#and i wish we had more revive book lore

[pagaea]

-The Necromancer-

man I love the revive book I could draw a reviving scenen every day and not get tired of it

I really like this cdream design, the white hair after beeing revived way too many times, the green magic swirling around and the stars and aurora to show his conection to dreamxd and the end

I also made a second bigger version and changed the dimensions to use it as a wallpaper for my phone, if someone wants it its down here:

[agentc0rn]

ok so I found my old XY playthrough bookguide and damn.. am I happy and miffed. Long list of thoughts ahead.

As someone who enjoys lore especially now with a resurfaced interest in xy (hyper fixated on az + legends z-a), I’m bummed about the way the story turned out in later years after I played XY.

Three details I've noted: no concept art, early and first planned out ideas, lore implications of aging immortality with regards to AZ

Wished this man had concept art!! :( The book even inquires about what he could have looked like 3000 years ago (though the cutscene has shown his younger self + the painting in the museum in Lumiose city).

Second, as the images of translated statement based on the interview with Masuda suggests, the story of AZ was planned out first apparently. Wonder what happened during the development cause he only became sidelined…

Thirdly, the last image shows a side info about why AZ looks old. Now, this may have been already addressed at some point, so I may be just repeating something that was said long ago. Nevertheless, it basically states how Floette remains the same for eternity due to being fully subjected to the ample life force energy from the pre-ultimate weapon, whereas for AZ, he received the effect partially; while becoming immortal, he still aged in a natural process but at a slower rate - still not sure if this is because of his close exposure during the revival event or the aftermath of the ultimate weapon beam? Though from what I recall, he was "bathed in the ultimate weapon's light and doomed to wander forever" and not from the pre-ultimate weapon, so but I feel like it could have been from the first time the machine was used too.

last thoughts: character arc -

I really wish we interacted more with him throughout the story - as travellers then eventually friends towards the end (we need adult companions!!). Maybe we could have helped him by fighting a team flare grunt or that he turns himself in to protect us from team flare at some point hence him being in jail. Alternatively, I feel like if he had been freed before and was there to witness the legendary battle and/or lysandre, THAT would have given him a reason to try to understand the bonds between people and pokemon, what a trainer is, therefore broadening his view on the world that he had been long oblivious to, etc - all leading up to his request to battle with us. He wants to know the world better and to coexist with pokemon, thus reverting to his “old self”.

I also think that him telling the story should have been a big shift in his character because of being helplessly stuck physically & mentally and witnessing someone young and small (protagonist = floette) bearing the burden of duty in solving the big crisis and all that.

Anyhow, thank you for reading my rambles lol

[llitchilitchi]

s2 would have been so cool. Like imagine the death book, Revival book, the hatched egg and dreamxd are still there. What would happen if the characthers without their memories find them. What happened with the dimentions c!Karl visites while time traveling. What would happen if the characthers recover their memories? How would that happen? What happened with the mysteries of ghosts and death and what was the egg? Dreamxd whole deal was suspicious but also if what if cgeorge who haces more canon lifes survived and sees that he and dreamxd are the only ones that remenber or what if other characthers with more lifes still remenber too like ahhh i wish we could see what happened after the nuke explotion

yes to all of that, oh void that would be so good

would the revive book and death book still be around after the reset? would sapnap lose the book? would dream recover the memories of the book with time? would punz?

how would the reset affect Karl? he already had memory issues, would he remember or would he be reset like everyone? or is he not quite part of the cycle?

and how would the Egg be affected? would it be reset too? or would it have corrupted the world? is the Egg of this world at all, or is it a parasite? (oh the way I grieve the Egg lore and the implications of Velvet maybe possibly joining the DSMP, the things that couldve been...)

and what of Eret and Foolish? even Ranboo, who is not quite of this world? ahhhh so many questions

[letshareapapou]

Just beat ffxvi and while nothing can hurt me more than ffxv this was still pretty close lmao there's one big thing that makes me hopefully for a dlc though sooo 👀

I'm gunna add spoilers under the cut! Just random thoughts I might add to! There's a lot lol

- Okay so firstly since the beginning with Joshua being the Phoenix I really felt he was going to survive with a new 'rebirth '. Which came at the end at the hands of Clive.

We know Joshua lived because Clive seems to heal his wounds and after the credits there seems to be a book titled Final Fantasy written in Joshua's name.

(Now there's so debate on Clive writing it under Joshua's name since Clive is the narrator in the game even after he seems to have passed. And if you do the side quest with Tomes ( Harpocrates) he gives Clive a pen in hopes that one day he'll give up the sword for the pen. ) But I really believe it was written by Joshua.

But to how he survived.

If you look in the lore under the remaking of world in the mysteries of the realm. It says Ultima requires his vessel to cast "Raise" which will revive his race not his faithful. Clive uses It on Joshua and it works since Joshua held a piece of Ultima and was supposed to be a part of the final vessel!

- Under Mysteries of the realm then Mythos. Mythos was supposed to be a vessel made to cast a spell to revive his dying tribe and remake the world in their image.

Clive does end up casting the spell after defeating Ultima. Bringing the end to the crystal AND magic which had caused the blight and by proxy does revive humanity in terms of stopping the blight, and remakes the world to one without magic! Cool!

-I really like Mid NOT making an airship at the end. She thinks it would be used for war so she wants to dump the engines off a cliff lol. And make a hard to understand treasure map for people to find it I love her.

- does Clive survive? Clive is left washed up on a beach after casting the spell. He said Ultima's power was too strong and after a moment his whole hand uses to cast the spell has turned to stone. In game this happens slowly over time so the fact that it happens so rapidly to Clive shows how much that spell cost him. Laying there he asks if Jill can see the same stars before it fades to black and cuts to a child being born and Jill watching Metia fade away. Now Metia is pretty much a wishing star. And Jill had prayed to it for Clive safe return in the beginning and end of the game. It's heavily impiled that Clive is kinda also a representation of Metia and Jill writes him a letter saying he is her guiding star, her light. So it vanishing and a new day dawning as Jill watches feels like Jill's wish will not longer be granted, signalling Clive's death.

I forgot!! There a page in the hideout you can find that literally the end of the game I read it early on and I was like huh...

- LEVIATHAN!! I dunno how'd they do a dlc without magic so I'm thinking prequel but they mention Leviathan the lost eikon but never say what happened??!! So I think dlc.

- Gav is amazing and I'm really happy he survived. I was so sure he'd die throughout the whole game lol

- the medicine girl had a page in the tomes early early on and I was like she'll be important.

- Dion had a great arc and I really enjoyed his story, another character I pegged to die but liked way more and had much more of an impact than I thought

[silver-wield]

Just finished FFXVI and cried all of my tears because of this absolutely heartbreaking ending. I feel like there's a void in my chest and a bitter taste in my mouth, I'm not ready to let all of these wonderful characters go yet... Btw the ending got me confused (as it should be probably) because being an open ending it will obviously cause all sorts of divergent interpretations. Unless authors don't state with absolute certainty what happened and who lived and/or died, all theories are valid. But I'm curious... what's yours? I personally am conflicted, I need more time to draw my conclusions. I think the simplest interpretation of the ending is that Clive died, Joshua survived and wrote the book and Dion died as well but... Idk, it's too shallow. Some other ppl claimed that it's Clive the one who survived and wrote the book using Joshua's name, others that both (and Dion too) died and their friends wrote the book. Another theory is that Clive and Joshua both died but reincarnated in the two brothers in the post credit scene (Clive also wished for a life where his mother would love him). About Dion, who's absolutely my favourite character of the game, what do you think about Harpocrates's side quest about Dion? Dion refused to accept the flower and Harpocrates is sad about that knowing all to well that Dion will never come back to take it. Am I too pessimistic? Or do you think it's foreshadowing that he may still be alive. I mean, you know the rule: they're alive until you see the corpse. There's also one missing character: Leviathan. He's just mentioned but never shows up. Idk there are a lot of unanswered questions for the story to be really over. Do you think we're gonna have a DLC or a FFXVI-2?

Answer below the cut, but as for dlc, Yoshi P has said they might if the response is good enough. I think during the last interview he mentioned they had ideas and wanted player feedback on what stories we'd like to see more of. Lotta people in Japan are asking for Dion and Leviathan dlc, but I'd be fine with anything. It really feels like we could spend a few years with XVI and still not really know everything about it.

Clive is the one who lived and wrote the book.

That's the insignia of his hideaway and he's the only one affiliated with it. He used Joshua's name as an alias the same way he used Cid's so that a part of him would live on.

What's up in the air is Joshua and Dion's fates.

Dion could've survived, and I hope he did because he deserves to find redemption and forgiveness instead of dying holding onto all that guilt, and I'm sure his people wouldn't want him to end that way, even though they might be angry with him for a while over what happened.

The spell Ultima was strengthening Clive to cast is Revive. He was gonna revive his race from death and take over Valisthea. Clive used the spell on Joshua, but it's unclear if it worked.

There's also a shit ton of hints throughout the game that Clive needs to save himself and stop acting like his life can be thrown away. Jill, Cid, Gav, Joshua, and pretty much everyone he knows tells him to come home and not sacrifice himself. There's also other hints in sidequests and even in the lore that Clive will also be saved in the end.

It's a breadcrumb trail and really unsatisfying given everything he went through, but of everyone, Clive definitely lives.

[angelofthepage]

24 Bendy Questions/Opinions!

So user BeninjaLIVE over on Twitter has this Bendy thread happening that asks a bunch of opinion questions, and you know what? I'm feeling a little playful tonight, so we're gonna answer them here. If you didn't have a baseline of where I stand as a Bendy fan before, well here you go!

1. Which is your favorite game? feel free to say any of the unreleased ones too!

See this is already hard. XD I really love the original BATIM for its story and characters, definitely my favorite story, but I've enjoyed the experience of Dark Revival a ton too. I've probably been exposed to it more times as a result of friends casually booting it up to play in calls, and the fan service for the original was great, Chapter 4 still breaks my heart. But I am a lot harder on its storytelling since, I don't think it did as good of a job as Ink Machine, especially in terms of how fleshed out its characters were. So I guess, Dark Revival for overall experience.

2. out of all the games, Which Character is your favorite?

I think my answer is still a tie between Sammy and Malice. XD They are my beloveds.

3. Which character installs the most fear / is the most horrific?

That depends on the context! From a gameplay perspective? Carley scares the crap out of me (I love you ghost girl, I want to give you a cookie, even though you're mean to us). From a writing perspective? The ink demon is pretty horrifying both in that he's this terrifying monster and was horribly mistreated within his backstory. A victim turned predator.

