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AH.

@spacecharlotte-man here @zgmoony

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mr beast being sued for labor violations then having his food brand discontinued for mold then being reported to the FBI and now being investigated for roughly $23M in crypto-related insider trading feels like the ultimate don’t stop the party

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Well said.

I don't think finale describes this stream accurately. I would call it an epilogue perhaps. (Specifically for Jack and Tommy).

It's just a little bit of extra content that ties up a few loose ends. It's not exactly new content, it's simply looking back on memories.

But yeah, it's good to remember that we enjoyed the DSMP and maybe encouraging to know that many of the creators had fun too. They've moved on but it's not actually forgotten. Same with the fandom. We've all largely moved on to other things (or moved back into old interests if you're me xD) but we secretly remember it.

i've read multiple posts with differing opinions on whether or not jack's stream was the ultimate dsmp finale, and i've got to say i find value in all of them!

i think there's a difference of opinion when it comes to closure. most people have found closure in the stream in a more meta, audience-centric angle. it's very meta, pulling out and discussing one of the biggest insecurities both cc's and fans share about the dsmp which is, was it actually good? was i cringey to be enjoying this imperfect thing all this time?

and the answer we got: it was good. we did have a good time. tommy and jack affirms that we did, that we shouldn't be alone in admitting that our time spent with the dsmp as a piece of media was not a waste. this is why this stream in particular is a big hit with fans who haven't touched the dsmp in a while— the assurance by tommy and jack that it's Okay to have liked the dsmp literally pulled people out of hiding and be comfortable with admitting that. yes. i had fun!

on the other side of the closure spectrum, i do think that this stream does not necessarily provide closure with the dsmp in a more narrative angle. we may now know the true endings tommy, tubbo, and jack found themselves in, but let's be honest— this stream will and does not repair any of the loose ends the dsmp left behind, which is a Lot. in this vein, i wouldn't confidently say this was the Ultimate DSMP Finale That Ends All Finales. but that's okay, i literally don't expect it to.

but what i do think is that it does a serviceable job taking the insecurity out of liking the dsmp, which i think is incredibly important for us as fans. it definitely removes a heavy weight on your shoulder, especially since the dsmp isn't well-perceived by the masses. it also helps us accept the idea that the dsmp was indeed such a perfectly imperfect piece of media. that cannot be changed.

with how easy it was for tommy and jack to slip into the murky waters of canon/retcons, i think it also invites everyone to make your own ending/story for the dsmp. after all, it's not necessarily owned by one entity. we have at many points in its creation influenced the plot and how it's perceived. what the dsmp is or is supposed to be is now entirely up to our hands. what would you like to do with it next?

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<JackManifoldTV> are you happy?<JackManifoldTV> i guess that’s all i’d care to know

It’s been a while, huh?

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when ctommy said that nukes weren't canon he was talking about his canon life since he never lost a canon life so he is left with one. he wasn't saying that the nukes themselves weren't canon

Uhh sure.

I wasn't really disputing that they happened? Like the server did end. The exact mechanics if why it happened don't actually concern me.

I know this is like a new slice of DSMP lore but its also very very meta about the CCs talking about the server and what it meant to them. Tommy is at least somewhat retconning the original ending purely by insisting he made it out and is on the server again.

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Hahaha guys lets laugh at how cringe we were when we were 17 and this silly server everyone went crazy over.

...

...

Gosh wasn't it fun? Damn look at everything we did.

:)

something that i don't feel like i've seen enough posts about is the fact that. it was a joke. jack logged on as a joke because he lost a bet, intending to "take the piss". it takes maybe a few minutes for him to see the manishroom in his inventory and get genuinely emotional about it, as something he's had since the beginning of the server, as something that represents a hugely important time and series of events in his life. it's--it wasn't planned. it was just... a joke. until, suddenly, it wasn't.

and if that's not the best, most fitting end to the dream smp, i don't know what would be. o7

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DON’T STOP THE PARTYYYY

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So youre telling me after all that he really did get to keep a pet and ctub really did get to finish that fucking bee hotel/shop combo and also they lived and also they stayed together and also jack picked his life up and also

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Children of the barricade who didn’t last the night… they were schoolboys, never held a gun. Fighting for a new world that would rise up like the sun.

where’s that new world? Now the fighting’s done…

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Yeah! I think that's exactly how these CCs feel about it too. It's a story that mean something to us and means something to them too.

These difficult often sad stories are just made for hopeful endings.

All this ending really did was say how they miss it sometimes and it was fun despite everything. And that they're still here moving on and getting better.

feeling really content after the lore today. it gave me closure that i never thought i would get but i've needed for a long time

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Tommy's original DSMP ending was absolutely terrible for fans of his character. Partly because so much of it was done just because they felt they had to destroy it all in order to lead into a new server. It's far from the only thing wrong with it but yeah.

Like I think? the intended read of that end was hopeful because look TOmmy and Dream have a fresh start maybe they can be friends this time. Also Tubbo's here, what will their relationship be like. It all hinges on what comes next making it worth saying goodbye to what is.

