bit your lip, knowing he’d never let you live this down. “it was at suna’s party our third year and we were pretty wasted...we went to a random room and we were kissing and i...” you trailed off, your pride not wanting you to finish your sentence. 

you took a deep breath. “i moaned your name.” 

he blinked at you, once, then twice before he poked his tongue to the side of his mouth, clearly fighting off a laugh. “are you serious?”

you rolled your eyes, “like i would joke about that.” 

“i don’t know if that’s really funny or really sad, i feel like it’s both-”

“hey!-”

he laughed, “i’m sorry, i’m sorry.” he pulled you in for a hug and you reluctantly held him back. “oh man that must’ve been such a blow to his ego,” he cackled.

you frowned, “stop samu, i felt really bad, i still do–”

he rolled his eyes, “he’s fine.” he looked down at you with a smirk, “so you’ve had a crush on me since we were juniors, huh?”

you raised a brow, “do i have to moan his name now to fix your ego?” 

he narrowed his eyes, “not unless you wanna be punished, no.”

that honestly didn’t sound too bad. 

suna:

you and osamu hooked up on and off for a few months 

you were kinda friends with benefits tbh but no one knew about it 

well atsumu found out but that was an accident he just came home earlier than expected one day and caught you two

but other than him, and your best friend, no one knew

not even suna

i mean why would you tell him, it’s been years and it didn’t matter

you’d pushed it to the back of your mind and hadn’t expected it to come up ever again

however––

one day suna went to hang out with his old teammates and atsumu for some reason decided to blurt out that you and his brother used to hook up, not thinking much of it––honestly it’s a shocker he kept it a secret for as long as he did

when suna came home, you were lying down in bed, scrolling on your phone and you perked up when you heard him get in, looking back to your screen. 

“hi baby, how was it?” 

he didn’t answer and you were about to sit up when you felt to hands pull you down by your legs. you looked up, eyes wide to see your boyfriend standing above you, a spark hiding behind his seemingly bored eyes. 

you tilted your head questioningly and he took your phone from your hands, throwing it aside. “atsumu told me something real interesting today.” 

you raised a brow, thinking it was something ridiculous. “oh yeah?” 

he nodded, his hands reaching for the hem of your sweatpants, making your breath hitch. “mhm. and you know, it’s not that i care.” he pulled them down after making sure you were okay with it. “but it did bother me, i won’t lie.” 

he reached for your underwear as well, licking his lips when they were out of the way. “he told me that you and osamu used to be fuck buddies.” you looked up at him, speechless for a few seconds but he kept going. “m’not mad, that would be stupid.” he lied down between your legs and looked up at you, a glint in his eyes. “but i feel like reminding you you’re mine, so i’m gonna play with you for a while, okay?” 

how could you say no to that––

[mariaiscrafting]

ahhhh ty ty ty <3

ok, so I think that what makes Dream act this way (iykyk) is how dreamwastaken became so big so quickly. and by quick I mean fucking lightning speed.

he didn't have enough time to learn enough about cc etiquette, especially in these three aspects: influence, boundaries and fanbase/stans/whatever you call it. I'll try to explain it:

• Influence: Does he know the influence he has? Like, when he hears that he is the myct with the largest fanbase, does he really process that? I remember he talked about not being able to control all of his fanbase and there's bad apples everywhere -- which is true, and that only like 1% of his fanbase breaks his boundaries (that include sending hate for him, harassing, doxing, etc. yk, basic twitter culture lol) but, honey, with your big ass fanbase, 1% is still a lot of people. As a content creator you *have* to be aware of that.

let's take the hbomb situation. First off, as a streamer, it's you that set the mood of the stream. Even if he was only messing around with his pals, even if they did say to do not send hate to hbomb, dt dunking on him created a toxic environment, which caused his fans being toxic towards hbomb and you know what happens next. Hell, when this happened, I was watching Tapl and he was watching them and he was crying laughing over them screaming bc they were just. so loud and so aggressive that it was kinda ??? Sirs, this is literally a Minecraft Stream lmaooo

my point is, that was not the road that dreamwastaken, 21M fans, should've taken. he don't condone his fans actions but he knows his fans are diehard and will always be on his side, he should be more careful before stating negative opinions, especially if its towards another person.

