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dyinginlava · 3 years

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Analysing “Let Me Be Your Vassal” (aka that one Dream & Wilbur conversation)

Wherein Cy decides going line by line through a scene from five months ago is a wonderful idea

Alright, let’s go! Recently I went back to watch Wilbur’s ‘Am I The Villain?’ video, since it was the first DSMP video I actually watched and I noticed something that made me actually go and find the vod from October 8th to specifically watch it: the details of Wilburs conversation with Dream where he asks for the TNT. Now, this did happen about five months ago now, but I think it would be good to look at this scene both with further character information we have now, and hopefully to clarify some things that newer fans might not be aware of! There’s also the fact that c!Wilbur is likely returning to the story soon.

I will be using quotes with timestamps to support my analysis, from this video. When [...] is used, it is to indicate an irrelevant tangent or repetition. Also, I feel it is important to note that this analysis is not meant to indicate moral judgement in any way: it is intended as a unbiased look at character actions and motivations.

First, let’s establish the exact situation here. At this point in time, we’re before the festival, and Dream has volunteered to help Pogtopia and has already given Technoblade supplies. He had also written a book to Tommy wherein he stated he didn’t support Schlatt due to his power-hungry ambitions, unlike Wilbur. After being seen as a villain in the last war, he didn’t want to become publicly involved especially through breaking a peace treaty, and instead offered to help from the shadows. He also gave Tommy his crossbow and some armour along with the book. While some may doubt his intentions as stated, I have reason to believe he’s being honest, as will be mentioned later. (Information taken directly from the book Tyrant, given to Tommy by Dream).

On Wilbur’s side, he’d just had his ‘then let’s be the bad guys’ moment after seeing Schlatt announce the festival, talking with Tommy on the way back to Pogtopia.

“We burn the place to the fucking ground!” - Wilbur 1:10:50

He starts making a plan:

“Okay, here’s the plan, right? Dream, Dream is on our side, Dream has TNT, Dream has everything, right? I say, we talk to Dream, and we ask him, very nicely, very kindly, ‘Dream, give us all the TNT you have’” - Wilbur 1:12:20

“The only reason Dream is working with us is because of the fact that we are the enemies of his enemies! That’s it! That’s all that joins... this!” - Wilbur, to Tommy 1:14:30

I feel a need to note here, that anything Wilbur says to Tommy about their allies shouldn’t be taken at face value: at this point his paranoia has begun clouding his view, as he also distrusts Tubbo, and later even doubts Tommy.

“Everyone who’s claiming to be on our side, they’re lying to us! Tubbo? he’s lying to you man! He would drop us at the second he realises that we’re not in the lead anymore!” - Wilbur, to Tommy 1:16:10

He has no proof to back up his claim about Dream, and personally I’m inclined to not believe his claim, seeing as Dream previously had no issue with L’Manberg after the peace treaty.

After some tunnel shenanigans happen, Wilbur asks Dream to talk privately: the conversation starts at 1:31:30

The conversation begins with Wilbur informing Dream about the festival, which he was previously unaware of. Dream laughs at the mention of the festival being a celebration of democracy, but whether this is because of his disdain for Schlatt or a personal dislike of democracy is unclear (question for another time: is c!Dream a monarchist? The SMP is technically ruled by a king after all, but they fulfil more of a neutral peacekeeping role in general. Theocracy???).

Wilbur then asks Dream if he thinks he and Tommy are the bad guys in the situation, and like Tommy, he disagrees. Wilbur proceeds to explain his reasoning, and then asks Dream what he thinks.

“I think that sometimes, a ruler is unfit, and that causes problems” - Dream 1:32:50

Wilbur then starts trying to persuade Dream to help him.

“Dream, I think you have vested interest though, I think that you would enjoy there to be conflict between Manberg and Pogtopia. And you know what, I’m here to facilitate that!” - Wilbur 1:33:00

Dream immediately denies this, and returns to talking about Schlatt.

“I don’t— Jschlatts a little bit more ambitious than you I’d say” - Dream 1:33:20

Note that at this point, Tommy meets up with Wilbur but is not in vc. Ignoring what Dream has just said, Wilbur makes his pitch:

“Dream, Dream, let me be your vassal! Dream, I understand you have a lot of TNT?” - Wilbur 1:33:25

Dream confirms that he has TNT.

“Dream, I want to be your vassal, I want to set this up, I want to rig the city” - Wilbur 1:33:40

This is the first time Wilbur mentions using the TNT to destroy L’Manberg. I also want to point out the use of the term ‘vassal’ here, as while the line itself is very well known, I’ve yet to see someone point out the relevant definition here is ‘a person or country in a subordinate position to another’ which you might notice, isn’t really the case here. Wilbur is asking Dream to supply him with something, there’s nothing subordinate about it. It could be that he’s implying that he’ll owe Dream for the favour, or it could be him seeing it as ‘helping’ Dream by destroying L’Manberg, as we’ve established his paranoia is leading him to see his allies in a negative light.

The two decide to meet at Pogtopia, and Tommy speaks up for the first time in the conversation.