...

So naturally with that sequel scrapped it just leaves our characters all dead and the server gone.

This light retcon isn't really a conclusion, it's more saying we remember the server. It's gone but we're not and we remember it.

Cause yeah. You can't go back to the server anymore. It's dead. But the server was only ever about the people on it, and the friendships and conflicts they had. Other than a few cool builds, what made it special was always the history. Like the most iconic parts of the server were Tommy's bench, his constantly rebuilding house and the path. Techno's house and the prison and the main community house were also all up there. These are special because things happened there.

Hearing therefore that Tommy and Tubbo and Jack are all alive and have mostly moved on is all we really need to hear. We can imagine that some of the others are doing their own thing too.

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Jack and Tommy reminisce

Okay, so Jack and Tommy's met up on the DSMP for one last in-character conversation. I briefly spoke on it being a world of memory now that does and doesn't exist.

But let's be more meta.

This is reallyCC!Tommy talking about the Dream SMP.

He's asking Jack if he misses the days of the server.

They're saying that those days were fun but too much. Streams of over 100k, big lore, drama, so many different CCs and events. When they were both teenagers that was the whirlwind of their life.

It's blown past now and they miss it but look back fondly sometimes. The way things were back then, you can't get it back but it was cool.

We all have to move on. Jack and Tommy both like their current careers as they are now. They look back at their teenage adventures fondly, but they've also grown up since then.

Now it's the quieter life. Sometimes they get thoughful and reminisce. Sometimes Tommy ends up back on the server. Back where it started for him. These days, he's still good friends with Tubbo, they still hang out every now and then. That connection never faded, even as theire relationship is different from them as young streamers.

And that's the ending Tommy wants for his character. This thoughtful young man looking back and realising how much he's changed since those hectic days. It's not so much an ending for C!Tommy as it is for well CC!Tommy.

And it's not an ending either, of course.

Cause yeah, life is a journey and they're both still on it even if the server itself is a little but significant memory for both of them.

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Ahhh... why not.

Have some analysis. (I'm not gonna watch the stream... sorry, I don't feel I can manage that rn. This will be based entirely on Jack and Tommy's conversation.)

Alright, Jack visits the server. It seems like this is the first time in ages. A quick trip down memory lane. And who should he run into but Tommy, still apparently living on the server.

Jack says how he blew up the everything. Tommy says that didn't happen. Jack says it did. But Tommy says he's still here. Still got his one life. Somehow. But there's no one around anymore.

I think what we can glean from this, is that the server did blow up in some form. Or some disaster caused everyone to disappear. There was an end.

But also... some people lived beyond the apocalypse. When everything blew up, it was destruction. Finally it killed off all the fighting war and conflict because nothing was left.

And yet that very emptiness is what drew a few souls in. To live on in the solitude. In the memories.

Jack moves on to bigger and better things, trying to find his place in the world. I'm sure most others were the same. He sometimes looks back at the person he was and is inspired to be who he is now.

But there was a part of Tommy who could never fully leave the server. It was more than a memory. It was a home, something he couldn't leave behind.

Tommy still sees Tubbo. He still has his little cottage and sometimes he returns. Just for a few short minutes every so often, just to be.

...The server doesn't really exist now. It's not alive. To go there is not to go to a real place. It's to walk back to a server so like the one he knew but frozen in time. It's at peace.

Tommy doesn't expect to see Jack again because Jack doesn't need to hold those memories quite so close. Tubbo we hear, sometimes sees Tommy though. They both grew up on the server and it connects them.

Tommy will be here as long as he needs to heal and to remember the good and the bad. When time moved so quickly and life was so full.

Is the server gone? Was the ending where Jack helped blow it up real? Well yes.

But no. Because the moment it blew up, it was frozen in time forever, a perfect memory preserved for our dear characters to see again. For as long as they need to.

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Cheers! Okay, looks like Jack visited the DSMP server and interacted with Tommy. Not over voicechat, just in text. But they had a sweet little conversation. It was even in-character.

Did I hear something about retconning Tommy's DSMP ending into something hopeful and sweet?

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jack and tommy's big conversation :''''(

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Did I hear something about retconning Tommy's DSMP ending into something hopeful and sweet?

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hi!! very excited to see you're excited about the dsmp archive reopening- i'm a mod and your blog is one of the few that's stayed so devoted (more or less) to the dsmp let alone a positive take :] ive enjoyed all of your analysis I've come across in the spreadsheet

Aww, thank you. I wouldn't say I'm an active blog and I'm not likely to suddenly write a bunch more posts but all that I've written in the past is there to stay. It helps of course that this has always been a DSMP sideblog. I totally appreciating archiving, it's maddening trying to find older posts and content so anything keeping it alive is awesome.

I was in the DSMP fandom since it began pretty much and writing little analysis posts since then so checking out my #meta tag should give a nice little history from my c!tommy biased perspective xD.