#btw I'm only saying this bc this is an extreme situation mc is in and it's fictional. I don't think destroying other's trust is cool and fu

[leviachansbaka]

I know this is super toxic but if it turns out we can't go back to the original timeline because *someone* planned this, I'm gonna make them fall even more in love with my mc and then kill mc in the most tragic way possible just to destroy their heart and traumatize them deeply.

[purpleandstarlight]

@hateweasel I'm back with more past DLTD reactions!

-Me: Okay so apparently it was a year since Alois was last put in detention and he lost his 'fame' as a delinquent?? Character development. I mean, he's in detention right now, but still-

-Me and my best friend being Travis stans is a costant. We were hype about him FINALLY having a Travis PoV chapter.

-Travis, in that chapter, says that if Cielois ever got engaged, he would be sure to give them a discount, wich i found really sweet. Now I'm wondering, in the future... were the rings made by Travis' mother or did Ciel commission them from someone else? I don't remember...its been too long..please tell me if you're reading this, Hate.

-Me losing it from how funny it is that everything happens at Warwick (despite knowing that it's bc it's the MCs' school) upon starting the Black Annis case and musing about how the other students should have just gone to Weston or some other less chaotic school.

-So, during the whole Ciel-Fights-Alois-While-Under-The-Effects-Of-The-Fear-Poison, Ciel says "Your blood tastes just as good as the rest of you" and I was like "I really didn't want to know that"

-After hurting Alois and coming back to his senses, Ciel is scared and feels guilty so he keeps avoiding him, wich hurts Alois as well as himself, so the whole household is upset about the situation in return. When I told my friend about it, she went "Nooo they're in their divorce arc!" and it killed me 💀

-I was talking about how Cielois & Co were scared of the council kicking up a fit and killing them bc of the drug controlling Ciel, but I was calm bc I trust Integra, and tbh that was my modus operandi about most if not every interaction the demons ever had with HELLSING...and I'm not even a HELLSING watcher/reader...

-Btw i also stanned Oliver's dad EXTREMELY. He's a good man and a good father.

-I was really sad about Alois not wearing the short shorts anymore bc they were funny to me. Now I'm not anymore, tho I gotta say I always missed his crossdressing? Like although he did it so often mostly for attention (as he himself says in the sequel) I gotta say I miss the "So what's wrong if I'm a man and like to crossdress?" thing he did. Luckly Kris picked up the slack and crossdressed in that Pride chapter. U GO KRIS.

- So Integra goes into the specific of the experiment to Humanize Ciel and then asks everyone if they're okay with saying he's innocent in the attack to Alois and everyone but one gets his hand up and I was really mad abt that one but then I found out that it's just that the guy was asleep bc he was extremely old and it was really funny to me.

-About the paintball fight the 7 did where (I think) the others put Alois and Ciel alone in two different teams thinking it would put them at a disadvantage, my friend was like "I love how they did that bc if Cielois was together the others would be defeated in half a second (Bathroom Break included in that time)"

- Me: I still don't understand why the rest of the Seven is like "You guys never do anything chill and normal!!" like...The fashion show?? The summer vacations?? The host club???

My friend: Exactly, c'mon! The fact that like half of those ends in chaos anyway is not their fault...

Me: LMAO. I mean, though, most of those went normally? The only chaotic time I can think of is when they found out about Luka's soul being back and had to make a whole ass ritual in the basement to give him a body.

My friend: Still normal enough if you ask me.

Me: Yeah, normal teenager behavior 💀

My friend: Everyone does that!

[fernwing143]

I saw this picrew and thought it was adoreable so I did it with my Hogwarts Legacy MC and people in her life bc why not :) I'm using this as an excuse to lore dump lmao(btw this is of my MC, Fern Wing in her sixth year)

The first one is Fern with my other MC, Dillon! I like to think these two would be trauma-bonding besties. What's also funny is that Fern is a Ravenclaw with Hufflepuff energy and Dillon is a Gryffindor with even more Hufflepuff energy (Dillon kind of had a Nevile situation) but when I think about it, Dillon is 100% more of a Hufflepuff than a Gryffindor and I don't even remember why I put him in Gryffindor. He grows up to be a herbologist, he's very kind and loyal, anti-fighting, and has pretty much every Hufflepuff trait 😭😭

Fern on the other hand is mostly just very very sweet and supportive of everyone she likes and has UNDYING LOYALTY to those she cares about. Miss girl would literally kill for her friends and little brother. She also really loves her nieces and nephews so much she almost views them as her own children (she wants kids so bad but she hates the idea of babymaking rahhh)

Next is Fern with her youngest brother, Milo!

Milo was born two years before his and Fern's father died. After their father's death, their mother grew to be very neglectful of all five of her children and Fern ended up taking on the responsibility of raising Milo alongside her older siblings, William and Misty. But Fern was only SEVEN YEARS OLD when she had to start doing this.

Fern is extremely protective of her little brother while Milo is very clingy to his older sister. When Fern was thought to be a squib, she'd get nasty looks from witches and wizards in the villiage but Milo didn't understand why.

Milo used to hide a lot whenever Fern and their mother would get into fights (which was very often). He doesn't like yelling and conflict and it hurt even more to see the person who raised him fighting with the person who practically abandoned him. If you were to ask Milo about his family, he'd say something along the lines of "It's broken."

This next one is of Fern and her older sister, Misty!

