#have you seen that man’s thought process during mccs.

[apollos-boyfriend]

purpled being diagnosed with adhd is somehow the least surprising thing. like you’re a minecraft streamer i thought that was a job requirement

[downywrites]

 I did my best for this one. I hope I did this well!

Link for ask here

Ranboo was annoyed. That he knew for sure, pacing the outsides of Smajor’s office. He muttered as he walked, trying not to forget why exactly he was pissed. His tails swished, dusting the red carpet below him. He huffed lightly. “When is Scott going to let me in? This is getting stupid!” A small growl escaped him as he glanced at the locked door sitting innocently in front of him. “Just come out of there, Scott. I really, really need to talk to you…” Using one of his haunches, he banged on the door again. ‘This is the third time I’ve done this! When is he going to let me in?’ The sound of the latch unlocking made him sight in relief. “Ah, there he is-” A loud bang went off, making the enderman jump. 

“HELLO! IT IS I, SMAJOR!...where are you?” The man glanced around dramatically, eyes alight with pep and overzealous energy for just about no reason. He let go of the doorknob, wincing a little at the sight of the dent that was steadily worsening. Ranboo was not impressed. He deadpanned at the other, tails flat on the floor and unmoving. “...Seriously? Couldn’t you be a little more serious here?” He showed the littlest part of his teeth, trying to intimidate the shorter of the two of them. Unfortunately, the gesture bounced right off of him, the rather bombastic man walking towards him and pulling him eagerly into his office. “Come in, come in! It’s been so long since someone wanted to come into my room- I mean, office. Take a seat!” With a snap of his fingers, a chair pulled itself out of the wall, situating itself onto the floor. Ranboo’s bicolored eyebrows raised in surprise, but he spoke not. He didn’t want to show him the interest he had. No, he wanted to persuade the MCC moderator into letting him into the place.

 While he babbled on about dinglehoppers and fascinating doodads he had seen on the road while walking last month, he took the time to look around his office. The area was large, as expected of someone who owned so much and had so much power. The whole room screamed smajor, from the loud patterns and decor everywhere, to the carpets below his paws. Itr was obvious that his interior designer told him to do the exact opposite. He shut his eyes, suppressing the urge to wince at the loud textures inverting behind his eyelids. ‘Ow.’ 

He turned his ears to hear the man again, growling under his breath when he realized he still hasn’t stopped speaking. “...and picture this! Your husband, Ranboo, forgot to touch the lever afterwards!” He hooted with laughter, swiveling around in his chair. “Ohoho, it was hilarious!” Ranboo cleared his throat loudly. “Scott? Could we, uh, talk? Please?” Ranboo was on his last nerves at this point. He had been trying to contact him for ages, and this is the first thing he subjects the hybrid with? Preposterous. His ears pinned back, trying to signify his annoyance without hurting his feelings.

 “Well, have you considered the offer I sent you by bird? Or the other three offers by horse? Or that one I delivered to your doorstep personally?” The man leaned forward in his chair, facial expression unreadable. “...hmmm….No, can’t say that I have. Sorry, Oreo man!” Ranboo spluttered indignantly. “What? HOW?” His claws waved about as he angrily gestured at the man, who simply shrugged and giggled to himself. The enderman stopped, taking a breath dramatically. Ears fluttering back and forth in a flurry of emotions, he shut his eyes almost violently. “Okay. As I have asked you several times before, have you at the very least thought of letting me into the MCCs yet? I haven’t done anything to be banned from it, so am I allowed to come in?” 

He opened one heterochromatic eye, hope barely visible in the depths of his pupils. Smajor covered his face with his hand. “Oh, dear. Hmmm….” He acted as if he was genuinely thinking about saying yes, stroking his chin. A small pool of magic shut an open window he wasn’t aware of. “....nah.” Ranboo hissed quietly. “Okay, that’s enough. I’m getting the gun.” The man, almost unbothered, adjusted his tie and cleared his throat softly. “Ah. You know, guns are not allowed in my office.” “Who said it was a physical gun?” Seconds of pure confusion passed. “...what?” Ranboo’s chair pushed back slowly, a look of half-concealed malice (?) evident in his dual colored eyes. Smajor was tempted to get out of his seat, but he thought otherwise. ‘He’s just annoyed because I’m teasing him like this. It’s fine, he’s not going to kill me.’ The enderman slowly walked past the desk, his tails whipping forward in a dangerous gesture. 

The moderator found himself in a steadily worsening situation.

