#specifiy who you want to talk to obviously

[bogos-bint3d]

Since I have absolutely nothing the fuck to do right now and for the next like 4 days I'm gonna be like pretty much entirely gone, next 72 hours are go ahead and ask bogos' ocs anything the fuck the fuck you want and they'll answer probably week

[my-lunaberg]

Throughout this entire Tubbo Joins Las Nevadas vod there was just this alarm going off in the back of my brain going "QUACKITY DREAM PARRALLELS QUACKITY DREAM PARALLELS QUA" and I initially just dismissed it because, Quackity seeming pretty manipulative in that conversation and Dream being confirmed pretty manipulative doesnt mean theres some kind of parallel there, yknow. However, then i thought about it a bit more and yes, yes there are parallels

Before we start though, if any part of this seems like weird disconnected rambling to you, please do me a favor and go on my blog and go through my c!Dream and c!Quackity tags. The thing about all of my analysis posts is they kinda build off eachother and the thing about me is that I hate repeating myself so I just end up scantily referencing some other posts of mine, probably leaving the people who arent caught up on the seven analyses from a blog with like 20 followers confused. So yeah, heres that disclaimer

Tldr: Dream doesnt care about politics at all, Quackity cares very much. Dream wants to be The Leader in a very wishy-washy Confident Guy Whose House Everyone Hangs Out Is The Proxy-Leader Of This Friend Group-way, Quackity wants to be The Leader of a nation (ie. President). Dream cares about the individuals and sees governments and political movements as a means to the end of manipulating other people, Quackity cares about the governments and political movements and sees individuals as a means to the end of manipulating the politics of the server. Thats all the important stuff I think

Now, i this post Id like to talk about the ways in which they are manipulative. In one sentence, Dream largely relies on negativity while Quackity largely relies on positivity. Obviously Im specifiying largely bc you cant just rely on the same few tricks when youre trying to manipulate a bunch of people, you gatta be versatile and you gotta be opportunistic otherwise you cant do shit. The way Dream gets others to do what he wants is either through threatening them (notable examples are Quackity, Eret and Wilbur during the Lmanberg war) or through systemically breaking them down until they do what he wants, like he tried with Tommy (I say tried because he wasnt successful, like at all). Quackity meanwhile focuses a lot more on positive reinforcement, trying to make himself as well as his country look as good as possible and complementing those 'beneath' him when they do what he asks correctly, while not lingering on their mistakes or flaws, whereas Dream would use those to further beat them down.

I think the reasons they choose to do it like that are pretty complex, for the sake of this analysis I'll just focus on one of them: Dream lost a lot of his goodwill with the majority of the (active) server members fairly early on and he tries to turn that into an advantage by just 'leaning into it' so to speak. Quackity also lost a lot of his goodwill with the server when he joined Schlatt, however, he has since done his best to regain it, pretty sucessfully. I think he did it deliberately, both because he does care a lot about other peoples approval and, more relevently for Las Nevadas, because he realized that it doesnt matter how you gain power, if the people dont like their leader, theyre just going to get rid of them. Another thing to keep in mind is their difference in resources and combat ability. Before Dream was locked in jail he was practically untouchable because you couldnt fight him because if you tried, he was guaranteed to kill you because his armor was too strong and he was too good of a fighter. He could get away with pretty much anything because you cant refute a sword to your throat. Quackity doesnt have that, hell, he barely wears armor most of the time. Because he already knows hes not going to beat a lot of people in a physical fight, he instead makes himself seem vulnerable in order to lower peoples guards and make himself appear more trustworthy. Dream also definitely tried to do something similar when Tommy visited him on his first day, where he tried to seem pathetic and pitiable, now that he couldnt be threatening anymore.

Anyway, thats it. I feel like thats a weird note to end it on but my brains all out of juice again so

[barid-bel-medar]

You know what I don't ever much talk about here? My utter shit vision.

So fun fact; throughout my childhood I had perfect vision, 20/20, no signs of what was coming. My dad had crap vision and so did a fair amount of my aunts and uncles, but eh, we weren't too worried. Again, constantly passing the eye exam.

Then came fifth grade.

Now to further explain this, I think I should specifiy something to clarify a thing to make it clear my parents weren't being abusive or anything in context of what I'm going to say next. My older sister faked failing an eye exam at one point in elementary school because she thought glasses looked cool. It got out almost immediately when she saw the actual optometrist who was able to call BS and my parents were understandably unhappy with her.