“Dream, Dream don’t give it to him. It’s not right!”- Tommy

“Tommy it’s too... I have to.” - Dream 1:33:50 (overlapping)

‘I have to’ is an interesting line, and I’m assuming he’s referring to the promise he made to assist Pogtopia by supplying them. It does highlight how, at this point in time, Dream still seems hesitant about the plan.

Wilbur then starts talking to Dream but abruptly switches to talking to Tommy instead.

“Dream, I appreciate ... cause you see Tommy, the thing you’re not understanding is Dream only gave you that gear so that you could cause this conflict! You see, this is what it’s all about, Dream doesn’t want us to win! Dream just wants both Pogtopia and Manberg to be weak! [...] and Dream I’m not scolding you on this, it’s smart, you’re smart..” - Wilbur 1:34:00

To clarify my stance on this to people who are newer to the fandom, during Pogtopia, Dream and Tommy were actually on good, even friendly terms. It’s not until Dream joined Manberg that they became enemies again. Personally, I see this as Wilbur trying to make Tommy distrust Dream just as he did with Tubbo, although interpretations may differ. Wilbur complimenting Dream can be seen as trying to get on his good side and/or trying to persuade Dream that he wants to help Wilbur with the TNT.

“I’m here to help you, I’m here to weaken both of us!” - Wilbur 1:34:25

Dream then gets a chance to speak.

“I do want Pogtopia and Manberg to be nothing more, and I want L’Manberg to be... something” - Dream 1:34:40

Tommy asks why he wants L’Manberg back after he fought against them over it before.

“Schlatt is ambitious, and that’s a bad thing. He wants power, he wants land, he wants to expand. You having your own little server [...] that’s fine by me!” - Dream 1:34:55

Here Dream claims that due to Schlatt being power hungry he stands against him, but didn’t have an issue with L’Manberg just existing. I’m inclined to believe this claim, as it matches up with his actions in between the war and the elections. He also claims to have had a change of heart about L’Manberg, which again, seems to line up with his actions.

Wilbur then lets out a very evil sounding laugh, very melodramatic, I applaud cc!Wilbur for it. He then says something that I think is extremely important to this analysis, and part of why I made it in the first place.

“Dream, this has made me ambitious! If I’m taking power again I will be ambitious! Let me blow it up, let me destroy it all!” - Wilbur 1:35:15

Now considering what both Wilbur and Dream have been saying, there a very obvious conclusion you can come too here: Wilbur is claiming that he’d be just as bad as Schlatt if he was back in power, that there would be no getting the old L’Manberg back, that Dream would be better off helping his plan. Now obviously Wilbur isn’t evil— he’s paranoid, angry, and desperate— but this is what he claims to Dream, who’s knows he’s been willing to fight for L’Manberg before and has said he (Dream) wants to avoid fighting L’Manberg again. I know a lot of c!Wilbur fans get annoyed at people saying Wilbur manipulated Dream during Pogtopia, but you can’t deny that this moment specifically is manipulative: he’s specifically lying about his intentions to convince someone to help him. And it works! Dream arrives, and hands over the TNT to Wilbur.

Wilbur heads back to the entrance to Pogtopia, where Tommy holds him at bowpoint before Dream steps in, handing Wilbur a shield. Tommy talks about how they can rebuild L’Manberg rather than destroying it, but Wilbur laughs at it. Dream turns to leave.

“Dream, I will do you proud” - Wilbur 1:36:55

Dream offers to help him if he needs it, and Wilbur warns him about the festival. Dream leaves the game, marking the end of the conversation at 1:37:41.

When heading back into Pogtopia, Wilbur talks to chat about Dream being a ‘good guy’ but also repeating what he said before about Dream just wanting both sides to be weak.

Now that the main analysis is done, I did want to mention a few things that didn’t really fit within the main body for whatever reason: not enough evidence, may be biased etc. For one thing, I definitely noticed a shift in how Wilbur spoke to Dream, from initially just asking him for TNT to almost acting like the TNT was Dream’s idea. This could tie into the manipulation I noted, or it could just be a result of his paranoia causing him to misinterpret what Dream really wants. Or both! As I mentioned before, Wilbur’s narration can’t really be trusted because of this, but what we can do is compare actions and words: if what a person says their motives are lines up with how they act, then they’re probably being honest. There’s also the matter of context— Dream claiming to Eret that he’s always wanted everything to be Dream SMP territory when dethroning them doesn’t make much sense if you compare it to how he acted about L’Manberg after the war, at least until you realise he’s talking to the king of the Dream SMP and trying to play into what he thinks she wants— he even emphasise that them being able to take over after the war between Manberg and Pogtopia is only a possibility.

