#in fact I loved other links

[exaltborne]

✧

muse spotlight! – always accepting! │ ʜᴇʀᴏ ᴏғ ᴛᴡɪʟɪɢʜᴛ.

⚜ ; —–  [ ᴠ ᴀ ʟ ᴏ ʀ  ʜ ᴇ ᴀ ʀ ᴛ ] —–     PRINCESS of the Twili most certainly had a knack for staying silent at the most desired of times; && was always out at the most unnecessary of situations. ( damn you midna ! ) Now, when he was in a bit of a bind, when beast forme was most recommended at moment, the imp was nowhere to be seen. ( what is the point of holding the light of wisdom if you wont come out and help me ? ) On own he was to handle the situation. He supposed that he did have Master Sword with him – well there was something he could rely on. Energy radiated from it, sword glowed, it whispered! , as if it held age-old secrets of past battles. All of which seemed to be wanting to come out in full force.

—– [ SIDE step to left, Shadow Beast missed him by a hair. Had to roll out of way to avoid secondary swing from it. Corrupted soul, once pure, had taken to Evil – send back to Twilight Realm or destroy it. Surely the one who possessed his shadow would prefer the latter, right? Was once her people, no now more. Only lived to serve false Lord && king of darkness. No way of returning back. But what if they could?

—– [ ANOTHER swipe from it spoke volumes to sentiments. No, this was no longer human – if it had been to begin with – hope was lost for it. Unfortunate as things were, Hero had to end it. Master Sword vibrated with vivacity. Again it sought for attention – speaking to him in strange tongue he could not understand. ( okay , okay . stop egging me ) Once more, young Champion paced himself as he faced dark foe. Perhaps larger in size, it was nothing like the Darknut. Even King Bulblin himself was more worthy than these mindless creatures. The fact that the Spirits of Light were overcome by these beasts only puzzled him. They are so dumb!

—– [ SWORD twirled in hand as he readied the next attack. Hero’s shade taught him well enough. Patience over anything else. Then, when foe opens himself up, strike. Wise words for Hero of Old. That Golden, One-Eyed Wolf was shrewd. THERE !  When claw struck down once more, he rolled over to behind. A clean && perfect Back Slice. Teacher could not be any more proud of him – form was stellar; it would fell any beast. Though… when demon met earth, there was no pop. Had it been alone, it would burst – pieces of Twili would dissipate and be sent off. Unless, of course, there was another. ( oh no . . )

—– [ SHRILL howls erupted in air, leaving Hero stunned. Bones rattled to very core at the sound. Gods, he abhorred such foul sounds…. ( ha ! maybe she will hear that ! ) Ears still ringing, Shadow Beast before him stood up. Newly invigorated for another fight. A sigh escaped him with exasperation. He couldn’t do this all day. Also, where was the other one? He had to defeat them at same the time. The moment he considered, though, Sword hummed. It took only single glance to catch sight of other. There, in the distance, another mindless demon. Crawling closer towards him briefly, yet stopped. Beside it, another rose. As if, something had taken that one down. Now who could have possible done that? This only left him more work.

—– [ TOO far for him, however, to draw simultaneous attacks on beasts. He would have to find another way to cast their attentions. As mere human, task would be proven dubious. As a beast himself, he would have more free reign – && Twilight Magic at his disposal.  —–     ❝ᴍɪᴅɴᴀ﹗❞

—–     ❛ ᵃˡʳᶤᵍʰᵗᵎ ᵠᵘᶤᵗ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵇᵉˡˡʸᵃᶜʰᶤᶰᵍˑ ᶤ ʰᵉᵃʳᵈ ᵗʰᵉᵐˑ ❜      —–

—– [ IMP’S voice, he heard, yet nothing came from it. Still stood as Hylian, with no feeling of transformation. She really took things at her own pace / her own time. ( fine then . ) Canines bared, grip firmed on hilt of Sword. Take this one down, then race towards other two. He pray that whomever, whatever , took down one had been scared off by bloodcurdling scream.

—– [ WITHOUT hesitation, he stepped forward. He could use another Hidden Skill he had learned, though it could prove tedious. Especially for such a dimwitted creature – it wasn’t worthy of it now – there were three of them. Would have make do with crude slashes before dealing a blow that would keep it down while he ran off with two. Nothing so enthralling or spectacular; just enough to get job done as quickly as possible. He had better things to do than to entertain monsters of Dark.