• Boundaries and Fanbase: He posted a list of his boundaries a while ago, idk if you know or seen it (btw please george copy your bestie for the love of god <3) but I'm not talking about those boundaries, I'm talking about the basic boundaries between cc and viewer. boundaries that, in my opinion, should exist between cc and viewer. I get that Dream is an open person, an oversharing type of open person if I may add, but I think he should take a step back regardless. When I heard that he was taking a time from twitter, I genuinely got so glad, not because he couldn't start any drama then, but because it would do so so good for his mental health. I'm not even that fond of him, it's just that for me, any cc taking a break or outright leaving twitter is a win for me. I know how RSD is hard to deal and honestly letting shit out it's better but dream you have dt you have bbh so please don't make things worse online 😭 I know how good can be to feel validation from millions of people but. it's not a good idea, especially in the state that his fanbase is on rn (this topic is kinda sensitive to talk abt for me bc people be outright ableist and hide it as criticism like. say that shit's not helping his reputation and whatever without acting like he's fucking. manipulating his fanbase for being affected by his rsd💀 or, on the other hand, don't say that hes just being adhd🤪 when he's just being an asshole like damn that's a Him thing bro lol)

(omg it's so big I'm so sorry and theres a part two I'm so sorry tumblr user messed-up-gal ToT) - morango 1/2

pt. 2:

Dream is the proof that the people who loves you can be your downfall. istg. Have you noticed that every drama that Dream enters, people usually get more mad abt how his fanbase reacts (85% they'll react in a bad way) than Dream himself? it's not always, but its definitely more likely. I'm not saying Dream is saint, he Is petty and his ego does him dirty and made him choke multiple times before,, But! i dont think hes a bad guy. he's literally just a dude. ok, he's a 21yr old white gamer man that has a trumpie past (maybe?? idk. I think hes cured now ig lol) so he's bound to do some shitty things but he still tries to get better and hopefully he'll mature. 21 is old enough but it's still so young, yk? I kind of lost my mind during the end and my eyes are literally begging to be closed so tl;dr: Its gonna be hard for him to become a better cc bc his fans don't let him be criticized (by infantilizing his adhd symptoms or the mob mentality as soon as someone says anything abt him), the honest criticism get lost between lies from antis that don't know shit, he still has a lot of growing up to do and overall he became famous too fast and he needs to learn things even faster bc as soon as there's not a single one dream hater on sight they'll turn their back and attack him instead lmao I hate twitter i definitely have more to say but I'm tired and my memory is shit. just-- hate dream if you want, love dream if you want, nobody is obligated to have an opinion but I wanted to express mine. have a lovely day! -morango 2/2

Aight, there's a lot to unpack here, so Imma try to only go into the points I have something to add to (here's what I talk about in each paragraph, if you want to jump to a specific point):

Speed of Dream's rise to fame

The "bad apples" in the Dream fanbase

Post-MCC HBomb stream

Not condoning versus actually condemning his fans

Manipulation & RSD

Criticism of Dream, his fanbase, and his brand

The “just a dude” argument, flipped

First, I agree that one of the many factors that has resulted in the current image Dream has set up for himself, the way his fanbase functions, the ways people hate on him, and the way the Dream brand functions, is the speed of his rise to fame. It's unique, and there are probably a hundred social/psychological angles that could be used to examine the exact effects of that speed upon all of these facets of the Dream Name; did rapid fame beget the rapid rise of unrighteous hatred, did those waves of hatred then instigate the rise of a surprisingly overdefensive fanbase, did that rapid fame get to his head and/or result in an inability to appropriately handle all the after-effects of rapid fame, etc.? That point you bring up, about how the speed of his rise to fame requires him to learn even more quickly, is so interesting to me. I think that maybe Dream expected to get pretty famous pretty quickly, hence the preparedness in regards to some mechanics of influencer fame- merchandise, business-building, networking, knowing how to manage his fanbase to best benefit him. But I don't think he expected to get this famous this quickly. This is all speculation of course, as are this entire post and your ask, but I think that he just couldn't anticipate having to learn how to handle enmasse controversy, waves of antis, or every Youtuber speculating/knowing about him; and yeah, that results in him having to learn all of these things very quickly, lest he allow his whole brand and fandom to fall apart.