 He held his hands up in a universal placating gesture, hoping that it would calm him down. “Look, we can set up a compromise if you just take a seat. I can give you keys to the best seats in town?” A single elongated fang poked out as he snarled. “I’m going to take that as a no.” With a swift movement, the man found himself on the floor, pissed hybrid pinning his arms down. “I wasn’t kidding when I said that, you know. I was thinking of being nice to you, but now...now, I don’t think so.” One of Ranboo’s hands trailed up to his neck. ‘Is he going to choke me? That’s not very gentlemanly of him.’ His subconscious helpfully supplied. “However, hurting you would be really, really mean. And Tubbo said that this would be a much better option!” ‘Wait, Tubbo?’ A fluttering feeling at his neck made him scrunch up and giggle. “Wahahait!” He shut his eyes, unwilling to look at the person who was definitely smirking in triumph above him. The feeling shifted to his collarbones, then to his ears. Each spot got the same amount of attention, which was, in his opinion, too much.

 “Look, Scott. All you need to do is tell me that you’ll allow me into MCC. That’s all. Just promise me I’ll be let in next time.” He sassed the enderman in return, a forced smile coloring his words. “Iihihi cohohuld ahalso tehehell yohohou thahahat your clothihihing chohohoice reheheminds me of a bohohoy who didn’t know what to wear to prom and came in a full suit during a casual dance.” His hands slowed down as he spoke, before speeding up even quicker, forcing a bout of laughter to escape from Smajor. His dyed hair flipped from side to side as he shook his head, cracked his eyes open to look at the other pleadingly. The enderman processed the movement in his head, smirking a little more again. “Is this flustering you, Scott? You’re so used to being in power. Is this something new for you?” His breath ghosted on his ear, making him shiver through his frantic giggles. 

“Nohoho, I tohohotally dohoho shihihit lihihihike this ohohon ahaha dahahaily bahahasis!” Ranboo clicked his tongue teasingly. “That sounds like sarcasm to me. So, tell me, Scott. Do you know where you are ticklish?” At the sound of the word, his body bucked up into his hands, falling down moments later and prompting a small laughter-filled “oof”. The enderman couldn’t help but aww at him. “Can you not handle the word ‘tickle’?” Another fully body jerk. Scott’s arms pushed against his pinning arm in protest. “Stohohop, yohohou drehehessed-uhuhuhp ohohohreo!” Ranboo recoiled in mock offense. Tails lashing, he looked at him balefully, narrowing his eyes playfully. “Oh, now you’re just provoking me.” He jabbed into the man’s sides, flipping his ears down to avoid the resulting shriek he got from blasting his damn eardrums out. “Guessing sides are a good spot, noted.” A small enderwarble escaped his mouth in slight sympathy at the person writhing under him, but he stood firm, scratching lightly at his lower belly.

 “You know what you have to say, don’t you? Come on, Scott. It’s not hard, just let me in.” Through his laughter, Smajor flipped him off. “FuhUHuck yohohOohoU!” He immediately regretted his decision, bucking wildly as dulled-down claws scraped over his sides again. And again, and again. He couldn’t help the high-pitched squeal that ripped out of his throat as Ranboo shifted just the slightest bit downwards to the connection between his sides and his back. A few shelves to the side of the man fell, magic sputtering out of control. Ranboo curled his tails over his head, wincing as he plucked out a feathery plume from one of them. He traced one over his neck to tease, teeth poking out of his mischievous smile as the other curled up almost violently as he thrashed. He stopped for a moment, allowing the other to calm down and take a few grounding breaths. He put down the feather for now. He’d save that for later, if he needed it. “So.” Ranboo vwooped quietly. “Have you considered my proposal yet?” Scott pushed the bookshelves partially back up. Eyes focused on the furniture behind the enderman, he shook his head, tongue sticking out in concentration. “Not in the slightest.”

 The hybrid rushed to push up his shirt. “B-but!” His hand slowed where it was. “I can accept something else. If you are willing to follow my rules.”

 Ranboo nodded, ears fully perked up and focused. Little particles landed on Scott’s bare lower stomach, making him giggle as he spoke. “Wehell, if you and Tubbo would agree to not be on the same team, nor be on the same team as anyone else you’d have a relative behenefit with, I may allow it. Mahahay.” Ranboo’s tails wagged from side to side, black, white, red, and green blurring into a mix of color behind him. “Maybe?” His eyes gleamed with hope. “May…..these nuts get shoved down your throat! HA!” 