4. If you were in charge of directing the new Bendy game, what would change? (new features, new characters, changed gameplay, etc)

This is a dangerous question to ask me. X'''D I would put more focus on story and have more time spent with characters so that we get to know them and care about them a bit more. If we're specifically talking about The Cage, I want more of Sammy and Joey (and Boris, I would kill for a Boris reunion). I want to get to know them (if we're continuing the "Joey Drew learning to be a better person arc" I want him to try and be kinder to Henry and mess it up in his own Joey way). I want to know Henry's feelings about what he's going through. But most importantly, I would be putting Archie Carter, Evan, Buddy Lewek, Constance Gray, and/or Abby Lambert in this game. It doesn't have to be big, but for the love of all that is good and Bendy, PLEASE give us a book character cameo in this game, I beg of thee Meatly! We literally just had a book release involving a ton of Gent stuff, please give us an audiolog from one of these guys while going through the horrors of it, I would be SO HYPED for that!

5. What is your LEAST Favorite Character

This is the silliest thing, but there's only one Bendy character I actively dislike, and it's that puppet in the mop bucket from the prologue of BATDR. That thing creeps me out. I'm so sorry. ^^''''

6. smash or pass the ink demon

Neither, I'm extremely ace and not here for smashing, but I'm not passing up on interacting with him. I'm instead inviting him over for some cookies and hot cocoa.

7. Opinions on Bendy and the Dark Revival? this goes for gameplay, lore, characters, everything.

Already covered this one earlier, but to reiterate, I like it! I just wish we spent more time with the characters. I do have some issues with the way the story was handled. As much as I loved Chapter 4, I do kind of wish we got the reveal that Audrey was the daughter of Drew sooner, or at the very least, gave her more time/scenes to grapple with it. Because love the ending as I might, Joey's speech about her being born of darkness just, doesn't hit for me when she doesn't seem to feel that way about herself at any point? Like we see her struggle with it once and then never again, it needed some more build up and punch. But overall? I loved it. I loved this cast, I love the atmosphere and locations, I loved the expansion of the ink demon's character, Memory Joey was a hit despite doing some things that kind of lessen the horror of the previous game, and Twisted Alice, as nonsensical as her plan was, was such a treat, I was so glad to have her back and have her be such a menace. XD

8. Do you have high hopes for any new bendy games? (mainly Bendy - The Cage)

I have a reasonable level of optimism and curiosity! I'm sure it'll be an interesting entry. Curious how they'll handle more disturbing horror after how disturbing the last game was. I'm trying not to expect too much, going in with fewer expectations makes for a better experience for me personally.

9. How did you feel about BATIM's ending when it first came out?

Mostly confused, but really excited that Henry didn't die. X'''D No joke, when Chapter 5 first came out, I was so freaking anxious about what was gonna happen. A friend got on call and watched a playthrough with me so I didn't like lose my entire cool. X'''D Still one of my fondest memories in this fandom. The ending wasn't everything I hoped for, but I still appreciate it and the rest of Chapter 5 as a result of the experiences I had with friends during it.

10. looking back on it now, how do you feel about Chapter 3 of BATIM?

When the original came out, it needed some balance and bug testing badly. But in its current state? It's not as bad as people make it out to be, but it is tedious. I get so lost in it as someone who's directionally challenged, but like, -gestures at Malice- my GIRL! How can I not enjoy it at least a little when my queen is right there giving some of the best and most informative dialogue of any character in the game?

11. if you could change / improve ONE THING about Bendy and the ink machine (the singular game) , What would it be?

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I would want it to have some gyroscopic control on the Switch port. I'm sorry gamers, I don't know how you play games where you have to aim with the analog sticks, I can't do it, I'm so bad at it. X'''D I use motion controls for stuff like aiming my view in Splatoon, give me that as Henry and I will be unstoppable.

12. Opinions of MAlice Angel / Corrupted Susie Campbell?

She is everything, she is the moment, she is my beloved, and I want to bake for her and tell her she's beautiful, because she IS! She was such a fun antagonist and I want more of her backstory! Like she has been an enjoyable part of every game she's been in. Boris and the Dark Survival with the Milla Tapes? Underrated Alice moment, she was GREAT there.

13. Do you think Sammy dying, and THEN coming back was good or bad?

I don't think I can classify it as good or bad, but I did enjoy it! Like hey, ink creatures don't necessarily stay permanently dead, and they can have some really interesting mental things happening when reforming, that was cool world building! And then when we got to see under the mask, and he's ready to kill us? Oh MAN, oh that was a thrill. Would not trade that brief Sammy boss fight for anything, that's my GUY right there!

14. On a Scale of One to Ten, how convoluted do you thing Bendy's lore as of Present Day?

Eh, gonna roll with the devil's number and say a 6.6. It's not that bad. BATDR convoluted it more than BATIM did, and there are some book moments that puzzle me, but it overall? It's workable, and I only drive myself a tiny bit nuts over it (I say as I've been going "NOTHING IS TRUE THE CANON IS A LIE" for like two weeks trying to assemble a series timeline and classify ink creatures).

15. Opinions / on a scale of 1-10 on the Bendy Books?

Dreams Come to Life - 7/10, needed more clarity in parts, had some good moments with returning characters, Dot we love you, JACOB WE LOVE YOU

The Lost Ones - 7/10, was a little weird not seeing most of our studio cast and being so far removed from the studio itself, but it's an enjoyable read, really liked our new characters and swapping perspective, living for that Wally intro, and I have a lot of questions about what ink can do to your brain and Tom's mental state in 1946

Fade to Black - 9/10, by far my favorite, great balance of old and new, Joey Drew was DELIGHTFULLY UNHINGED (something something that's the Joey I knew), Rose was fun, Evan was fun, DOT HI I MISSED YOU, Archie Carter was THE BIGGEST SURPRISE and I ADORE HIM, never thought we'd get a YouTuber cameo audiolog character as a MAJOR PART of a book, Wilson was a treat, and the studio sections of this one destroy me, I love it love it love it

The Illusion of Living - 7/10, the greatest Joey Drew character study to ever exist, which is great but difficult to read when he jumps all over the place and rambles about who knows what for pages at a time, offered some really great moments that I can't imagine the series without, and it solidified my love of Abby, please give Abby a spot in the games, this book made it very clear she is important to the Joey and Henry backstory, and I am so frustrated that we have not referenced her ONCE in these games when she's one, the head of the art department, and two, the one with the braincell of this trio, also Detective Sinclair's murder mystery was fun, I didn't know I would enjoy that genre so much, also Sammy and Jack were GREAT in this book

Employee Handbook (the original) 6/10 - It's a game guide mostly, but I go back to this thing often since it's one of the few things in the series that ACTUALLY GIVES US DATES for when things happened.

16. Opinions / on a scale of 1-10 on the Crack up Comics?

Crack Up Comics is a solid 9/10 for me, it was genuinely fun to read. Sucks that so many comics got spoiled for me on Twitter (much like the ending of DCTL, still sore about that), but the art is really cute, there's a small bit of lore, and the characters are written in such a fun way. Bendy you little scamp, I love you. Hindsight being what it is, I'm still a bit sore there was no cameo appearance for Carley in this book, and I feel the same way about all the toons from this book not appearing anywhere in Dark Revival. What is the point of having fun cartoon characters if they're not at least making a small appearance on a wall poster or something? That is such a missed opportunity.

17. Best Toon Character? (Out of Bendy, Boris, and Alice)

Alice, by far. Don't get me wrong, I love Bendy and Boris too, but Alice has such a fun character, especially in the comics, I LOVED her.

17 (2). Best Butcher Gang Member? (toon)

Edgar. I've warmed up to Charley a lot over the years, but Edgar is my baby boy, I want to hold him and squeeze him and love him, he's so SWEET.

18. Not a question; but SHOW US YOUR / AN OC!! FEEL FREE TO LORE DUMP !!

So hiiii, this is my girl Bella Ewe, a young woman who got roped into Joey's shenanigans as an apprentice animator (after he accidentally broke her leg), and accidentally ends up in the cycle. She gets sacrificed by Sammy, ends up as a searcher that steadily evolves, he has regrets about it, and now with Jack, they're working as a trio called The Shepherds to try and help break the narrative that everyone's been forced to play a part in. Her dive ability allows her to plunge into the depths of the ink, where she talks to people to try and help them regain their humanity. She goes from timid and hopeless to fiery and surrounded by found family, and she is my beloved sheepy daughter.

19. Best Human Character? (Out of Henry, Joey, Audrey, Wilson)

Oooh, that's hard. I'm gonna have to say Joey. I love Henry and Audrey, but the two of them don't get a lot of characterization. Joey however, we get to know him throughout multiple stages of his life AND an inky memory of him, and all of them are such a fun time to explore.

19 (2). Best Human Character? (Out of Wally, Nathan, Sammy, and Bertrum)

Okay that's not fair. X'''D Sammy is my favorite, I love his human iteration just as much as I love his inky one, but Wally is also high up there. He's a fun comedic relief.

20. Best Inked Creature? (Out of the ink demon, Malice, Sammy, and Buddy Boris)

This also isn't fair, how dare you make me pick between my wife and my husband. X'''D But I'm gonna have to say Alice. She's got the more compelling story, but Sammy is also really good as our first introduction to what can happen to a human tainted by ink, he's the one that pulled me into liking Bendy in the first place.

20 (2). Best Inked Creature? (Out of Shipahoy Dudley, Lost Ones/Searchers, Allison, and Tom Boris)

This is hard, but I think I'm gonna say Searchers and Lost Ones. Back when BATIM Chapter 4 dropped, you know that part where that one Lost One goes "when can we go home" and then you open the door to see a room FULL OF THEM? Shivering and miserable? That broke me, I just kept whispering "I'm sorry" as we went through there. (Also Porter and Heidi are great, I hope we see them again someday.)

21. Whats the best ink demon variant?

BATDR, hands down. He is a much more intimidating monster, the voice gives me chills (thank you Sean), I can't get over his silly little hooves, he's great. Still love all the others though, they're good in their own ways.

22. The Better gloves? three lines or two dots?

I prefer the two dots for Bendy, but it doesn't really matter. Alice got infinitely cooler gloves, I'm sorry. X'''D

23. Did you prefer Wally being Boris, or Buddy being Boris?

I'm a Buddy Boris kind of gal. Buddy stole my heart in the books, and I love him a lot. That said, I think they both have merit, and I can appreciate fan content that explores both of these options. When the original game was in development, and Wally and Boris were the characters that were left, all the others we could make pretty reliable guesses about the fates on, so him being Boris was a process of elimination theory that people tried to justify with details like him knowing his way around the vent system. And it would have been so sad as a twist since his whole thing was "I'm outta here," him not getting out would be the unfortunate punchline. I get why it was popular, and like I said, I enjoy a number of fan works that use it. But I won't lie, it didn't ever feel like that was the canon for me, not enough information to back it up. I mean Buddy has a similar problem, but at least we know he's a Boris. Whether or not he's Henry's Boris friend is the inconclusive part. Regardless of canon, that's how I write him at least.

24. Did you like Joey being inky or the newer lore?

I'm not sure what this is asking, but I get the sense this has to do with the old theories about Joey being the Ink Demon vs. what we have now with Memory Joey and the human Joey being dead? I'm okay with it to be honest. Would I have liked Joey to be the big bad that also suffers as a monster for his crimes against his co-workers? Yes, that would be very satisfying. But I think in a lot of ways, his current lore can still be satisfying too. It's no secret that I have some mixed feelings about his slideshow presentation, but let's reiterate for anyone who doesn't know me, because I think it ties into this in an important way.

