#dsmp song analysis

[cobble-cas]

Hands in the Snow: a cClingyduo Song Analysis

What better thing to do right now than write overly dramatic lyric-based analysis of c!Tommy and c!Tubbo’s relationship in the final streams. As much as the last bit was disheartening, in my eyes the other 80% had some of the most banger characterisation in the entire server’s history. Let’s use this song to guide us:

By the time you read these words I will be gone

This is Tommy’s note to Tubbo, left in a chest at his base. It is the ultimate show of their complicated relationship. A written message because they can’t bring themselves to say it. Left at Tommy’s house, the final piece of their past still ostensibly intact, L’Manberg’s last legacy.

And I don't know if I'll be back

So before you ask

Just remember

That we've been here before

This section reflects not only the deceptive optimism both Tommy and Tubbo show in the face of insurmountable odds, but a gentleness somewhere in the distance. “We have been here before”, before the battle, before the giant mountain hiding an enemy, before the prison. Coming from Tommy this also recalls the last time he went into the prison alone, leaving Tubbo to deal with his death.

This next section best fits c!Tubbo, reacting to the new Tommy.

I see through windows in the rain

Through all the language left behind

And I watch you drink

Invisible ink

So I won’t know

When you swallow your words

The language left behind in Tommy’s last message, everything made blurry by the distance Tubbo feels towards almost every other server member at this point. Watching Tommy drink invisible ink, literal invisibility potions. Tubbo knows that he doesn’t fully know Tommy anymore, the cracks in their shared history deeper than they have been in a long time.

I won't be there

To watch it all unravel

To watch the union come undone

This is Tommy looking onto what he believes to be a server going on without him. He won’t see Tubbo grieving him, their “union” breaking apart since nuclear annihilation is instantaneous.

The end could come at any time

With harvest hands and tv eyes

And the scientists

Know the way it is

And we all know

And we follow them down

This reflects both Tommy’s and Tubbo’s views on death, both having lived on borrowed time for far too long. One could even read the “harvest hands” being c!Tubbo with his beetroot fields and iron farms, and “tv eyes” being c!Jack reflecting his prominent eyewear. “The scientists” could either reflect Jack and Tubbo again or alternatively c!Dream and c!Punz. Tommy goes against them even if he knows he cannot come out of this situation whole.

I hear you talking like a train

On concepts you can't quite explain

Like a dictaphone

Set especially slow

And I don't have the heart

To tell you what a fool you are

This paragraph is how how Tommy sees Tubbo, but also how Tubbo sees Tommy, making the final plan. To Tubbo, Tommy can’t quite explain why he has to die and they cannot just run away. Go to the moon, not metaphorically but literally. To Tommy, who sees his plan as the only way, Tubbo’s attempts at changing the plan are foolish, L’Moonberg and happy ever after in a little cottage. It’s all a train whistling, distracting him.

I won't be there

To watch it all unravel

To watch the union come undone

Aside from repeating Tommy’s perspective, this could be seen as Tubbo’s point of view as he rushes into the prison. He realises that this is as close to a futile mission as could be and does it anyway.

By the time you hear this tape I will be gone

And I won't be back

So don't even ask

Cause we all know

And we follow

With our eyes on the sky

And our hands in the snow

At the end this is their final ode to another, a callback to simpler times. Gone from each other and the world, nothing more to say. Eyes in the sky over L’Manberg, hands in the snow of Snowchester. So close yet so far apart.

[hopalongfairywren]

Also I've said this a bunch of times but I'm just... c!puffy's reaction to her friends betraying her and slaughtering her son in front of her is immediately labeled as a villain arc by the fandom. Coupled with one of her next streams being titled 'from mother to monster' even though... she never really ends up doing anything worse than being a dick to c!Ponk a couple times later. I honestly think now that it was never meant to be a 'villain arc' or at least I hope not, but instead how Puffy percieved herself after the banquet, and after her hero complex got wounded. Her post banquet ranting is more of an angry, traumatized and grieving parent venting than some epic plotting revenge girlboss moment. Even if the fansong made about that was so fucking cool.

Seriously though... c!Puffy my girl. You have so many unfinished plotlines and shunted narrative potential and I love you please take a nap ma'am.

[xerith-42]

Guys I have totally normal and not complicated feelings about a certain Minecraft server--

[bluerasbunny]

this song is soooo c!dream it is insane

like it is just him. i need you all to see my vision here i need everyone to hear my point. hear me out guys hear me out.

i am going to ramble so aggressively under the cut but hear me out here stay with me. this may not be coherent and that was because it was written in a haze. no idea what i wrote just hear me out

'The looking glass, so shiny and new How quickly the glamour fades'

its like the SMP. a shiny and new existance, something new he crafted for his friends and yet the glamour fades, it all falls apart and it dissolves and it crumbles in his hands.