Second, I disagree with the frequent argument that Dream's fanbase is only marginally toxic. Personally, I think that the circumstances of Dream's fame, his personality and management of his fanbase, and his brand of content have resulted in the very specific kind of stan that Dream stans are. I don't think this is simply a case of "all fandoms have a small percentage of assholes who take it too far;" rather, the nature of the community itself breeds the kind of mentality of "an asshole who takes it too far." I only even know this because I was a Dream fan (kinda a stan, I'm ngl). At one time, I watched every single Dreamwastaken & Dream Team video multiple times; I listened to the Manhunts on repeat, as though they were podcasts; I followed mostly smiletwt and dttwt accounts on mcyttwt; I had upwards of 10 tabs for AO3 DNF fics open on my phone at a time; I watched DNF and Dream Team Being A Family-esque compilations on repeat; I watched every George and Sapnap alt stream I possibly could; I went out of my way to defend Dream against Redditors and Twitter antis regarding the cheating scandal. For the latter half of 2020, and a couple months of 2021, I lived and breathed this part of the fandom; so when I say that Dream stans are a whole other breed than any other kind of mcyttwt stan, I say that because I used to be like that, too. I usually use parasocial very loosely or ironically, but Dream stans are genuinely one of the most parasocial fanbases I have ever seen or been a part of. The level of investment Dream stans have in this man's life, the lengths they will go to to defend him, the amount of psychonalysis and digging they do on his life and character, the amount of emotion he can evoke in them- it's taken to another level, man. This isn't just characteristic of a fraction of his fanbase; this is what the fanbase is like as a whole.

Third, I partially disagree with your take on the HBomb thing, but not in the way one might think? I actually empathize with the way they reacted much more than I thought I would, simply because I suspect I have RSD (also suspect I have ADHD, have for several months now) and I can see myself getting insanely frustrated because of something like that. Like yeah, it was "just a MC stream" or "just an MC game," but that's kinda disregarding the fact that something that might seem like "just a [insert inconsequential thing]" to a rational mind might have a major emotional consequence/take a major emotional toll on someone with RSD, or really anyone who gets easily impatient/angry about video games (Sapnap reminds me of many of my friends, in that way). The issues I, personally, had with the way they handled the HBomb situation is that these are simply explanations and reasons for my empathy; they are not excuses. I have no excuse when I get irrationally angry about something inconsequential in my own life, for a couple of reasons. One, because I am an adult and I need to learn how to handle my reactions and manage my own anger. Two, because as someone with many mental problems, it is my responsibility to learn coping mechanisms to ensure my own emotional stability and livelihood; this includes learning whatever I need to handle RSD- whether that be isolating myself from others when I know I will become violently/passionately angry about something, creating and sustaining a support system that can get me through bouts of extreme emotion, finding healthy emotional outlets for my negative emotions that won't harm myself or others, or a combination thereof. I don't think what they said about HBomb post-MCC was an irreversibly horrible thing, or anything. I think there were errors committed by two men who should be fully capable of foreseeing and preventing those errors, but I don't unconditionally hate Dream or Sapnap for the post-MCC stream or comments. I just wish they had made amends quickly, publicly, and sufficiently, because the greatest consequences from the whole thing weren't even from those two criticizing HBomb themselves; they were from the waves of backlash because of their immense influence on the MCYT fandom, which could've been prevented, if they had acted maturedly and responsibly after the stream.

