mcmoth - Tumblr blog

[mcmoth]

you know, with hindsight now what it is I really do think a more literal reading of c!techno's chat would have helped his characterization a Lot

and mind you, this was originally intended to be the case, and very well may have been intended all along even if it wasn't usually emphasized within the lore

and don't get me wrong, I Get why it fell out of favor within the fandom. it coincides with a Very storied ableist trope that demonizes DID and disorders adjacent to it, and Can be spoken about in a way that is essentially indistinguishable from it depending on the word choice.

but the thing is ! not only does it not Have to be an allegory for DID, I straight up don't think it is At All.

because we Know what it's an allegory for. It's His Chat. there's technoblade playing the game, and there's the thousands of people watching with expectations and wants that he's compelled to meet (or, at the very least, pacify through Entertainment).

and this makes much Much more sense when conceived of as Supernatural. be that spirits, gods, demons, or anything that could fill that role. separate entities that, for whatever reason, only techno can sense the presence of and be affected by.

and of course, to an extent this is true for all creators. everyone had an audience that they were meant to entertain and the choices they made were influenced by that fact.

but technoblade came in with a Very distinct set of expectations that heavily impacted the choices he was Expected to make and the kinds of stories that he could tell. he was more or less a living legend in real life just as much as he was in roleplay, and these things were inherently connected.

and it's like !

when c!technoblade says he was peer pressured into killing tubbo at the red festival he Is technically talking about what happened within the roleplay. schlatt was demanding it from him, there's a sort of pressure there. but schlatt was also the dictator they were set to kill, and techno has never had any trouble fighting people he considered a dictator before, and certainly not Schlatt of all people.

but he WAS being peer pressured By His Audience. by thousands of people, most of which were demanding blood Because It Was The Expectation, because it'd be Fun.

out of universe technoblade made the decision he thought would be the most Entertaining, and he was right! consistently he made choices that would let him do the most bombastic Spectacles possible. And It's Great. he's Excellent at pulling dramatics and making a compelling scene that give other people room to work off of. in that sense I'd consider techno an Excellent actor, and I have to imagine that he was fun to work with.

the problem is when you then have to justify it from an in character perspective, grounded in those mushy things like Feelings with characters that can be traumatized and sustain lasting damage, Especially Without acknowledging the out of character incentive.

mind you, it's not Impossible to Create a backstory that could justify it. why a character as consistently powerful and feared as technoblade would feel pressured to kill an ally by someone he not only Can kill but Wanted To Kill. why a character as seemingly secure and in control as technoblade would lash out the way that he does to perceived betrayal, and yet consistently puts no weight onto having killed and permanently scarred an ally that trusted him.

what that'd need is tragedy. a storied history of being hurt and having to survive. building up To an untouchable god from a much much more vulnerable position. Long Lasting trauma that's lead to this deep insecurity and paranoia. and that's Possible and that's Compelling.

but it's just not in the text.

not only did we never learn basically Anything that c!technoblade was up to pre-series, we actually know Less by the end than when we started because of the sbi retconning.

it's a Theoretically Possible interpretation that's technically never Contradicted by canon, but would have to be created by scratch. it's a compelling idea for a fan fic (and one I'd like to read) and it's compelling for a theoretical recontextualization of the character, but it's just not In The Text.

meanwhile, we have the video above.

we have the Objective Fact that technoblade's decision making was often subject to the rule of cool (very Very effectively) to entertain his audience.

and most compellingly, these concepts Don't Need To Be Separate. in fact, in my opinion they're Stronger when you put them together.

because the thing is. it's Difficult to imagine techno as ever being in a vulnerable position. he is just Objectively more powerful than everyone else on the server, both in real life And within the lore. How could he have ever been afraid when he was stronger than anyone and everyone combined? when we saw with our own eyes that techno could face nearly the whole server at once and win.

but he Is a tragic character, at least he's meant to be. and that tragedy makes much Much more sense as something Inward.

technoblade as a character who Needs connection, who Needs stability, who Needs security, who Needs friendship and community and Love. but Lashes Out, Obliterates to the core of the earth, because of something that's not only out of his control but that other people Cannot Understand.

how do you explain to a child that you killed their best friend because a chorus of the undead called for his blood and you (in all the glory that he'd idolized) were unable to do anything but comply? how do you explain to that child that you beat him senseless in a pit as the restless dead jeered and laughed?

