#as for wilbur: his priority is tommy. like always. if it was just him on the line he'd do anything to get niki thru but it's not

[faebriel]

hgs brainrot has returned due to tbosas .. speaking of hgs here’s an ask abt the hgs au: if things were totally different, and Wilbur were to be a 12 victor, what do you think a possible mentor-tribute dynamic would look like between him & Niki? I feel like it would be similar to Snow & Lucy in the way that he’s just going out of his way to cheat n help her

anon u have in fact struck jackpot because this is a concept i was spinning some thoughts abt before bee mentioned avoxes and we went OOOOH at that!!! so yes i have considered rainduo as a mentor-tribute dynamic and would love to talk about that concept too :]

so for this concept i think wilbur and niki would be close friends throughout childhood from 12, and then in their teens wilbur is reaped and, well, no one has particularly high hopes (he's a writer and a musician at heart, not a fighter) but through sheer trickery and dumb luck, he makes it to the end of the games. wilbur pulled some pretty fucked up tricks to win - when you can't use brute force, you have to use your brain - and partly due to the trauma of the games, partly due to his shame and survivor's guilt, he sinks into the capitol and relishes a new life there as a socialite. to him, the old wilbur died in the games and the new one has taken his place - to niki, and to his other friends in 12, whatever the games did to him made him into every vapid heartless capitol victor there is.

or. niki has her doubts. they all saw how horrible the games were, but surely there is some part of him left, some part that's hurting, even if it's buried deep?

anyway.

like og spin of the au, niki is reaped and this sucks - this time she does expect wilbur as her mentor on the train, and she expects some kind of warm welcome (maybe even an apology for leaving them so suddenly and silently? an explanation?) but she gets jack shit. wilbur is jaded and cruel and unrecognisable and niki entirely hates it. this is the part where i REALLY WISH we got some time of those two beefing with each other directly in canon (or at least interactions while niki was So Mad at him) but it's okay we fly blind. niki feels abandoned, lonely, thrown off of her kilter - she expected an ally in this place, but she doesn't recognise the person wilbur has become. she doesn't recognise his shallowness (...much), his ruthless advice for the arena, the way he doesn't seem to care for anything. she's scared and now she's lonely and it pisses her off - their mentorship is fraught. here are some thoughts from discord on that:

i tend to think of niki as a bit naïve before l'manberg or even doomsday - i think this is an au where this streak would come out real strong, and niki is stubborn that she can get through the games without losing herself. stubborn that she can stop things, that she can protect people. i don't think wilbur is cold enough (or, really, can bear to say aloud) to say that her odds in the arena are slim enough as it is, but he definitely tells her that she's making enemies and that her odds of survival dwindle with the more trouble she causes.

beyond that... hm. niki's trust in wilbur is almost unshakeable until nov 16, even when she outright says she doesn't recognise him anymore. i think she'd reluctantly listen re: don't burn down any buildings, but she would grow bolder each day she had to stay in the capitol. she gets more honest in front of the cameras. she makes more friends in training, and not the ones wilbur recommends. she throws barbs at him every time he makes one of those callous, cold-hearted comments about other tributes and rankings and odds. and besides, she's going in the arena this time, not him. she needs to practice her bravery.

it's like... she hasn't given up on him. she thinks the old wilbur is in there somewhere. (she is wrong. that is not how trauma works.) but she won't hold her tongue just because she

for extra angst points could definitely play up the whole 'feeling abandoned' angle between them as niki goes into the arena - probably due to how fraught their friendship gets leading up to the games. niki wants to focus on them and their friendship, wilbur has stringently cut off (almost) everything from 12 and refuses to let her in; he tells her to behave for the cameras, she tells him she never will. i think the last point in that screenshot would also make for a super tasty argument where niki feels wilbur has gone astray, that he's abandoned 12, and that he'll probably do nothing but sit on his ass and watch her die and he can't even bring himself to care about her anymore, can he? just more fodder for the arena. and honestly, i think wilbur would passively agree with most of that - he values niki's opinion, after all, even now, and if she says he's rapidly descending into a lost cause then she must be right. and it's niki, so she will be fine, and he goes to his bedroom that night and tries to pretend he is sleeping perfectly fine instead of feeling paralysed with fear.

okay now onto the games - YES HE SO WOULD. or at least i think he would go out of his way to help. as for cheating - he's a recent victor for 12 and i think he would value tommy (no doubt a link to him... i think they'd be in touch in this au also) too much to risk the punishment falling onto him as well. i get the vibes this is a games closer to 74th than 10th, so there are far fewer opportunities to cheat and the consequences of getting caught are higher. but schmoozing up sponsors? making stupid ass radio interviews or whatever to talk up niki's odds? sharing anecdotes from their childhood - some real, some entirely fabricated - across capitol airwaves to stoke their sympathy? 100%. with less to lose in this au, i think niki would be far less inclined to play nice for the cameras - i hope you starve, she spits at one of them, and wilbur appears on a talkshow two days later as she scrambles for survival in the arena to talk up how she always saved loaves from the bakery for the poorest mothers and children in 12. he borrows and begs and swindles to the point where it feels like cheating. but hey, this new wilbur is capitol-branded. he knows how to play the game.

if anything he probably sinks into the game a little too much. self-preservation is not his forte. probably wracks up a few heavy debts and favours to owe, but those are not priority until niki is out of the arena, alive. as long as she wins, and as long as the family he has isn't in danger, he will manage. wow it would suck if at some point those two goals became impossible to co-achieve. anyway

i kind of see niki's victory in the arena being similar to the one in the main au - if only because planning out an entire games is hard for meee >-< . she walks in bolder and braver for sure, and with a less strategic pick of allies, but they all get picked off and she spends a few weeks so terrified she can barely sleep and then she ruptures some fuel line and sets the arena alight with a fire that burns brighter and more ravenously than it should. but she wins, and she's airlifted out of a filthy, muddy creek she had resigned herself to die in, and wilbur barges his way through as many peacekeepers so that he can actually see her with her burnt skin and hair and unfocused eyes and trust that what was on the screens wasn't a fluke, and that they made it. and then it's just a matter of surviving the after.

i'm sure there are some other random quirks or tidbits i can think of re: this take on a c!rainduo hunger games au but these are my base thoughts!!