Fourth, you’re right, that he doesn’t seem to condone his fans’ behavior. I detest the frequent anti argument that one of the reasons Dream should be criticized is because he explicitly uses his fanbase to attack others, or something of the sort. Personally, I think he created his fanbase in a very specific way and interacts with them in such a way so as to benefit him as much as possible, yes, but he never actually tells his fanbase to go and yell at or harrass anyone. Still, there is a significant difference between not condoning something and condemning something. It might seem unfair, and it might be annoying of me to say this, but I truly think that someone with this large a fanbase, especially one as overzealous as Dream’s, needs to be condemned every single time it goes on some kind of rampage/harrassment campaign. Either that, or Dream needs to make a definitive, permanent statement against any kind of harrassment of others on his behalf. I know he’ll occassionally make the odd tweet or serious stream addressing something his fanbase did, but one of the many reasons his fanbase keeps doing the same damn thing is because he’s so lukewarm and spotty about this condemnation. A fanbase like his needs to be given explicit guidance and boundaries for the numerous things they do in his defense- harrassing/doxing antis, harrassing people who criticize him who aren’t antis (respectful criticism, other CCs, other MCYT stans, etc.), harrassing the people he critcizes (i.e., HBomb), speculating about his personal life (his relationship with his gf, his mental health/ADHD, his romantic life, his childhood, etc.), and speculating about his relationships with his friends and colleagues.  My personal ideology is that, if you have significant influence over someone or a group of people, you are at least somewhat responsible for the things those people do or don’t do, if it at all relates back to you. I’m so fucking tired of the argument that CCs aren’t responsible for what their fans do. Obviously they aren’t responsible for every single one of their fans, and obviously they can’t fully control their fans at the end of the day. But I think there are certain things that reach such a level of extremity that does make those CCs responsible. This can be measured by either scale or intensity; that is to say, if a CC’s fanbase does things on an extremely large scale, or one person from/a fraction of the fanbase does something really extreme, then the CC is made all the more responsible. Another CC I’ve always had trouble discussing with other people on this subject is Pewdiepie, in particular, about the extremists in his fanbase. Because the things a small handful of his fans have done in reference to him and/or in his name were so fucking extreme, I thought Pewdiepie had to take at least some responsibilty. Along a similar vein, because the things Dream’s general fanbase does are so widespread and on such a massive scale, Dream has to take at least some responsibility.

Fifth, okay. Hmmm. I want to tackle this point you made about the ableism he faces in some criticism of him carefully and with empathy, but not coddling. One, I do think a lot of the criticism he receives for the ways he handles criticism (post-cheating Tweets, reactions to John Swan, post-MCC HBomb stream, etc.), disregard his RSD and can be oftentimes ableist. I’ve actually encountered people irl who criticize this aspect of Dream’s character, and have had to explain to them their disregard for how ADHD/RSD affect neurodivergent people’s reactions to criticism. But - and this is a big, and very controversial but - I think mentally ill/disordered people can 100% leverage their mental illness/disorders for the sake of manipulation. This is actually something I’ve learned from a psychiatrist, regarding the ways people I know and I handle our anxiety and depression. This manipulation can be unwitting or intentional, but it is entirely possible, and the possibility shouldn’t be entirely dismissed as ableist. Living with a mental illness or disorder that others know about/that you are very public about puts you in an interesting position to receive frequent sympathy, empathy, and/or pity. I’m not saying that empathy for Dream having ADHD/RSD is entirely unjustified; on the contrary, I have frequently expressed how I can relate to his ADHD symptoms and have defended him for expressing those symptoms, both on mcytblr and in real life. I am saying that Dream fans tend to use his ADHD as a kind of shield for a lot of criticism levied against him, including the supposition that he could be manipulating his fanbase to defend him because of his public expressions of RSD. So yes, my theory is that Dream knows how to levy every aspect of his life for his personal gain and for the growth of his brand, and that includes his ADHD. I think he has courage for his openess about his ADHD, I think his openness has contributed to the rise in awareness of mental health and empathy for neurodivergent people within Gen Z, and I think at least some of his expressions of RSD publicly/online weren’t intentionally made public. All that being said, I also think he has to know just how much his fanbase cares about defending him for his ADHD, and I think he has to know that some of the things he does related to his neurodivergence endear him to his audience, in a coddling, baby-ing, mildly ableist sorta way.  Maybe this is all incredibly presumptuous of me. Of course, I can never know the real intentions behind any Dream video, Tweet, or stream. Maybe I’m just projecting, because I can see myself doing just this, if I had the maturity I had circa 2018-2019. Idfk know, man.