'You made a deal, and now it seems you have to offer up But will it ever be enough? (Raise it up, raise it up) It's not enough (Raise it up, raise it up)'

do i even need to explain. the revival book. the deal for it, the crushing realization that reality is not what he thought, that infinity is possible and eternity is a truth, and this is not enough for him. he needs eternity. he needs forever, it will never be enough. he offers up his sanity, his grasp on reality, in exchange for a promise of eternity. hear me out-

'Here I am, a rabbit-hearted girl Frozen in the headlights It seems I've made the final sacrifice'

the rabbit dream agenda. this is just the rabbit dream agenda but also he is frozen in the headlights of the role he has to take on. he has to be the villain, he has to make the final sacrifice and give himself up to the box he's being placed in; because there is no other option. a trapped rabbit cannot flee. a trapped rabbit can only fawn and freeze and fight (reminds you of the prison, doesn't it?).

'This is a gift, it comes with a price Who is the lamb and who is the knife? Midas is king and he holds me so tight And turns me to gold in the sunlight'

oh GOD there is so much i can say. there is so much this post is going to be years long there is so much. the revival book is a gift. it is the gift, and it comes with a price. the lamb and the knife, discduo, vaultduo, however you want to see it; who is the lamb and who is the knife will change and rotate. tommy is the lamb in exile, dream the knife. dream is the lamb in the vault, sam the knife. dream is the lamb in the finale, tommy the knife. the roles will change, the gift always comes with a price. companionship is a gift that comes with a cost. hear me out stay with me here

'I must become a lion-hearted girl Ready for a fight Before I make the final sacrifice'

guys its the fucking disc finale its the. its just the disc finale that's the disc finale thats th. he has to shed his heart, he has to make the final sacrifice, he has to be ready for a fight because he needs to protect, he needs to defend and he needs to stand for his ally. he needs to mold himself from a rabbit to a lion, prey disguised as predator, a rabbit in lions clothing. the final sacrifice is just a price he has to pay. the gift of companionship will always come with a cost, and dream is more than ready to walk into it.

'And in the spring I shed my skin And it blows away with the changing wind The waters turn from blue to red As towards the sky I offer it'

OOHHHH god so much.s o much i can say theres so much there is so much. he sheds his attatchments like a snake shedding its skin, letting them dissipate with the changing winds- and he sheds himself, too. he steps out of his skin and changes the winds, walks a new path not of choice but of necessity, because this is all he can do. what else can he do, when faced with the reality of his situation, of his existance, flawed and cursed with mortality that he can cure? what else can he do, when faced with the reality of his server, his friends, lost to conflict, lost to disagreements, and he can fix it. he can fix it, they just have to trust him, they just have to hate him. he has to be a viper, a snake in the grass, he has to be a lion because he cannot be a rabbit. he cannot be prey, not anymore. c!dream is prey acting as a predator. he is a rabbit cornered and biting in retalliaton read as violence. he is a snake hissing and biting, desperate to be left alone and to be heard. he masquerades as a lion, a dragon, a beast of unknown proportion; but he is an animal that burrows and clings, grapples with the past and craves companionship and distance at the same time. the waters run from blue to red as he offers revival, as he offers himself.

this is a gift. it comes with a price.

okay im done this was probably so incoherent but i am in a c!dream and neurodivergence fuelled haze right now and i need you guys to hear my insanity /hj

no i will not be elaborating or explaining any of this

[mellorphic]

do you have any songs that remind you of dsmp characters? if so, please gimme

(also what is your favorite song/band/artist in general)

Tysm for the ask! I could literally talk about this for hours on end.

Favourite song/band/artist changes all the goddamn time but right now Scum by Lovejoy

In terms of characters you are opening a rabbit hole for me, buckle in.

Tommy

What Can I Do if The Fire Goes Out? By Gang Of Youths fits his exile arc, his relationship with Dream at the time as well as grieving Wilbur - “Do I throw my hopes in the fire? Do I throw my clothes in the fire? Do those things grow in the fire, or burn just to keep me compliant?”

Worried About Ray by The Hoosiers gives Pogtopia!Tommy vibes, with the way he wanted to protect L’Manberg and protect Wilbur - “the truth be told, the truth be told, I’m worried about the future holds, the future holds. I’m so tired of being worried about Ray.”

A lot of AURORA songs give me Tommy vibes but especially It Happened Quiet which reminds me of his third death. She uses a lot of nature related metaphors in her songs which I think fit his character - “Eyes blue and hollow as it rains against their will”

Good Grief by Bastille is such a c!tommy song about grief and how he processes people dying/leaving. I can’t emphasise this enough - “You might have to excuse me, I’ve lost control of all of my senses. You might have to excuse me, I’ve lost control of all of my words.”

Wilbur

Ramblings of a Lunatic by Bears In Trees, specifically for the election era but probably fits most of his L’Manberg arc - “Cause all my friends are dying, some faster than the others. I’m trying to distract myself from the fears that I’ve discovered.”

Youth by Daughter reminds me of the legacy that Wilbur left behind once he died on Nov 16th after blowing up L’Manberg. It’s such a sympathetic song, too - “Collecting pictures from the flood that wrecked this home, it was a flood that wrecked this home, and you caused it”

Saint Bernard by Lincoln fits Revivedbur so so much, but specifically in Hitting On 16, his relationships with Quackity, Tommy, and how he felt about the way people treated Dream (read: how he felt they treated him) at this time - “I said ‘make me love myself so that I might love you’, don’t make me a liar, cause I swear to god, when I said it I thought it was true.”

