#and now. time to think about whether to tl or not to tl it… ahhhh…

[deus-ex-mona]

i’m gonna be s o o o o annoying about chuucon come 12 june

[dalliancekay]

I'm just gonna write out what I think cos if someone sends me this again for the 113th time, I'm gonna snap. Look...

TL;DR - Heaven is good and Heaven should/could be good are two different things - Aziraphale is not an idiot; whether he still believes God is good/neutral/whatever and just the management bad or not is up in the air, we can't know unless we ask him, but it's definitely not so simple as - he needs to see it's bad, like Crowley did, end of story - The Ineffables HAVE NOWHERE TO GO. There isn't a secret third option where they can leave for and be happy if only Aziraphale opened his eyes - it's what the story is about - Crowley left Heaven for an even worse place. It would make zero sense for Aziraphale to follow his journey. Crowley is not free and doesn't have all the answers - I bet it has never occurred to either of them the whole System can be ever changed (we don't even know if it can be. The System is bigger than the UNIVERSE) - But I think that's what they'll do in S3

Interviews (months!) before a premiere of something are tricky. You gotta be careful and VAGUE with what you say and what you want people to expect. Mostly creators focus on the themes in the first, maybe second episodes or so, trying not to give away much. Just the bare bones, what is already expected anyway. After all, they want you to watch it and go: "Ahhhh...." It was the same in S2 as well. (David describing in interviews how unmoored Crowley was in S2, how kind of disappointed etc and Michael how Az is also a bit disconcerted by not having a job, something big to belong to). But that's a description of - how we find the Ineffables in ep1, rather than describing the whole of Season 2 or their entire mindset. And there was a book first before the series and you must admit Aziraphale and Crowley are a bit different in the series than they are in the book. So caution was needed. PLUS their story has evolved again. It doesn't now end in the Ritz (I know it never really did for Neil and Terry who clearly wanted them to deal with the whole system somehow). The husbands have more trouble ahead. More details were added. We got more of their story, their journeys. Crowley doesn't change and is just waiting for Aziraphale to catch up with him - it's not much of a story, don't you think? Aziraphale is a naïve goody two shoes angel who has to realise Heaven is bad - is just so simple it's laughable.

And I'm sorry but Aziraphale has not lived a guarded life. He has lived a life of fear and anxiety with bosses who underestimate, belittle and laugh at him and think he's soft and rather pointless. Does anyone know what the question was that's answered?

Yeah, Aziraphale changes in S1 but they both do. Crowley throws out - we should do something. This whole Armageddon thing, I don't like it. He is so much a questioner of everything, isn't he. Why does it have to be this way. Makes no sense, what if... And generally, he doesn't have much to lose. If Hell wins, well, he knows what it's like. If Heaven wins, well, it'd be marginally better? Just about? If he survives to see it? Still sucks balls tho. So yes, David is right that Crowley NEEDS Aziraphale to see things his way and quickly. Cos EARTH.

Aziraphale knows the Earth came with a manual and an expiry date. He even told this so Angel!Crowley aeons ago.

So Aziraphale's journey (is not stopping believing Heaven is good and truth and light) is believing that he has choices. That he can change things. That the Plan might be Ineffable but it doesn't have to follow what he was told it must follow.

Crowley says, look, let's try, what do we have to lose. You like Earth as much as I do. And he gets Aziraphale to agree, they hatch a plan.

We watch Crowley come to love and trust Aziraphale through the ages after all he has been through. We watch Aziraphale to guard their little existence and carefully push at boundaries of what he thinks he can get away with. He wonders at what things are really like. What do they mean.

Their journey, is towards each other.

I don't know how they will smash the System before they fall into a tight embrace and never let go, but I know they will. Even if they have no idea yet that that is even possible. How could they.

And if I see one more post about how Aziraphale was backsliding and choosing his ‘faith’ over Crowley in the Final 15, I will set the internet on fire.