—– [ ONE, two, three hits to beast, before he back flipped and drove Master Sword forward. A stab to hard, shadowy abdomen. (like hitting a wall ) Twas enough to cause foe to fall back &&once more found self to ground. One second / two; Hero didn’t need another moment longer. Sure that willowy brute was down, he turned to run towards others. If Twili’s Crown wouldn’t help him, he’d have to help himself. Somebody had to get it done – and he couldn’t leave until he took them out.

—– [ GLOW from Extension faltered. Something was amiss. Soft murmurs silenced from blade. ( what ? no , this isnt right . ) Champion of Courage stumbled, slowed. There, an overwhelming feeling took over him. The sense darkness enveloping him – Twilight Sorcery worked wonders. Sword of Light dropped, fell among tall grass where it hid – away from its polar opposite. Now, really now ! , of all times, Midna had decided to come out. Use of her magic, along with dark shard, to transform him. A strange feeling (always was ), that he had no words for it. It was addictive, almost like adrenaline that surged within him, && he always felt a strange, new power that he was not used to. As nice as it felt, it had also still always been so offsetting. Not so much painful, as it was uncomfortable those first few seconds.

—– [ WEIGHT on back, he turned to give disapproving glare at where she would be.     —–     ❛ᶰᵒʷ˒ ᶰᵒʷˑ ᵈᵒᶰ'ᵗ ˡᵒᵒᵏ ᵃᵗ ᵐᵉ ˡᶤᵏᵉ ᵗʰᵃᵗˑ ᶤ ᶜᵃᵐᵉ ᵈᶤᵈᶰ'ᵗ ᶤˀ ❜      —–      Ear tugged just lightly, he pulled away. Heroic Beast was now grumpy. No time for it, however, as he still had task at hand. Fell the demons / get out of this cage. Though he stayed a moment more.  —–     🇹​🇭​🇪​ 🇸​🇼​🇴​🇷​🇩​ ﹐ 🇲​🇮​🇩​🇳​🇦​ . 🇼​🇪​ 🇨​🇦​🇳​🇳​🇴​🇹​ 🇱​🇪​🇦​🇻​🇪​ 🇮​🇹​ .     Sentiments were in vain, as audacious gasps came from her. As if he were playing a broken record ( she knows ! the sword is safely tucked away ). There was just simple desire wished to take care of things. Unlike she, he cared about resources; there wasn’t an unlimited supply of magic like her.

—– [ IN sudden turn of events / before she could complain or dig small feet in him, predatory body launched forward. Paws padding along dirt in a motion. He was faster now. Smaller, perhaps (not by much ), though frame stocky. Could do far more in new forme than previous. Could leap bounds, senses heightened in every way imaginable. Now with Twili Native, there was a new focus. Her charms with his power. This would be a short fight now. Twice the effort, half the time.

—– [ LEGS slowed to stop. There, before him, two Shadow Beasts were hobbling along. Backs towards him. Mindless creatures! Again, he wondered how in the world the Light Spirits were overwhelmed by such barbaric things. Sure, they were hardier than most, but that left no excuse. A deep growl came from him, hunched over preparing to strike. Cold, blue eyes calculating, two leaps – one if he could time it right && hit both in single line of attack. Already Midna’s magic circle forming around them, hair readying. One shot for this. If he messed up, he’d have to start over (all the way over ). He, for one, didn’t want to do this again for a third time. Too lazy / too tired. A dog-nap actually sounded good right about now. Curled up somewhere in the Sacred Grove? Oh that would be lovely. ( no , focus ! ) Naps could be for later. The Imp would tire if he continued the thought.

—– [ INCHING ever so slightly forward, Wolf moved into position. One shadow in, then the other ( NOW ! ) Immediately rear legs sprung self forward in hard, fast! , leap. Maw ready to snap down at foes, front paws led charge. They were done for.

[creativesplat]

Dreams

[heloflor]

A compilation of all the guys Max has either flirted with or shown some interest in throughout the franchise, and by franchise I mean cartoon + Telltale because I couldn't find other moments or forgot about them/hadn't seen the entry of the franchise they come from yet.

(Btw you can click the quotes under each pic to get more context)

1. Sam (whole franchise)

"No way, Sam! I could never stop loving you!"

2. Mack Salmon ("They Came from Down There")

"He's a fancy talker ~"

3. Muskie ("They Came from Down There" Btw it's also the episode in which Max does the "gay hand thing", so whoever was making this episode really wanted to hammer it down that Max isn't straight)

"Whoo. He's a keeper ~"

4. Hugh Bliss (all of Telltale S1 + 1-2 lines in S2)

"Who, me? Well, I'm, I'm flattered, but..."

5. Abe Lincoln statue head (one line in Telltale 106)

"This is all happening so fast! I don't know what to say!"