Ranboo’s facial features seemed to darken. 

“Hehe…?” His hand ducked under his shirt, pushing it up fully. Smajor gulped audibly, sucking in his exposed stomach. A pen wiggled in a cloud of his magic, almost nervously. Ranboo kept that in mind, hoping that he’d remember it afterwards. ‘Does his magic respond to his emotions? I’d like to know that...once I’m not trying to make him listen to me.’ With his tummy exposed, the enderman leaned down, breath gentle on the flat of his stomach. “Are you going to say yes now? Or am I going to have to go fully in now?” Scott stayed quiet, barely moving for a moment. A blossom of panic bloomed in Ranboo’s chest. ‘Is he okay? Did I do something?’ A small, almost sheepish smile grew on the other’s face. “Sorry, I was thinking of something snarky. Don’t got anything right now. And, hmm..still thinking about that.” The whites of his teeth broke out through the light pinks of his lips. “The answer’s still no, enderboy. Try your damndest.” 

He was quick to give him what he wished, diving in to blow one long raspberry on his tummy. It was evident the moderator was not aware of how sensitive he was to raspberries, based on the gasping burst of laughter he got in response. A swear in a different language as he moved closer to his sides, pepperring little raspberries and nibbles all over his trembling muscles.  The sudden change in tenseness as he swiped over a specific spot on his lower belly, his body melting into the floor. Ranboo found it adorable that the sassy man was completely destroyed by a few wiggling fingers on his stomach. He didn’t say it out loud though, for the sake of the moderator’s pride. The laughter settled nicely in his ears. He could get used to this. “AHAHA! RANAHAHA- PLEHEASE!” 

On the other hand, Scott could not get used to this. He definitely wouldn’t be able to keep up for much longer. His laughter strained at his throat a little. He tapped at the enderman with a plume of magic, hoping he’d get the hint. After what felt like a century of tickling for the man below him, Ranboo slowed his nibbling and raspberry blowing, gazing into his dazed eyes. “Yes, Smajor?” “Fihihihine, yahoo’ll behehe uhuhuhnbanned. Lehehet mehehe gohoho!” Ranboo’s tails wagged hesitantly, worried he was just bluffing or making a joke. “Promise?” “Ihihi prohohomise. Juhuhust, nohoho mohohore.”

 His voice was wheezy, almost like an unused flute that hadn’t been taken care of much. Ranboo couldn’t really tamp down the innate sense of pride with the knowledge that he was the one who did that. He was the one who managed to convince Scott, not Tubbo, not Tommy. Him. He did. His tails thumped on the floor loudly, but he was too busy celebrating his win in the confines of his head. Particles whizzed around him faster and faster, landing on things every which way. That included Scott, unfortunately for him.

 He giggled, writhing around as much as he could as the particles slowly landed on his tummy. “Hehehey, ehehenderbohohy? Lehehet mehehe gohoho, plehehease?” No reaction, his eyes far away. His face was contorted into a small smile, but otherwise, his countenance was blank like an empty slate. In other worse, he had literally no clue what was going on. A slight twinge of concern, then. “Uuhuhh, Rahahanbohohoo? Ahahare yohou ehenderwahalking?” Silence. Nothing, absolutely no  response. Scott decided to take things into his own hands. 

“Rahahnbohoo!” 

The pen from earlier slammed into his face, making a small smacking noise as it did so. Ranboo gasped, eyes snapping back into focus at the slight stinging sensation. His bi-colored eyes focused onto him. “What was that for?” Smajor rolled his eyes, using his head and his hands to show the situation he was in. “Did you just forget you have me pinned or what? Dude, you and your brute strength. Goddamn.” His eyes widened in surprise and slight embarrassment. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” His hands were released almost immediately, claws gently scraping against his wrists and making him crack a small wobbly smile. “There you go.”

 He sat up with a small wince, small cloud of magic pushing him a slight bit. Getting up shakily, he slowly walked over to his desk, trying not to trip on any errant pieces of carpet/items strewn about. “I’ll get it done, okay? You just shimmy your way home, oreo. I’ll get it done.” A sigh of relief escaped the hybrid. “Oh, thank god.” As he left the office, he turned to look at the man directly in the eyes. He was getting better at that. “Thanks, sir. I appreciate it.” And, as he left, he may or may not have heard a small mutter follow him. “Fucking hell. He does not need to call me sir after THAT.” He couldn’t help but grin a little. ‘Well, I got him to be serious.’

‘That’s a win for me.’ 

[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.