I can never decide if Heaven and Hell are more like mafia or like a dictatorship. Maybe a mix of both. Just cos they couldn't be killed, they were left alone for a bit. Didn't last long though, did it. They needed to be separated so they don't stop another go at destroying the little Universe project God started. I guess the Archangels are quite fed up with it.

Remember. Aziraphale and Crowley have nowhere to go. They never had. The best they could do was keep their little places on Earth. For themselves. For each other. Until they couldn't.

If you thought Aziraphale won't take the chance to have a tiny glimmer of an opportunity to destroy the fucking system in whatever way he can come up with (instead of what, being downmoted, having his memory erased too?), than you don't get him at all. Did he want to stay? You heard him say it. Was he allowed to? (No, really Metatron, nice chat but do fuck off for real now, I have a date with my demon). If you think Metatron wouldn't be back with a punishment for helping Gabriel than I don't know what to tell you.

ALSO Why do people keep bringing this back to justify their vague (or not so vague) dislike of Az (but, but Neil said "I think Aziraphale needs to learn") cos they think Az betrayed Crowley by leaving or something. The angel is just so stubborn. And he just won't listen to Crowley... right? /s You can see Aziraphale's struggles - he is a part of something he disagrees with and has no way out (Hell is not a way out btw) and tries to live in his existence in the little bubble with Crowley while being extremely careful not to have it burst. Until it inevitably does. Just as he always knew it would. But okay, if you want to have Good Omens be about a demon who figured everything out and is now waiting for his fluffy little angel to catch up and apologise to him (a million times) for being stupid so they can finally ride into the sunset, have at it.

[morrigan-sims]

simblr game: Freeze!🧊✋️ Stop there and show simblr the most recently saved household within your gallery and, if you like, tell us all about them while your at it! 🤗🤍

ahhhh, hi!!!! Thanks so much for the ask! And for giving me the opportunity to talk about this boy.

His name is Orion, he's ~18 in this picture, and he's the 2nd worst thing that's ever happened to Carrion.

[more details under the cut, because I talk too much. fair warning, it's really long.]

tl;dr: This kid used to be friends with Carrion before he was Carrion, and is (accidentally) the reason Carrion has his monster transformations in the first place. Carrion got mad at him and punched him but accidentally transformed mid-swing. After that he was left for dead, and to this day does not know whether or not Orion survived. I don't know either and left it up to the DM.

I sometimes re-write scenes from my dnd games in full prose form, and I also sometimes write little "vignettes" of moments from the characters' pasts, also in full prose. So far the only two who have gotten that kind of treatment are Rook and Carrion, but I hope to do it with others eventually.

So anyways, I've had in my head for months the idea to write out a prose vignette of the backstory behind Carrion's name. But the idea was always very vague: Reverence attacks one of his fellow paladins and is left for dead because of it. (Hence the line, "Soon you'll be nothing but carrion" that struck me like a bolt of lightning.)

Talking with the DM of Carrion's game (hiiii Izzy 💖💖💖) a couple of weeks ago gave me a better idea of where I wanted the vignette to go (a tragedy of misunderstandings / no one wanted to hurt anyone / the path to hell is paved with good intentions). And then exactly one week ago (down to the minutes, actually. I was writing between 7-8:30pm) I actually sat down and wrote the damn thing.

And because it's me, it turned out sadder than I expected it to. (And the concept on its own was already sad enough.) Orion here is a BIG part of that. He originally wrote himself into the story as a bit of a plot device. A young, freshly knighted paladin who wasn't allowed to go on the mission that got them the Delirium shard. So he begged the older paladin stationed on guard with him (Reverence, aka Carrion) to let him have a peek. Reverence relents, Orion opens the chest, and Carrion transforms. It only lasts a few seconds though, before he's back in his normal body.

Now, as far as the paladins know, any transformations are permanent, and essentially result in your death. So they try desperately for WEEKS to find someone who can "cure" him. Unfortunately they're wrong, and the ticking clock they're all imagining doesn't actually exist. But they exhaust all of their resources and options in an attempt to help one of their own.