6. Flint Paper (several dialogues in Telltale S2+S3, plus Max being literally unable to shut up about his "semi-attractive single neighbor" in Poker Night 1)

"Me too. I really love that guy"

7. Mr. Reaperphone (one line in Telltale 205)

"Hey, good lookin'! I'll be back to cut you down later!"

8. Grandpa Stinky ??? Not really but the dialogue still kinda shows Max is into guys ? I mean, he's likely being sarcastic but given the fact that it's Max, It could go either ways 🤔 (one line in Telltale 205)

"Making the moves on an attractive woman instead of a grizzled old man. Weird."

9. Skun-ka'pe (at least one line in Telltale S3)

"Well, he IS pretty charismatic, Sam. And he's from space, which is a plus."

10. Superball ? I don't really see it as Max showing attraction but just in case some might (one line in Telltale 301)

"Wow. I feel really very close to you now, Agent Superball."

11. Sam clones (Telltale 304; also the way Max has such a big-ass grin everytime he compliments the clones...)

"The ghost of J Edgar Hoover is raising an unholy army of sexually provocative Sam clones!"

12. Ash Williams (one line in Telltale Poker Night 2)

"Even the ultra-rare "naked Ash" variant. Yowza!"

Bonus : Max getting Harry's number for a mission and Sam knowing his partner all-too-well (Telltale 301)

"Nice work, little buddy! Make sure you wait three days to call, or he'll think you're desperate."

[eijiroukiriot]

i think...there’s something simple and familiar and earth-shatteringly important in this. there’s a million ways that this could go but only one way that it ends 

[attllhak]

So, I really didn’t want to have to say anything about this, since I’m not one of the affected parties, but I figured something out earlier today and I think my own personal experience might be relevant, and more importantly, I think I need to step away again because of it. I said I’d be back, but everything coming up means I’m not able to, and I figure I should say something this time.

All of this is, of course, in reference of the recent LU update and the harassment of Jojo as a result of it. I didn’t want to get involved because I’m not one of the hurt parties, and it wasn’t my place. And furthermore, the whole issue, and lingering on it, was making me genuinely, physically ill. And I just realized why.

I’ve seen this before.

I’ve seen this sort of reaction to things like this before. Almost six years ago now, I was in a fandom that did this. Regularly. To creators and other fans both. It was 2016, take a guess which fandom if you must, but those details aren’t important. What is important is that I was seriously hurt by this behaviour.

I want to make it clear that I was a lurker at this point. I was not involved in the harassment, on either side. I was just watching. And even without involvement, I was still hurt. Very hurt. Very, very, so very hurt.

I cannot overstate how badly the actions of that fandom hurt me. I stopped reading and writing entirely for three years. Three years. The thing I nearly dropped out of Pre-K for I gave up entirely for almost three years. And this wreaked hell and havoc on my mental health. I was in a bad, bad place.

For those of you who were here for it, you might remember a few months ago I made a now deleted post where I mentioned discovering I have a trigger. A trigger that causes me immense anxiety and stress. This is why. This fandom, their actions, that is why. I still won’t be disclosing my trigger as it’s a common discourse and I must remain neutral on this topic for the sake of my mental health, and I worry revealing it will draw it to me.

It was nothing less than a miracle that I got out of that rut. I will never be able to repay the creator that sparked my love of storytelling again. Without exaggeration, they quite literally saved me.

I don’t want to say I am belittling those who were hurt. I understand how this could have hurt you. I get it, believe me I do. You have every right to be angry and hurt.

But I have seen the sort of behaviour you are displaying before. And it seriously hurt people. It seriously hurt me. Be angry, be hurt, that’s totally valid. But don’t hurt others in the process. Please, be aware of that possibility.

All of that said, I’m going to be stepping away until this all settles/blows over. I am not taking sides, I can’t for the sake of my own mental health, and my own health takes priority. I’ve bent over backwards for people and let myself get hurt so they can feel better before, and I am not going to be doing that again, no matter who or why. I am taking care of myself, first and foremost.

I won’t be abandoning this blog or the works I have in progress here. This is the first time I’ve ever felt comfortable enough to share my works and talk about my interests outside of my best friends irl. This fandom has, up until recently, made me feel secure and welcome and safe in a way no other online community ever has. I’ve made friends here, friends I love and am incredibly grateful for. I’m not leaving forever.

But I am not feeling safe or secure here anymore. Not right now. Right now this fandom is, unintentionally, making me physically ill as a result of past hurts I’ve suffered. It’s opening up old wounds, and I won’t be bleeding to offer someone else comfort. It’s painful, and I hate that it’s come to this, but I need to step back. I have no choice if I don’t want to end up hurt again.