I struggle with the decision to change the lore for Henry and Allison, and it affects my feelings about Joey. Memory Joey is a great character, he's a Joey Drew that's trying to be a better person, and that's what I like about him. He's imperfect, because he's a Joey and Joey is far from perfect, he's going to make mistakes and botch things up, but he's trying. He cares about Audrey, he's trying to help her through the studio without overstepping the boundaries, because again, he's still figuring out this whole "being a better person" thing. And ultimately, that was what endeared me to him. You don't need to change the lore of the previous games to give Joey Drew a redemption arc. All we needed was Joey choosing to try and be better. It doesn't erase his sins and all the bad stuff he did along the way, it doesn't change how he treated people, it doesn't change the literal murder and chaos he caused, the lives he ruined. And it shouldn't. Redemption arcs aren't about a character being forgiven or given a pass, they're about a character choosing to be better regardless of how the world sees them, and that's what's SO POWERFUL about Memory Joey! Joey Drew in life was so concerned with how the world saw him at several stages, so much time is spent being stuck in the past, despite his insistence that he doesn't want to think about the past. And finally we have an iteration of him that has tried to move past what he was before, and I am SO PROUD OF HIM!

That was all we needed, we did not need Henry and Allison being clones to soften his crimes. That does not help with Joey's redemption arc, in some ways it kind of cheapens it for me. Instead it has caused more confusion on whether or not ink creatures require a soul, lessens the horror of the original BATIM for Henry's characterization, brings about SEVERAL questions about who is and isn't a clone now (looking at you Tom), and just like, it's been really weird when it comes to Joey's murder and victim count. Like, the guy has been responsible for multiple deaths in BATIM and the books, why are we deciding now that these two aren't part of that? Also the one note about the ink children that came before Audrey, that is also a can of worms and I'm very exhausted thinking about it.

Overall, I like Joey as he is now. As stated before, I think Fade to Black has some of the best Joey writing in the entire series (as does TIOL, even if it was a bit of a slog to get through). I like Memory Joey a lot, I mean I wouldn't have made a doll of him if I didn't. X'''D He's alright.

Thank you for these wonderful questions! You guys, if you made it to the end and wanna go engage with the original, here's the link one more time, just so you don't have to scroll to the top. XD Have fun.

[tsui-no-sora]

hey hey, i draw cdream in taffyfied tank tops and pajamas. you reblog full frontal abs /neg we are not the same. okay but jokes aside there Is some seriously cute cdream art on your blog

i think we as a fandom are entitled to an entire stream where cdream just throws insane ideas on how to best infiltrate las nevadas at cpunz and punz has a mental breakdown because all he wanted to know was whether dream wanted to cook chicken or order mcpuffy's (again) (dream's only had caffeine powder for the past three days)

actually those shots aren't even metaphor or meme reference. cdream just Does That

yeah when i say that a wedding is nigh impossible i don't mean that it couldn't be pulled off even against the monumental odds. like. ccquackity has done some masterful storytelling over the past year and karl and sapnap were brilliant in the november lnv stream. like ccsapnap Is very good at making emotional beats Hit but yeah he's not the type i'd see writing reddit meta for his character anytime soon.

sapnap has to care for dream having been tortured. if not for the sake of minimal character consistency (he cares about dream. the guy. best friend. Family) for the sake of the story because. dude would it be narratively unsatisfying if it didn't cause any tensions between him and quackity. i could see the situation to be similar to the situation shortly after wilbur was revived where he was angry at dream (quackity) and yet didn't linger on it Because of his affliction with dream (quackity). but i've get to see csapnap make any threats to disembowel one of his fiances.

and yeah that's exaclty what i meant when i said that im conflicted about but totally respect people who use the terms interchangeably, there are definitely parts of for example exile that would fit the technical definition of torture and sam and quackity's pictures are literally printed next to the text book definition of abuse of power. also "I just automatically think I'm gonna get stones thrown at me whenever I mention c!DiskDuo" pov you are literally every dsmp blog who has ever engaged in the disk-horse. ever

inconsolable was certainly one of the most media experiences i have had in my life. wait did i actually not catch that? that would imply that he either Did visit cdream in prison or had some train chitchat on his way back into the living world. i really need to rewatch the vod

dude i want do see cdream Flaunt to quackity that he managed to turn csam onto his side as his little bread-fetching guy (irony on csam starving him in the prison much :))

oh my god. look im all for canon deaths and city's draped in billowing smoke. but cdream additionally playing some good ol psychological warfare ala watch out you don't end up like him *points at csam* would have me cheering in the front rows.

i see what you mean, the fall of las nevadas is going to be more fun as a team effort than just a soloplay from dream, but like, i really think that's what everything is developing towards, everyone slowly leaving with- or without cdream's help, why else would we have gotten the scene with foolish or why else would ccdream made it so clear to show that csam was beneath him now. i mean, we haven't had any indication that he cares less about quackity than before the prison but their relationship is certainly strained to hell and back from the whole partners in geneva convention violation thing and from sam lying to quackity about dream's escape, to be honest if next to fiances and cdream conflict we could also get a confrontation between sam and quackity that would be great.

it's been too long since foolish was last involved in Big Lore, i cannot wait. dude i just wish we had a date for the lore already. please Mr quackity. we need this

Can't believe I'm getting publicly called out for c!Dream is hot crimes in 2022 has the world not evolved at all

The image of c!Dream operating fully on spite plans and caffeine while c!Punz just wants to chill out two seconds and get them something to eat is sending me into hysterics at the end Punz just gives up and goes buy more McPuffys and has a slight breakdown because half the establishment is completely griefed and the burgers are sold out

Also c!Dream would totally be that type to have his food right in front of him and not eat it until it's way too cold and it's been like three hours because he was reading a book with pictures or something and c!Punz has to re heat the food because if it was for him c!Dream would just eat it raw and uncooked

Basically there's possibilities but there are one in 7.5 trillion oh also did you see that the new Las Nevadas code is "Quackity Ghost" and also the c!Tommy tribute video that's being made and the c!Wilbur final streams and cc!Ranboo straight up saying he doesn't really care to play in Minecraft servers anymore whatever the mess with cc!Bee.Duo is + the World Altering Event yeah I don't think this paints very well for all the doomposters in the fandom (Which is like 75% of the fandom)

Oh yeah I think he needs to care too I guess I was just expecting him to show that care a little more like he for sure can show when certain things matter to him that's why his emotionals bits hit so hard but in the streams he barely even mentioned it at all tho I guess it can be pretty similar to just not mentioning it because it's too much to accept all at once really hope for the sake of the story that it comes up and you know it's important because otherwise it's just going to be so anti climatic

I have so many posts written and confined to my drafts about c!DiskDuo because I just look at it and now that it's going to be such a hassle if it breaks containment which has already happened so many times in the past and like no it's not worth it

Everybody who I have seen talk about that bit seems to interpret it as they did meet up post jail break and I did see that theory that related the "I got him too :)" sign to c!Wilbur instead of c!Phil like it was automatically assumed at the time I'm a big sucker for pre-prison and even during revival c!MADDuo scheming tho so whichever option would be nice for me so as long as it actually gets acknowledged some day please

If somehow c!Sam was there because well he's a Las Nevadas resident as well technically speaking and he saw it falling apart together with c!Quackity and c!Dream I would die happily just the image of c!Dream demanding food out of him again and not just any food okay he's not desperate anymore he's got options now he's a free man now look at him at how strong he is he's not gonna get something like rotting raw potatoes no he's gonna get some stake and matter of fact c!Sam is gonna give it to him he's in no position to deny him anything anymore

Just the idea of c!Dream going matter of fact hey Quackity don't you wanna know where your socio here got his matching scar I got it for him like Techno got yours for you like I could get you another one just now I got the pickaxe now don't fuck with me ever again

It would be such a huge power move (Tho poor c!Quackity when will my boy catch a break from all the direct consequences to his own concious actions uh)

I think the reason c!Dream is so adamant on showing off to anybody he can that he's no longer the victim in his own life is exactly because he's been abused so constantly that he needs to show the world he's too strong to be broken by this and that they all would do better than to mess with him that you really really don't want to know what happens to you if you try to break his will

I believe this shows of power were a thing for sure before the prison but that they got completely augmented after it

For why cc!Dream would want to show that beyond consistency in his character I wouldn't know I don't really like to assume everything is done with a written and planified motive behind it tbh because most often than not that's just not the case

Confrontation between just c!Quackity and c!Sam would keep me fed for weeks I guess he doesn't care less for him in the same vein that c!Dream Team still cares a lot all for each other but it's still become this tangled mess of trauma

c!Foolish in lore give us c!Foolish in lore Las Nevadas Finale please (I would also do anything for c!Fundy c!Charlie and c!Purpled to have a role on it but tryna keep the expectativs low here) I'm fairly certain is going to happen pretty soon actually from everything else that's been happening so far but the expectative is eating me alive swear to God

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Bonus Marathon - Mother Knows Best: A Tale of the Old Witch

Introduction

So I debated on weather or not I should include this particular novel. The premise intrigued me, especially since we had gotten such an abysmal backstory for Mother Gothel within the series proper. However, I knew going in that it had nothing to do with the show and is basically a Disney approved AU of the movie with it’s own separate lore. However, once I decided to include the Manga, I figured there was no reason to leave this story out either. 

So how was it? Well, lets just say that my curiosity has been abated but I’m not exactly what you would call satisfied. I was promised a history on Gothel and how she became to be who she was in the movie, one the most complex and mysterious villains in the Disney cannon, and I would argue that that’s not what I got.

I’ll go more in depth on this in a moment, but first I need to warn you. Not only will this review contain massive spoilers for the book itself and the Disney Villain series as a whole; I’ll also be talking about some of the more disturbing elements within the novel. I’m going to list them out now as a courtesy, because I wish more trigger warnings came with official licensed media.

Warning Triggers In This Book Include

Genocidal Massacre

Gore

Blood

Pedicide

Torture 

Physical Abuse

Emotional Abuse

Lots and Lots of Zomibes (including zombies of said murdered children)

Matricide

Prolicide/ Filicide

Kidnapping

Murder

Major Character Death

Yes, this is an official Disney book advertised to children 9 and up. No, I don’t get it either. We can’t have a frank discussion about girls going through puberty with out disguising it behind jokes and metaphors, but the brutal slaughtering of little kids by gouging their eyes out is AOK apparently.

The Content

So let’s provide some context for that little bombshell from the above, shall we?

The basic summary of the story is as follows...

Gothel is the daughter of the Queen of the Dead and the heir to the City of the Dead. Said Queen is a powerful necromancer who’s family has been collecting the dead of near by kingdoms as tribute, and then using the decease as their personal army and slaves.The ‘City of the Dead’ is nothing but one giant cemetery and no one actually lives there save for Gothel and her family.