That's interesting. That's Compelling.

technoblade is idolized like a god, feared like a force of nature, and in an instant cut himself off from nearly everyone who'd considered him an ally. and that seems to be a pattern, over and over and over again. he's left isolated, and in return he faces retaliation, and in return he's always Waiting for retaliation.

and what do you say to someone who wants to kill you for being a monster? that it's Fine Actually because you only did what you did because you have a curse that compels you to? that the supernatural guided you to destroy their homes and kill their people? (rip jack manifold you will be missed)?

That Doesn't Quite Help Your Case.

technoblade as someone who is beholden to this literal cycle of violence and Loses those things that could ground him, community, stability, People, as a result. who Tries to overcome this very fact (to become a better person, in his own words as per the clip above), but is pulled back into it as a consequence of his own actions.

that's a tragedy !! that Makes Sense. that allows him to be Both this force of nature that other characters have to survive And A Person Who Is Hurt By The Same Conflict.

"I'm a person!" that fear of dehumanization makes So So Much More Sense when you see technoblade as someone who Already fears himself. who fears being a monster, who fears losing control, who has faced isolation again and again and again.

and, importantly, it doesn't have to be anyone else's Fault.

by making the source both Internal and Completely External (something that none of the other characters have any awareness or control over), you can Have techno as a tragic character without demonizing anyone else Or erasing the impact that c!techno had on them.

and in that sense, it Can be an allegory for mental illness, but not in that direct "oooooh how scary he hears voices" kind of way that people fear it looks. but in that sometimes people Will do things that can hurt others while not feeling in control. anger and mania and paranoia, things that you can't always Control and yet that impact that you have on other people still Matters.

and the answer to that is, often, vulnerability and accountability.

I think a lot about technoblade isolating himself so near entirely from the rest of the server, and slowly gathering a support system Back by the end. and I Really Do think that framing of it through this lens is a Very impactful way of breaking it down.

tubbo, tommy, wilbur, ranboo, niki, I think they'd All understand not feeling in control. lashing out, maybe even feeling justified in the moment, but hurting people they care about and furthering their own isolation.

There's Something There, and it's already In The Text. it just needs to be expanded on.

and why not do that ourselves now?

[mcmoth]

Okay I'm curious. Since the MCYT fan space has a tendency to unanimously agree on certain headcanons and make a lot of things widespread fanon, are there any popular headcanons, interpretations, or portrayals of characters that you really don't like? I genuinely wanna know. Any popular ships you dislike? Any creaturifications that you dislike? Or even just the way people talk about a character?

[mcmoth]

actually important demographics question: do you guys know about penis smp? and where you there?

[mcmoth]

new reblog game actually put in the tags what the blog you reblogged from tastes like

[mcmoth]

I'm so confused how all you amazing tumblr analysist (/gen) didn't get that cTommy did in fact NOT forgive his abuser and that dream really DIDN'T get a redemption. You said you felt like the message wasn't clear enough. cTommy literally says: "I think I understand you. But the way of doing this, of having to kill everyone else, that's not right. [...] That's not ok." At the end he's saying sorry that it's too late. Noone can fix anything anymore. That he didn't know that was a possibility.

Hey mate! I'm sorry but I truly think the story was mishandled even if I do believe the intentions were good. I've shared my thoughts on how I think with some tweaking it could've been much better and that I also believe a huge issue was the kill em all ending which was more of a sequel hook forcing the dark ending on the characters. Calling it forgiveness and redemption is perhaps an exaggeration, but not much of one.

We have Tommy asking Dream if he doesn't wish to go back to simpler times and he does in fact apologise for hurting and stealing from him originally. And the story shows us that Tommy's words are getting through to Dream and they're enough to make his question what he's doing and start changing his mind.

Tommy isn't saying Dream was right. But the story is showing us that trying to understand Dream and reminding him of his friends and love was the way forward. I do not like this.

Like this is the final stream and meant to be the peak of Tommy's character development. And it implies that Tommy needed to learn to show more empathy and that he'd been too trapped in seeing Dream as a monster. When in reality Tommy had tried to understand Dream before. Like the multiple times he visited Dream in prison. But in one scene a little sympathy was all it took????