Anyway, this took a while but was fun to write, and hopefully even if you don’t agree with my personal interpretation of these events, looking at the quotes will hopefully be helpful for coming to your own conclusions! :D

#dream smp #dsmp #dream smp analysis #Wilbur soot #dreamwastaken #my analysis #Pogtopia

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dogin8 · 3 years

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i just wanna rant for a sec about some dsmp takes that I don't want to write about at length:

With how much I criticise "Filling in the blanks" I just want to clarify that it's actually not inherently bad, as with all things there is a good way of doing it and a bad way of doing it (all subjective, all my opinions)

For example: c!Eret being manipulated by c!Dream (before it was directly canonised by cc!Eret) if somebody were to have made a post talking about how c!Eret, after betraying L'manburg, was left to roam the halls of an empty castle and rule over the lands of everything but the people who he was told he could protect, about how in that time and during the plan of the betrayal before he would be completely isolated from all his friends and alone witg c!Dream,

If somebody had connected 2 and 2 to say that c!Dream had manipulated c!Eret, that (of course in my, very c!Dream critical, opinion) would be fine, it would fit completely within the story and while it would recontextualise some of c!Eret's actions it wouldn't mischaracterize or misrepresent her core character or writing or do that for any other character, because we SEE how c!Eret is desperately trying to make up for it AND how c!Dream is manipulative, to make this theory would be 100% in keeping with the information we have (and obviously cc!Eret themself did confirm this one so it's not a great example)

But, if you're gonna go ahead and say "Oh we can't see c!Dream's POV, he's actually just trying his best to help everyone" I can't happily agree with you on any counts because for the Eret example "Filling the Blanks" comes in the form of expanding on canon to explain what's happening when the cameras are off, for some of the c!Dream stuff it really feels like "Filling the blanks" is very literally just taking any old junk and slapping it down to say "what's happening off camera completely changes his character" I really want to word this better but what I mean to say is, in my opinion, "Taking canon and expanding/extrapolating from it to deduce or theorise about what happens in between" GOOD! but "Taking a character who does not have a POV and saying "It's free real estate" i will now put whatever i want in here regardless of relation to canon" NOT GOOD!

Like I KNOW that the dream smp is really good for making a character's actions appear different from different POVs and you'll only be able to see the full story by watching that specific characters POV

BUT, for me at least: watching c!Techno's POV made me slightly more sympathetic to him but I still thought blowing up L'manburg was wrong despite it, watching Eret's POV of the betrayal certainly didn't do much for their case and watching BBH's POV of the whole Eggpire arc excused none of the murders (attempted or succesful). I wholeheartedly believe that some actions on the Dream smp ARE Black or White, and that you DON'T need to wait for a second POV to say that "abusing someone (a minor if that matters) for a period of time between a week and two months in canon to the point where they considered and came very close to suicide on multiple occasions" is fucked up and evil, the kind of thing that an evil character would do

anyways that's the thought, I've just remember that the term "Canon Compliant" exists and it would have been very helpful

#suicide mention tw #abuse tw #manipulation tw #dream smp #dsmp #dreamsmp #c!dream critical

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rnelodyy · 3 years

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C!Dream, the status quo, and why conflict is okay sometimes.

In this fandom, there is a lot of talk about conflict, who causes it, who avoids it, who is to blame for it, et cetera. An argument often heard from c!Dream apologists to justify his abysmal treatment of L’Manburg in general and c!Tommy in specific is “He was just trying to stop people causing conflict! He was protecting the server by stopping these conflict-causing maniacs!”

And it’s not hard to see where they get this idea from, because c!Dream repeats this sentiment a lot, from his “happy family” speech, to the speech during the final disc war about how c!Tommy causes constant conflict, to the fact that he always portrays himself as a reasonable authority figure trying to calm down these feral creatures always fighting with one another (and we’ll get to that idea…).

My reasoning for explaining how c!Dream’s worldview is deeply flawed may be a bit controversial, so I decided to write this essay to explore the following idea:

Sometimes, conflict is good actually.

(all /dsmp /rp, names refer to characters, not content creators)

Conflict, in itself, is morally neutral. It’s the context surrounding the conflict that allows us to ascribe morality to it. This fact makes this topic a LOT harder to discuss, because morality is subjective. What I’m writing here is all my own opinion, you may agree or disagree on some points, I just ask that you read it through and please don’t start shit over this.

Anyway, the context. It’s dependent on a number of factors.

Justification. Why was the conflict started?

Intent. What is the desired outcome for either party?

Proportionality. If the conflict is started out of revenge or punishment, is it proportionate to the wrong committed?

Power Dynamic. Is the person on the receiving end more, less, or equally as powerful as the person starting the conflict?

For example, let’s compare the L’Manburg War for Independence with the intervention during the Final Disc War.

Justification:

Dream declared war on L’Manburg because he saw them as traitors, and the land they occupied as rightfully his. Therefore, them making a country of their own where his rules didn’t apply was a violation of the status quo he wanted to uphold.

Punz and the others intervened because they didn’t want Dream to kill Tommy and/or Tubbo, and were tired of his constant meddling in their affairs.

Intent:

Dream’s intent was to attack L’Manburg until they surrendered, no matter how much hurt he’d cause or how many lives he’d take.

Punz and the other’s intent was to stop Dream from killing Tommy and Tubbo, and stop whatever plan he had to keep the server under control.

Proportionality:

L’Manburg declared independence in response to brutal violence as retribution for clumsy attempts at crime, on land nobody except Wilbur was using, were explicitly pacifistic and invited Dream to make an embassy in their land to discuss trade. Dream responded by declaring war, destroying their land, luring them into a trap and killing them, and continuing to beat them down until they surrendered.