#can i just say whatever the hell lucy grey n snow had going on in part 1 made me so berko btw. like congrats ur my means to an end youre my #symbol youre my buddy? should we kiss? i'll get you out of here / don't make me leave these people behind #BRIDGING OFF OF THE TBOSAS DISCUSSION. i think the thing with crainduo (or at least how i like to depict them) is that they care about each #other extremely deeply and value each other... without being each others number one priority at all times. #i don't think niki plays priority with people she cares for like that; see her relationships with like wilbur and eret in lmanberg #even her friendship with and offering ponk a place to stay in her city after manberg even tho manberg hurt her #as for wilbur: his priority is tommy. like always. if it was just him on the line he'd do anything to get niki thru but it's not #asks #hunger games au #they would truly be such a nightmare in this au like. wilbur's self loathing is SO HIGH due to survivors guilt and trauma and mental illnes #he thinks that niki is So Good and Has It Together meanwhile he is So Bad #and is a mess that she cannot possibly rely on him. she can't possibly need him. she can't possibly want him around #<- and this shit is INGRAINED like. it's not even an active thought pattern anymore it is carved into his brain like a groove #and so shes like. do you even care whether i live or die?? #of course he does. but this is the capitol. he cant be vulnerable in a way that matters #and that alienates niki further and this rage and heartbreak is building in her with nowhere to go. and in the arena she thinks it erupts #nah uh. i think its AFTER the area when she has to face wilbur again that she would go full screaming meltdown #ANYWAY !! i really like aus where they have this friction esp because i think like.. idk i think sometimes our views of rainduo are too ros #wilbur kind of forgets about niki sometimes because his self hatred is that bad. niki doesnt get wilburs mental illness and takes it both a #a burden/blame AND a direct rejection of her and her friendship #and they hover just outside of each others spaces anxious and angry and almost self flagellating. GOOD FOR THEM ! #anyway Yes this did unlock something within me. thanks anon feel free to add on if u had more thoughts esp re: tbosas and such bc i had suc #a good time watching that movie

[peninkwrites]

(putting my very long, very personal ramble under a readmore so folks can avoid it) (this won't include any of my plans for going forward or for my writing but I'm not going anywhere so don't worry about that. love to you all.)

A little disclaimer: If you have zero context for what I'm talking about, apologies for not explaining in depth, but this post won't be relevant to you otherwise. All you really need to know is that it seems that Wilbur Soot is an abuser, and Shubble came forward and talked about it recently. He was not named, but from what she shared, I believe that was who she was talking about. I don't say this to speculate, and if you disagree, I'm not here to argue over it, but it's enough for me personally to not to want to support him indefinitely, save for Shubble explicitly saying she wasn't talking about him.

Additionally, these thoughts are some incredibly personal and self-centered rambling. It does not reflect where my priorities lie, with supporting Shelby for coming forward above all else, but other people have said that much better than I have, and this post is really just a place for me to vent some of my feelings.

I prided myself on not falling prey to “parasocial relationships.” I didn’t get invested in the personal lives of content creators, only in their creative works. I thought this protected me somehow. I knew next to nothing about Wilbur Soot’s personal life, but I admired him deeply as a writer and empathized with him as an artist. I projected so heavily onto his character and did so for over three years. When I waited for his final dsmp stream, I felt panicked. Like my survival hinged on how he ended this story, and then he ended it in a way I could live with, and I thought I could go on loving this story and these characters for what they had been, no matter how messy the rest of the endings to follow were. His character was mine in so many ways. He had some of my problems and I gave him some of my own. I used him to process quite a bit. And now that part of myself is irrevocably tainted.

When the stuff came out about Dream, I was upset, but not betrayed. I never followed the creator and he existed only as a character to me. All I grieved then was the community his actions destroyed and most importantly the people he hurt. I planned to continue writing for the DSMP, even as I refused to follow any content involving him. It felt like a pause, not a full stop, while I ensured what I was doing did not show him any support. I also gave that character no pity and therefore the man behind him no pity, I had no personal investment in his character.

Now my response is visceral and bitter and I don’t know how to go on writing, because this character meant the world to me. I don’t know how to write about a character I truly love and see myself in, knowing the person who also loved and saw himself in that character, who created that character, has done horrible things. I don’t know how to write any of these other characters I have loved and cared for for over 3 years because he has poisoned them. All of it turns my stomach now and I feel so betrayed. The thought of his character is tainted because it’s connected to his voice and his face. I cannot separate the art from the artist both because it was the inclusion of the authorship within the story which affected me so strongly, and because there are things within the text that I look back on now and can only see that this person was always this way. I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept thinking of c!Wilbur’s line when he found out about exile, “he didn’t actually hit you though“ and his horror when c!Tommy responded that he had, that for some reason that was the turning point. The implication that it was only crossing that line, that particular type of violence, which made something wrong. Fucking disgusting.

I’ve tried to find another story before now. For the last few years, honestly, I’ve looked for something to latch onto the way I have with this one, but nothing feels the way this did. I know I’ve been clinging to something gone or at least mostly gone, both the community and the story, but I haven’t known how to let go when nothing makes me feel the same way, even when the feeling has faded and changed so much with time. This was never supposed to go on this long. Honestly, the reason I started posting mcyt stuff to my sideblog instead of my main was because I assumed I would get over it in a few weeks, delete the posts, and move on. Three years. 40 works. Over a million words. Just. Fuck.

I loved these characters so much and I’ve wrapped up my writing in them for so long it’s hard to separate the two. At this point, it feels like these characters are what allow me to write, separate from the main story, but a place where I could work things out for myself as a person and try new things as a writer. And I’ve tried so hard to feel the same way about the QSMP, but maybe it’s because we’re out of lockdown so I don't have time to watch much, or I’ve just changed more than I’ve thought, but I haven't gotten attached the way I did even when I look at the stories being built there and can see the heart in them, the storytelling, the care, just as much as the DSMP if not more. There’s no good reason for it, it just hasn’t locked into place the way this story had, having been the perfect storm of circumstances. The DSMP came to me during one of the worst years of my life, and I have loved it so much I miss that time even with all the bad it carried too.

And now this thing I have been holding onto can only make me angry, hit me with grief and disgust. Fuck, the only plan I’ve had for an original novel in years is a loose adaptation of TDDD. My senior thesis was largely a novella about two siblings with a complicated relationship, the older fatalistic, the younger brave to the point of ignorance. So even that original project has poison in it now. All of it, all of my fucking work, all of my growth as a writer, all of my writing for over three fucking years has poison in it.

I’ve felt lost as a writer for a long time and the only thing keeping me anchored was these characters. And I don’t know how to cut them away from myself and I don’t know how to cut him away from what’s left when his writing, his character, undeniably gave me so much of a spark. When I’m happy, I write. When I’m sad, I write. There's so much bad in the world right now, but I could always fall back on writing. And now my main means of escape is the grief. Far more than ever before. I know this too shall pass and all that, and this hasn’t actually stolen my ability to write, but right now it all feels so ruined. I don’t know how long it will take for me to be able to look back on what I’ve made and not feel like this. I'd maybe moved on in some ways, but not all. There was so much left I wanted to do.