So many Lucy Spraggan songs?? It’s so hard to pick just one but I’m gonna go with Roots for reflecting on the early days of the L’Manberg era - “I bought a big house in the country, I live there now, does nothing for me. Bought a fast car, white and sporty, when I look back I was pretty poorly.”

Niki

Tongues and Teeth by The Crane Wives as a puffychu song during Niki’s rocket duo arc? Pain. Pain and suffering - “Abandon all your stupid dreams about the girl I could’ve been, my dear. Cuz in the night I know you burn with feelings I cannot return, my dear. Oh, my dear.”

The Calling by The Amazing Devil is such a Doomsday Niki song about her looking back on her life and who she used to be - “I look into the water and see a face I don’t understand. We’re both unwanted daughters, but there’s more than water in these autumn hands.”

Moonsickness by Penelope Scott is literally Manberg Niki and how she was trying so hard to fight for her home but it was futile - “And in your blood you know what’s right, and in your bones you know what’s wrong, and in your throat you know that you’re lying to kids and you know nobody belongs in this hell”

ilomilo by Billie Eilish about post-nov-16th rain duo from Niki’s pov - “I tried not to upset you, let you rescue me the day I met you, I just wanted to protect you, but now I’ll never get to.”

I also think that The Call by Regina Spektor fits all of the L’Manbergians and what they value and their experiences during and after that arc - “And then that word grew louder and louder, till it was a battle cry. I’ll come back, when you call me. No need to say goodbye.”

I’ve been saying since 2021 that The Horror and The Wild by The Amazing Devil is literally Phil and Wilbur talking in the button room, with Phil being the part of Madeline Hyland and Wilbur being Joey Batey - “Think of all the horrors that I promised you I’d bring, I promise you, they’ll sing of every time you pass your fingers through my hair and call me child - witness me, old man, I am the wild.”

If you’d like me to assign songs to specific duos, arcs or characters I can 100% do that! Or if you want a more in depth analysis of any of these songs, I can do that to (this is open for anyone to ask me about, not just Mayrine!)

[werenotacoupleyesyouare]

My problem is that I am incredible at making c!tnt duo playlists but also any song is about c!tnt duo to me if I listen hard enough so I am also awful at it

[stemms]

GHOST – Scapegoat seems very c!Primeboys-coded to me, so here's my interpretation.

At first I felt fine, before I realized In your eyes I'm a demon, right?

The beginning of c!Tommy's experience on the server was fine, he had a nice place to stay at, friends dear to his heart to spend time with, but it all vanished when c!Dream got gradually more and more infatuated with the boy, and planned to remove c!Wilbur from the picture, so that he can take his place in c!Tommy's life.

c!Dream griefing people's property and leaving signs indicating it was c!Tommy, provoking c!Tommy into acting recklessly out of frustration during negotiations, making a fuss about George's house, and manipulating people into believing c!Tommy is the biggest problem of the server and therefore must be exiled.

Without an ending, I'm still pretending Like I attended your funeral today

c!Tommy deeply despises c!Dream for ruining his life (yet still tries to see the good in him), and as the damage is getting more severe throughout c!Tommy's life on the server, the feeling is only getting stronger. He wishes c!Dream were dead, because only then could he really be free.

"Like I attended your funeral today" can also be interpreted as c!Tommy never feeling enough, especially in exile- as no amount of effort is enough, and the more the exile goes on, the more c!Tommy doubts whether he's really a good person.

Overconsumption of your own compassion Put on perfume of iniquity

The balance between the severity, distress, and soreness c!Dream would make c!Tommy go through on a daily basis, and the comfort that would follow right after, as if to pretend it wasn't a big deal and c!Tommy was just being too sensitive. He can't quite figure out whether he'd rather escape this soothing physical touch of the very hands that hurt him moments ago, or cling closer, as if this was his last time seeing c!Dream.

Now, I could never dream of doing anything In such a way like you did to me

c!Tommy's morals simply cannot allow him to treat anyone with the same amount of heartlessness he received, not even c!Dream- that being said, c!Tommy took two c!Dream's lives during the disc war finale, almost took his last one, and attempted to take it again in the prison arc.

So, give me a taste of sovereignty A lantern in the night (Lantern in the night)

Lanterns generally symbolize people letting go of their past selves and getting new ones. So, after c!Dream broke out of prison and regained his power, his pathetic past self that was stuck in prison stayed in the past.

Get me away from history From the cycle's bitter light (Cycle's bitter light) From existing out of spite

c!Tommy falling deeper into Stockholm Syndrome after being taken back by c!Dream. As long as c!Tommy stays by his side, there's no need to justify his very existence to everyone on the server, as c!Dream is the only one who'd always understand, care, and know what's best for him, unlike the rest. :)

Now do you hate me? Are you afraid of me? Are you able to feel culpability?

The breaking point in the exile when c!Tommy became suicidal and got too tired of fighting, and gave into c!Dream's manipulation, starting to believe that he seriously messed up and deserved everything he went through.