Punz and the others intervened after Dream dragged two teenagers out into the wilderness to fight him, with little chance of them ever returning. This was after months of Dream’s meddling in conflicts he had nothing to do with, trying to control people’s actions, ripping Tommy away from his home and abusing him in secret and, in the end, destroying the place most synonymous with freedom from his rule. They intervened by getting Tommy and Tubbo to safety, letting Tommy (the kid who arguably suffered the most at Dream’s hands) take his items and beat him to death twice, then locking him up in prison.

Power Dynamic:

L’Manburg was significantly less powerful than Dream and his goons, with less skilled fighters and heavily inferior gear. They held their position fairly okay at the start, but after the Final Control Room, they were basically defenseless against Dream’s assault.

Dream had always had unprecedented power on the server. He’s leveled entire countries, crowns and dethrones kings when he feels like it, overruled the decision of a court of law, and in the end, had Tommy and Tubbo completely at his mercy before the intervention. Even beating Dream was seen as such an insurmountable task that it took fourteen people (excluding Clingyduo) to take him down.

The thing about conflict, even violent conflict, is that it’s not always negative. If your sister is being abused by her boyfriend and refuses to report it out of fear, you’re gonna be hard-pressed to find someone unable to sympathize with you if you go over to his house and break his nose.

What is a defining feature of conflict, is that it disrupts the status quo.

That’s not to say that some characters are always disruptors and others always preservers of the status quo. For example, during the Disc War, Tommy is the one trying to preserve and Dream the one trying to disrupt (the status quo being: Tommy owns the discs), and during the L’Manburg War for Independence, Tommy and Wilbur are disrupting while Dream is preserving (the status quo being: Dream has absolute power and the entire server needs to follow his rules).

It’s ALSO not to say that this disruption is always bad, because sometimes, the status quo fucking sucks, and throwing it on its head is the right thing to do. Overthrowing Schlatt is seen by everyone on the SMP and pretty much every fan as morally correct, as while Schlatt being president was the status quo, it meant he was ruling as a dictator, exiling his political opponents, imprisoning and heavily taxing dissenters, being verbally and physically abusive to his cabinet members, and forcing a guest at his festival to execute a sixteen year-old boy for spying for the political opponent he exiled.

Conflict being a genuinely good force of societal change isn’t usually brought up in the fandom though, at least not consciously. A lot of people, both on the server and IRL, see conflict only as a source of hurt and pain, and try to prevent or avoid it as much as possible.

And here’s where Dream differs from someone like Ranboo. Because while both Dream and Ranboo operate on the assumption that all conflict is bad all the time, Ranboo shows this by becoming conflict-avoidant to the extreme, to the point where he refuses to pick sides in pretty much any conflict, no matter how obviously good or evil one side is. Meanwhile, Dream shows this by becoming controlling to the extreme. Mitigating conflict isn’t enough, he needs to control everything to prevent all conflict ever.

In Ranboo’s case, this is less due to ideology and more due to personality. Ranboo is a deeply anxious person, and hates being in the middle of fights. He’s also… not very self-critical? He has issues with self-worth, but he very rarely takes a look in the mirror to inspect what it actually is he believes and says, making him very gullible and convinced of his own righteousness. But while that’s a VERY interesting character trait, Ranboo’s conflict-avoidance doesn’t make him a very good character to examine in the context of conflict and what it means.

So let’s look at Dream. Because, despite claiming to want to stop conflict, Dream CONSTANTLY starts conflicts or escalates existing ones. The L’Manburg War for Independence could’ve been entirely avoided if Dream hadn’t lashed out so heavily at a nation of pacifists who made their own area to avoid violence from authorities. As I explored in my George Vod Analysis, the griefing of George’s house would’ve been a lighthearted dispute between two people if Dream hadn’t taken over the entire thing and turned it into one of the biggest diplomatic crises in the server’s history. Mexican L’Manburg hadn’t even existed for an hour before Dream came by to kill its residents and destroy its land.

So why is Dream so focused on stopping conflict, despite constantly starting it himself? Why is THAT his hill to die on?

Simple. Dream wants to prevent disruptions to the status quo. That status quo being “Dream is the one in power and everyone has to listen to him.”

But you can’t say that out loud. If you say “everyone needs to listen to me otherwise it’s not fair”, you sound like a whiny five year-old at best, and a tyrant at worst. So, instead of saying that, Dream says “I just want to prevent conflict, keep the server peaceful.”

Remember what I said about one party being the disruptor and another being the preserver? Well, Dream’s status in the early days of the server is almost always preserver of the status quo. The only times he’s the disruptor is if disrupting that status quo serves to strengthen the status quo of him being in power. For example: Stealing Tommy’s discs is a disruption of the “Tommy’s discs are his and his alone” status quo, but strengthens the “Dream is the most powerful dude on the server” status quo, because the discs give him power over Tommy.

By fighting L’Manburg, he was trying to preserve the status quo, because having a government on the server meant he no longer had absolute power. Hell, REALLY early on, he decided to kill George and burn all his stuff because George had full diamond while everyone else was still running around in iron armor.

However, after L’Manburg’s independence, Dream’s focus shifted. Instead of preserving the status quo, he’d disrupt it in order to return to the status quo as HE wanted it, with no nations, and himself at the top.