If you’ve somehow read this far, know that I love this community with my whole heart. I never quite made friends with any of you, even as I wanted to, and it's felt too late for a long time now. My beloved mutuals (and followers that are mutuals in all but name) I have found so much joy with you, in what all of you have created. I wish I could hold onto that above all else, even if I’m not quite sure how. I’m not going anywhere, to be clear. I won’t delete my blog and fall off the face of the earth or anything. I still love what all of you create and care about, even if things have changed and our interests don’t always align anymore. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to detach this story from the creator, to love any of it the way I did or even love what I myself created again. I don’t really know why I’m writing this or if I’ll even post it except for the fact that you all are the only people who could understand.

Again, this was a deeply personal rant, not a statement about the situation as a whole, nor do I think this situation's impact on me takes an ounce of precedent over the person actually involved. The most important takeaway from this is what Shelby has shared, the importance of believing victims, to do what we can to protect ourselves from abuse that doesn’t seem obvious, and to look out for each other. Take care of yourselves, everyone.

#spilled penink #fuck i don't know what to tag this. #wilbur situation #abuse tw #ask to tag #I don't know about my current fics or what I plan to do going forward so don't read this looking for answers on that. #honestly i just had nowhere else to put this. this is something I would have ideally shared just with close friends #but they'd have no idea what I was talking about so here we are. desperate times. #sorry for the doom and gloom. i know there's been a lot of it as of late. please feel free to keep scrolling. #idc if people reblog. this is just. not the important thing right now yknow. #supporting shubble is all that really matters.

[mathanlin]

Actor AU where Tommy’s cast as Wilbur’s little brother.

It’s incredible. From the first day, he earns hugs, nicknames, hair ruffles — even off-set. He clings to it, finally mustering the courage to ask Wilbur for acting tips.

And he beams. “Method acting, Toms. That’s all it is.”

It’s like a punch to the gut, throwing everything into perspective.

The nicknames, the causal affection, the banter? It was practice. Rehearsal, meant to sharpen Wilbur’s skills.

With the added side effect of cutting Tommy apart.

Still, it’s the only thing that keeps Tommy sane.

Having Wilbur on-stage with him. Sitting in each other’s trailers, watching movies — with Wilbur smiling & saying, “It’ll be great practice.”

The reminder always makes Tommy shudder.

“Method acting.”

This is practice. It’s as real as the lines they’re reciting & the manufactured sets they’re placed in.

Which is to say, real enough.

And that it doesn’t last forever.

The show ends.

“—and we could always meet somewhere.” Tommy hurries along at Wilbur’s side. “Just to talk—”

Wilbur cuts him off with a sigh. “I have a job to do. I’m going to be busy, Tommy.”

And… he is.

That’s the last Tommy sees of him for *months.* In person, at least. Interviews, Q&As, promotions for the show — Wilbur’s beaming face is stamped everywhere, a smile Tommy’d thought was only for him.

And the show does *well.*

So well, that even side characters like Tommy get a place in the spotlight. 

And there’s no better place to put him than at his ‘brother’s’ side. 

The interview starts off easy. 

Wilbur puts on that spotlight smile, arm slung around Tommy’s shoulders. Tommy collapses into it, dizzy with the contact he hadn’t had for months. 

And then the interviewer smiles. “Wow, you really are brothers.”

And Wilbur—

Wilbur pulls away.

“In the *show,*” he says. And while the cameras might not see his smile falter, Tommy does in high definition.

And though the interview continues, Tommy hears none of it.

“Were you serious?” 

Tommy hovers at Wilbur’s side after the interview.

Wilbur barely looks at him.“About what?” 

“Us— us not being brothers.”

Wilbur flinches, and that’s all the answer Tommy needs. “Tommy—”

“No, no, it’s okay. I swear, Wilbur, it’s fine.”

“I just don’t— I don’t have the time,” Wilbur says. “I’m busy, Tommy, that’s all.”

And god, that’s somehow worse.

Wilbur has fame. Support. Love. 

And Tommy knows he’s the last of Wilbur’s priorities — a tool to help him act, his use expired. A prop.

And when the show ends, so does any chance of seeing Wilbur again.

#mcyt #dsmp #sbi #dsmp au #sbi au #threadfic

[theminecraftbox]

Hiiii my discourse is that the Utah stream was cool n fun but from a storytelling perspective it was one of the strongest beats in Wilbur’s arc but one of weakest beats in Tommy’s arc. Wilbur leaving Tommy behind felt like it was pandering to the side of the fandom that always frames Tommy as a perpetual victim. Wilbur should’ve asked Tommy to come with him and Tommy should’ve refused = Tommy finally asserting his agency as separate from Wilbur + a demonstration of Tommy’s inability to give up on his obsession w Dream. Weird hill to die on but I’m dying here.

strongly agree / agree / ambivalent / disagree / strongly disagree / don’t care whatsoever

I don't precisely disagree that it exemplifies a weak beat for c!Tommy wrt his independence from Wilbur, but I do disagree that c!Tommy was emotionally situated to tell c!Wilbur to leave him in that stream.

Reframing things in the way you're describing would constitute a reversal of Wilbur and Tommy's priorities--that is, Wilbur would now be the one who can't let go, and Tommy would be the one willing to relinquish the relationship. While this does give Tommy more agency, I think it runs far too contrary to the entire point of Boundless Sands (and tbh Wilbur's other goodbye streams) as it exists for me to really think it's in character: which is Wilbur wanting to separate himself from Tommy/the server and move on, Tommy being unable to move on. This is a theme that, for Wilbur, has been building over his entire apology tour, and that, for Tommy, will be continued in the finale streams.

It would also reverse Tommy's priorities wrt Dream and Wilbur. Like, I do not think that Tommy's inability to give up on his obsession with Dream is something particular to Dream or something that outweighs the strength of his relationship with Wilbur. I think it all stems from a similar place emotionally, and his preoccupation with Dream has always been framed as secondary to what he's got going on with Wilbur. Given the choice between "follow Wilbur" and "stay and hunt Dream" I simply cannot see Tommy choosing the latter. Moreover, Wilbur's reliance on Tommy in return has always been a crucial part of that dynamic (unlike with Dream, in which Dream is a totally uninterested party at this point in the story.) So Wilbur breaking one vertex of that triangle is, I'd argue, totally necessary to finalize that relationship and to cue up what's coming in Tommy's development, which is a continued inability to let go right up until the finale. Relatedly, I view the genuine finale as thematically impossible while Wilbur remains around: Tommy is only able to see how stupid the conflict with Dream has become once Wilbur's out of his life, and that's because Wilbur was too powerful an influence for him to push away on his own.

Not to mention that Tommy thinks that Wilbur's hinting at suicide for a good part of that stream--I just don't think that's very conducive for Tommy to tell Wilbur to go off on his own. also also I think Tommy threatening Wilbur with a sword when he says he's leaving is very cool and fun.

#discourse asks #c!wilbur and c!tommy #boundless sands #like... a world in which Tommy summons the emotional wherewithal to cut off Wilbur and then subsequently pours all that energy into Dream i #idk #interesting I guess? But I don't think it's particularly well-supported by canon #primeboys aint crimboys etc etc

[tobi-smp]

Every time I see someone try to lean into the softness of the crimeboys ending it just makes it feel more cruel.