One day, one of the nearby villages decide to no longer pay tribute and Gothel’s mother massacres the entire village in retaliation. Two of her daughters, Gothel’s sisters, protest the murder of innocent children, and the Queen tries to kill them for being ‘weak’. Gothel is forced to kill her own mother in order to save her sisters... only for said mom to return as a ghost and kill them anyways. 

A trio of mysterious witches, called The Odd Sisters, show up one day with the promise to help heal/revive Gothel’s own sisters from the grave. She can possibly do this with the Rapunzel flower that has kept her family alive for generations. Only the King of a nearby kingdom invades her home to steal the flower in order save his ill queen, prompting Gothel to take drastic measures to save her beloved sisters. 

That is a lot of summarization for this book, which has like 50 million plot twists. Which leads to the first problem with the story; the pacing. This feels like three books shoved into one, with plot points coming from out of nowhere and characters drastically changing their minds on things with little rhyme or reason. There’s several time skips, an uneven tone, and the book flips to different point of view characters on the fly.

Why does Gothel’s mother claim she won’t seek revenge because she needs Gothel to free her spirit, only to attack everyone mere moments later before Gothel has had a chance to do her bidding?Why doesn’t Gothel bother to even research the blood cure until its too late?  Why don’t the Odd Sister show up when they need to, especially when helping would only benefit them? Why risk the healing flowers by betraying Gothel to the king? Why does Gothel become heartless towards everyone after kidnapping Rapunzel, even though she was still a nice person just moments before? It’s like some one flipped a switch on her character. There’s no inciting incident for anything.

There’s a lot of characters saying what they have to do or telling us what they can’t do, but they never explain why. Only to change their minds halfway through anyways... once again without explaining why.

Which leads into the second problem. Gothel’s characterization is inconsistent. This isn’t a case of a character getting slowly darker and more twisted as she grows ever more desperate. She has constant support through out the story, but then throws it away for little reason. Which doesn’t add up when being alone is her greatest fear supposedly, but she’s never actually alone, ever.

Worst than that though, despite the series’ tag line, ‘villains aren't born, they're made’, there’s a running theme of inherited evil in a ‘sins of the father’ (or in this case mother) way. Gothel craves power and magic, not for any logical reason, but because she’s a magical clone of her mother apparently. This is why she doesn’t care about the mass murder her mom commits and only stands up to her when her adopted sisters are in trouble. Which already damages her story before it even starts. If she doesn’t care about that then why wouldn’t she care about kidnapping a baby later on? It removes tension.

What also removes tension, and becomes a very annoying plot point as it goes on, is the Odd Sisters apparently manipulating events to their own ends... even to the point where they influence the wills of individual people and cause the events of the movie to basically happen. The framing of them having a running commentary on the films events is annoying to say the least, especially when they didn’t that much focus originally and it just happens in the last third of the book. However, the biggest offender is that it steals agency away from the main protagonist of a film where her original story was all about gaining agency. Undermining the movie.  

The movie is also undermined in a lot other ways too. For starters, there’s more than one Rapunzel flower and it’s original origin story is removed. There’s no indication of where they come from nor how Gothel’s family came by them. Gothel winds up destroying most of them when she burns her mother alive... but it’s okay because you can just grow more apparently...unless they all die on the long trip to you new house when you have to flee the invading kingdom. Which begs the question of why Gothel couldn’t have just shared one of the flowers in exchange for peace.

Oh, yes, Frederic steals from Gothel, not once, but twice in this version of this story. Invading her home, killing her father figure and mentor, and then stealing from her cottage years later when the Queen gets sick twice. Oh, and Gothel only lived for centuries because she was placed in a deep sleep, missing out on grown up... and just finds herself aging beyond her years.

Also, speaking of flowers... one flower supposedly isn’t enough to bring two people back from the dead, yet for some reason Rapunzel can do it... even though she’s only one flower?

Then we get into the really weird part. Gothel has a cottage with a housekeeper, and hires a nurse to take care a Rapunzel. Rapunzel didn’t actually live in the tower for the first eight years of her life and had two loving women taking care of her! She knew the outside! She knew love and other human beings besides Gothel!

Once the keeper and the nurse figure out that Gothel is a witch, Gothel has the nurse killed and wipes the memory of the housekeeper... though why she couldn’t have just wiped both their memories, I don’t know. Then the Odd Sisters help Gothel wipe Rapunzel’s memories and place her in a deep sleep in the tower for ten years.... meaning all of Rapunzel’s memories of the tower and Mother Gothel are lies. Dreams that the witches put into her head. She only wakes because the Odd Sisters want revenge against Gothel for a petty slight and Gothel has to play pretend ‘mother’ even though she’s never done so before.

And none of that is getting into the fact that there’s a whole other long running subplot involving the Odd Sisters and their entanglements with other villains. This is the fifth book in the series and it’s clear the author expected you to read it all in order, despite being advertised otherwise. Because this story takes place over several centuries we see the Odd Sisters go from decent young girls to convincing sadistic monsters, pitifully trapped by their excesses... yet it’s all told in in short scenes with no context. I don’t understand what their conflict actually is... even after reading the wiki and the preview for the next book. And the reveal of their important connect to Gothel herself feels tacked on and doesn’t really add to the story; instead only raising more questions.

Yeah.... it’s a trip. And I don’t necessarily think it a good twist. It all feels over complicated and reduces the characters into puppets for the plot rather than them propelling the plot forward. There’s signs of promise here and there. While dark, the first half of the story does have a compelling conflict and the original characters are likable. Yet the closer and closer we get to the movie’s events the more that charm fades away. I would have much rather read the story of a young girl saving herself, her sisters, and her home from an invading force while coming to grips with her mother’s past abuse and dismantling her family’s toxic history.

Where’s that book? 

It’s buried in the ground like the dead.

Presentation

Maybe it’s because I bought the e-book (it was the cheaper version to get) but there was no illustrations to be had in the story. Despite the fact that the free preview for the sixth book in the series had several nice drawings in between it’s chapters.

If the physical book has pictures, feel free to let me know. Otherwise the only real perk of getting an actual physical copy is for the cover art.

The cover art sells this series. I swear. Half hidden faces of your favorite Disney villains covered in shadow, and then on the flip side you see their transformations. It’s great marketing.

Would I Recommend It

Look, I don’t want to come across as a prude. Dark stories have their place and there is clearly an audience for this series... but it’s not me. I’ve long left behind my edgy teen/young adult years. I’ve seen the real horrors of this world and I’ve zero desire to see it in my escapist media, and children dying horribly is one of my hardcore lines that do not wish to see anywhere, even in fiction.

However, I wouldn’t have had such a negative reaction if this book was rated properly for the appropriate age group. This is clearly targeting the YA audience of middle schoolers and older teens. The same group that reads Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games... or those Star Wars horror books I was into as a kid. It’s not, however, a children’s book for nine year olds.

Just say you’re trying to reach an older audience Disney. There’s no shame in admitting that, and I’d much rather a company be up front with it’s marketing than trying to trick parents with their ‘family friendly’ branding. 

What’s Next

I need something pleasant to wash the bad taste that this book left in my mouth. Next up, I’ll be talking about Tangled: The Musical, the stage show for the Disney Cruise line.

Also, the next stream will be this Thursday, April 15th at 9PM EST on the Salt Discord. Will be viewing Challenge of the Brave, Cassandra v. Eugene, The Return of Strongbow, & In Like Flynn.

https://discord.gg/bt6KCaPDVN

[balillee]

my unpopular dsmp opinions, some of which genuinely should be popular

c!dream has crossed the moral event horizon and is irredeemable. once you cross that threshold, you're no longer a 'morally grey' character.

pre-recorded, heavily produced lore killed the lore. it was cool, sure, but you completely misunderstand the magic that the smp had when people watched it initially. the story is improv and that's how we like it. we can tell the cc's have lost interest in it, you can admit that to us, we'll understand, just stop lying to me.

c!dream's pov isn't necessary to understand his character or his motivations. if you've watched literally any c!primeboys stream he's basically spelled it out for you.

i don't understand how fans can dislike l'manberg or have claimed to be against it since the beginning. i honestly don't get it. what's so bad about wanting your own spot where you make your own rules and skirt accountability that has been used to technically oppress you before - and, before someone who never saw the earlier streams tries to disagree with this, the og l'manberg crew were imprisoned for shit that everyone else on the server was practically encouraged to do. also, what do you have against fun and happiness?

i think some of you forget that 'hybrids' aren't a thing, discounting c!ranboo. there's no piglin hybrids, c!techno is just a pig. there's no avian hybrids, c!phil is just a man with wings. there's no creeper hybrids, c!sam is just a creeper who's indecently exposed from the hips down. canonically there's no hybrids, and therefore no hybrid discrimination. people ran with that concept too much.

the loss and the fanon rewriting of the early lore up until pogtopia has ruined fandom perception of c!dream and the og l'manberg boys. c!tommy is more morally white than you think he is, and c!dream has always been a villain - he massacres and he kills and he destroys and he schemes and he always has broken his own rules. no wonder the boys wanted their own space after how they were treated.

i think ranboo oftentimes forgets his own lore. he brings stuff up that c!ranboo may have done, such as exploding the community house to frame c!tommy, holding onto Cat, and it goes absolutely nowhere. we've gotten all of these developments in his story but they have never been expanded on, and we're nowhere closer to figuring out his relationship to c!dream and what his other side is and honestly i see no hope that we'll be any closer to knowing even by the end of the year.

your characters don't all have to be morally grey for the story itself to be morally grey. this is fiction - some people can be nothing but evil and others can be nothing but good. being purely good or evil doesn't mean that you're one dimensional, either.

c!dream apologists have ruined c!dream for me. he's not a good person. how about you let me enjoy a villain for who he actually is, rather for than your percieved woobified ragdoll you pass off as c!dream.

the story was better when there was a central writer. it was brilliant back when wilbur wrote it to be that the environment drives the characters and the story, and it was really good in early s2 up until techno's execution day when it was more character driven. since then, the amount of autonomy people have over their characters without any central 'director', as it were, has been a detriment to the story overall. there needs to still be one overarching figure or director or writer.

not everyone is a main character. just because they have a pov, doesn't mean they're a main character. some characters have such little impact on the overall plot and describing everyone as a main character oversaturates the story and makes some characters seem more important than they are.

the egg lore had so much potential up until it didn't. all that built up threat that we were expecting and we still don't even know what the egg wants really other than just controlling people. does it hatch?

genuinely, if there's no major plot developments by the end of the year (and let's be honest, it's a very big possibility at this point), a few of the more prominent members of the server should do a podcast style stream talking about where the story would have gone, because at least then we would have gotten somewhat closer to a conclusion.