But again, that wouldn’t look good. Making yourself the undisputed ruler of the entire server is not good for optics, so instead, Dream hides behind the excuse that he’s just trying to stop conflict, or seeking retribution for slights against his nation.

By this point, Tommy, the only person who CONSTANTLY refuses to bow to his demands, becomes his scapegoat. Tommy is loud, enjoys chaos and getting on people’s nerves, and causes, admittedly, a LOT of conflict. Lighthearted, non-serious conflict with very little actual consequences, but conflict nonetheless. It’s not hard for him to start smearing Tommy’s name, painting him as this feral child at fault for every conflict ever, mostly because a lot of people already believed something like that to be true.

The idea that Tommy is uniquely destructive or chaotic is complete bullshit. Tommy is definitely on the more chaotic side, but he’s not that much more chaotic or destructive than your average server member, he’s just really loud and annoying about it, which makes the things he DOES do stick out more. But Dream, especially during the Exile Conflict, continuously pushed the idea that Tommy is the only one creating conflict on the server, that Tommy is responsible for all conflict ever, and that without Tommy, everyone would be at peace.

And at some point… Dream started believing this himself.

His speech during the Final Disc War illustrates this perfectly. He tells Tommy that ever since he joined, there’s been nothing but war and terrorism and conflict, and that those originated from the attachments Tommy brought to the server. That, by cutting off his own attachments, exploiting everyone else’s, and getting rid of Tommy, he could restore the old status quo, before L’Manburg, before Tommy, when everything was peaceful and no conflict existed. Except, Tommy is too fun to fuck with, so instead of killing him, Dream was going to lock Tommy up in Pandora’s Vault, probably for the rest of his life, to continue breaking him.

This is a prime example of Dream falling for his own bullshit.

First of all, Tommy didn’t cause all those wars, he was actually on the receiving end of most of them. A vast majority of the wars and terrorism Tommy got caught up in were actually started by Dream, or Dream was actively helping the guy who started it.

Second, Tommy didn’t bring the concept of attachment to the server. He gets very attached to things, true, but attachment is a very basic part of the human condition. Even Dream, the guy openly shunning all attachment, isn't immune to it, in the end, he’s attached to the server as a whole, and Tommy, who he gave almost biblical importance in his narrative. Like Tommy said, if you have no attachment to things, why does anything matter at all?

Third, getting rid of Tommy and controlling the entire server with their attachments… that wouldn’t have restored the status quo, because the status quo exactly as Dream envisioned it never existed. He’s not chasing a past that was ruined by Tommy, he’s chasing an idealized fairytale version of the past where everyone was friends and frolicked around in the fields and there was never any conflict, before Tommy came along and ruined everything. Before Tommy joined, there was a SHIT ton of conflict, from minor disputes over theft, to the above-mentioned incident where Dream destroyed George’s stuff, to the lemon tree conflicts that wound up being taken to court!

Except, even this idea of Dream wanting to restore an idealized, made-up past is only partially true. What Dream is looking to return to and uphold is a world where he was the only authority and nobody questioned him. The status quo he wants to return to, no matter how much he denies it, is the one where everyone was at his mercy and he could do whatever he wanted without impunity. However, because he’s convinced himself that conflict is the issue, not disobedience, even if his plan succeeded, he’d have to keep the entire server in a chokehold to get them to follow his ideal plan.

Because conflict is inevitable. Anywhere where there’s two or more people sharing a space, you’re going to run into conflict at some point. People will have disagreements, they will fight, they will have miscommunications, they will have a bad day or accident and antagonize someone else.

Resolving these issues through conflict, whether it’s verbal, physical or legal, will result in a healthier community in the long run, because people’s pent-up frustrations will get an outlet, and people will try to hash out compromises or accommodations based on the reactions they get. It’s not always the ideal solution, but it’s better than just sitting everyone down, telling them to play nice, and smacking them over the back of the head as soon as they start complaining.

But conflict threatens the status quo. And as Dream involves himself in more and more conflict, they increasingly start threatening HIS status quo. So in order to maintain his status quo, conflict needs to be stomped out as soon as it crops up, no matter how minor it is.

So, now to paint a timeline through this lens.

Dream started off as the ultimate power on the server, able to do whatever he wanted without consequence. Tommy joined and threatened that status quo, but he was just one guy, so keeping him away and occupied wasn’t too hard. It was fun, even.

Then L’Manburg came, and posed the first substantial threat to Dream’s rule. Dream tried crushing this rebellion before it had a chance to take root, but in the end, Tommy traded his discs (the things Dream was using to control him) for L’Manburg’s independence. The status quo changed, L’Manburg was here to stay.

However, L’Manburg still posed a threat to Dream’s rule, so manipulating events to destroy it became Dream’s next priority. He supported Schlatt during the election in the hope he’d destabilize the nation, then sided with Pogtopia in secret to help overthrow the government, then helped Wilbur with the TNT to blow L’Manburg sky high, then betrayed Pogtopia for Schlatt’s side for the revival book. When Pogtopia won, Dream was egging Techno on through whispers to try to get him to go ape shit, so with Techno’s withers and Wilbur’s TNT, L’Manburg was gone, and the old status quo had been restored.