Come forth and kill me Bow down and worship me Take your time, all we have is eternity

A vivid portrayal of c!Dream's God complex, as after they both become immortal, he works to make c!Tommy pray and acknowledge him as his only God, in which he soon succeeds, as c!Tommy loses most of his hope and free will and falls even deeper into his Stockholm Syndrome.

"Come forth and kill me" shows that the revival experiments became an established practice to them, so c!Tommy no longer had any hopes of getting away from this and would give in easily, almost without a fight- hoping for the pain to end soon.

Now with a new start Broken and torn apart Nothing in me resembles a human heart

After being killed and revived so many times, c!Tommy couldn't remember when it all began or his past friends' faces, and the stories they shared- he completely lost himself and could only trust c!Dream to tell him what was real, and what was not- which his brother twisted in the ways that would be beneficial for him only.

Something I've never told On my own, I declare "I don't wanna go home"

At first, c!Tommy wasn't really passionate about being immortal with c!Dream and would be seeking opportunities to escape. However, once the training significantly worsened his memory, he started to believe that his past wasn't all that bright, and people for whom he once cared so deeply only ended up hurting him. Soon enough, he realised that he should never go back, his only safe place to stay is here, with c!Dream, until the end of times.

I'll put your fear in my drink tonight, tonight I'm chewing up and spitting out your pride

c!Dream feeling extreme humiliation for his plan failing, and him being stuck in prison, which increased with constant c!Quackity's visits, smoothly moving to the scene of c!Dream chasing c!Tommy after having escaped from the prison.

You got an iron dye where only God'll find

With time, all of c!Tommy's hair had lost its original colour and turned grey. But the most important part was that he'd been affected not only physically, but mentally, unable to leave his God even if he could, stuck in his grip forever.

I took a photo of shame to remember you by True colors make a pretty picture memory

c!Dream reminiscing about the first days of exile, comparing c!Tommy's past self to the new one, looking him up and down, with a proud smile at the work he accomplished.

[graysontheslime]

i got bored and analyzed a cool song to relate it to dsmp!tommy so here that is:Tw for mention of suicide and i think drug use?the song is Re-do by Modern Baseball! 10/10 song you should listen if you haven’t!! :D also you should thank @mellorphic for the reason this is being posted lmaoo okok onto the analysis JKBSBFJ--

“I wanna start from the top, maybe like a do-over. Replace the voices in my head with blind innocence”

So this line makes alot of sense for me. Tommy’s life was absolute *shit*. He didn’t have the greatest life so it make sense that he would want a ‘do-over’. Tommy was a kid when he joined the smp, he was childish and impulsive. He was largely innocent of how shitty the world was. He wants that innocence back, he wants to be able to be a kid again. The ‘voices’ in his head could be chat, but thats more of technos thing. I think the voices he’s talking about is his internal thoughts. His suicidal ideation, his impulsive things. C!tommy once said he was everything he didnt wanna be and that really reminds me of this line.

 “I wanna complete re-do, maybe change my name. Report the losses grab the claim, it's a shame it's such a shame” 

Nothing to say about this line besides the ‘its a shame, such a shame’. Tommy *could’ve* had a great life. He *could’ve* been great. Thats not me saying he wasn’t great or anything, i mean great in tommy’s standards. I dont think he regrets a lot of his impulsive actions (dueling dream/giving him his discs for lmanburg/ burning georges house down) but he’s not blind and he does see how they altered his life. He thinks its a shame that he never became anything of himself. He’s not obsessed with legacy or anything, he doesn’t *want* to be something, but he can recognize its a shame.

“We're pissing away our time 'cause we're pissing away these beers. No monumental moment ever came from saying ‘Come on dude, just take one more shot’.”

Nearing the end of the smp, when wilbur left, tommy really as just pissing away his time. He had no one really. He wasn’t *doing* anything with his life. He didn’t have anything to live for and he lived in paranoia and when it came down to it, he’d rather kill himself and everyone else around him than live with the idea that dream was still out there. IK the song is talking about beer when they say ’just take one more shot’ but i think it fits tommy more if their talking about giving something another shot. Tommy isn’t one to give up, he always gives things, people, objects all ‘one more shot’. Almost nothing good ever comes from it though. He’s said he doesn’t believe in second chances, that he believes in people. In not giving up on others. I think thats a bit of dangerous thinking on his part, especially with the people hes always around.

 “Try to, try to forget, that your bones will dismantle And the dreams you had, they'll collide with time”

Tommy wants to forget that he’ll die soon enough. He’s both terrified of and welcoming of his death. I think he wants to forget what limbo is. (btw I'm taking bones will dismantle as a ‘you're gonna die’ type metaphor idk man). Tommy had dreams, ofc he did. He mainly just wanted peace. He wanted a community. He wanted to be friends with so many people and do impulsive things. He wanted to see the good in people, even when there was nothing there. But when he does these things, when he makes friends, when he has a community, it all comes crashing down around him. He cant keep that peace for forever.