I see something like This

And it makes me think about how c!Wilbur leaving wasn't some quiet inevitablity or a sudden tragedy that nobody could have stopped, it was a choice.

Wilbur wasn't taken, not by tragedy and not by a person, he left. He left Knowing that the people he cared about weren't safe and weren't okay. And then he tried to present That as softness. Not just to us the audience, to the narrative, but to tommy.

And that's what needles me about people trying to present it this way, about it being presented as necessary and soft and healing.

Because wilbur's allowed to prioritize himself. he's allowed to say that he doesn't want to stay, that he doesn't want to be there to protect tommy or tubbo or fundy or anyone else, but he can't have his cake and eat it too. He doesn't get to make the choice to leave them at the mercy of an abuser and serial killer and expect them to be there when He's ready to have a relationship with them. He doesn't get to avoid being honest, to avoid talking about it at all, until he's skipping town to a new country and expect the trust to be there when He wants it.

Wilbur is under no obligation to stay, but tommy is under no obligation to forgive him. Wilbur is under no obligation to protect tommy from a monster, but choosing to abandon tommy with his serial killer abuser on the loose utilizing the power of a god Should erode whatever foundation that relationship had left.

It's not Fair to expect tommy to forgive him, that it's taken for granted that his trust doesn't have to be earned or nurtured. It's not fair that he's been abandoned and left behind and hurt time and time and time again and yet he always forgives, perpetually waiting for the chance to Earn being loved and being left behind anyways.

Letting his anger and sadness at wilbur go because there's nothing he can ever do to have his feelings respected wouldn't be Healthy. It's not the soft ending where everything's allowed to be okay. It'd be a link in a long pattern of unhealthy behavior.

Phil didn't have to apologize, in fact he told tommy to his face that he earned the trauma he gave him by being selfish and tommy not only Let him, but he tried to follow Phil's advice to Fix himself. Because he Needs somebody, Anybody to be there.

He refused to let tubbo apologize after exile because he saw Himself as a bad person, because he Believed that he wasn't worth saving. He held himself responsible for betraying techno before doomsday even started, despite techno being the one who lied to Him. Even if he'd been angry, even if he'd recognized that techno hurt him at first, he quietly let that anger go because techno was Never going to acknowledge that.

He's full of abandonment issues a mile deep and desperately Desperately wants to hold on to the people he cares about, but time and time again he's nobody's priority. Nobody will choose him no matter how desperately he needs it.

This will not teach him to not have abandonment or attachment issues, this will not make the genuine threat of being kidnapped and tortured for eternity go away.

The only thing worse than Wilbur knowingly choosing to leave him when he's in This vulnerable of a position, without even talking it through with him, is the idea that Tommy's not even allowed to be angry about it. That even if he Is angry now he just doesn't have the Perspective to know that it's a good thing yet and he'll Learn eventually.

Just like he Learned that he was selfish all along for wanting to protect his home and friends. Just like he Learned that he was an annoying child that just needed to be fixed.

Nobody has to put in the Work to earn Tommy's love and trust, he just has to realize that he never had the right to be upset in the first place.

#long post #c!wilbur critical #I just can't get this out of my head #its worse than what doomsday made me feel by a mile and it will not let me go

[monigeko]

He went by a lot of names, Wilbur Soot to most, just Wilbur to many, Wil to few and Wilby to even fewer. Sometimes he was the president (or ex president) of Lmanburg, sometimes he was Ghostbur or Revivebur. To RT he was always Wilbur, if he was lucky Wil

He tried in vain to explain the nuance of this to Tommy once, who screwed up his face and said that Wilbur was just overthinking it. Techno got it though, he thought. Did Techno care? Absolutely not but he’s been around them a bit on SMP earth and that was all he needed, he saw the way RT said his name and with the practiced ear of an ex English major and master tactician he knew what Wilbur meant.

It wasn’t about the name itself he’d found, RT didn’t really have a special nickname for him he did use the names most everyone else did but it was about the way he said them. That specific tone that made it feel like Wilbur was his priority, the only thing in the world that mattered for a split second. There was an energy to it maybe it was the way his eyes sparkled like the galaxy or the electric smile practically forcing it’s way on his face every time he looked at Wilbur. Again, it’s all about subtext and nuance something most would never hope to understand.

One could say he looked to hard into it -Tommy definitely continued to stand by that even now- and maybe he did nowadays. But for the longest time for all his poetry and flowery language Wilbur hadn’t truly picked up on the special way RT, Daniel (why didn’t he use Daniels real name? Did he perhaps miss the chance?) talked to him until he didn’t anymore. The cold “Wilbur.” And even colder “Soot” felt jarring, unfamiliar and he found himself wishing that he could hear Daniel say his name the way he used to even just one more time.

(Across worlds Daniel laments)

#rtsoot #is it too late to insert myself in the community? #rtgame #rtgamecrowd #wilbur soot #drabble #shipping #it’s a little vauge but it’s definitely post messy breakup

[bonesandthebees]

Love how you got Jack to be the one to provoke because he's clearly the one that has more anger to hold, Tommy is just more guilty. The difference in their emotions shows in their behaviour and even the way Tommy snaps at Tubbo is quite telling. Niki's reaction to seeing Wilbur get hurt is quite interesting too because like, as of now, their relationship is so stupidly complicated, for reasons that don't involve them at all. I'm so excited to see where this goes from here.

Not to mention, even without a mirror both Wilbur and the reader can tell how much the experience is sinking into him and changing his fundamental world view. The very fact that he longs for a mirror, and at the end of the chapter lets Tommy see his face proves it. His hesitation period has lessened too!! I love the gentle progression you're handling this with, enough to be progress but not enough to make it seem unnatural. Great job <33

Your writing was impeccable as always~~ Can't wait for the next chapter bee!!

Hugs and cookies,

❄️

oh yeah I always knew it was going to be jack provoking because he's the one that's pissed. tommy does feel guilty for what he did, but he's also not going to roll over and beg for jack's forgiveness both out of his own pride and also just sheer stubbornness. also, it's a parallel to dsmp!jack and how furious he always was at tommy for killing him, and how for the most part it was a largely one-sided rivalry. I wouldn't say it's one-sided in glass, especially after this past chapter, but the vibes are there

niki... she's so conflicted rn because she's furious at tommy for what he did, and since wilbur has chosen tommy's side on this she's struggling to separate her anger from him. of course she didn't expect wilbur to take jack's side when she knew how close he and tommy were. but it still hurts. in the end though, of course she doesn't want to see wilbur get hurt. she was terrified for wilbur when he fell, and genuinely didn't want to leave his side until she knew he was ok, but techno kicked her and jack out which was probably the right choice.