Sixth, I actually agree with you here, people probably do get more mad at his fanbase than him. Dream puts out content pretty seldomly, considering the frequency of content output for other Youtubers/streamers in his field/at his brand size. And yet, he has received masses of criticism. Considering that the things Dream himself does/says do not entirely correlate with the amount of criticism he receives, I think it’s a logical assumption that a lot of that criticism actually goes back to the size of his presence online, rather than the man himself. That is to say, because of the massive community he’s amassed, the exponential growth of his fanbase, their presence on every single social media site and in virtually every single Internet space/fandom, and the size of his metaphysical presence in his fields, Dream is much bigger than the man himself, so the criticism he receives will, at least in part, be a direct or indirect result of all these other aspects of the Dream brand.  Something I don’t think many Dream fans/stans, or even most MCYT fans in general, understand, is that Dream isn’t just “one guy” in the eyes of the Internet- at least, not anymore. He hasn’t been for nearly a year. Like Pewdiepie, Mr. Beast, and other CCs who have amassed similar levels of fame and wealth via Internet content creation, Dream is a brand now, and most people will treat him as such. He isn’t just some uwu soft boy playing Minecraft anymore. He is on a whole other level from any other MCYT in his friend circle or colleague interaction bubble. His words will never again live in a vaccum or private bubble, his friend circle will never again be under anything less than intense scrutiny, his past actions will never again be simple mistakes or silly errors, his words will never again be casual tweets or streams for laughs among a couple thousand followers. Dream’s name represents something much bigger than just the one man. As such, all aspects of his brand, including his fanbase, will tie back to him and, ultimately, to any general criticism of him.

I’m not saying I like any of this, and I actually think the evolution of influencers from people to a marketable brand with similar mechanisms, responsibilities, and liabilities as a corporation is some kind of late capitalism nightmare fuel; I’m just stating my own observations and theories as to why so much anti-Dream criticism seems to be directed at his fanbase, rather than him.

Seventh, he’s just a guy, you’re right, but I think a lot of the antis on Tumblr understand this more than you know. As I’ve seen it, the sentiment among much of the “DSMP stans DNI” crowd seems to be that of “Dream/other MCYTs are such ‘bad’ people, so why do their fans stick to these mediocre, racist men, when there are so many better people to watch/better content to consume?” We know this argument is flawed for many of the obvious reasons - the conflation of all MCYTs�� actions regardless of individual identity, the equating of a CC’s fanbase’s morality to that of the CC they enjoy watching, the exxageration of any error MCYT CCs have committed as bigotry/racism, the fundamental misunderstanding and misinformation that led antis to believe this exxageration of the facts, etc. But I want to focus on the general, underlying sentiment of, “why not watch someone better, when your creator is problematic?” Sometimes, I ask this of Dream stans. Yes, being mildly ignorant, getting involved in the scandals Dream has, and being a right-leaning/libertarian centrist in the recent past all seem like harmless things, all things considered. One could say Dream isn’t nearly as bad as many antis who are misinformed seem to believe, and that there are much worse CCs Dream stans could be watching and creating fan content for. But I think what Tumblr antis wonder is, aren’t there also much better MCYTs/CCs people could be watching and stanning? Because he’s just some guy, right? Is his content truly so exceptional or is he really so exceptional a person, that people have to stick by him, despite the things that spike up regarding his current or past actions? I think that’s what made me finally decide to stop watching Dream. I realized he was just Some Guy. The Dream Team was a comforting dynamic to indulge in, DNF was a cute ship to read and speculate about, and Manhunts were fun videos to watch; however, once the Reddit posts came out and I read them in-depth, the cost-benefit analysis tipped over to the “not worth it” side for me. I realized Dream’s content, while fun and comforting, was not entirely unique, and wasn’t worth sticking around for, given what I then knew about his past political leanings. If he is just Some Guy, then there are a hundred more like him out there. There a hundred more ships, a hundred more found family dynamics, a hundred more entertaining and skilled Minecraft players. So while I agree with you on the point of people being allowed to love him regardless because he is just a guy, at the end of the day, I think that, if we are to believe that sentiment or use that argument in such a manner, we should also understand the flip side- that, if he is just some guy, why is it worth sticking around? To that I say, maybe because people just enjoy the simple things they enjoy.

Anyways, I wholly agree with your tl;dr. Thanks for that insanely long ask, this was a fun thing to keep me occupied while I’ve been at work, facilitating Zoom sessions this whole morning.