Misty is a Gryffindor who's married to a Ravenclaw named Collin. Fern would totally describe Misty as a "fashion freak". Fern was 12 years old when she started wearing her long hair down and Misty INSISTED that she at least did it nicely (hence the hair style with the hair down with that little tie in the middle that the MC can have in the game)

Even though Fern loves her big sister very much, she does get very overwhelmed around her. Misty is constantly trying to dress Fern in neat clothing and always bugs Fern about what she wears. She's not tyring to be mean, but Misty is apethetic towards others. She's also not very reliable :p

Here we have William!

William is Fern's oldest sibling and her half-brother and was a Slytherin at Hogwarts. There is a seven year age gap between them lmao

William and Fern have the same mother but a different father. Fern's mother, Sonia, got married to a man named Josh Brown and they had William. When William was two years old, Sonia and Josh got a divorce and later on got remarried to her friend from Hogwarts, Jay Wing. William came with Sonia since Josh was abusive. When he was four, Misty was born, when he was seven, Fern was born, when he was ten, Dawn was born, and when he was twelve, Milo was born.

William was always the golden child, though he didn't like it because Sonia became very mentally ill after Jay's death and started favoring him over his siblings and was especially mean to Fern, seemingly blaming her for Jay's death. William was a hard worker and did well with academics and became a curse breaker.

William is married to Maradeth Brown (formerly Maradeth Peterson) and has two daughters, Lennie and Emily and later on has a son, Henry. He enjoys inviting Fern over to hang out with them.

Fern has always looked up to her older brother, though somewhat envies him for being their mother's favorite while her mother hates her the most.

And here we have Dawn, Fern's younger sister.

Dawn has always hated Fern for pretty much no reason despite Fern trying to set things right between them.

I like to think that the reason Fern never saw Dawn at Hogwarts during her fifth year was because Dawn avoided her at all costs (this is made up specifically for my MC and is not canon to the actual game)

Like their mother, Dawn blames Fern for their father's death, only it's not only "well, it SEEMS like she blames Fern for Jay's death" but rather "she completely blames Fern for Jay's death."

In her first year at Hogwarts, Dawn took an interest in the Dark Arts and tried to learn as much as she could about them. As a Slytherin, she knew Anne, Sebastian, Ominis, Imelda, etc. and didn't understand why Sebastian took a liking to Fern at all (I like to think she overheard Sebastian talking about her to Ominis in the common room and was like "ew. why would you like that loser?")

Dawn eventually grows up and cuts off all contact with her family and becomes a Dark Witch, which deeply upsets her siblings.

Fern and Seb AAAAA <3

So here's the deal:

Fern is a bisexual girly. Pretty much her whole life, she found love and romance to be nasty and pointless. When she was twelve, she met a girl named Ginger and had a bit of a crush on her, but after Ginger and her other friends went away without a word and never sending any owls to her, Fern felt hurt by that and decided to never get attatched to someone again.

Fast forward to when she's around fifteen/sixteen, she meets Sebastian and initially is neutral about him, though she is more fond of him than she is of other people.

Throughout the year and when Fern and Seb would help each other with things, Fern started to realize that Seb was very important to her, but was still terrified of becoming attatched to someone only to be left behind again. So, she's basically in denial about liking him.

After the situation with Seb and Solomon, Fern comes to terms with the fact that she's in love with Seb and would do anything for him, hence not turning him in.

I'm not the best at writing love stories I'm sorry 😭

Fern and Poppy are besties. This is canon. Shush.

I have another post where I have a screenshot from in-game with Fern and Poppy and honestly all I have to say is that these two are besties. Poppy could literally kill a man and Fern would be like "Where do you want me to hide the body? Bury it? Burn it? Stuff it in a closet?" Fern would 100% take the fall for Poppy in any situation.

I like to think that in their sixth year, Poppy and Fern were alone together and Fern just broke down and vented to Poppy about everything she'd been holding in (seriously. she's been holding everything in without saying a single thing.) While Fern has other really close friends, Poppy is the only one Fern will fully open up to and vice versa. Fern may be in love with Seb but bestie Poppy comes first.

Also, my other MC Dillon has a MASSIVE crush on Poppy but is way to scared to admit it. I once had the mental image of him kicking his legs like a school girl while being flustered thinking of her. And since Dillon is also such an innocent little guy, he does NOT have perverted or nasty thoughts of her

Also, unrelated, but I think it's funny that both of them have plant-related names 😭

Fern and Natty :)

I'm just going to say now: the biggest thing these two have in common is that they have a dead father.

Everytime Natty talks about her dad, Fern instantly can genuienly symapthize with her. I like to think that they comfort each other whenever they start really missing their dad.

I don't have much of a dynamic for them since I haven't really thought about it, but i will say that they are good friends who both have dead dads 😭

Last one: Fern and Ominis :D

Fern has deep respect for Ominis and views him kind of like a brother. They are pretty similar on some levels.

-They both fall asleep in random places -They both can be pretty grumpy -They both don't tolerate bullshit -They both have family issues

Fern used to be kind of intimidated by Ominis, but later grew to be comfortable around him. She will silently let Ominis scold her and Seb whenever they do something stupid, but luckily none of the three of them ever take anything personally.

Overall, Fern quite likes Ominis and would literally m u r d e r for this man (as she would with most of her friends 😭)

Alr I'm done thank you for your time

[mariaiscrafting]

ahhhh ty ty ty <3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

pt. 2:

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

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

Speed of Dream's rise to fame

The "bad apples" in the Dream fanbase

Post-MCC HBomb stream

Not condoning versus actually condemning his fans

Manipulation & RSD

Criticism of Dream, his fanbase, and his brand

The “just a dude” argument, flipped

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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