c!techno is a villain and an asshole and a bad person. he stops caring for people once their interests don't align with his or if they look at him funny. he makes meta-jokes about his own tyrannical and oppressive nature. stop taking that away from him. he's a bad person. cc!techno does a fabulous job portraying that in a comedic manner and the balancing of him being a deeply flawed person with deeply flawed morals and ideas with his comedically-portrayed stubbornness and lack of willingness to hear out opposing viewpoints is incredible. i want to like characters who are arseholes for the sake of being arseholes, and who refuse to take into account the hurt they've caused either out of self-righteousness or because they don't care, so let me. he's the anti-peacemaker, LET ME HIM ENJOY HIM FOR THAT!!!!

i think tommy and wilbur's way of doing lore is my favourite. relies heavily on improv, voice acting, sprite acting and facial expressions. really shows off the acting props and they pull off the emotional moments well for the insanity of the creative medium.

i'm not a fan of fan-music. i find songs about media i'm into difficult to listen to. coincidentally i'm also not a fan of shit like slam poetry or live music/musicals/pantomimes.

the death of l'manberg killed people's motivation to go on the server casually. i've talked about it more in depth before, but destroying what was a central, driving environment for the story killed momentum and motivation. imagine in an episode of she-ra, the princess alliance just nuke the freight zone and all of the members of the horde just have to deal with it. that would be shit.

until season 3 has some momentum, i'm counting the end of the smp as january 20th. that had a conclusion. season 3 has... whores, technoblade and tommyinnit. that's about it.

i wasn't a fan of the development of c!tubbo joining las nevadas. i preferred snowchester and the walled city conflict. give c!tubbo some backbone and some badassery. also tubbo where's the fucking nuke bro if you're shelving that plotline just tell us on like an alt stream what the plan was i beg

add like 2 or 3 new people to the server so that michael mcchill has someone to talk to and so that there's something always happening on the server. it gives the og's more motivation to return if things are happening in and out of canon and it'll help with momentum, and who knows? maybe they can write their own story/stories.

i really think that c!sam is an underrated character. he's multilayered, extremely interesting, and the dichotomy of his loyalty to his job and how far down the rabbithole that's taken him versus the genuine love he has for his friends that drives him to do what he does out of wanting to do right by them is brilliant. i don't talk about c!sam enough.

STOP HAVING FUCKING VILLAIN ARCS!!! I'M FUCKIN SICK OF IT!!!! i want to see more characters who see everyone else being absolute selfish, abhorrent cunts and go 'if nobody else is going to be a good person, i fucking will'. GIVE ME SOME MORAL WHITENESS!!! IT'S INTERESTING AND MORALLY GOOD CHARACTERS ARE FUN!!!

let tommyinnit build cobblestone towers. everyone bullied him too much for how ugly they were and the one he built outside of the prison looked genuinely really nice. it gives the boy something to do.

i'm a fan of the revive book and the canon lives system. don't ask me why, but i think it might just be the morbidity of it. it adds to c!dream's god complex persona, and i think the fragility of death itself is a really fun concept. not enough fan cc's have made connections with that and c!mumza, and it could make for cool fanfic.

ranboo your house is fucking ugly. it's an eyesore

c!niki, and to some extent now c!jack and c!fundy, are boring me and ruining my mood. i think c!jack is the closest to being an actually interesting sympathetic villain, mainly because nobody else seems to realise that c!niki is a villain. not a good one imo, but she's a villain. c!jack just has the problem of starting a new project over and over and over and over again and because of the slow in momentum for the primary cast, there hasn't been a lot of recent development for him.

not really a dream smp opinion, but if philza went full geordie accent, i would love it. i want him to, in canon, say shit like 'me n ye' instead of 'me and you' and use geordie dialect. i want him to be physically unintelligible because it's funny.

i don't really know what's up with c!foolish but i think he's a dumbass. he had a while to think about c!q's proposal and then changed his mind about joining the guy to admitted to letting him die just because. moron

i wish there was more c!eret lore. i wish he was an actual king with an actual kingdom and actual subjects and royal advisors. c!eret is far too fucking cool to be the king of nothing and nobody. fatten up the kingdom and the castle with people who work with c!eret, and don't just make it tyrannical and dictator-y to prove the point of the server's 'anarchists'. make it a healthy working environment, please - if you want moral greyness, have 'anarchists' who claim to care about the welfare of the server oppose a kingdom of happy people under a fair and just ruler because their ideologies clash.

the server needs more characters who oppose anarchy in more peaceful ways, or passively wish for systems to be a part of. i think a chaos vs order conflict ending only in mutual understanding where everyone understands that they should just leave each other alone would slot nicely into the story that's been created so far.

you need to have watched all of the previous arcs to understand the story. i've seen people argue that they don't need to know about earlier lore to understand the prison, but that's the equivalent of only watching the final season of pretty little liars and expecting to understand the context of what's going on.

some characters aren't that morally grey. some characters, take c!tommy for example, are definitely on the whiter side for the morality scale, he's just an asshole. he's abrasive and rude and a dickhead but he also doesn't agree with terrorism, he's patriotic, he strives for a better world, he's apologetic, but he's also a fucking BITCH.

you can add onto this if you want, but not if you're a c!dream apologist. nobody likes your opinions

[itssideria]

well. i woke up to that devastating 'lore's gonna end' discussion, and. i think i'm gonna post my take on things.

to preface: i started watching the dream smp properly mid-season two. we're talking like, when tommy moved in with techno? so i was never there for the daily streams that were so common during exile and season one—i just kinda hear about it and get sad that i wasn't there, lmfao. my entire experience of dream smp lore has been streams that are always a few days to a few weeks apart, which is definitely going to inform my take on things here!!

my take, however, is pretty optimistic. i have several reasons for that.

first up: the lore has been planned.

like, we know this. it's been confirmed. ranboo has shelved plans! wilbur has about 8 of his 12 lore streams left! quackity has stuff filmed for las nevadas! dream has been consistently doing his evil imprisoned villain thing on other people's streams, and technoblade had plans that he had to delay because... yknow. karl wants to restart tales, and has a comic book series in the works for it! jack, sam, foolish, sapnap, george, phil and other 'lesser involved ccs' (i say this dubiously. their lore is super fucking cool) have all done lore streams in the past two months!

this shit is planned, guys. they have ideas. they know where they want to take their characters. they're not uninspired or unmotivated or whatever, they know where they want the story to go.

which brings me to my second point: they want to do their lore well.

i will readily admit that this point is based more off my own observation than actual, stipulated fact. of all the ccs, i think we've only had wilbur, quackity, and karl outright say they want it at a higher-than-ever standard. but as i've said before in this post, and as i'm going to say now, the cc's style of lore has changed, and it's definitely changed for the better.

streams are shorter now, has anyone noticed? they average around 20-40 minutes, instead of the 1-3 hours people got so used to in season one and early season two. and you'd think this would equate to less storytelling, but it doesn't! if anything, we're getting character and plot development faster than we ever have before. this is because the cc's have largely cut the filler, and only left in the plot.

think of the last few lore streams you remember—wilbur’s, quackity's, techno's. they're absolutely action-packed, and fully in character—no bloopers, hardly any filler. wilbur took us from revival to fort big to the burger van in the span of, what, three streams? which is so much faster than it would have happened in the past. and while we do miss out on the chill, soft, character-revealing downtime, this really isn't that bad—it works for the ccs, now that they're busy, it progresses the story, and it ensures that we, the audience, get to see that story unfold. the smp, essentially, is adapting: times have changed, as have content styles and schedules, and this is the best way they can change with it—by changing the way they deliver lore.

finally, and this a point i make based on my post-season one perspective: i do think that the current, pessimistic view of 'the lore's ending' is rooted in season one nostalgia.

again, i never really got to experience the long, daily season one vods. i only got the hour-long daily streams from the second half of season two. so while the change to the short, spaced-out season three streams was weird for me, it was not by any means jarring—i don't really have anything from earlier months to remember, you know? and because my judgement isn't influenced by that, i've never really felt like the dream smp was dying—i just felt like it was becoming more spaced out.

this isn't to hate on or pretend i'm somehow better than the people who were here since the start! you guys are cool as shit, and you don't know how much i wish i could have seen season one live. but it is me gently saying, "hey, maybe the people most worried about the smp dying are thinking of a past that no longer exists?"

the conditions under which the smp started have changed. we no longer have quarantine or super-heightened covid regulations keeping us inside. the ccs are more popular than ever, and (rightfully) want to capitalise on that popularity. it's only natural that the style of the smp will change, too!

think of your favorite fanfic author or comic artist starting university. their uploads are going to be few and far in between. but they'll still definitely be there. and they'll still be dedicated to the story, and they'll still want to see it through! but they'll have to change the style, schedule, and method of delivery to achieve that for you—asking for anything else is basically saying, "i don't care that your circumstances have changed, i expect this to stay the same." your reaction is not born out of rudeness or malice, but it is discouraging, and it would be far nicer to try your best to adapt to the new circumstances.

TLDR; i don't think the smp is dying, not in the slightest. i think it's undergoing a change in storytelling styles, and it's becoming more spaced out. the cc's have lore planned and want us to have it in the highest quality, and the most pessimistic people are maybe just attached to the season one nostalgia.

feel free to send me asks or dm me about this!! im down to discuss it, and i hope this doesn't come off as being condescending or attacking. have a lovely day <3

[nightferns]

How c!Ranboo's attitude towards c!Wilbur lines up with everything he's been told | a quote list

All /rp of course

So on Tubbo's last lore stream (my new purpose) Ranboo said this:

"-thats why im here so when he does something that does redeem himself then someone can be there that will be able to see it and everything, and honestly i'd rather have it be me the person, rather have the person that be there be me instead of maybe someone else[...]"

And then this, when asked why he didn't tell Wilbur about marriage:

"[...]From what i've heard from Tommy and everything the Wilbur that 13 years ago- at least might've- he used stuff against Tommy and everything so just in case- "

And it made me wonder what exactly lead him to that opinion so i spent a day ghathering quotes in which Ranboo heard/or was told something about Wilbur, before the revival. Its a bit of a long one so strap in.

Convos about Alivebur that Ranboo either listened to or was a part of, pre-meeting him.

Vod: Tubbo and Tommyinnit Start To Break Apart…

TommyVods

Tommy [talking about Techno]: -Wilbur died in action, so he doesn't- so he didn't live long enough to face the consequences, but that guy he is a fucking bitch.

Ranboo: So he was fighting with you and then he decided to go against you.

Tommy: yeah. He decided that the last minute "Hey! Hey what im gonna do is fuck everyone over."

Ranboo: Oh… so he was sort of a vigilante of sorts? His own-

 [...]

Tommy: sit down [on the bench]…  fuck. I just want back the discs, that's all- thats all I've wanted everytime im sat on this bench, that's all we've wanted.

Ranboo: Yeah, I can tell... You seem pretty adamant about those.

Tommy: Yeah! It's because-! Literally bro- since the- four months! [...] four months ago is when I first started trying to get these discs! And it was just me, Tubbo- there was no Technoblade on this server! There were like 6 people- and it was just me and tub- there was no nation there was no- it's always been about getting back the shit dream stole from this very chest!