Except it hadn’t been. L’Manburg was rebuilt, with Tubbo at the helm this time, and a new status quo was put in place, with L’Manburg still there and still a threat. However, with Wilbur’s death, Tommy was left almost completely unprotected, and Dream took his chance to get Tommy thrown out of the country, hoping to get his biggest threat out of the way, as well as being able to sink his claws into the L’Manburg Cabinet.

Dream isolated Tommy in exile and tried to break him to the point where he wouldn’t put up any resistance. During this time, he also commissioned the prison, which he claimed to only be for the most dangerous members of the server, but is a pretty transparent attempt to enforce his rule by making a place where he can stick anyone who disobeys him. The server is slipping more and more out of his control, with more factions popping up and more people outright defying him, so like any dictator, he takes harsher and harsher measures to stay on top.

Tommy escapes exile, and while Dream is keeping tabs on him, he can’t directly control him anymore. So, to prevent Tommy from returning to L’Manburg and stopping his plans at disrupting the status quo, he blows up the community house, frames Tommy for it, and goes to Tubbo to demand Tommy’s disc, the only reason destroying L’Manburg was disadvantageous for him. Tommy jumps in to defend himself and takes L’Manburg’s side, but in the end, Dream takes both the discs, then destroys L’Manburg with Techno.

By this point, the status quo Dream wanted to craft is almost complete. L’Manburg is gone, there are no other major factions threatening his rule, and he’s pretty much set a precedent for what happens to dissenters. All he needs to do now is get rid of Tommy.

Except he can’t kill him. Over time, Dream has become obsessed with Tommy, to the point where he’s started seeing Tommy as the lynchpin of the server that everyone else gravitates around. Tommy is almost a living MacGuffin: he brings chaos and attachment which gives him power, but in the right hands, that power can be harnessed to create order.

(This is absolute nonsense of course, Tommy is just A Guy, his presence itself doesn’t create chaos, and controlling him doesn’t mean controlling the entire server because a lot of people just plain don’t give a shit.)

So instead of killing him, Dream tries to put him in prison. He even outright says that he wants to finish what he started in exile, this time with even tighter control and no possibility for escape.

He goes to kill Tubbo for multiple reasons: Tubbo is no longer useful to him, Tubbo can be used as leverage to keep Tommy compliant in prison (the possibility to revive someone’s best friend is a pretty valuable bargaining chip), and Tubbo would absolutely raise hell if Dream threw his best friend in jail for no reason.

If Dream had gotten his way, he’d be able to blackmail everyone on the server into compliance. Tommy, his scapegoat, would’ve been in prison, so now without a scapegoat, he could’ve probably gone one of two ways.

He could’ve created a new scapegoat to blame all new conflict on. Quackity would’ve been a good candidate, he’s VEHEMENTLY anti-Dream, and would’ve had no qualms about starting shit with him. Whether it was with El Rapids or with Las Nevadas, Quackity would’ve been the biggest anti-Dream voice in Tommy’s absence. So c!Dream would keep Quackity around, blaming him for everything that goes wrong… Until Quackity would get too uppity and either gets murdered or put in jail with Tommy, and the cycle repeats until either people rise up, or everyone who isn’t completely subservient is in prison.

Or, he could’ve cracked down EVEN HARDER on conflict. Anyone creating a new nation gets stomped into the dirt, anyone fighting over resources gets murdered, anyone squabbling over griefed property gets thrown in prison for weeks at a time, all the while their property and pets that they care about more than anything else get dangled in front of their noses. Anyone who’s ever read any more than five pages about the dynamics of dictatorships can see that this kind of repression is basically ASKING for revolution, especially since Dream has shunned all friendships at this point and his only ally is only there because Dream pays him.

(this is all speculation, we don’t know what would’ve actually happened, dont yell at me)

The status quo Dream is trying to return to never existed, and the one he creates in the process isn’t sustainable. Stopping every conflict ever is completely unsustainable and detrimental to the larger community, which Dream knows, because he uses conflict CONSTANTLY to get his way, while still presenting himself as a peacekeeper. What he’s really against is disruptions of the status quo, because the status quo allows him to do whatever he wants and control the server as much as he wants.

Conflict isn’t inherently bad. Some conflicts are harmless, some are necessary disruptions of the status quo. Conflict itself is morally neutral, and trying to prevent all conflict ever leads into some… iffy territory. Remember when Ranboo yelled at the L’Manburgians for participating in conflict the day before Doomsday?

Anyway. Please examine situations with more nuance than “conflict bad”, it’ll make for much better analysis. Trust me. /nm

#dream smp #dsmp analysis #dsmp meta #dreamwastaken #c!dream #idk if this made any sense at all #i feel like i just slapped a buncha stuff in a google doc and completely bullshitted a conclusion from it #but anyway #just something to think abt i guess

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marsgolds · 3 years

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(TW: mentions of death, blood, derealization, …)

/dsmp /rp /writing

Dream had escaped the prision. When Sam found out, he told everyone. But when everyone knew, it was already too late.