“Your unrequited love for life will surely- Halt that I'm thinking way too much at night”

Tommy loves things easily and hard. Including his life at one point, but ofc he hardly receives the same time of love he gives so freely. He doesn’t let him think about this though. He doesnt want to think about his life. He stopped going to therapy, he stopped going out. He started taking invis, so he could feel at least somewhat on the outside what he felt on the inside. invisible.

“Maybe I could just move away or go extinct like a triceratops, But I love loving, watching movies, sitting back and also breathing”

Tommy thinks about how he could just leave the smp like wilbur, he could just sail until he reached land, far far away from the smp. But.. he could also just kill himself. He could just die. C!tommy has made plenty of references to suicide, mainly during exile. He *could* do these things, but he still loves too much. Even with how bad he had it, he still loved doing things. He couldn’t leave without leaving the good things too.

“My family and friends would be crushed, but is it enough? (Oh no, it's not enough)”

His family and friends are not the reason he’s alive. He could say they are, but their not. What has any of them really done to keep him alive anyways? They are not the reason he’s not moving away or ‘going extinct’.

“Oh, the future freaks me out, but I guess I could just, Curl up in a ball and think”

At the end of the smp Tommy doesn’t have any plans for the future, he barely has anyone, he’s so caught up with the past he cant even begin to think of the future unless someone else is leading the conversation. (tubbo and him talking about L’Moonburg) 

Then its just the chorus again, twice but in the second time theres new lyrics in the back 

“Try to, try to forget (I won't be breaking any barriers) That your bones will dismantle and the dreams you had (so I'll keep thinking the future) They'll collide (future freaks me out) With time, your unrequited love for life (I won't judge you if you think the same) Will surely halt that (so let's keep thinking) I'm thinking way too much at night (well the future, the future freaks us out)

This feels like a conversation between tubbo and tommy, with the parentheses being tubbo and the normal part that i’d already analyzed as tommy. Tubbos more hopeful at the end of the smp, talking about L’moonburg, excited to start a new country with tommy. He’s not planning on doing anything new he’s not breaking any barriers. He’s just thinking about the future they’re gonna have together as co-presidents, as best friends. Of course, the future freaks him out too, but he doesn’t keep himself from thinking about it like tommy. He understands why tommy’s afraid though, he wont judge him for it. He knows it freaks both of them out but he wants a future together so he tells him to keep thinking. <3

----

ANYWAYS! That was it ^^ I’m open to critism and i’d love to hear yalls thoughts too! sorry for any typos tho ^^

if i was artistic enough i’d draw the ending part like a convo between tubbo and tommy. who knows i might do it anyways LMAO

[cardcatcardboard]

Frozen Heart reminds me of c!Techno

Yes, the song from Frozen (Underrated BANGER I tell you go listen to it)

I've been addicted to the movie recently for some reason, so obviously I have to combine it with my current interest, and I was listening to Frozen Heart while watching a Techno-related thing and then boom they combined.

Anyways, onto why I think this

"Born of cold and winter air" Makes me think of the Antarctic Empire and Commune and how c!Techno has lived in a cold area often

"This icy force both foul and fair" c!Techno can be seen as cold and unkind at first, but at the same time he's a very fair character. He has his ideals and he sticks to them.

"Strike for love (and strike for fear)" We'll seen it a couple times before that c!Techno would lay his life down for certain people. Like on January 5th, he was willing to fight a 1 v 20 just for c!Tommy. He would fight armies for c!Phil and we all know it. He will strike anybody down for those he loves and cares for. "Those that have treated me with kindness, and I will repay that kindness tenfold."

"Beautiful! Powerful! Dangerous! Cold!" Idk about you guys but c!Techno has one of the prettiest character designs of the DSMP. Like that man is gorgeous. And I know I'm comparing this to c!Techno but in almost any fanfic I've read where Techno fights, he's always described and dancing or doing it like art. Speaking of fighting, c!Techno is a strong, powerful character, not to be trifled with. You will lose a battle with him, don't test it. He is also very dangerous, you never know what his next move is. "And those that treat me with injustice [...] I shall repay that injustice 1000 times over"

"Stronger than one! Stronger than ten! Stronger than a hundred men!" c!Techno could take down armies single-handedly. We've heard about it in lore, he's won wars, he's strong asf and we know it. He could take a hundred men, Technoblade Never Dies.

I am word vomiting because this is seriously one of my favorite songs in the ever Frozen soundtrack people don't talk about it enough, and when I got this idea I needed to write it down. I tried to word stuff the best I could with the lines in the song, sorry if it's confusing lol.

Technoblade pog

[raspberryberyl]

not to like vague post, i just don't really feel like reblogging, adding my comment, and disrupting the og post. let people feel how they want to feel, and not start any arguments sorta.

but i just saw this post that was like "if you're thinking about getting into dsmp, don't" and lots of people always talking about how they're embarrassed, or regret it, or want to forget that part of their life. and i just can't help but think about how thats the farthest from the truth for me. i don't think I'll ever regret it :-)

and i know that we all have different experiences, people were going through different things and might want to move on and forget, and that's all valid.

the dsmp fandom is just such an experience. and yeah its become soured by cc turning out to be bad people, by bad writing, and by disappointing endings.

yeah it would be hard to get into now, lots of vods and its just not the same experience as watching and experiencing it all live. what made the fandom was the fans, but you can still find fics, go listen to songs, dig up analysis, find art and animatics.