So now Tubbo's gotten this position of power and is doing it- it's dis- it's disappointing.

B-but thank you, for sticking up for me, no one did that, you saw big Q fucking turning on me- you saw Fundy- they're-  they're just sheep bro, they're just sheep. Thank you

Ranboo: Well, you stuck up for me when you could've easily pinned it on me. You could've just said "oh, he was the one that did it", because- i mean, my name was being said in there too, but then you just decided to take all of it and now we're in this situation.

So I couldn't just let that happen, I couldn't stand by, have Tubbo call you selfish when you did something- the opposite.

Tommy: Thank you-

If they evict me through- that is it he-

Ranboo: yeah.

Tommy: -dude, you know i'm worried- i- i don't want to, i know there's that one line that we- that rings through my head as i sleep l of Wilbur going "Tommy, let's be the bad guys." But I wanna- i don't wanna be the bad guys. I just want-

Ranboo: I don't think that's- that's not a good thing to do.

Tommy: The reason- do I say this now? Yeah-  The reason I didn't make Tubbo the leader, when I had- and I could've chose anyone, and I chose Wilbur, the man who was already half-insane but I knew he was coming back around, and I didn't choose Tubbo.

Is because i knew that if tubbo was the president,

it would pull us apart Ranboo, and look at him he's picking his nation over me. And i- and if he does on Friday I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself.

Ranboo: No matter what happens on friday i'll help you. I'll-I'll figure it out- I'll try to talk to Tubbo, i'll try to see if something better can happen.

.

Vod: *Archive* Mar 6, 2021

Philza

Phil: [places down a picture of Wilbur] my son.

Ranboo: Oh. There he is.

Phil: I wanna put his picture in the-in the meeting room, cruz i want to be reminded, i miss him, it's lik- he's been gone a long time.

Ranboo: He has. He really has. He's been gone, before I even came here.

Phil: He did some dumb shit y'know. And my hand was forced, in a sense, but I miss him everyday, I do miss him.

Ranboo: Oh, yeah i heard about that

Phil: I do wish he'd come back.

Ranboo: Yeah, Well… well I mean, wasn't he a ghost for a little bit?

Phil: Yeah, but that wasn't really him-

Ranboo: Oh.

Phil: That was- That was like the pure kind of innocent version of him if that was to exist I think, he was very kind of uhm- it was just not him though, it was just not him. So it was kind of like talking to a doll of like- someone.

Ranboo: I mean- I mean it's the most you're able to get at least. Like-

Phil: Yeah…

[...]

Phil: -sad, miss child, miss, maybe i shouldn't have stabbed him but you know.

Ranboo: Yeah, well i mean- yeah.

Phil: I Bet if- i bet if- if i was to talk to him again he' would- he would probably forgive me, he- he definitely was at the end of his rope and i dunno maybe he'd think of it differently.

Ranboo: I mean, it was his wishes, I mean he wouldn't- it was his wishes, it wasn't- like- he wouldn't- he wouldn't not forgive you for following what he asked you to do.

Phil: Yeah. I dunno.

Ranboo: But- one day hopefully-

Phil: Can't help but think if i did the right thing or not sometimes.

Ranboo: I mean, when you think about what he would have done if you hadn't, you know?

Phil: Yeah, he was out of control.

Ranboo: Like if you- if you hadn't like- would anything- would anything have changed?

Phil: I dunno, I kinda showed up at the most chaotic time possible and yeah it was just- didn't really have a lot of time to process things. It was like "Hey I should probably stop him from blowing up this place" that I had no real knowledge of other than that he helped build it. That's all I heard. I got- i got like letters from him just like telling me what he'd been up to and stuff, and that he was having fun with this friends and then the letters stopped, and i got worried so i started to like- 

Ranboo: mhm.

Phil: -make my way over to this area.

Ranboo: Yeah.

Phil: And I was right to worry, apparently.

Ranboo: I mean, I don't know, I think- I mean, I think there's really- there's really nothing you can do about it now, you know? There's- it's really like- you can- you can try and get closure but I mean, the ghost- Ghostbur is missing in action and he has been for a little while, and...

Phil: Yeah, whenever I talked to Ghostbur I didn't really feel like I was talking to him though, like it wasnt really- It was him but it wasn't him, like-

Ranboo: Yeah.

Phil: It's hard to explain.

Ranboo, I mean you just- i- i think you did the right thing even though its not- it wasn't the optimal thing, you know? I mean, was it the best solution? Probably not, but it was still a solution so.. I'd say you still did a good thing even though in your eyes it's probably not good, but what else were you gonna- what else were we gonna do?

Phil: Yeah, true.

Ranboo: yeah.

.

Vod: Tommy's Plan to Kill Dream

TommyVods

Tommy: Tubbo, I died. I spoke to Schlatt, I spoke to Wilbur, Wilbur Soot, alright?

Tubbo: Has Schlatt changed his ways? Or is he still smoking and drinking-

Tommy: Tubbo, they've been in there for so long, and so many years, alright?

Tubbo: Years? They've only died months ago-

Tommy: Tubbo, I was in that prison for about… month and five days, alright. Time in death though? I was here for months and months and months! Time's different when you d- Don't tell anyone this- Time's different when you die.

Tubbo: So you're older, now curz-

Tommy: I don't, I don't know! [...]

.

Tommy: -But Listen to me! I've seen everything! I know so much more than you now, I've been with the dead and I know so much more! So much more I'm not willing to explain. But listen to me we need to kill him, before it's too late-

[...]

.

Tubbo: Why is it different now? Why are we killing him- why didn't we just kill him to begin with, when we had the chance? Why did you put it off?

Tommy: Because Tubbo i thought he would use the revive book for go- ok, this is what he said to me he said he will only use the revivebook to revive Wilbur, and he said that that when he gets out out of the he's gonna hurt, not just you, but everyone i care for, he's gonna hurt everyone. So please we need to kill him.

[...]

Tubbo: So why don't you want him to bring Wilbur back now? What suddenly changed? 

Tommy: I've spent months in the death area- well- let's call it the death zone, with Wilbur, right.

Tubbo: the death zone? Like limbo-

Tommy: I've spent months there, I've spent months and months and months there and I was only there for a few days, Wilbur's been there for real months, he is so different and he is powerful and you know how he molds me like a piece of clay Tubbo. I don't want him to come back, we can't let him come back, and Dream said to me that he'll revive Wilbur.[...]

.

Tommy: No, i spoke to you, not Ghostbur, i spoke to you

Ghostbur: But i am Ghostbur

Tommy: I spoke to Wilbur,

Ghostbur: You don't wanna talk to him.

Tommy: I know, I never wanna talk to him again.

Ghostbur: He's not very nice, he's not a nice guy.

Tommy: Acu- Ghostbur i've got a question for you, do you want him to come back?

Because i- i don't, i don't think i do ever ever.

Ghostbur: He's a- i- uhm.. t-the world needs- needs structure and order and he he's good at that, he did that but- i-

Tommy: No, the world needs less villains, and he was a villain if I've ever seen one.

Ghostbur: But a villain is just a- sometimes the line's a little blurry, you could say, a little blurry it's a tiny bit, it's like a villain- a villain is just a hero you haven't convinced yet.

Tubbo: I'm not sure I follow you.

Tommy: No, but he started as hero, he started as a hero and then he was the villain.

Ghostbur: Well-

Tommy: I don't think we should bring him back ever. 

Ghostbur: Oh…

Tommy: I think you should-  you like being a ghost don't you? Hey! Look bl- Red! You can stand on the red! [...]

.

Ghostbur: Yeah,i- i- i like it here but  we were talking about this and i thought we wanted to bring back Wilbur, because he understood-

Tommy: No-

Ghostbur: -because, because L'manburg got blown up-

Tommy: No! No no no no, We don't want to bring back Wilbur, i've spent months with Wilbur, wh-when you die times different Ghostbur, i know i can speak to you 'cause you don- you keep secrets, times different, alright? i've spent so long with Wilbur,

Ghostbur: How- how long?

Tommy: Months and months and months alright? And if i was here for months, he's been there for years, possibly decades, he can't come back.

This isnt a-

Ghostbur: How- how- so what's the corversion? What's the- how long-

 Tommy: What's the conversion rate?-

Ghostbur: yeah, what's the-

Tommy: -God, you sound like a fuckin' bitcoin miner.

Ghostbur: -If time's different in the- in the- in the dead land then what's the- what do you call it? Limbo- if time is different in limbo then what's- what's- what's the difference?

Tommy: I don't really know. But I was there, apparently, I was dead, according to the Dream but he does lie, I was dead for- for 3 days. And i was there for-

Ghostbur: And how long, how long was that in months?

Tommy: I don't know, i can- i can say  months and months, i- i'd- i'd say between three to seven?

Ghostbur: Okey.

Tommy: So the middle, four point five.

Ghostbur: -So Wilbur's been dead for ten to twelve years.

Tommy: And there's a lot to learn when you're dead, innit?

Ghostbur: What did you learn? I've just forgotten things.

Tommy: Oh I learned about bad shit.

Ghostbur: Yeah?

Tommy: Do you know what Wilbur did? He very slowly and excruciatingly, over an entire month, explained to me what hemorrhoids was and it hurt me so much.

And then he'd go on about all the books he has been reading. It was terrible, it was the wor-

Tubbo: Did you see each other? Or were you just-

Tommy: Oh, Don't make me talk about it! Don't make me talk about it! Oh, it was- it was the worst!

.

Ghostbur: Tommy why didn't you want Wilbur back?

Tommy: Well… I spent a long long time speaking to Wilbur in- when I was dead. And i- and when I wanted to bring him back I thought he- I thought there was still some brotherness there, I thought maybe he's still my pal. And I found out he's not- he's only grown worse.

Ghostbur: He spent a lot of time around a bad guy, he spent, like a decade you said, around- around Schlatt and Schlatt's the bad- Schlatt's the bad guy right?

Tommy: I don't think Schlatt's the only bad guy.

Ghostbur: He's a bad guy right? Him and Eret are the bad guys right? That's the- that's the-

Tubbo: Yes, more or less.

Ghostbur: That's what you told me.

Ranboo: And Dream of course.

Tommy: There's a lot more bad guys.

[...]

.

Vod: Ranboo prepares with tommyinnit to take down dream on the dream smp full stream (VOD)

Ranboo Vods

Ranboo: [About Dream] He's trapped in there and we thought he was powerless but even in there he still has power that's why we're killing him actually. Its because-

Ghostbur: What's the worst he could do with the power?

Ranboo: He could bring back the people that are- well, technically the villains in this story, and then get out. And then start to do what he did before he got into prison, just again, and probably worse honestly!

Ghostbur: He's gonna bring back Schlatt?

Ranboo: He can bring back anyone that's died.

[...]

Ghostbur: Also- um, so are we- are we not bringing back Wilbur anymore? Is that… off the table? 'Cause Phil and Technoblade and- and- and people are still keen- and Eret is keen to bring back Wilbur. And i- i'm- Ranboo i gotta tell you i'm really scared. I- i'm not scared of Wilbur i think.