Now, Reverence has been confronted with the fact that he's going to die at any moment (or so he thinks), and so he's understandably in a bit of a shitty mood. He keeps his distance from the other paladins when they camp, but is eventually approached by one of his friends, a guy named Beren. (I have a sim of Beren, too. I'll add his pic at the bottom of this post.) Reverence and Beren talk, and they're having two very different conversations. Rev assumes that Beren was sent to watch him because he's dangerous now, meanwhile Beren volunteered to hang out with and keep an eye on his friend who recently got bad news.

Things get a little tense, and Orion (who has also volunteered to hang out with Rev, but had gone to get food for the three of them) walks in at just the wrong moment. He assumes Reverence is threatening Beren, and draws his sword. The combo of the reminder of how this started and a fear instinct, on top of the already heightened emotions and stress he's feeling, makes Reverence snap, throwing a punch at Orion.

Not having control of things, he transforms mid-swing, and by the time he realizes what's happened and that he might actually truly hurt Orion, it's too late. Orion goes down, and Reverence is tackled by the rest of the paladins.

After that, he wakes up in chains hearing Beren try and persuade Theodore (the leader of the paladins and Reverence's mentor) that he should have killed Rev while he was unconscious. Rev tries to ask about Orion, but gets no straight answer.

Because Theodore is too selfish to do the (based on their knowledge) "right" thing and give Reverence a quick death, they leave him bound on a ledge about 40ft down a cliff. The last thing Reverence hears as the paladins walk away is Theodore saying to Beren "Put Reverence out of your mind. Soon he'll be nothing but carrion."

When he survives, he takes that name and plots to kill Theodore, not knowing or understanding that Theodore did what he did out of love, and also has regretted it every day since -- to the point that he literally lost his divine magic over it.

Now, here's the kicker. I never specified if Orion lived or died. And I told the DM that it was her choice. So we'll see what happens. Both options are thoroughly upsetting for Carrion, so I'm happy with either.

As promised, here's a pic of Beren.

He's trans and does woodcarving, and neither of those things are relevant to his role in the story, or even mentioned, but I know them about him anyways.

[mengyan]

hiii!! what were your top 5 stories of 2024? anything you watched/read!

ahhhh oomfie sorry for the late reply!! you’ve unlocked a can of worms!!! this won’t be in any particular order, just what comes to mind first:

1. tai sui by priest

you know a novel is good when i’m only near the end of book 2/5 and i’m recommending it. just these first few arcs have taken my breath away— priest’s worldbuilding, her ability to write unique and visceral descriptions of body horror without being overly gory, how in a no-cp novel you can still feel the love, romantic or otherwise, shine through so clearly, how she takes the “chosen one” trope and carves her own path from it… i could go on and on. just such a beautifully crafted story and i cannot wait for it to continue destroying me.

2. erha by roubao bu chi rou

this one took my second attempt at reading to really enjoy! the first time i read half of it, it was admittedly through a tl found online and i couldn’t grasp the story and characters well enough. i then restarted from the beginning in 2024 by reading it through the official tl, and let me tell you, it did WONDERS. i was so invested and was often up until 8 AM still reading! i really love how meatbun slowly unravelled the mysteries of the plot and connected everything from past to present so well. in the end i came away from reading erha with a problematic fave and a nonexistent ship that i completely made up... and now i'm absolutely dying waiting for my trusted mutuals to read too so i can scream about them 😭

3. card room by die zhiling

the longest unlimited flow novel i've read thus far! 600 chapters and worth every one. i loved everything about this novel, whether it be the main cp's tacit understanding and unconditional trust and love for each other, the strength of the bonds between the main team, even the side cps shaoye and jiutang! the rooms and card types were all interesting and i never felt bored even from the length. the plot twists that kept twisting had me losing my MIND in oomf's DMs even though they had no idea what was going on 😭 honestly you could pitch this novel to me with just SHAO QINGGE and i'd read it. rich charismatic soft-hearted fiercely loyal gay CEO with maroon hair in a ponytail and a penchant for matchmaking? say less!!!