Dream was getting bored of his puppets, his marionettes even, that he decided to j ust get rid of them. I mean, what’s the use if they’re no fun anymore, right? The masked man had a thought. He activated Ranboo’s Enderwalk state, forcing Ranboo to give Dream his extra maxed out armor, and extra supplies. He had helped Dream, the most evil man on the server. Ranboo was one of the richest people on the server. What could stop Dream from using that? TNT, flint and steels, armor, weapons, riches, Ranboo gave it all to Dream. Dream had everything he needed.

When Ranboo woke up from his Enderwalk, looking at a book called “:)”, it had already been done. He woke up in his panic room, or at least, what used to be his panic room. On the jukebox, in front of him, an old record titled “Fallen Down” was playing. It gave him a sense of nostalgia, though he had a weird feeling that gave him a sense of danger. Not bothering to remove it, he let the record play. He hears crackling sounds, sounding l ike fire. The half-enderman thought it was just the record, since it looked old.

He left the panic room, only to realise that it wasn’t the record. He saw fire, and smoke in the air, explosion sounds in the background. ‘I… I remember, I don’t want to remember,’ he thought to himself.

Remembering his friends, and his family, he ran towards the smoke, worried sick. However, upon getting closer, he saw bodies.

It wasn’t all people he had known, but there were so many, scattered around. Blood was on the floor, the grass was dark red. Ranboo was horrified. He got closer to the smoke and explosion sounds. He saw more lifeless bodies, and destroyed buildings. The explosion sounds stopped, fading away. He ran, and ran, getting closer and closer. To see Dream, facing front, standing over so many bodies of his friends, sword in hand. Ranboo froze.

Dream looked at him, menacingly. “They’re all dead. Because of YOU.”

Ranboo refused, knowing he wouldn’t do something like this. Tears nearly flooding his eyes, however not flowing down.

He remembered Tubbo, and Micheal. He ran past Dream, desperate to know if they were okay.

Ranboo ran to Snowchester as quick as he could. Arriving at the front of the mansion, he opened the mansion doors.

Let’s just say, it didn’t end well.

Forniture, torn, smeared with blood, everywhere. All that was standing, was a wither rose and an allium, their blossom slowly falling.

Not taking it anymore, the half-enderman cried, his tears falling down his face as they resurfaced scars. “No, no, no, no, this isn’t real- this isn’t real- this isn’t REAL. THIS ISN’T-” his voice broke. He cried, in denial. He fell onto his knees, sobbing on the floor, one question filling his mind. “Why couldn’t I protect you?” He screamed, his cries filling the halls of the mansion. You could hear his agony and grief, his anger there too. You could feel the pain in his sobs. His physical pain drowned out by his emotions. It hurt. It hurt so much.

Hoping it wasn’t real, he covered his eyes. “It’s just a bad dream,” he kept repeating to himself. He removed his hands from his eyes, and they were still there. Dead on the wooden floor. It hit him. It hurt so much, he stopped crying. He felt emotionless, l ike he had cried it all out. It still hurt. His cheeks burned from the tears.

“You did this to them.” Ranboo heard Dream, behind him. “You killed them, Ranboo. You betrayed them.” Dream smirked. “Traitor,” he said, spitefully.

Ranboo looked down. Why did i t feel l ike what he was saying was right?

“To your luck, I didn’t get them all. The ones you need to fix your doings are still out there. Suffering just as much as you are. One is suffering from memory loss, losing himself, stuck in time. Another is well- the curse of immortality, my brother said. The other, you know him, blood god, just as good at PvP as I am, maybe even better, and then there’s Quackity and Tommy and Puffy. Oh boy. I took who meant most to them. Sapnap, Phil, Tubbo, Schlatt’s already long gone. It hurt to face Sapnap, obviously, but I had to. You’ll get help from me soon enough. The help promised to make up to his son. And he’s a born l eader.” Dream smiled. “I want to see i f chess or solitare wins. Or whatever the casino thing Quackity has going on.” Dream left.

As the record continued to play, and the crackling noises of fire are heard, the only thing left in all this mess.

#so #ranboo lore huh #dsmp writing #dsmp #minecraft roleplay #blood tw #death tw #derealization tw #i will cry #i swear if we get beeduo angst it will be the end of me #smile #fallen down #nesrins writing

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dweamsy · 3 years

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It’s been repeated so many times especially on mcyttwt about how there’s no unproblematic person or unproblematic medias but I think people clearly don’t actually understand that or actively have that mindset, and not only in the mcyt fandom but just the internet in general.

I think most people who are saying that are only have mcyts in mind when they’re saying it, and I think they’re acknowledging to make themselves feel better about stanning these people. Because mcyts mistakes and their past are more highlighted and more known because they’ve got threads written on them and the mcyts in question (talking about Dream Team/fboys here specifically I don’t keep up with other mcyters) actually acknowledge those mistakes and address them and apologizes for it = more people know about it. People including their stans are more aware that they’ve made these mistakes and have said insensitive things in the past. And that’s why they’re the ones labeled problematic

When in reality you know, this applies to everyone and everything. That’s why I found it silly when people mcyt stans only feel bad about their mcyt interests, or when former stans moved to other fandoms and then become a whole mcyt anti and drag them for the mistakes (especially if they’ve defended those mcyts when they were still a stan LOLLL that must be embarrassing for you) when their new fandom isn’t unproblematic either in fact sometimes worse.