YEAHHHH so glad you connected him wanting a mirror and letting tommy see his face!! i'm so glad the progression feels natural. that's always one of my priorities when it comes to character arcs like this.

tysm for the kind words snowflake im so glad you're enjoying!!

#ask #snowflake anon #through a glass divine

[glittter-skeleton]

🗡😈 🪦 for the ask game? heheh

Thank you for the ask sm!!! 💕💕💕I really enjoyed trying to formulate my opinion on all this stuff!!!

🗡 - Was Phil killing Wilbur justified?

I used to be way more torn about this but the longer I’ve been in the fandom the more I dislike c!Phil. This, of his many shitty actions, is one on the more justifiable but I still find it shitty as hell. Ain’t no way you should help a suicide attempt like that, especially of your son oh my godddd

😈 - Is Quackity a villainous character?

My opinion is SO biased since Q is literally my favorite along with Tommy but no, I can never see Quackity as a villain. He’s just a guy, a poor little meow meow, if you will. But seriously, for him safety and caring for the people he loves have always been a priority. And yes, he may have stumbled along the way but I truly think his heart is too big to be a true villain, caring too much is literally his weakness

🪦 - Should L'manberg have been destroyed?

I don’t really get this question. I’m assuming like… in general? Like, was it alright that it was so doomed? And to that I say Of Course Not! Both original and New L’Manburg were beautiful cities full of hope and love. They were a place where people could be close to each other, have a community. You know, like when you’re nobody’s best friend, you still had people to vibe with. So no, L’Manburg should have never been destroyed, DUH

#dsmp #dream smp #dsmp discourse #dsmp discussion #c!phil critical #c!quackity #c!tubbo #v's asks

[commaclear]

IM FUCKING BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER. I WAS LOOKING AT OTHER PEOPLES RESPONSES ON YOUR POLL AND SOMEONE HAS GIVEN ME INSPIRATION

So. Someone said they wished Wilbur cared a little more. There was more to the comment but that’s not important right now. Anyways, time for me to opinion all over the place

I think Wilbur does care more than we think. He just doesn’t care about what he should.

I don’t know much about him yet, but he seems to be going through that thing where he has been restricted all his life so now he’s treating life experience like Pokémon cards. It’s a classic thing a lot of kids go through and it has two usual outcomes. Either the kid never wants to venture out and will do exactly what they were taught growing up, following the lifestyle to an extreme, or they will absolutely go bat shit the second they get freedom.

Like when a kid isn’t allowed soda their entire life and when they get older they are either repulsed by the drink or start only drinking soda for a long period of time.

It also doesn’t help that Phil feels bad. Phil has sympathy because Wilbur just wants to be a normal teenager, and when he was that age that’s all he wanted. It also doesn’t help that Wilbur is very intent on getting what he wants. There isn’t a lot of wiggle room. Wilbur seems to have a general idea of how to get Phil to agree. And if he doesn’t see a pattern yet, it’s not gonna take him long to figure out what works.

Honestly, it would be beneficial if Phil cracked down in the parental way, not the “it’s your destiny” way. Wilbur needs to be prevented from whatever messy spiral he’s about to go down, but he needs to be allowed to have a life.

Right now all Wilbur really cares about is himself and that’s because this is the first time he’s allowed to. At the boarding school he was taught things he didn’t care about. He had to follow rules that forced him to adhere to a set of guidelines. He was taught that he wasn’t priority. He has been told his entire life that his destiny isn’t about him, it’s about someone else. So it’s no wonder he wants to fuck off and do what he wants.

In the initial comment that provoked this, they also said they feel like something is gonna happen to someone he loves that will force him to care

And I already see it happening. Even though he wanted to go to that house party and didn’t care about anyone else, he still had enough of a heart to remind himself that Ranboo had it worse. Maybe that’s not the best way to think about it, but at least he’s still thinking about it.

I think once he gets to know Tommy things are going to get harder for him. Because it’s going to be the battle between wanting to benefit himself or helping the person who actually needs it.

I’ll definitely have more to add on this in the future, but for now this is what I’ve got.

- The Quackity Analysis Anon

(Btw can you believe I’m defending Wilbur of all people???? I hate that guy. Haha. Yeah. I hate him. Who needs Wilbur when there’s a perfectly good Quackity, Tommy, Tubbo, Ranboo, Phil, Schlatt, Karl, Sapnap, and anyone else I missed right over there??????)

((Also I’m really getting into it tbh. I’m excited for the new chapter whenever it does come out. I was a little unsure at first but just like always you got me invested into this shit. And Quackity is now so silly and goofy and mysterious. It’s gonna make analyzing him harder. But I can’t wait to try lmao))

YES BITE ME ASKS YESSS

*ahem* anyway.....

Wilbur is 100% doing the 'teenager with his first taste of freedom' thing, and there's no way he can keep going in this direction forever. Something has to change, the only question is what...

you're both right

(and yeah why are you going for wilbur when there's a nice juicy dream right there? not to mention whatever quackity's up to rn cuz his intentions with wil are def not the purest... /hj)

#*excited noises* #ASKS FOR BITE ME WOOO #anons my beloved #bite me #quackity analysis anon

[qnfarc]

We do a little forgetting how Tumblr works but we always remember in the end, look at us go 🥳 I feel like I didn't grasp exactly how top tier and chaotic George's sot pov was until I saw the dash later, first place overall points whos surprised that's our streamer. I heard Hbomb reviewed his performance but I haven't checked it yet because I want to watch another pov (grians) myself but let me know your thoughts! I think George was in the chat for this one I love that he caught it live. I remember Quackity said the day after MCC when he was over at George's he was asking him to go for a walk but George convinced him to wait and watch MCC reviews 😭 he's just like us fr.

Definitely a bit more distance in the Georgebur dynamic but I do hope this on-screen interaction is the set-up for more between them. Wilbur did invite him to be in the next mv at the end but for the price of a Lamborghini I don't know how set in stone that is. I agree it was definitely a chill team, despite the others interacting much more together it worked. It was so funny, George really told Sneeg do your wedding right next time hm? Also there was a point where George said "yeah I've been wondering why I wasn't invited ever since I heard about it" and I genuinely thought he was going to continue and say he only heard of his wedding in that same conversation 😭 I too would very much enjoy Sneeg sticking his nose under the steps where Sapnap and George pour their heart and soul out to each other, just as Jack Manifold did that one time. Yeah I genuinely thing it'll be near impossible to beat what MCC12 green guardians had going on ;-; That was actually the first MCC I ever watched live but I watched Tommy pov I fumbled so hard. I really swore never to make that mistake again with the George commitment 🤒 Next MCC being a month away is the worst but I hope George's next team is a fun one for him (and us, mainly us)

Ooh tea tea tea pop off fr :0 Tyty my typing is horrendous both on mobile an laptop despite English being my first language (although it really shouldn't be), autocorrect is the only saving grace