4. yufengxing (the legend of shen li) [drama]

one of my favourite dramas of 2024! perfect from start to finish whether it be the STUNNING directing and cgi, the costuming, the sets, the story, or the characters. such a breath of fresh air too among the recent xianxia market where we got not just ten minutes but a whole episode's worth of happy chill epilogue. i know i can always count on a jlfx novel adaptation to save me and yufengxing was no exception; in fact i think it's one of her best yet!

5. the letter from the cloud (2022) [drama]

cheating a little with this drama from 2022 but if you followed me on twitter you would see that i've been a different person since late feb 2024 when i first watched this. literally changed the trajectory of my life. is it a perfect drama? ehhhh i rated it 7.5/10. but that doesn't mean it was bad either- i would actually have rated this 8.5 or even 9 if the second ML was nonexistent. he literally was not needed and ruined so many things LOL.

in any case, the political plot is easy and interesting to follow, the main cast and side characters (sans 2ML) are all great, even the antagonists are fun to watch, i am so, so, SO obsessed with the relationship between gu yi (the FL) and zhou yue (the 2FL), who are married divorced zhiji best friends husband and wife, the comedy is so unserious but not over the top, the main ship is cute and i would definitely ship them more if i didn't ship gu yi and zhou yue but that doesn't mean they aren't good, the OST was sung by the two FLS!!!!!, and i am so crazy about this drama that i fixed the MTL youtube subs into something more watchable in this folder here.

i promise i am so normal about this drama haha <3 definitely not insane <3 definitely did not fully spiral into my obsession with fu jing because of it <3

thanks for asking!!! if you need more info on any of these i'm always down to answer!! :D

edit: Wait. WAIT I HAVE TO MENTION THE SPIREALM!!! THIS ONE IS UP THERE WITH YUFENGXING. i watched it without subs in a delirious 48 hour haze when it first dropped and it did not disappoint. one of the greatest novel to drama adaptations of all time; even with the changes made, it didn’t take away from its excellency. i love it so much and i need to do a proper rewatch in my free time!!!!! absolute cinema from beginning to end!!!!!!

[andraxicated]

Predator/Prey with Itto?

tw: dom/sub, predator/prey, vibrator use, petnames

a/n: ahhhh I'm sorry for this late work T-T. it took me a long time to find inspo for this theme and then a perfect prompt magically popped up on my tl!

You hastily open the door with your lip bit to prevent any noise from escaping. Your hair is a mess from running like crazy, your heart beating a little too loud, and the surge of adrenaline was keeping you lightheaded. Despite the threat of him catching up, you note not to foolishly slam the door behind you, making sure it clicks as quiet as it can be before scurrying to the nearest closet.

You're shaking from the thrill of the chase, trying to calm yourself down but the object inside you won't let you rest. Itto had put a vibrator inside your underwear as a punishment for being a brat. But then...he suddenly let you go, offering the choice of freedom if you choose to play hide and seek with him.

"If I catch you, the punishment will be 10 times harsher, harder. So do your best to hide, kitten! I won't be so nice if I catch you."

You know how sick he is, how he's so mean at games. Itto will do anything just to win these stupid games, his list of dirty tricks runs long enough that it still manages to catch you by surprise.

"Hmmph!" For crying out loud, you almost let out a big yelp because of the sudden vibrations that made your pussy jump. The damned oni turned the vibrator on just as his time to search for you started.

Itto had a loud, booming voice. One that scared you and made your arousal drip at the same time. "Darling kitten where are youuu?" The last word was dragged to mimic an echo.

"I was kind enough to not turn this vibrator on while you're running. So come out now!" The sound of the door a few steps away bangs against the wall so hard that it left you squeezing yourself into the corner of the cabinet.

You could barely breathe with how tightly clasped your hands are. It's all to hold the moans in because you're genuinely scared of the punishment Itto has for you. After all, you've been quite mean to him in the streets, acting as if this dumb, pathetic oni isn't the one fucking you till you're cross-eyed.

The vibrator was even merciless as it kept on tuning to the highest setting and you could feel your high building. It didn't help that you're already thinking about seeing Itto's gigantic cock.