The reason I mention that, is that when I did the eye exam in fourth grade again, perfect pass, 20/20 vision.

Then came fifth grade.

I bombed the test. I got then a 20/200, meaning I was seeing shit as if it was two hundred feet away from me rather than twenty. It was bad. School nurse told my parents to take me to see the optometrist since that is a very concerning shift.

They didn't, because the sheer scale of it made them think I was faking ala my sister back when she'd been in elementary school. Meaning I went through all of goddamn fifth grade barely able to see the board (my teacher had a classmate read things off for me/help me out since obviously couldn't see shit) which understandably lead to me not having the greatest year. Still passed and stayed in the middle school version of honors track.

So I complain repeatedly over the course of the year, and through the summer and finally my dad gets fed up with me bitching, and decides to 'play a prank on me'. Namely, he who also had 20/200 vision handed me his glasses. Now dad's expecting me to finally fess up once I put them on that I really can see, that I've just been faking.

My response?

"Oh that's so much better I can actually see the TV now!"

My parents' response?

"Oh shit Barid's being serious."

They made an appointment for me to see the optometrist ASAP (which still meant a week between, the man didn't have an appointment until then). Did the test there, 'wow your vision is shit!' and got my first pair of glasses.

From ages 11 through...19? I want to say 19. I was going through glasses twice a year, with fairly rapid shifts in steadily decreases vision. Blessedly my parents both had eye insurance through their jobs so I just rotated between, which is good because I very quickly had to go for the super expensive type of lenses that are some sort of special polycarbon because of how thick they were getting. Also needed shit like photogray since I was wearing them outside in the summer and thus needed sunglasses, and also shit like scratch proofing; for the record I still get all of those even though I also wear contacts, since I was told a few years ago to wear my glasses more since it's healthier for my eyes. Per my appointment this year that's working since my present optometrist noted my eyes are in much better shape than expected for someone who's vision is as shitty as it is.

I didn't start wearing contacts until college (couldn't get comfortable touching my eyes for the longest time). For those of you familiar with contacts, now at age 30 I wear -8.0 in contacts, and can if need be (such as me being out) wear -8.5 with minimal issue.

I only stopped needing to update my glasses on a yearly basis two years ago. Which hey, keeps the costs down! I apparently didn't even have any sort of shift this year when checked, just needed a new script to order contacts.

(Fun fact, by the way; my sister continues to have perfect vision to this day, and at this point is the only one in our immediate family like that)

[dex-xe]

Ghosts watch the Euros?

Am I about to write 1000 words of cringe about dead fictional characters watching a football tournament?? yes I am and I'm thrilled!! XD

This primarily focusses on Pat btw but most of the ghosts feature a bit too.

So basically Alison didn’t really care that much about the Euros before they started, Mike however was decently optimistic regarding Engliand’s chances but isn’t the world’s biggest sport fan. But one evening they’re all watching TV and stuff and then there’s one of those animated ads that play before any major sports competition starts and Pat sees it and gets incredibly excited.

He hasn’t been able to watch a major football tournatment (live) since he was alive because Heather never had sport on at all. He begs Alison that he gets control of the TV during England matches and after using the whole “pleasseeeee I’m no trouble, I don’t usually ask for much!” Alison agrees to adjust the TV rota, much to the others ghosts disgust (the Captain is peeved about his afternoon day time TV History Channel documentaries being overwritten, and Fanny’s evening period dramas often get pushed aside but Alison eventually manages to use the Sky Box to rearrange everything for them).

For most of the group stages it’s just Pat watching, Mike will occassionally sit in but is genrally on his phone. Julian will also offer the occassional comment which Pat just rolls his eyes at and tells him to go back to his computer games. Also Pat is amazed just quite how young the team is but I digress.

So once it becomes apparent that England are doing surprisingly well (and Mike’s mates stop talking about anything else at the pub) Mike starts paying attention and by extension Alison sits in bringing multiple ghosts in her wake.

Kitty doesn’t like the idea of competition much and just wants people to have fun, she gets upset when people get kicked out but congratulats them for doing their very best. Thomas however, stands behind the sofa muttering about how it’s a barbaric sport and the lowest form of entertainment (“Polo!! Now that takes real skill!!)

The Captain wasn’t much of a football fan in life (cricket was much more his bag) but he’ll gladly sit and enjoy some friendly competition, anything he can get these days to be proud of his country. Robin doesn’t understand organised competition much but he quite like the idea of playing a game like that, he kinda misses running around and burning of energy, physical performance was super important for hunting when he was alive.