Yeah, the dash and post of George having biggest number of points was so he is unhinged, he is free and we want to see more 🥳 I saw Hbomb reviewing his sot run yesterday and it's so funny, most of the time it's just his expressions that take me out and George did drop by in chat and it was pretty fun with him just being deadpan humor about it. Live how Hbomb mentioned all theories going around about why George never dies like is it pretty privilege or main character syndrome or plot armor? I think the answer is just yes to all with addition of skill and George being sot favourite chaotic son lmao Love how George would stay home to watch reviews even with Quackity there, what an icon and it shows he cares about or at least is interested in feedback or reactions so good for him! Tbh I would love George to be in another mv, it would be beneficial and fun for both I think so I hope it actually works out, George just go outside sometimes please, it won't hurt I promise 😭 And him just having no filter or being so blunt just... love that for him, he really went 'why was I not invited 😐' 'I just met you today man hahah' 'so? 😐 are you a hater? 😐 invite me to the next one then 😊' like literally what I cannot with this man sometimes, he went for the throat even if he didn't know it 😭 It would be funny, guess we'll see and yeah the vibes were too immaculate to beat so easily but I hope at one point we will get at least similarly entertaining winner pov from George, I really have my fingers crossed for his win next time and fun team and good for you realising there are priorities like importance of watching George's pov and you corrected them, sometimes it takes a while to see the truth but you got there 😌 I honestly don't remember which mcc was my first, it could be mcc 13 actually cause I think I remember joining the fandom around late autumn/winter but it took me a while to watch actual streams? Nooo, you are very well spoken and sometimes it just shows you were excited to talk about something and I think it's cute that you can read that from how you write ^_^ I think at one point I sent you an ask that complimented you on the way you word thing and write, you probably don't remember, it was a while ago when I was too shy to write longer asks or send asks at all

[faebriel]

what are your thoughts on rainduo when it comes to their traits & being foils to the other? I just saw a post talking abt clingyduo w/Emotion vs logic and their flaws being foils, and immediately thought abt rainduo’s side of things

this is the kind of question that makes me want to deepdive rewatch like 30+ hours of vods anon. i don't have time for that though so i'm going to go for a vibes based analysis

the thing that makes me Think about wilbur and niki is that they do share similar traits but those traits show themselves at very different times. stubborn, a unique relationship to righteousness, an inability to get over hurts, a tendency towards causing travesty in their own self destruction (or at least attempting to - they are similar in more ways than they're different, i think. my gut instinct is always to say that they're quite different people but then i go ooooh, no. they share that trait too. and that one. and th

it's like they're too similar to be mirrors, and too similar to be foils.

here are traits i think they share:

they are very loud and stubborn individuals who largely stick up for whatever they have decided their cause is, even if it makes them unpopular

they both let their emotions control them and feel those emotions strongly - they love and hate like nobody's business

when they pick a grudge, it pretty much takes life-changing circumstances to make them drop it. on the flipside, while i think they'd both consider themselves to be quite loyal people, when circumstances start going sour they get a bit... flexible in their priorities.

they are both desperate for community

their self-destruction goes hand in hand with outward destruction. me and the bestie propagating collateral damage 🙌🙌🙌

and here are some traits i do think are entirely different between them:

niki had to find a home in the dsmp; wilbur had to leave. she couldn't heal without other people around and he had to get the fuck away from all of them to do so

niki lashes out in ways that are far from incidental, harsh and real, while for wilbur the actuality of violence seems to come a bit second hand to being theatrical; compare niki's (and jack's) plan to murder tommy by literally dropping a nuke onto his head in the middle of nowhere with wilbur's prolonged, theatrical, and constantly observed plan to destroy l'manberg (and i mean, compare the craters!)

related: i truly don't think c!niki has given a damn about the theoretical terms of politics in her entire life, while wilbur lets it rule him

everything is wilbur's fault always and nothing is niki's fault ever. niki is a villain as an end product, she was made into one; wilbur was one from the start and was the root cause of the poison around him (as perceived by them respectively)

i wouldn't say niki is never suspicious of other people but i think her suspicions tend to stem from trauma and a disconnection from community - real and traumatic events in her life - while wilbur's paranoia was pathological and then got exacerbated by the trauma of the FCR. but i might be dipping in a bit of headcanon there

ultimately they're like an earth to air contrast - i think wilbur is far more concerned with the artificial, and niki is far more concerned with the real. he dies in the open wreckage of the button room and she almost dies in the guts of the earth, both caverns of their own making

#it's why i think seeing the two of them cross paths at different points of their personal journeys in canon would be so interesting #i feel like we always see them at their opposites but never when they act in similar ways #thanks nonnie i love to talk about these guys :] <3 #asks #i almost put 'bad at everything but slap fighting' in the similarities list. btw

[peninkwrites]

“Punz is careful.  He asks for permission because he knows Dream will take his request more seriously that way.” yaaaas king get conditioned

damn tommy is /not/ doing well, is he

“A strange, whimpering laugh bubbles up from Tommy’s lips before he can stop himself.  Tommy’s unbroken hand covers his mouth quickly, as if expecting consequences for even that.” OUGHGHGHGHGHHGH

“‘About…’ Tommy says, staring at him warily.  About the chickens.  Not sorry for bashing my fucking face in, though.” i am fascinated by punz’s priorities. would love to study him under a microscope

i was NOPE’ing my way through the obsidian cell scene. i’m claustrophobic lol

“I don’t want to be alone in this.” completely understansable but DO NOT MANIFEST THIS FOR WILBUR PLZ

“Tommy closes his eyes, a shaky inhale.  He knows how bad crying can hurt with an eye swollen shut, sobs are hellish on busted ribs, but he's just so tired.  ‘I wanna go home…’ Tommy murmurs into the dark.  He doesn’t expect a reply.  The silence hurts anyway.” so these lines took me out. he’s just a kid who wants to go home man he’s just a kid :(((((((

“‘He… I think you should start explaining better, for your sake.’” lol moment

“Wilbur hears the commotion and quickly stows one of Phil’s knives in his coat.  He wasn’t planning on using it, but Tubbo’s reluctance to pursue Wilbur’s idea with Ghostbur, he’d grabbed in just in case.  Now, in quiet moments, he can’t help but fiddle with it.  He didn’t know when he’d next be left alone, properly alone, he wouldn’t kill himself in front of Tubbo again, so he keeps it hidden and joins them.” nooooooo wilburrrrrr don’t keep a suicide means on you at all times :((((((((((((((

noooooooo i was swept along in wilbur’s righteous rage

“He’s tired.  His legs hurt.  He never quite got used to being alive again.  Punz takes out his sword.” my favorite lines this chapter - the short, choppy sentences where it feels like each one has equal weight (equivalating the pain of legs hurting with never having gotten used to being alive again) and is feels like a progression of the preceding one - *chef’s kiss*

“It is what he wanted.  Wilbur wanted to die.  His death assisting Tommy is almost too well tailored to him.  Wilbur maybe hesitates only because his enthusiasm is wrong.  He knows it’s wrong.  Tommy wouldn’t like it.  That doesn’t stop him from nodding, closing his eyes, a morbid reflection of Tommy too accepting this fate too easily.  He’ll see Tommy soon.  Maybe that counts for something as he waits for the end.  Punz obliges.” ohhhhhhhhh my suicidal martyr……. many thoughts head full!

aaaaaaaaand the bullet tommy fired from chekhov's gun earlier this chapter hits a willing (haha. wilburing) victim.