"Come out come out kitten" His voice draws closer, your breath hitching at the wrong time as the door of your room slams hard.

'He definitely heard that no no no no' You chant inside your head. Your cunt was ready to release but you kept it in for your sake, deferring your long-awaited arousal.

But whether he found you or not. Your poor cunny will get abused anyway.

The closet has a crack that you're too scared to fully peek through. With your minimal sight, you can see Itto pull out a chair from the far corner. He drags it noisily to terrifyingly sit in front of the closet you're currently hiding in. The sight of him sitting down made you recoil in fear.

It was a few waiting minutes before Itto got impatient and called out your pathetic excuse of a hiding spot.

"I know you're there, kitten. I can fucking smell you so come out now before I get really angry." He growls and you immediately bust the door open. Crawling towards him like the pathetic loser you are as you bury your face on his thighs.

"Master, I can't anymore! I'm going to cum, please stop!" You whine while having a death grip on your kimono as Itto watches your undoing, amused. Hearing you cry always made his sad, he didn't like the sound of you suffering. So he took matters into his own hands as he suddenly hoisted you to his lap like you weighed nothing. You sat frozen, shocked from seeing his smirking face up close.

"What's wrong kitten? Can't cum?" He asked, raising an eyebrow while cocking his head to the side. The vibrator was too good but something felt missing. You wanted his long, thick fingers inside you, or maybe his mouth or his cock if he's feeling nice.

"I need help hahhh!" You thought it was already set on the highest setting but the vibrations became even more strong, making your legs shake violently as you scream for your master to help you. "Master please! I-I'll take any punishment! Help me! Ahhh!!"

And Itto knew how much you're cockhungry for him. He'd have to prep you first though to make sure everything goes smoothly later.

Two of his fingers went down to your clit, rubbing fast, creating friction that added to the intensity your pussy was feeling. He lightly tried to squeeze in the tip of his finger but your cunt was too occupied with the vibrator that it made you sob in mixed discomfort and pleasure. You haven't even taken his cock yet you're already acting like you're filled up greatly. Itto laughed, kissing the side of your head and then whispering the magic words to end your suffering.

"Cum"

Your sticky juices went dripping down his fingers and your thighs, the embarrassment washing over you. You felt like you lost your sanity for a minute but as soon as he gave you the word to cum, some clarity returned to you at least.

"Good girl, my sweet girl. You hid so well." Itto muses even though the closet was the most obvious choice. He peppered kisses to calm you down after the intense orgasm. You're happy he's kind enough to let you and your pussy rest for a bit.

"Really? Did I?" You asked, fishing for some reassurance and sweet words before he once again changes to a mean front.

"Yes, you did. Very very good. That's why I'm going to lessen the level of punishment for you, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy." Itto starts to stand up while you're cradled in his arms. He notices you're out of it so he lightly slaps your butt to catch your attention. "Do you understand kitten?"

"Yes master"

[probably-voldemort]

Sending via Tumblr rather than commenting on the fic itself; I watched mamma mia again recently and was unfairly compelled to return to this one remarkable fic called darling that *gets me* and satisfies all the narrative fictional needs the 100 left me with.

I'm so grateful to you for not only writing it, but writing it so wonderfully.

That the more I reread it instead of reading the news for self soothing, the more I analyze it and disagree with my own earlier, frankly exuberant to the point of dumb comments.

So I'ma just talk @ you about your work here where it feels less weird and contradictory for a minute because t h o u g h t s.

In a lot of my comments I speculated about endgames, after a few throw away lines jokingly hopeful for an OT3, or not wanting Raven to settle for a guy who'd spent the whole fic agonizing over the same woman her ex cheated with etc etc.

But as I'm rereading now just to be chill and quiet in my brain the "reader brain" can kick in and see the massive and parallel amounts of breadcrumb foreshadowing you've done, especially considering the pacing, expected chapter count, and the mystery of what's up with spacekru rn.