I just feel like there's nowhere where i discovered more about myself, felt heard, found connection, and felt at home more than the dsmp fandom. It's my chosen home. It's my safe place. and when you feel that way about something, why would you not recommend it? share it with others :-)

so because of my bias and own personal experiences, if you were thinking about getting into the dsmp fandom I'd say go for it, I'd totally recommend it! its not the same as it used to be, it'll be a different experience, and we are a small few left but we are mighty.

just be aware of the problems within the source and within the fandom, and you should be good. know that it does have a disappointing end, but you can make up your own ending, or search, find, and connect with others through the ending they came up with.

being in the fandom doesn't mean you're supporting anyone. don't feel bad or embarrassed about liking the dsmp.

to the people who have and do feel like they've been hurt by it, and to the people that feel like they wasted their childhood, time, snd energy on it, I'm sorry, and you're valid to feel how you feel. I hope you've been able to move on to better and happier things.

I love the dsmp, and I don't see that changing, or me regretting it. If i could share my love of it with you i would. So don't be afraid to give it a chance, hey, you can always change your mind.

[sunflower-chai]

Hi!! This is a really dumb question, and you 100% don't have to answer it, but I keep seeing your reblogs of dsmp - what is it? What's it about? How had it taken a hold of your soul and what do you take from it?

oh mouse. you have opened the floodgates.

so basically dsmp (aka dream smp but i don’t call it that anymore bc the content creator dream, who the server is named after, is a terrible person. which is a whole other can of worms i won’t get into) is a survival multiplayer (hence SMP) minecraft server that tells a story via improvised roleplay. it ran from april 2020 - april 2023 and grew from 4 members on the first day to 39 members by the end. it also featured a handful of guests including, i kid you not, michael clifford from 5 seconds of summer and lil nas x. the story was primarily distributed via livestreams on youtube and twitch, though some members and fans created highlight videos on youtube.

how do i explain what dsmp is about? overall, it’s a heavily character-driven story with many different factions, wars, and eras. each member essentially wrote their own story, and fans could pick whose POV they were most interested in and follow along with whatever lore was created. (at one point there was a head writer who, surprise surprise, also turned out to be a terrible person. are you sensing the pattern here?) so honestly the answer to “what is the dsmp about?” is different depending on which members/characters you choose to pay attention to.

i got interested in the server in early 2021 when someone i followed on tumblr for a completely unrelated fandom started posting about it (which is how i get into most new interests these days lol). i looked up some clips on youtube and discovered the content creator tommyinnit via an among us gameplay video. i thought he was really funny and checked out his channel. the first video of his i watched was “the funniest minecraft video ever,” which was edited from one of his dsmp streams where he and two other members created a religion based on twitch prime subscriptions. it’s ridiculous and still makes me laugh to this day. so after that i decided i wanted to know what this minecraft server was all about. i found VODs (archived livestream recordings) of the big events on the server and watched as many as i could. honestly i had to skip around a lot because there was simply too much content to catch up on, and a lot of members didn’t save their VODs. that was another reason i tended to follow tommy’s POV, he uploaded all of his twitch VODs to a separate youtube channel. he also streamed less frequently and for shorter time periods than most of the members so it was a more manageable amount of stuff to watch. after i got decently caught up, i started tuning in for the dsmp streams live. and boy oh boy did i become obsessed. spring of 2021 i was a junior in college and i hardly left my apartment because of covid restrictions. i was incredibly bored and developing depression (which i would not realize until i went to therapy that summer and got referred to a psychiatrist for diagnosis. but i digress). dsmp was genuinely the only thing that got me excited anymore.

spring-summer 2021 was honestly a golden age for dsmp fans because so much lore was happening at such a rapid pace and it was EXHILIRATING. the fandom would churn out analysis, fanfics, art, animatics, and even original songs at the speed of light. everyone would liveblog during big lore events and it was just such a fun community to be a part of, even though i mainly lurked on tumblr back then. the source material was nothing but minecraft blocks and webcams, so i think it really allowed the fans’ creativity to flow. the fans truly carried that server, particularly SAD-ist’s animatics on youtube and derivakat’s fan songs, though my favorite song was beetlebug’s “an ode to l’manburg.”

so you’re probably wondering: what the heck is l’manburg? so this gets into what i think truly made the server worth investing in, which was the storytelling. “l’manburg” was a fictional country created on the dsmp server. it actually started out as a van used to sell “drugs” (aka minecraft potions), created by c!tommy and c!wilbur (c! = character, to differentiate between roleplay and the actual content creators). basically wilbur wanted to roleplay breaking bad lol. a bunch of the other server members cracked down on this “illegal” business, so c!wilbur decided to form his own country on the land surrounding the van (now a hot dog van), declaring independence from the greater SMP so citizens would be free to do what they want. he called it l’manburg because it “sounded european,” and all of the citizens at the time were european while those still loyal to the greater SMP were mostly american. the citizens of l’manburg at the time were c!wilbur, c!tommy, c!tubbo, c!fundy, and c!eret. the greater SMP didn’t take kindly to this new country’s existence, so c!dream issued a declaration of war, and thus began the l’manburg war for independence, which was really an excuse to do hamilton roleplay (yes, it’s all very silly but i love it. it gets much more serious later on). anyway i don’t want to say much more in case you decide to give it a watch, but if you do good luck. i would recommend blueberry tv on youtube, who does a great job condensing the most important moments into 20ish minute episodes. they have a playlist called “dream smp plot playlist” which is a good place to start.