Like…. Kpop groups with a shitload of cultural appropriation or insensitive jokes. Celebrities like music artists or actors there’s been plenty who’s done ca as well, or remain friends with actual pedos and racists, or portray their characters incorrectly. And you know I used to think this “nothing is unproblematic” thing only applies to real people but they apply to fictional medias too. Like, even if fictional characters can’t do anything wrong because they’re fictional, the people who create them could be problematic. Sooooo many authors literally so many are terrible people even if they write good books.

And even if the creators of these fictional medias isn’t on social media and they seem alright, you can find problematic aspects in their medias. I love Game of Thrones and ASOIAF but they’re definitely created with male audience enjoyment in mind and how they portray a lot of minor female character sexually or make HUGE age gaps relationship have romantic implications. A lot of fantasy authors low-key support incest and horrible age gaps relationship and it shows in their works. The big Marvel actors have made insensitive comments, Chris Evans is openly pro-military brooo. My favorite series, although the author haven’t done anything wrong as far as I know, I can tell from reading it he’s a bit sexist with how he potray his female characters 💀

Like these fictional characters can’t do anything wrong obviously, but the people who play them or create them might. And of course you can apply the “separate art from the artists” mindset, but even if you do if you watch those medias(piracy excluded) or buy them, you’re still giving money to the problematic people who created them. Or if you run fan accounts or make fanworks for them you’re still promoting them in a way. In fact I think I’ve actually lifted or financially support problematic creators who make fictional content more than I have supported not-unproblematic mcyt ccs by watching their stuff in cinemas or getting other people to watch or read them. (not saying it’s something I’m proud of or that it’s a good thing btw)

And I think the majority of people don’t understand or aware of this. It shows with people outside the fandoms who act like mcyters are the pinnacle of all evil but then they run stan accounts for celebrities or creators or fictional medias that are objectively A LOT WORSE. Or what even more annoying, ex-mcyt stans who stop stanning and then turn to other stuff (sometimes not even less problematic than most mcyts) and act like they’re morally superior for being able to stop stanning.

Now I’m not saying these people need to drop their interests. There’s faults in every super popular fandom and you’re only going to be miserable in life if you’re looking to only enjoy something that’s completely unproblematic and morally perfect. But I wish people would stop being annoying hypocrites. You’re not superior for enjoying one thing and actively hating something when they’re both very similar. It shows that these people are just incapable of critical thinking when they actively talk about and support something that is not-unproblematic but acts like mcyt fans are the spawns of satan.

(Also not saying that mcyt is better than other fandoms btw they’re definitely not and this whole post isn’t meant to be defending them although I’m aware it can come across that way)

Another thing is that I wish people (only a small portion of people do this and only on twitter as far as I know but they’re people I see regularly so) stop feeling bad about liking these mcyts. Like I know they use “no person is entirely unproblematic” to make themselves feel better for liking mcyt. You’re not a bad person for liking mcyt 😭Obviously it doesn’t make you a better person either, but some people genuinely makes themselves feel miserable thinking they’re supporting only mildly good people and if not because of their hyperfixations or whatever they would want out. Goddamn it’s not fun seeing people hating on their own interests.

I think some mcyts the Dream Team especially are not bad people. I think they’re good, they’ve actively tried to be better more than most famous people I’ve seen and been fan of, and they’ve created a community that’s although sometimes terrible, are a good change in the gaming community. Like the gaming/twitch community have been horrible and actively promoted actual harmful ideas. The DSMP community as toxic and stupid as it is sometimes, it’s better than let’s say—Pewdiepie’s, or just the general gaming or twitch community. Them and their fanbase are bringing good changes for this side of the internet, and you shouldn’t feel like an evil person for liking them, just like how you wouldn’t feel like an evil person for liking Rainbow Rowell’s books or for liking Twenty One Pilots (both who I think are worse than mcyt, Dream Team specifically. Also not saying this makes Dream Team saints btw I DON’T THINK THAT AT ALL)

I don’t know where I’m going with this I guess people (me included btw) should be more critical of their interests and especially don’t feel morally superior for liking certain things over the other. You’re a loser for watching Minecraft as much as you’re a loser for stressing about how much streams a music artist got and you’re also a loser for making fancams of animated children characters 💀 It’s online fandoms we’re here to have fun and giggle a little bit everyone need to relaxxxxxxx

#this is too long and probably don't make sense SORRY #also I'm most familiar with twt so this is all just based on my experience there sorry for that as well #if I'm not on a twt break rn this would've been a thread on my priv for all my mutuals to scroll past #.txt #fandom discourse #twitter discourse #mcyttwt discourse #mcyttwt critical #??? idk is that a thing #idk how to tag sorry #if I'm on mobile this would've had more emojis #also when I say mcyt I specifically meant the Dream Team btw I don't keep up with others I'm not aware of their good and bad #or how their fans move #there's also some stuff abt dteam solo stans I wanted to talk about but they're not fit for here #that one for priv twt!!!

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