I now more than ever suspect the Raven/Bellamy and Murphy/Clarke endgame, that's where I'm at, because I believe you when you've said you waffled about it because you're writing is sophisticated enough that you could pull off either, (and I've obviously waffled in my comments) but I'm seeing breadcrumbs that seem decisive in the latest chapters and heck even if I'm still wrong I just got all fond of your writing when I thought about likely scenarios and the spacekru chapters yet to come.

Even more excited thinking about Bellamy and Clarke as parallels instead of fated star crossed cinematic lovers. Both holding someone else's hand for five years after a single year cinematic romance. Oooooo

Also go Raven for being the adult Murphy never will be and just saying it aloud to Bellamy's conscious face. Even if prompted by probable death and without us readers knowing how long exactly she'd known herself. Just brilliant stuff!

Tl;Dr given the evidence of the thirty chapters I'm enjoying for the upteenth time, I know I'm going to have a fantastic time with wherever you take us next.

P.s. thank you so much srsly, this has healed what the cw did with hours of my life.

Ahhhh thank you!!!!  This comment is amazing and I’ve read it like six thousand times since you sent it and it just like makes my day. (Also I love getting super long comments on my fic too so like feel free to leave comments wherever you want!)

Literally having people speculate endgames in the comments is so much fun, so whether you’re against something or for something, I love reading it.  That being said, I cannot comment on endgames because that’s illegal ;) but I do know endgames definitively at this point so if you want my thoughts on your thoughts or to know hit me up privately!

Also I wish I could like your individual paragraphs because your thoughts are fantastic and I love reading them and like individually giving them hearts would be fantastic

Lol Raven has the balls Murphy wishes he had.  She’d definitely be rubbing it in Murphy’s face if the radios worked both ways.

Thank you again!!!  I really love long comments about peoples thoughts and I’m sorry it took six thousand years to reply!

[mariaiscrafting]

ahhhh ty ty ty <3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

pt. 2:

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

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

Speed of Dream's rise to fame

The "bad apples" in the Dream fanbase

Post-MCC HBomb stream

Not condoning versus actually condemning his fans

Manipulation & RSD

Criticism of Dream, his fanbase, and his brand

The “just a dude” argument, flipped

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[prince-liest]

Aw no fair, I already established that I liked your energy geez now you gotta drag me in even more xD so much to respond to wow, alright but Hawks being Prometheus? Very interesting and fresh perspective from the every so common Icarus title people gave him. I'm interested! *shakes you back and forth because my agreement and understanding of your words have rendered me silent how do I respond?* ohh musicals, nice! That takes me back. Haha sometimes you gotta go feral. Hope you had fun :)

Omg, haha - I’ll drag anyone I can down into the enthusiastic meta pit! 

I talked about my opinions on the Icarus metaphor over here, and the tl;dr is that I think it’s not fitting at all and probably is just a go-to because Hawks has wings and it’s relevant imagery. I have no formal background in Greek mythology and haven’t studied the myth of Prometheus properly aside from the usual middle school Greek mythology phase kids get that prompts them to enthusiastically pick up Percy Jackson, and I can see aspects of it that don’t quite fit as a parallel (especially regarding Prometheus disobeying authority and Hawks obeying it to a fault), but I also don’t have enough knowledge to pick a better Greco-Roman stand-in, haha!

I feel like, overall, Hawks is meant to be a character who is sacrificing himself and his beliefs in a number of different ways for what he sees and is told is the greater good. Both in the main manga and the internship side mission spinoff, Hawks regularly talks back to the decisions the Commission makes, but also immediately proceeds to adhere to those decisions completely. He is also in many ways punished for his decision to do this work, in his lack of relationships and social life, his sacrifice of his beliefs and morals and friendship in killing Twice, and his physical well-being as a hero with, uh, judicious application of fire.