okay now i’m taking this opportunity to gush a little about c!tommy, one of my favorite characters in anything ever. he starts out as a loud, funny, slightly annoying, mean-to-your-face but kind-at-heart sixteen year old kid, and by the end he’s eighteen, he’s literally been to hell and back, he’s a little quieter, a bit jaded, and doesn’t easily trust others or even his own mind. but even after everything he goes through, he still tries to believe the best in people and stubbornly holds onto hope that things will get better. he’s incredibly loyal to his friends. he loves things that most people would overlook and he loves them hard. he communicates his feelings in convoluted metaphors that are accidentally poetic. he constantly listens to music, probably has an unhealthy attachment to it, but he’s willing to give it up if it means freedom and happiness for his friends. he deals with so much unfair treatment and abuse and trauma and he could so easily give into despair or allow those experiences to darken his morals but nothing is ever able to completely dull his spark. it would honestly be easier to give up or become the villain, but it’s just not in his nature. i just love him so much man 😭

[apollos-boyfriend]

one of these days. i will write my analysis on how lonely king by cg5 is actually the most genius dsmp song ever made because how it can perfectly apply to both cquackity AND cpurpled, excellently highlight their relationship as narrative foils and giving the song a double meaning at the LEAST depending on who you apply it to <- has this thought literally every night without fail

[fandomanimatic-tournament]

Fandom song animatic tournament: Bracket 2 Side A Round 2

Achilles Come Down ([Blank] Come Down) - Gang Of Youths

"Achilles, Achilles, Achilles, come down Won't you get up off, get up off the roof? You're scaring us and all of us, some of us love you Achilles, it's not much but there's proof"

My R ([Blank]'s R) - KurageP (Cover by Rachie)

"Just as I was about to take my shoes Off of the rooftop, there I see A girl with braided hair here before me Despite myself, I go and scream 'Hey, don't do it, please!' "

Remember that we're voting on how Iconic they are for ANIMATICS, not for the song itself. In order to make things fair, the tone and mood of the song should not affect how iconic it is (for example, a serious song should not be considered more iconic than a joke song just because it's serious)

Propaganda and animatic links of the songs under the cut:

Achilles Come Down - Gang Of Youths

Propaganda:

No Propaganda Submitted

Animatics with the song:

DSMP Tommy Animatic

DSMP Wilbur Animatic

Unus Annus

BNHA

Rain World

My R ([Blank]'s R) - KurageP

Propaganda:

I cant explain this one other than i just remember seeing it a whole whole lot

CMONNNNNNN THIS IS THE MOST ICONIC SONG POSSIBLE FOR AN ANIMATIC ITS EVERYWHERE also a banger

my r is such an iconic song for animatics, there are so many different interpretations of the song and it’s so lovely to see all of them in different animatics across different videos not to mention the comment sections usually have like essays of in depth analysis which is so good bro also it’s so catchy my r sweep!!!!!

Animatics with the song:

Mystic Messenger

Heathers

DSMP Tubbo Animatic

OMORI

Karmaland Evil Luzu Animatic

Please be cautious and read the title, description and warning cards on the animatic videos if you decide to watch them. If you've got specific triggers I'd recommend even more caution when watching animatics of fandoms you don't know, since sometimes canon-typical themes don't get warnings.

[sillyfairygarden]

17 and 18 for the ask game

hi wrenny wren 🫶 i’m assuming this is for the dsmp so okaaay

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art?

i am such a sucker for religious symbolism in art and writin and storytelling GAWWDD and not just christianic symbolism (which i think is most commonly found) but like. the ideas of religious guilt and sin and confessions and act and rites towards a higher god. god dsmp had that so good with the gods of the universe and the fanon interpretations/expansions on them. literally that shit was amazing. you ever see those stained-glass artworks and stuff? good lord. egg religious symbolism xd and c!mumza and c!foosh and c!philz and these gods who played in the realms of mortals i just LOVE that imagery and ideology. soooo good

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

uhhhh diverging strictly from dsmp but like. overall. female mcyts. like today i posted about qjaiden and ended up talking w a few people and going through ao3 and just... it was really saddening to see how minimal appreciation she gets for the deeper nuanes of her character. like as someone just getting their feet wet with the qsmp (so to speak), its been so much easier to find metaposts and analysis about the male streamers than on qjaidens character and i just. i get that this is sort of the song and dance of being an mcyt fan, but i get so wrapped in my little corner of mcytblr surrounded by mutuals and artists who make a lot of content for female cubitos, and people who i attract by centralizing women in my content recently... that i forget that like. the rest of the greater fandom exists.