Great work on this chapter!

U r so cool. You have reactions to stuff I wanted people to have reactions to and it makes me go !!!! :D

Thank u for sharing ur thoughts as always <3

ALSO "yaaaas king get conditioned" made me laugh

ALSO ALSO sorry I forgot to CW for claustrophobia!! It’s been added now, thanks for the reminder

#asks #nonotablechange #tddd #wake up.

[zannolin]

weekly writing update is back bc i actually wrote this week GODBLESS. tidbits below the cut :)

nothing finished this week as ye olde ao3 subs can tell but! writing happened. i have continued to truck along on the c!crime star trek au. it's over 6k i simply refuse to abandon it. i WILL finish this goddamn fic if it kills me and it just might. have a highlight!

“How long will it take?” Tommy asks. “Until he can—uh, sleep properly, I guess?”

“As long as his body needs,” Ponk admits. “It’s different for everyone.” “Right,” says Tommy, and tries to be okay with not having any useful answers to go on. He’s not used to uncertainty, not accustomed to not knowing what’s happening with his brother at least on some level. When he lost Wilbur, it felt like losing a limb, like something was punched out of him and left a gaping hole in its wake, and now he’s been handed it back but can’t puzzle himself back together again. What once was familiar is now foreign, and Tommy is struggling to come to terms with that particular revelation.

He doesn’t want to admit that it feels like a losing battle most days.

i alsoooo did a little bit of work on the next chapter of split ends which i was sort of taking a break from because school and various brain-being-a-toddler-and-having-a-meltdown moments about "oh no, what if i'm writing mia and ethan Wrong" but we're sort of back in business now!

She’s not blind. She can see the way he holds his left wrist gingerly, rubs at the gauze wrapped around it like it pains him. It probably still does. Mia’s never exactly had a limb taken off and put back on, but if there’s one thing she remembers well about Dulvey, it’s that dying fucking hurt. The Mold didn’t make injuries any less painful in the end. It made them easier to overcome, sure, but there was always the point where the high, where Eveline’s influence, wore off, and the agony would slam into Mia like a wall.

She can’t imagine what it must have been like for Ethan, not even after living trapped on that ranch for three years. And it’s her fault he ever had to go through that in the first place.

i've been working on my short story for my fiction writing class as well which i cannot share here but i'm very happy with the concept :) it will later become probably a cleon fic and an sbi fic. i'm winding down on the sbi stuff lately but this one works very well so i'm excited to finish it and get to share it once the semester is over for me.

also been doing a lot of plotting and drabbling for various cleon, mithan, and RE genfics so here's some highlights from the notes doc:

She says: every day I see more of your father in you. She doesn’t say: I’m glad I don’t see myself.

and:

Why don’t you hate me? She asks. He says, I love you. She says, That isn’t an answer. What she means is, love is not the absence of hate, or even the opposite. He says: I don’t want to hate you. She does not say, sometimes, I wish you did.

got a looooot of fic ideas knocking around and i haven't quite nailed down what i want to work on next, but i think once this damn star trek au is done i might take some time to work on a leon & ashley oneshot and finish chapter 3 of split ends. those seem to be the priorities at the moment but on god. SO MANY AUS. it's unreal. maybe we'll do the ask game where i tell you about my random aus again lol.

#writing wrap ups

[my-lunaberg]

I just realized that I usually mention Tommy and how he would spend a lot more time with him than Fundy in posts pointing out Wilburs bad parenting (even when he was alive) and I dont remember if something like that happened later but I wonder if Fundy will ever realize that too and how it could affect his view of Tommy. Like, he mentioned that hes always felt like priority number two while lmanberg was priority number one but idk it would be easier to project his anger onto another person yknow what I mean

#livebloggin dsmp

[bellovebug]

/rp /dsmp

Okay I've been seeing a lot of posts about tommy's recent semi-lore stream, and about bench trio and everything, and like i agree that the people claiming ranboo is replacing tommy in Tubbo's life are wrong, because the dynamics are completely different and neither of them could replace the other, not to mention tubbo can have more than one important person in his life. He can have multiple friends.

However, that being said, while i don't believe Ranboo is replacing Tommy, i do believe that tommy and tubbo have been growing apart, and I also believe that Tommy is still as ride or die for Tubbo as he's always been. And that's why it hurts, because Tubbo isn't anymore. Ranboo hasn't replaced tommy in the sense that he's taking Tommy's place, but he's started taking priority in Tubbo's life, which leaves Tubbo with less to give Tommy.

Currently, to Tubbo, Beeduo takes priority over both Benchtrio and Clingyduo, but Tommy prioritizes Tubbo and Ranboo over everything. I genuinely believe that Tommy feels stronger for Tubbo and Ranboo than they do for him- throwback to that period of time when Tubbo's relation to Tommy on the wiki was just "positive" but Tommy's relation to Tubbo was "very positive", huh?

But i think the reason for this is tommy's total lack of stability in his life, and it's not ranboo or Tubbo's responsibility to provide it for him. Like they said, they have their own things going on- but Tommy even offered to "go see their endeavors", and Ranboo turned him down. Tommy would drop anything to help them, even building his railway to appease wilbur.

So Tubbo isn't replacing tommy with ranboo at all, but that doesn't mean they're not growing apart. That doesn't mean that Tubbo doesn't care about other things more, now.

That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt to see Tommy scramble to please Wilbur (the only person who's ever unconditionally cared about tommy, even when it was in a possessive and harmful way) and expecting his friends to help him only for both of them to turn away. It hurt to hear Tubbo hesitate and then say "....he has his own thing going on, but we can still be friends", as if they haven't always been friends? Especially in contrast to the way Tommy immediately said, "Tubbo and Ranboo? They're my friends." It hurt to see Ranboo immediately drop all association to Tommy once Quackity joined vc- it's understandable, for sure, but it still hurt because I know without a shadow of a doubt that Tommy would've thrown hands for Ranboo had the situation been reversed. It really hurt to hear Ranboo leap to Tubbo's defense against Quackity but stay completely silent when Quackity turned the subject to Tommy.