Ranboo: Yeah.

Ghostbur: I'm scared of going back to.. nothing. I- I'll be gone again. I dont- I- i kinda like being here and i like all my friends and i don't...

Ranboo: Yeah. See it's different with me because I never knew Wilbur, i never met Wilbur. I've only met, well you… so...

Ghostbur: I- I think im pretty- I like to think im pretty neat.

Ranboo: Yeah i think you're pretty neat too. I don't- i don't think-

Ghostbur: Yus!

Ranboo: I mean, Honestly i'd- i never knew Wilbur, i never met him but I mean,  what i've been told, he seemed like he had good intentions and- and i mean, i think that's kinda what you are, you are his good intentions.

Ghostbur: In a pint sized glass.

Ranboo: yeah.

Ghostbur: in a little package, little package.

Ranboo: yeah!

Ghostbur: I've read his memoirs Ranboo, i've read- they are all gone now they were blown up when my library was destroyed, so many really important pieces of history were blown up when that library was destroyed.

Ranboo: Definitely yeah.

Ghostbur: But I have- i read his memoirs and he- he was- he was pretty ok! Most of the time, he seemed like he was- people liked him but then- then- then he lost this election and- and- and you know the story, everyone knows the story. 

Ranboo: yeah, yeah.

Ghostbur: But i just- i- from seeing how much everything went down and how Tubbo was- was really badly you know? Scared with- by- by- you know? the explosion and things which- thinking about it that's- maybe was Technoblade's fault and Phil's fault, but um, because of all this now more than ever it's really important that we have a leader and that's why i was on the side on bringing him back

and if- if things have changed, if you tell me i'll go along with whatever you say if- if you think Ghostbur sticks around, i'll stick around but if you think Wilbur- Wilbur sticks around i'll- i'll do whatever it takes to help you! I just- I just wanna help! I just wanna help Ranboo!

Ranboo: yeah, im-

Ghostbur: -And i can see it in you that you know what's best.

Ranboo: The thing is i- i really don't. i mean, Ha- Wilbur... he seemed good, when you read anyone's memoirs it helps them… kinda rationalize the way that they think so- i honestly don't know, because-

Ghostbur: History is written by the winners.

Ranboo: Yeah and he, he technically won, I mean he did what he wanted to.

Ghostbur: but then he lost and everyone hates him.

Ranboo: I don't- i don't think everyone hates him. I don't really hate him. I mean, it's like hearing about a historical figure. I mean he did good things yeah, but he also did bad things so. I- i'm indifferent as i am with a lot of things.

Ghostbur: I'm sure- i'm sure that you'll figure it out

[...]

.

Ranboo: I haven't even heard of Wilbur honestly, i- i've barely heard of Wilbur, i mean, Tubbo really has not told me much about Wilbur other than i mean, he's the one who blew up Manburg the first time. 

But i like Ghostbur i mean, i like- i like Ghostbur i'd say a lot more, because Ghostbur seems nice, i don't think that anything is going wrong right now, i mean if we- if we kill dream then… then uh- ' cause we don't need a leader. 

I really don't know... I really don't know, I don't think we need a leader, because if- if someone rules everyone then- i mean if the leader becomes corrupted, when the leader becomes corrupted then we see what happens. We- we see what happens when someone who leads becomes corrupted, heck i'm a part of an anarchist organization So… I really just don't know what to do.

Because I mean, Tommy doesn't want Wilbur back.

I don't think anyone wants Wilbur back, so why is it even a question?

All I do know is that we definitely have to kill Dream, right? We definitely have to kill Dream. I mean, we gotta- we gotta kill Dream.

I mean, i don't even know if anyone wants him back, i mean, the only person that i would think would be Phil, right? The only person that I'd think would be Phil, so… but Phil's ok now, he's doing alright, shure he's sad now, but I think he'll be good, yeah I think we'll be able to kill Dream and everything will be good!

I mean, if we kill Dream, Wilbur isn't coming back, we won't have to worry about much- we'll still have to worry about things but not on the scale Dream was doing right? Right? [...]

[...] So if everyone's ok without him, I mean, everyone's ok already… right? Everyone's- Everyone's good, I mean, I like Ghostbur, I think that Ghostbur is awesome. I don't know-[...]

.

Ranboo: Oh my goodness. Yeah see, i like Ghostbur a lot more, i like Ghostbur a lot more.

.

Vod: Wilbur's Revival Dream SMP

TommyVods

Tommy: No you don't understand, It's not that he's dead it's that Wilbur's back.

Tubbo: What?

Ranboo: What do you mean Wilbur's back? No, you mean Like- Wilbur? Like-

Tommy: Let's go-

Ranboo: "Press button and blow up" Wilbur, that one?

.

Tommy: No, no ok, listen to me, Did you think I liked Wilbur? Is that what you think this is about Ranboo? Why are you being so unempathetic?

Ranboo: I don't know what you mean! Like-

Tommy: Wilbur is back, Ranboo! Ghostbur is dead!

Ranboo: Yeah-

Tommy: No, no there's only one way to know.

Ranboo: What do you mean? Like- like THE Wilbur? The one that- like your friend?

Tommy: We are not fucking friends, Ranboo.

Ranboo: Wilbur wasn't-? I mean, I knew he did some bad stuff but I thought he was at least kind of your friend. 

Tommy: No, Wilbur was nothing.

Ever since i died Ranboo, we- i spent so long with Wilbur-

Ranboo: Yeah?

Tommy: -and i thought he changed, every time i thought he changed, but Ranboo he never changes, Wilbur never changes… and now he's back.

.

Ranboo: May- Maybe- Maybe he's different you know? I mean, he's been spending a lot of time in the afterlife-

Tubbo: Yeah, he's been dead for a while,

Ranboo: -he probably might be different, you know?

Tommy: He's not different Ranboo, i've been there Ranboo, and he's so much fucking worse. When we go up to him, you two just stand back-[...]

.

[whyskillet]

I just want to talk about like how weirdly insistent Techno was about getting the revive book from dream. From what I've counted he asks for it five times in the span of an hour.

1. In the beginning he just straight up asks to see it

2. He tries to incorporate it into an escape plan and sell it as insurance for dream's life.

3. He then basically calls incompetence on dreams part and claims that he can't actually remember how to do it and challenges dream to show it to him to prove that he can do it.

4. He asks to just see it before dream throws it into the lava when they investigate what happens it it's used on a person who's still living.

5. He also tries to convince dream that they can get another wish if techno uses the book.

I feel like this may be a sign that techno had alterior motives in coming to the prison aside from paying off his debt to dream. In my opinion the third and second times he asked for it were like clear examples of emotional manipulation.

Techno's escape plan involving him getting the book is full of a lot of holes and I think it's definitely taking advantage of dream's vulnerable state. Cause at this point techno has not told dream about any sort of plan to escape, he knows that dream's been tortured, and he knows that he was his last hope. So to try and sell this unreliable plan as not only a ticket to freedom and as a way to greentree his life seems very manipulative.

Then when that doesn't work he goes for dream's ego. We have seen many times that dream has an ego and he doesn't like it when people doubt his abilities. Techno claims that he can't actually remember it and tells him to prove it to him and clearly it does get to dream a bit as he almost immediately jumps to talking about how he used it on tommy.

This leads me to think more about techno asking for that bell what if he didn't ask for the bell just cause he's being techno but because he actually wants to stay in the prison with dream until he can get the secrets of the revive book from him.

This also begs the question of why. Why does techno need the book? I feel like he wouldn't go to such lengths to get this information if there wasn't actually a reason that he needs it.

Two possible theories I have is that 1. It's because the fifth member of the syndicate is actually no longer alive and that in terms of lore is a person from techno's past from before the dsmp and in terms of real life is a new cc joining the smp. (This is rather unlikely but I think it would be a cool way to introduce a new character)

Then there's the idea that Techno himself is possibly on his last life currently (due to his comments about dream reviving him after he dies fighting the elder guardian instead of him just normally respawning) and that he has reason to believe that he will die soon or that Phil (who is confirmed to be on his last life) will die soon and he wants a way to make sure that they won't stay dead.

[daisylore-au]

The Revival - Day Four, Part One

welcome back to this event in daisy lore ! we’re going to pretend like this isn’t like a whole week late and also pretend that i’m not sick while writing this LMAO so if there’s spelling mistakes or anything please ignore them :D so mushroom pot won the majority vote with fourteen votes, followed by under the chair with ten and then on the sofa with seven votes ! not a single option got under six which made it super close omg

warnings: dereality, angst, mentions of blood + alcohol

“There’s something on the sofa.” Daisy’s eyes brighten. Can it really be that easy? “We’ll start there, and work around the room.”

Making her way over to it, her curiosity only deepens when she sees one of her uncle’s poker chips lying innocently on the sofa, stained with dried red. Picking it up brings back fond memories from when she’d been younger, nestled with Helga and James and trying their best to understand exactly what Quackity had been eagerly telling them.

(”The most important thing in poker is the show you put up,” Quackity had said, sliding them each a poker chip across the table, ignoring Karl’s alarmed Helga, no, when she instantly tried to eat it, “you have next to no chance of winning if you don’t lie and pretend. You guys are good at playing pretend, right?”

“We all are,” a slightly tipsy Sapnap had murmured, resting his head tiredly on George’s, and Daisy hadn’t paid it much attention at the time, “we’re all getting good at playing pretend.”

“I think they’re too young for poker,” George had told Quackity, ignoring his best friend’s words, “Quackity, they’re not getting it.”

“No, no, look, it’s- they’ll get it!” Quackity had insisted. “They’re smart kids. They’re gonna get it - it’s only a matter of time.”)

The memory disintegrates in her mind like sandpaper, and leaves Daisy standing beside Darian, clutching the poker chip and staring at it like it’s red hot. 

We’re all getting good at play pretend.

What had her Uncle meant?

They’re gonna get it. It’s only a matter of time.

“Isn’t that Uncle Q’s?” Darian frowns. “What’s it doing here?”

“Well,” Daisy says, uneasy, “we still don’t know how he had the revive book. It might have something to do with that. I dunno. Or maybe it’s trying to tell me something.

LIVES REMAIN NEUTRAL.

“Well, look what I found from under the chair!” Darian hands her a photograph, which Daisy doesn’t recognise at all. “Isn’t that you an’ your dad and Dream?”

Daisy stares. It is, obviously, she recognises all of them well - but this photo doesn’t exist in her world. Can’t exist, because as far as she knows, her dad doesn’t know Dream too well, and certainly had never taken a photo with him and her like this. In the photo, she’s being swung up into the air by Dream, whose face is a picture of joy and laughter, while George laughs beside him, looking mock-despairing. Just out of frame, she can see Uncle Sam grinning at Dream and Daisy, eyes sparkling with warmth.

And she’s laughing. She’s so, so happy.