(2/4) I say that but it’s literally just my 9th grade musical phase I’m blaming the group of kids constantly singing in the hallway in the early mornings of my first period class for. But to be fair, musicals + nearly dark sky + nice wind/clouds + standing at the edge of the school empty area listening to the sounds drifting around contemplating life sure is something. I’d just sing in my head. And yeah! See that’s the thing, they aren’t resolved so I’m :(

I am unashamedly obsessed with musicals, haha, I’m not gonna lie! Especially the ones that are very high-energy. I love Heathers a great deal in particular, and the singers for the West End version go hard. So I had a lot of fun, haha, thank you! I ended up writing a whole DabiHawks Heathers spinoff outline I’m never gonna write after listening to Meant To Be Yours and Dead Girl Walking (Reprise) too many times during a quarantine walk…

(¾) I’m gonna sob. I’m desperately clutching onto Horikoshi’s comments on having a lot of expectations for Hawks’ character for moving the story forward and cool places for him to go. So I’m like woah what??? Well okay, I’ll keep my hopes up that the writing is good for him! Another cryptic comment was how ‘he’s outstanding compared to the other heroes, but what exactly is he looking at over the horizon?’ And I’m so lost haha mysterious. Well Hawks always did throw everyone for a loop.

Lack of resolution kills the man! qAq I’m actually really excited to know that Horikoshi has made comments like that - knowing the way the story is going, I’m sure it’ll take a while to take us there, but he came through in featuring Shinsou more in a way I enjoyed greatly, so I have high hopes for Hawks! Especially considering how well he’s set up to be a really polarizing character in-universe.

With regards to that comment, though, I think he may have been referring to the fact that Hawks is a prodigy that excels at being a hero, but is looking forward to a time when he doesn’t have to actually do his job because the world is safe and sound!

(4/4) Guess whose salty and angry my phone crashed and deleted two asks before I could send them to you. NOW MY RESPONSE IS LACKING AND I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I HAVE TO RETYPE AND IT WON’T BE THE SAMEEE!!!! Ahhhh darn it. 

OML, anon, that’s really frustrating and I’ve been there, you have all my sympathies! Feel free to send more asks or hit me up on Discord (Bellamy#7777) if you feel okay with un-anonymizing yourself, though, whether you remember your thoughts or have more! :D

[wernerherzogs]

to be fair now i've watched some of his other stuff and yeahh, it's all pretty obvious and doubling down on stereotypes. i guess as someone who never really had close male friends or was interested in their dynamics when i was younger, it kind of helped me think about the biases i might have so i just wanted to share out of pure lockdown boredom, sorry haha. but yeah, fair enough, god knows we've had enough reaction videos to last us a lifetime :) thanks to the other anon for explaining better!

ahhhh you wanted to talk biases! got it! don't apologise, i just never realised bc i haven't seen those vids yet, and only that other anon's summary gave me more idea re: what you were after. i should watch them first before commenting, but to be fair, the guy can have his own biases, too. if he prefaces the hendall video with the statement that they're friends who've dated on/off again and then sees them being friendly and having a playful banter, he's more likely to read it as flirtation. similarly if he approaches the larry one with the assumption that they're straight guys who to his knowledge have only been with women but happen to have some rumours floating around them, he might see in there friendship dynamics only. the important thing is if he'd watched just one video for those analyses, i'd say, and did no other research? because i might have my biases, but my approach to larry is fuller given that i'd been witnessing it over a significant amount of time via many different media sources. so even if i re-check my bias and am willing to consider a possibility that maybe larry had never even gone anywhere in the first place, that doesn't mean that i wasn't seeing certain behaviour from them both over a prolonged time, behaviour that had made me personally believe something was going on. i mean, sometimes feelings happen, but they still aren't acknowledged by the parties involved. like, i didn't imagine louis getting a semi on stage because harry had whispered in his ear, for just one example, but whether they actually did something about it in private later is naturally just my assumption, and might not have been true.

my real tl;dr in the year of our lord 2020, aka after a long passage of time since any of us saw those two together in RL last, is that i'd say that both sides (truthers and antis, from the lack of better terms) have/had strong arguments for their respective cases. i think larries can still claim that something has at least happened in the past, while antis can quite comfortably believe that nothing's been going on for the last half of a decade.