Ranboo isn't replacing Tommy, but that doesn't mean Tubbo and Tommy are doing well, and it certainly doesn't mean that the imbalance in all of their views of each other doesn't hurt like hell dude

It's not tubbo or ranboo's fault- it's understandable to want to stay out of Tommy's conflicts. But literally the only reason he's causing problems right now is for Wilbur and he straight up told Beeduo that and neither of them thought it was objectionable?? Literally ALL I WANT is for somebody to be there for Tommy even when he starts doing stupid shit. And so far, not a single person has actually stuck by his side (at least, not in a healthy way- I'm looking at you, wilbur soot). It makes me so sad

#dream smp #tommyinnit #tubbo #ranboo #quackity #wilbur soot #c!tommy #c!tubbo #c!ranboo #clingy duo #beeduo #bench trio #c!tubbo critical #c!ranboo critical #not really but im tagging just to be safe #tommy apologist

[cmyknoise]

c!Ranboo's character is such an interesting character, but there's one catch, a vast majority of the fandom has made his failing memory his character defining trait, which is where I think a huge problem comes in.

Because... okay, let's get into it. (Tagged long post bc this gets long <3)

c!Ranboo's identity shouldn't be centered around his memory stuff.

His issues with memory & cognition should be one of his character weaknesses/flaws/conflict, but his character shouldn't be centered around it.

Rather it should be moreso centered around his strong ideals, because even Ranboo's supposed core beliefs of being a centrist isn't even his strong ideals.

His strongest ideals have always been the safety of his friends and family, and doing the morally right thing, not the lawfully right thing.

Ranboo's character is far too centralized about him having memory issues, because when you just ignore that you see so many interesting character traits about him.

For example, he's funny. He has humor in most situations and can usually joke his way out of things- like his conversations with Quackity.

He's also very imposing which isn't intentional but it sort of just comes with what he is. He's a tall enderman hybrid who is very logical and rational in most senses, and he very often voices his thoughts in conversation. Again, you can see this with Quackity, Slimecicle, Foolish and Wilbur.

He also has a very mysterious aura that comes from his enderwalk and nighttime antics.

His knack for potions, enchanting, and smithing comes into play here too, as well as his wealth.

Because he's not snobbish or regal (like osmp!ranboo) and is actually pretty charitable with his wealth. He paid Foolish a lot more than originally asked, gave him totems, and even did that whole shulker deal.

And he's like, super smart because he thinks rationally. This is in such wild contrast to his friends- because Tommy & Tubbo are pretty impulsive.

c!Ranboo is super interesting, but his whole character shouldn't be defined by his memory issues. It should've always been about his relationships, because in reality that's what is most important to him.

He was friends with Niki and Fundy and I remember watching streams during New L'manburg where he really struggled with deciphering who was in the right & wrong, and that's when he realized there isn't any sort of black/white side, and there's a whole lot of gray.

Because yeah, he and Tommy had griefed George's house- but Tommy also took all blame for Ranboo. He liked Phil because Phil had saved his life. He was, at first, the epitome of people not sides. That has since changed, subtly, but that's what his character was.

There was a huge thing in New L'manburg where Ranboo would stick near the people who'd been kind to him, hence why he'd hang out with Phil (who'd saved his life in the Nether).

And like, he stuck around with Tubbo because Tubbo was kind to him, and ALSO with his contact with Tommy, he was one of the only people who could see they were both hurting during the exile era.

Ranboo had some super meaningful conversations with Tubbo that would proceed to allow Tubbo to realize the discs weren't just plastic and that Tommy's reason for clinging to them, in reality, was because to him they represented their friendship. And Ranboo was genuinely the only person at the time, other than Tommy, who saw the discs as a symbol, not an object. Then with Tommy, Ranboo would check on him, write him letters, and help in any way he could, which had helped in some way with Tommy's mental health, even if just a little.

And then later. Sure, he may live with Techno & Phil, but he chose Tubbo. Tubbo was always his priority it's the only reason he's in the syndicate- for Tubbo and Michael. And sure he's friends with Techno but it is very obvious who he'd chose if he was forced to- because he already has.

He's a centralist in the sense that he believes there are multiple sides to a story, and genuinely he's one of the very few people on the server who realize that. There are far too many people who only see good & bad, black & white, the extremes. And it's ironic that the character literally split up by black & white and his entire motif is extreme contrast, it's so ironic that he's one of the very few who actually see the shades of gray.

And I genuinely think it was interesting that not only could he see it, but he was able to show other people these sides.

It was his questioning of Doomsday I believe which would lead to some of Phil's very brief internal dialogue of 'was doomsday right?' (which, he didnt dwell on it, but it was Ranboo who'd made him even contemplate it).

It was his words that made c!Wilbur literally cry because no one had told him things like that before- related to him, believed that he wasnt 100% bad and that he could be good. Because Ranboo genuinely believes that.

In Hitting on 16, and during the Prison Breakout stream, he made choices above all else, to protect his family.

That is his primarily character trait, not his memory problems. His memory problems are a passive conflict, not an active trait.

c!Ranboo is more than the guy who has memory problems, yet that's what his character has been boiled down to. It's gotten so bad that I genuinely believe that it's carried over in part to the actual DSMP server. That's what he's known as.

So it's sort of hard for his character to grow. It becomes even harder due to the nature of his character having been passive for so long. He didn't agree with conflict, so he rarely found himself in it. Conflict isn't the only way for characters to grow within stories, but it's the primary thing that moves the story forward on the DSMP, so it becomes very hard for there to be any changes. And... cc!Ranboo absolutely tried.

Back in January of 2021 and up until the summer hiatus, Ranboo had actively been working on his character. From c!Ranboo doing secret experiments, to us getting to see him in his enderwalk state, and more, Ranboo was working on his character having some sort of change.

Then the hiatus, and pushbacks didn't help, and now he's dead. And as stated on an Origins stream, he was supposed to be revived only a few weeks after he'd died.... now how long has it been?

c!Ranboo, unfortunately and ironically is stuck in this literary limbo of being unable to move due to in story circumstances and out of story circumstances, and in my opinion a huge part of it has come from fandom interpretation effecting the way his character has gotten to move on.

c!Ranboo is such an interesting character the moment you make his memory problems a flaw or passive trait, rather than make it the key part of his character, because truly its not.

Once again, c!Ranboo is ultimately a protective, rational person. And I hope, if we do get to see him again, and he is revived, that we get to see that shine, especially if fan theories are correct in stating that he may lose his memory problems all together.

If that's the case, I think his character can really shine, and I think we can get some great moments.

He did once state that he'd start wars and kill anyone who dare touched his son, Michael. And well... not only has someone kidnapped him and held Michael for ransom, that same person killed Ranboo. I think he has plenty reason to be pissed, regardless of Michael having been rescued since.

Actually, with Michael safe, I'd say he has more room to make due on his promises, but that's just my hope.

#dsmp #dream smp #ranboo #analysis #c!ranboo #lemon's stuff #long post