Dream had caused Tommy huge amounts of suffering across the series and ruined his life and the fact that Tommy's final moments are understanding that Dream was just a human after all and that all this was partly his fault for ruining Dream's server for him when in reality they're not that different and both want to go back to simpler times?

This is reinforced when post-death we see Dream and Tommy meet without memories and its suggested they become friends. That's not ironic, that's intended to be hopeful, like that they have both gone back to simpler times and so they can now be friends after all.

Tommy saying sorry after Dream asks if its too late, I actually like in isolation, that yeah it is too late as they all died several minutes ago and just didn't know it.

[mcmoth]

well i guess they really did blow up and then act like they didnt know nobody

[mcmoth]

this is gonna be my last post on the matter:

loved the ending, my favorite part was when michael mcchill showed up and yelled "IT'S REBOOT TIME" and rebooted all over the place

[mcmoth]

you and i, wind, will sit down together on this pebble of death

TOMMY: I think it’s a logical choice. The only one we can take, really. TUBBO: I used to be the one to take logical decisions. TOMMY: It sucks. TUBBO: It always did. -- there are twenty-one hours before tommy dies

link!!

[mcmoth]

None of this would have happened if we let coconut2020 get away with voter frau- [GUNSHOTS]

[mcmoth]

Anyways, reminder that my main is @eshithepetty, you can check it out if you wanna see me ramble about mob psycho or watch my hyperfixations change. Love you all <3

[mcmoth]

The dream smp ccs had something unique and beloved and super interesting and they got too cocky and careless with it and killed it. They had one of the biggest fandoms that only happens once in a decade in their hands and they killed it. They killed it by being inconsistent, giving empty promises, using the fans' love for the server as a way to get high viewer counts.

They killed it by not communicating with each other, actively excluding other ccs, and they killed it by giving one of the most important storylines in it one of the lamest they couldve come up with.

And I am sorry for all of us who loved this story and held hope for it to be better, for those who hoped that the ccs would actually be careful with the topics they portrayed. I'm sorry to those who spent months, years creating and making analysis and theorizing and doing the art and fanfics and animations, who have to be let down like this due to a rushed ending that came from damage control lore streams.

Just remember that at this point. S1 and the characters in it are for us to use. Your hcs and what-ifs cannot be decanonized now. Go ham.

One of the best parts of the dsmp was the fandom. The way we took crumbs and turned them into a feast. I hope that if you still care about the Season 1 after this to not be discouraged to make your own version of it in your head. Create the narrative that you wish you had.

[mcmoth]

as much as I'm not thrilled about this ending, I cannot say that my time has been wasted. I have loved every bit of the story that tommy has created. it's been full of drama, funny moments, but mostly, it's been full of love. to me, that's what matters the most. I was here when l'manberg's walls were built, I was here for the elections. I was here when they were thrown out, when pogtopia was made, when techno joined. I was here when wilbur lost his final life on the 16th, I was here for exile and bedrock bros after that. I was here for doomsday, the disc war finale, tommy's healing arc, snowchester, wilbur's revival, all of it. and all of it made me happy and had truly changed me as a person. I've made great friends, I've written so much, and I've had a lot of fun. no matter what, I am truly grateful for the awesome character that was ctommy and everything that came as a result of it. what a wild ride

[mcmoth]

my dash rn is a horrifying copy of what my dash looked liked after the supernatural finale two years ago

[mcmoth]

INNITERS NEVER LOSE 

[mcmoth]

Ok who's with me that the canon ending is the disc finale?

[mcmoth]

Okay. So. Fuck this series then, lol

[mcmoth]

People are calling the 1.20 update the “Lower Expectations” update in a /derogatory way, but genuinely i think this is possibly the best path mojang possibly could’ve taken. Not only does it give the team a chance to wind down from the insane pressures of 1.17-1.19, it’s also a chance to take the update slowly and as they said, get feedback from the community as it continues. There’s no name because there’s no central theme, it’s just gonna be about whatever we think we’re gonna need. I predict that within the next few months each feature will be delivered one by one, with just enough time to play around with them in between. and for the most part I think people will come to be really satisfied with it eventually :]