For a second, Daisy can only hold the photo, eyes dampening, unable to find the words she wants. This is everything her life could’ve been. Dream... Dream isn’t her dad, but he looks so happy with her in this reality, so content, that for a long, long second, Daisy wishes he had been alongside George. She wants this to be her reality, more than anything.

When she turns over the photo, all it says, in George’s distinct handwriting, is Dream makes an alright father (Daisy, 2). There’s a smiley face drawn next to the words, and Daisy’s chest aches.

YOU GAINED A LIFE! 

LIVES REMAINING: THREE.

“You guys look really happy,” Darian offers quietly, and when Daisy tears her eyes away, sniffing once, he’s looking at her, surprisingly softly. Sometimes she forgets he can be sensitive. “Are you okay?”

Daisy stays quiet, wiping at her eyes with the cuff of her sleeve. She doesn’t quite have an answer to that. How does she tell Darian that more than anything, she wishes this could be her reality?

“I hate people crying,” Wilbur says, sounding rather uncomfortable, “I never know what to do. And also I made people cry a lot. It was sort of my talent. Can we keep moving?”

Darian scowls. “I’m going to kick you.”

“You wouldn’t kick an innocent little cat.”

“I would, Wil. You know I would kick you.”

But it’s the distraction Daisy needs. Tucking the photo very delicately into her pocket alongside the poker chip, she wipes her eyes discreetly and looks around the room. Her eyes fall on one thing.

The mushroom pot at the end of the windowledge. 

Tuning out Darian and Wilbur’s bickering, Daisy makes her way towards it, eyeing it cautiously. It’s weirdly out of place in the otherwise too-bright gaudy room, and the mushrooms match the ones in her hair and in the real world. When she touches it, she gasps - it’s the first real feeling thing she’s felt in this strange world, and when she lifts it up and spots a strange wooden button, it looks so real too.

“Careful!” Daisy pulls back at Wilbur jumping onto her shoulder, eyeing her oddly. “If you press that button, I can’t intervene. If you press that button, Daisy, it will just be you and Darian. I won’t interfere with this section of the Void. Not if I can help it.”

Daisy hesitates. Something deep inside her is telling her to press the button. And yet, if she does, she’ll be without Wilbur’s help.

Is she strong enough to do this on her own? Does she even want to?

“It’s up to you, Daisy,” Darian says, crossing his arms, “it’s your call. Will we press it?”

PRESS THE BUTTON (1)

DO NOT PRESS THE BUTTON (2)

(fifteen minutes to decide!)

[xstarlightsupremex]

Valkyrie Ramblings

Sarah J did the valkyries a huge disservice in ACOSF. Though the revival of the Valkyries was a nice addition to the story, nothing more came out of it. This was supposed to be a major plot point in Nesta’s story, and possibly the reason why Sarah J changed her mind and had Nesta stay in Velaris instead of Windhaven.

I would have loved to go deeper into their history and lore. The books that Gwyn found about them weren’t enough at all. It was a great starting point but there should have been more following it. It would have been interesting if Nesta and Cassian travelled out of Velaris and visited places (that are probably now ruins) that belonged to the Valkyrie of old. They could have even encountered a lost Valkyrie spirit who still is not at rest. Sacred areas, old training grounds, even lost objects would have been amazing. 

Imagine Nesta finding a sword of the last Valkyrie general (or a title equivalent) that has been rusted or in bad shape over the years and she restores it in Windhaven. This sword would have been a huge symbol of pride and stood for something long ago and the fact that it has been forgotten and then found would have been this huge moment for Nesta. This sword could have become “made” (keeping that aspect of Nesta’s powers intact) during its restoration and could become a new symbol for the Valkyrie rebirth agenda. I can see Gwyn gushing over it right now.

 Valkyrie discovery could have been a bigger focus to Nesta’s story. Being inspired by these women of old and how they have an influence on the current valkyries is so much better than reading about the same training and studying on Valkyrie techniques. I wish we learned more about famous Valkyries, their abilities and traditions. The cutting of the ribbon was a nice new one but it shouldn't have been the only one. 

What if everyone in Prythian was wrong and there was still one last Valkyrie remaining in the world but has gone into hiding and is living in who-knows-where in seclusion. Badly injured with a broken spirit and terrible attitude. Nesta finding her and getting her to talk about what she remembered about the final battle that led to their demise would have been so powerful. I expected a scene like this:

Nesta could have even showed her the lost-but-now-found sword, causing Nesta to receive some kind of blessing from her. Like a passing of the torch kind of thing. This old valkyrie could even come up again in later books and become a guiding mentor to the Valkyries and to Nesta (because Amren is not qualified)

Final Thoughts:

I’m really just rambling at this point but I feel like there could have been sooo much more done about this that didn’t happen. Nesta's valkyrie journey only seemed like an undercurrent to Feyre's pregnancy. The valkyries deserved to be more than just the opening act to Feysand's grand performance.

Me going down my ACOSF spiral once again:

Sarah J to all my hopes and dreams for ACOSF, Nesta and beyond:

[everybody-loves-purdy]

God I have sO MANY thoughts abt ALitM

Like, first off: MAGGOTTAIL IS ALIVE AND HE’S GOT LORE!!

Kinda miffed they decided to make him a ShadowClan cat bc we already have so many in the DF/it kinda feels like an “all Slytherins are evil” situation (and also I was hoping since he was said to be one of the oldest (if not the oldest) DF residents that maybe he’d be from SkyClan) and w/ how he went from an intimidating DF leader to acting like a naive child (like, c’mon, man, you’ve been here far longer than everyone else and you actually believed Ashfur’s BS?) who’s apparently just another “I wanted to be leader and was impatient” villain (tho let’s be real the Erins were never gonna make his crimes as dark as the ones the fandom came up w/ lmao that part’s on me)

Second: is it just me, or did the whole scene w/ Bramblestar and the other leaders when Shadowsight first came back from the DF feel like a slap in the face to the fandom for calling him abusive?? Like, Leafstar, the leader who’s had absolutely zero prior experience w/ the DF, expresses a very valid concern that maybe Bramblestar isn’t the same cat he once was due to having been trapped in the DF for ages and possessed by Ashfur, and everyone flips shit on her bc he’s “a true warrior” and there’s no way he “could be anything but brave and honorable” (those are actual quotes. I hate it here). Like to me it felt like the Erins Kate mocking the fandom for daring to suggest Bramblestar is anything but a good cat when he’s absolutely garbage lmao

Third: the callback to Into the Wild where Firestar and Graystripe ambush one another made me tear up bc my god the nostalgia I felt (hella mad that there was no Sandstorm, Ravenpaw, or even Dustpelt tho 😭). Also teared up w/ Graystripe’s death and the random Firestar POV, which like,,,, what was up w/ that, actually?? Like could he do that this whole time?? Can anyone in StarClan do that?? I loved getting a Firestar POV again but I wish there had been an explanation for it as well as for Darkstripe’s random revival bc Rootspring mentions that he’d pushed him into the water in TPonS so like??? Erins explain pls

Fourth: the misogyny in this book is astounding. Leafpool mentions how she had to fight to be accepted into StarClan for breaking the code….and then literally on the same page Firestar teases the cat she broke the code w/ abt breaking the code. Then there’s the whole Bristlefrost being permakilled thing (not even gonna go into that bc this ask is already long enough lol) and how Lightleap was actually going to have plot relevance….. until the Erins decided “wait we can’t have a female sibling of a MC contribute meaningfully to the plot so uh actually she’s a coward. Send in the heavily injured cat w/ limited fighting skills instead pls”. Erins write actual decent female characters challenge.

Fifth bc I needed some more positivity in this ask: I’m actually pleasantly surprised w/ how the Erins handled Ashfur’s incell-ness?? Like, given the above point I lowkey expected more victim-blaming of Squilf/excusing of Ashfur’s actions, but they actually stuck to it and condemned his actions?? They def didn’t do things perfectly, but my gosh was it refreshing to have all the blame be placed solely on Ashfur and be reminded that you don’t owe anyone anything just bc they happen to like you

Anyway, I liked the book overall but my goodness did the Erins drop the ball in so many places here 😭 Love your blog and sorry this got so long lol I just had to get these thoughts out

Hiya! Dw I don’t mind it being long lol, I’m glad you like this blog! I’ll answer each point you make in the way you’ve listed them

First: yeah finally a bit of Maggottail lore! I personally had hoped he would have been a SkyClan cat to tie in to the now retconned Su Susan stuff but oh well. It does kind of feel that every evil cat is being lumped into ShadowClan lol. And yeah it feels odd that he believed the whole “pull out your whiskers” thing. To me he came across as quite an old soul in the dark forest from what little of him we saw prior, it feels a bit weird to make him fall for that.

Second: I completely agree

Third: I loved that callback too. And yeah the Firestar possession raised quite a few questions lol. I guess this is the Erin’s way of saying what Ashfur did to Bramblestar’s body is something technically all StarClan cats can do but they’re too good to even consider doing it? And yeah considering how deadly the water was in this book Darkstripe was certainly lucky to survive it, maybe the water’s deadliness strengthened as the forest shrunk more

Fourth: Again, I completely agree

Fifth: I hadn’t thought of that, and yeah I agree. If nothing else, in this arc it has been pretty clear they are trying to show that someone like Ashfur doesn’t belong in StarClan and props to them for actually acknowledging this rather than allowing it to be swept under the rug and not admit that this choice was a mistake, and showing how Ashfur’s incelness is directly tied to his villainy

[clayfellover]

I would like to tell you all a theory about c!George my friend told me about. I then expanded on it with a bit more things from lore

Theory: c!George isn’t actually narcoleptic. He actually slowly dies each day and revives the start of the next day and this causes his constant exhaustion and stress on his body.

The cycle of death and revival is caused by c!Dream and c!XD. After George had sold his soul to XD, they have begun taking George’s life in his sleep each day to decrease his canon lives and try and bring him back to limbo so they can stay together.

We can assume that much for:

A mention of XD saying how George reminds him of someone they once knew

XD’s clear emotional instability and attachment issues that have been shown through their screen time

George’s ‘dreams’ have been in his limbo ever since he had seen Mexican Dream in one of them - his limbo (designed by XD) is a replica of the entire SMP only populated by the Gods and the dead. This is how XD has been able to come in physical contact with him

We can assume this much from:

Sapnap’s lore stream where Mexican Dream had appeared. He was grey and ghostly instead of vibrant and alive-looking like he was in George’s lore stream. This could also imply that in limbo, people do not take on a ghostly form like they do in the overworld

The George lore stream also took place on the SMP mainland and he woke up in a bed at the end- presumably from being revived

Dream has otherworldly knowledge from being a fallen God and uses his revival knowledge to routinely revive George each day before XD can take him for good. The reason Dream keeps him alive remains to be unknown, but presumably it is because he still does care (but this is probably just my wishful thinking)

There isn’t much solid canonical evidence I have for this bit other than:

the lack of books in the cell room

c!Dream’s reaction to XD appearing in the techno lore stream (prison podcast)

Again this is all a theory that I enjoy and may adopt into my own personal headcanon please take this all with a grain of salt