and its such a shame, because i think there is soooo much awesomeness and nuance and complexity in their stories too! like they are not inherently worse or lamer or less exciting. these creators arent just great streamers, they can be storytellers in their own ways and also still grow and evolve through nurturing their characters and honing in on it. but i feel like they are so easily overlooked. like if you only look for one kind of story in your fandoms you will only ever see it, you know ?sorry this turned into a soap box and i made myself a little sad. i don't think its one person or another individually building this problem, and conversations about misogyny in fandom go WAAAY farther back than silly minecraft roleplay servers but i just. i am so thankful that i can create and consume wonderful art about women in the mcyt sphere and i hope my little corner grows bigger and other people see that too

[intrulogical]

Hello :) Your compilation of Logan getting cut off popped up on my youtube feed and I recognized the url from my dsmp phase as that nice mod who helped run dsmp-analysis. I've been hfx on sanders sides for weeks now and I'm starving for some good analysis, so I immediately run to your blog and wasn't disappointed to find some good shit. I don't agree with everything, but it's certainly well-reasoned and stays far away from common apologist/moralistic discourse pitfalls (it's really sad how such a thing is so rare nowadays).

I'm glad you like Remus because his character is so fascinating. I've been looping forbidden fruit for a few days now and I can't get over how for all that he's labeled "taboo creativity" the song talks about honesty/knowledge/self awareness most of all, Remus ideas about right and wrong second, and his opinions on creativity are the topic least discussed there. Like, his character is so much more than the gross and disturbing imagery he conjures up.

YOU!! I RECOGNIZE UR URL!!!!! HI HELLO YES WELCOME!!!

BUT THANK U FOR DWELLING AT MY ANALYSIS HOUSE... IT DOES MEAN A LOT... and omg i fucking LOVE remus too!!!! i feel like i dont have enough posts abt remus even if i have a Shit ton. his character is just SO fascinating, esp with the mysteriousness in goals + the way he Clearly is Thinking and Plotting Something. like yeah he uses gross imagery yada yada yadda but he is so much more than that, and im soooo excited to see where it goes in the long run

[bugflies00]

obviously dsmp spoilers ahead

…holy fucking SHIT

like. okay so everything up until punz went about how i expected. the fight was honestly even more intense & dramatic than i thought it would be (oh my god both tubbo and tommys acting improved SO MUCH they did so fucking good), then i was kinda uneasy for a while after dream died because. well yknow its too good to be true. but i kinda let my guard down during the whole nation talk because i got overwhelmed with the cclingy emotion (also a little bit of ccrime because. nations) BUT THENNNN oh my god when punz was taking them down those stairs and the walls started changing to blackstone. OH OOOO I WANT TO RELIVE IT the dread and excitement and suspense. like somehow i didn’t see it coming (most people probably did idk in my defence its 1am) but i was still like. uneasy with it all especially punz being so calmly accepting so like. have that tension explode was so good.

AND EVERYTHING ELSE. i’ll say it i teared up at the sam nook scene. i also got Very Teared Up when cclingy were walking to the prison, yelling out the creeper song and laughing to try to spell away the sadness that came with letting sam nook go, to hype themselves up to head into what’s basically a death trap, and singing a fucking minecraft song like its just c!clingyduo down to the core and well it got to me. okay. and they kept repeating they’re not kids anymore they’re adults (tubbo’s “STOP BABYING ME” in the middle of the fight oooooooh we are gonna see that one resurface in analysis posts) but they are kids. they are kids but theyve changed so much since the first time they sang together walking along the path, since the first time they went to try and fight dream, since the first time they tried to start a nation. they’re still kids Ok maybe i cried a bit👍

ctommy saying “look how green these leaves are” i need several years to recover from this. the boy who used to sing to flowers who’s now free to love nature and take in the world around him without fear of it being ripped away. the fragile unsure hope in his voice, the disbelief, the overwhelming relief. and then it’s ripped away again. after all that, that hope still gets killed. kms as we speak

ALSO, BROTHER. DID CTUBBO SIGN AN NDA THAT FORBIDS HIM TO SPEAK THE NAMES OF HIS FAMILY MEMBERS OR…? like he just accepted csam’s candidacy for vice president HE KILLED YOUR HUSBAND AND KIDNAPPED YOUR SON…? and when talking about the revival book at no point does he bring up cranboo head in my hands. idk if this is all because of that elusive ccbeeduo mystery but if we get absolutely no mention of cbeeduo again i will kill someone

and LORD. THAT FINAL SCENE. oh my god they’re kids they’re KIDS this is what o meant they were so terrified ctubbo had TEARS IN HIS VOICE like i need that to sink in. not just ctommy who always gets like that in traumatic situations. CTUBBO had TEARS in his voice. and i really thought for a second idk they were gonna like repeat that scene where ctommy pushed ctubbo off or something as a way to? idk escape? well it crossed my mind. ALSO TOMMY’S A FUCKING SPIDERMAN NERD LIKE WE KNEW THIS BUT. NO WAY HOME???? REALLY????

anyway. see yall tomorrow at 6pm gmt i fuckin guess.