[terminally-karkalicious]

allow me to rant about the only thing that has been in my brain for the past two months and that is doll customizing babeyyyyy

i know there’s a 90% chance that you wont give a Shit about any of this but here we go anyways

SO first you gotta choose a doll. preferably one with a high range of motion to avoid creating new joints or having annoying limitations like not having elbow joints for some fucking reason. what the fuck mattel. give monster high dolls back their ball jointed shoulders and elbow joints. smh

the most common dolls ive seen used as bases are monster high and ever after high. most customs ive seen are highly stylized so the stylized face molds work well for those types of dolls but dolls like barbies are good for when you want a more realistic face-ups.

once you’ve got your base picked out you gotta wipe that bitch’s face off with like. acetone or nail polish remover or something strong like that. you can also use acetone to shrink doll heads which is cool as hell imo. n e way once the face is wiped you gotta chop off the hair and remove the hair plugs from the inside. ive seen this done several ways but the easiest and most common way ive seen is to dunk the head into boiling water for ~30 seconds until it gets squishy and malleable. once you’ve got the head back, you can use pliers (i think tweezers would work in a pinch) to pull out the hair plugs which are kinda icky because theyre covered in glue and other gross shit. ew

now you must decapitate the doll. dunk em back in the boiling water to soften them back up then just tug the head off. the neck pegs look funky and are usually a different color than the body so thats cool ig

once the head’s off, you can start the face-up which is basically just giving the doll a new face using stuff like watercolor pencils, acrylic paint, gouache, and a whole lot of other stuff. hell ive seen people use person makeup on these dolls.

next,,,,, hair. there’s about twenty million ways to do hair from gluing yarn wefts to sewing to rerooting with purchased nylon doll hair or yarn wefts but i’m gonna talk about the most common one ive seen which is rerooting and gluing.

before you can reroot, you need doll hair. which, as i mentioned, can be bought at stores like the doll planet or made at home with yarn in literally any color. have fun with it! make rainbow hair or something idk

to make homemade wefts, you take some acrylic yarn, cut it twice as long as you want the hair to be (keep in mind you can cut and style the hair once it’s been rerooted), fold them in half, and tie it to something sturdy like a wire coat hanger for the next step.

once you’ve got your yarn tied to your hanger, use a pet brush and brush the yarn until it’s wispy and looks like hair. then take a straightening iron and iron the weft flat. then remove from the hanger and boom. hair wefts. ta-da

to reroot the wefts onto the head, use a rerooting tool (which can be as simple as a needle with the eye cut at angle) (just google it please i’m shit at descriptions)) to poke small sections of the hair into the head. you can use the pre-existing rooting holes for your own reroot as they’re usually pretty reliable. to reroot, take a small length of you doll hair (about 10-15 strands), loop it in half, and put the middle of the loop into the reroot tool. poke the end of the tool with the hair on it into the pre-existing hole and remove the tool. the hair *should* stay in and fill up that plug!! also remember to plug thickly at the hairline and part of the hair where it's most noticeable. it doesnt matter as much in the center of the head as that’s not usually visible on the doll. once you’ve rerooted, squeeze in strong glue through the neck hole and squish around the head to make sure it covers all the plugs and secures them in place. then pour hot water onto the head to make the hair lay flat for styling later.

also, you can reroot yarn directly into the head to make thicker, more textured hairstyles. and since the yarn is thicker, you dont need to glue the inside of the head for the hair to stay in place!!

if youre not doing body modifications (which are also cool as hell) then it’s time for clothes but clothes are boring and i like body mods more so i’m gonna rant about them instead

the material ive seen most doll artists use is apoxie sculpt, which is like play doh on steroids. it comes in two parts which you gotta mix together for some reason. why dont they sell it pre-mixed. what was the reason. also once it’s dry it’s super super strong and you can sand it, drill into it, paint it, and all kinds of stuff. very nice and i want some for myself.

you can use hand saws and drills and shit to whack off doll limbs to make stuff like digitigrade legs or new joints. also dont be afraid to use other mismatching doll parts when customizing like heads and bodies and forearms and hands and shit. it literally does not matter if youre gonna recolor the doll anyways so have fun with it. make frankenstein’s doll if youre feeling spicy

accessories my beloved. stuff like tiny beads and clay baubles and shit will literally transform the entire doll plus they’re adorable and multi-purpose

i suppose i must talk about clothes now. ah well. you can find great clothing patterns if youre new to customizing on other customizer’s etsy shops and probably google although those will probably be lower quality than paid pattern pieces. and keep in mind that if it exists as clothing irl, you can likely make it doll-sized. there are literally no limits to your clothing options as long as you can execute your idea.