Anyway, once England makes it into the quarters (and Mike claims to have been totally invested from the beginning) Mike and Alison both start to get more and more involved, they decide to buy England flags and bunting to put across the front of the house - much to the Captain’s pleasure cause it reminds him a bit of VE Day.

Alison does actually manage to convince everyone to gather round for the final - even Fanny who literally couldn’t care less is overwhelmed with patriotism and hovers in a nearby armchair. Pat parks himself on the floor right in front of the TV so he can hear the commentary even when the others are rambling on about their analysis of the game (their analysis is incredibly poor given they’ve been dead for centuries - Kitty announces that the strikers should “use thier hips more” and no one is quite sure what that means but Thomas does suggest sending correspondence to Southgate to give him that advice.)

Anyway (I keep going off on tangents) the final obviously begins with England scoring mad quick which erupts the TV room into cheers. Mike jumps up to celebrate and puts his foot into where Pat is also sat cheering - Alison has to catch him around the waist to pull him back towards the sofa to stop Pat from gagging.

Pat then starts going on about how, with a start like that, there’s no way England can lose now. Julian rains on his parade very quickly and tells him worse things have happened and Alison jokes about what a show off Julian will be if he’s right and England lose… (Julian is obviously incredibly patriotic and wants England to win but he wants to be right much more).

Thomas quickly begins to think of himself as an expert at this “pauper’s sport” and starts to shout the generic “I know nothing about football but don’t want people to question me” phrases (“they had better begin playing it forward more, they shan’t achieve anything with cowardice like this!!)

They remain kinda optimistic going into the second half apart from Pat who is potentially the only one who recognises England slolwy losing control - but, much like with his scouts, his puts on his usual optimistic front to stop the team from becoming deflated (the team can’t hear him becuase a) he’s not at Wembley and b) he’s been dead four decades but it’s just his natural reaction).

As soon as Italy score, that’s when the deflation starts to set in. They all become slightly quieter until England start mounting an attack and then the shouting begins again.

Pat tries to explain the concept of extra time to the others but few understand and begin suggesting their own tie break ideas. Kitty suggests a draw would be better, everybody wins. Fanny suggests someone should concede (she doesn;t specifiy who but it’s very much implied). Robin’s idea is to continue with extra time then release a bear onto the pitch at a random point “for the drama” (I would watch that though).

But no, Pat and Mike are both very quiet throughout extra time. Thomas is thrilled because he believes Southgate has listened to his ongoing generic advice to “bring on Grealish” - realistically he’s peeved Love Island isn’t on, he likes to make fun of it and announce repeatedly how “the modern world has no concept of love!!”

Once it gets to penalties Kitty is off. She can’t stand the tension and covers her eyes to avoid having to watch somebody lose in this way. Mary sits beside her on the sofa petting her hair like “ooh cry not, ’tis but a game child” which really doesn’t help the mood. After every single shot, there’s just a little burst of gasps and strangled noises from everyone except Pat who is just waiting and praying that his first tournament in 40 years is going to be a dramatic win.

When England (spoilers from over a month ago) lose, silence falls across the room before Julian finally breaks it: “I don’t mean to say I told you so but…” he is interrupted VERY quickly by shouting from everyone else. Eyes quickly fall on Pat who hasn’t said anything since the penalties began, he hadn;t even turned to look at anyone else yet. He slowly stood up and said with a very fake smile “well it was a deserved win… if you’ll excuse me” and then he fazes through the wall behind him never to be seen again.

“Julian, that really was uncalled for,” Alison tells him. Pat seems normal for the next few days but most people can tell he’s very disappointed, especially as Mike has to get the ladder out again to do the really sad “flag taking down ceremony” everyone did the day after.

Pat’s finally brought out of his slump by Kitty who asks him what he would do if his scouts failed at something - he says he’d tell them they did really well for trying their best and give them some tips to improve. “Exactly,” Kitty says. “You’d still be proud of what they achieved, right?” All the ghosts are pretty excited by the prospect of a world cup next year.

So there we go,, cheers for the ask!! I apologise for this being cringe as fuck and I really hope it gets to the right people XD I’m having a day of trying to finish as many projects as I can over the next few days before series 3 so I can essentially start afresh after the new episodes are out - I know I’m going to have a lot of ideas and inspiration.