the once all your components have been made, you can assemble the doll again!! and finally see what all the parts look like together!! very cool 10/10 stars.

ight that wraps up my doll rant. i could really go into more detail on certain parts but thats a whole other rant for a whole other day smh. sorry for fucking flooding your inbox ender ahaha……………. you asked for this

little did you know that dolls have been one of my favorite things since like ever. if i can read a 25 chapter long fanfic i can read this B)

mattel definitely fucked up by completely ruining MH doll designs and just stopping EAH, alot of their profits most likely came from people who collect and customize dolls and by changing MH doll designs/Stopping EAH dolls they 1. most likely lost a small (or big if we're not jus talking people who customize dolls) part of their profit and 2. made it harder for doll customizers to make dolls/get commissions out rather quickly because they probably have to waste more time making joints or learning how to make joints.

EAH/MH dolls (specifically MH dolls) had AMAZING MODELS because there was so much variety with height, face shapes, etc (my favorite molds had to be the short/tall dolls and the cat molds because of the tails) and doll customizers really went all out with enhancing a molds unique features. The only "downside" abt MH dolls is that they (or atleast most)(from what i remember)) had slimmer faces but wider eyes while EAH dolls have wider faces with slimmer smaller which left a canvas for the face and not the eyes (and vice versa for MH dolls)

I've never seen any videos where a barbie is customized (maybe because i absolutely despised barbies at the time) so I'll definitely have to check those out but they seem to be good for realistic makeovers. I've seen like like semi realistic makeovers for EAH/MH dolls that were pretty good too tho (pretty sure mostly EAH dolls since yk MH dolls were used for creature makeovers while most EAH dolls weren't)

yeah i was always amazed by the head shrinking with acetone. honestly i still am?? idunno i have no idea how that chemical bullshit works. Ive seen a few of uh makeovers that just pain over the face (in multiple layers ofcourse) but that's usually when they're painting the entire body a different colour (again usually when they're turning a doll into a funky little baby man). I've also seen a few that just chop the hair off and take out the hair plugs yk without uuh like softening the head or just go straight for the hair plugs after taking off the head (i used to do that it was funny to me??). i always really liked when they used watercolour pencils or just colour pencils in general to draw/sketch on the face cause like wow ur drawing on ur doll without ruining it?? kinda epic maybe even poggers and pogchamp?? oh god my brain is failing wjshsmsj.

Watching them putting the hair back on the doll was, other than the face stuff, was the BEST part for me. Favorite type of hair was iuuuuuh was either thick yarn or brushed out yarn. Literally worship the people that would reroot the hair, theyre the most patience people on this earth!! it's literally insane but i guess that's what happens when you've been doing that for years? you guess kinda get used to it. when they put glue into the head does it just become stiff?? like it's just a clump of dried glue or does it like..hollow out again??

dude you literally cannot convince me most of the supplies used for doll makeovers. APOXIE CLAY LOOKS SO FECKING GOOD. its edible and i will die on that hill. The body mods are literally so amazing!!!!! it's so impressive how theyre able to imagine certain features THEN LIKE ACTUALLY MAKE IT LOOK ACCURATE TO WHAT THEY WANTED TO LOOK LIKE AFTER LIKE ON TRY (or many yk trial and error is very necessary for..everything). Absolutely loved when doll customizers would saw off a dolls legs and use different ones or just completely get rid of the torso to use a different one. it's like uuh that one big guy that's mismatched and sewn together. very cool. The accessories are so fun!! just small little details you seen really need but can add because it's your feckin doll!! I used to be absolutely obsessed over the doll clothes i would find on etsy, so much so that i started sewing shitty shirts and dresses for my uh "customized" dolls (they were absolute HORRORS idk WHY my mom let me feck up my dolls like that).

Thank you for this!! i haven't been able to talk about any of my interests for a while and this just really made me happy!!

Question fer u my fellow MH/EAH enthusiast: what was your favorite MH/EAH movie/episode and doll series. Mine was The fusion dolls (MH obvi) and that MH movie "Haunted" cause we got to know more about Spectra :D