I love you guys, don’t get me wrong. Even some of you lashing out. But being here is hurting me, the behaviours I’m seeing are hurting me. And I won’t let myself be hurt like that again. Never again.

Consider this explanation, and warning. I am not taking sides. People have been hurt, that is fact. But the way they’ve reacted to that hurt is causing hurt too. And I can’t be around that.

I’ll still be crossposting Surface Too Soon onto Ao3, that won’t change. And I’ll still be posting chapters here as I finish them, but that’ll be about it. I need to back away again. I’ll let you know when I get back, but don’t expect it to be any time soon.

[winterlinksandotherlinks]

So I was studying bokoblin weapons earlier today, when I came across some of the arrows used in one of the LoZ games (I think it's HW? not entirely sure, though), and it hurt just looking at them, because barbed? really? That's just a new level of evil

Warning: The next paragraph describes the mechanics and effects of barbed arrows (injuries). Skip to the end of the brackets to avoid.

(For anyone not versed in Arrow, a barbed arrow has an arrow head that's usually wider than the shaft, and occasionally has hooks at the base of the head or along the shaft. The wide head makes the wound larger, so that the target bleeds out quicker. The hooks make the arrow difficult to pull out the way it entered without tearing the wound internally. They were generally used for hunting, so the prey would fall sooner due to blood loss, and be unable to accidentally rip the arrow out. As far as I understand, if you do want to remove the arrow, your best bet would probably be to remove the fletching and push the entire thing out on the other side, but that'll only open the wound more and make you bleed out even quicker. These things are evil.)

Anyways, I then had to subject one of the boys to them, and I already wanted to draw Shadow, Green, and Blue, so here we are!

(Thoughts below)

I very much think Green would try to deal with his injuries on his own. Not out of distrust or any heroic idea of "it's just a scratch, I'll walk it off" — he's very aware that injuries need to be tended to as soon as possible, and has a generally good idea of an injury's severity. He just doesn't want anyone else to feel like they're causing him even more pain while treating him — especially not his closest friends — and has a history of stitching his own wounds

Red and Vio think it's ridiculous, but Blue gets it. If I remember correctly from the manga (it's been a while, so please bear with me), Blue chooses to make an attack against Link's mind-controlled father so that the rest won't have to. He thinks the attack is fatal, and doesn't want the rest to carry the consequent guilt. So not wanting anyone to feel like they're causing more pain? Not wanting anyone to have that on their conscience? I think Blue would get it. He would stay close and keep potions ready (because of course his pouches are full of them), but he would get it

I don't know if Shadow would get it — at least not at first. I think he would see a desire for independence — maybe even stubbornness — and be infuriated, because it seems like Green is putting himself in even more danger (which, well, it’s not entirely untrue). In time, maybe he would start to see. It seems to me like Shadow has strong protective senses; he wants to keep those he cares about safe, both as a way of proving himself, and as a way of ensuring no one is left alone. Through this lens, he might start to understand. He might not be pleased about it, but he understands

Edit: First and second paragraph under the cut were switched around.

[wizardsisananimal]

Hi there I was wondering if you’re gonna do merch? I see you have a website in the works but in any case what kind of stuff are you gonna do eventually?

hi yea i've got merch in tha works ! if you're new here or haven't seen, a few weeks ago with the generosity of a bunch of folks i got a button maker and am working on formatting those for printing. i'm also working on clay pins, sew on patches, stickers, and an organization has reached out to me about doing a limited print run of shirts <|:•o ! (if that pans out and they give the go ahead i'll post more about that later)

i'm in the middle of moving right now so i haven't been able to do much work or updates on merch this month, but as soon as i'm settled i'll have more info on it !

[oetravia]

Every (Deleted) Brainia Scene Ever: 5x11 [1/1]

[icharchivist]

Me right now. Icha are you okay

DMKJFDMLFKLMDFFD THANKS SWEETHEART YOUR SUPPORT ALWAYS MEANS THE WORLD TO ME

i'm not okay at all, imagine your OTP in a fandom has one of them say, pointblank, that he wants to have the other guy's children (yknow, for a book he’s writing), and then he smiles at the camera when the guy is just what was that because "yknow, for Fanservice". This is the world i've been living in since yesterday and i feel like death.

I've summed up the situation in little more details here (as in, why especially the fact this character is doing it AGAIN because it's like what, the 3rd? 4th time? he hits on the guy and then says it's a joke, or is it? and it's driving me insane that he keeps doing that), and the exact explanation on the child thing here (the full thread being all the more insane here)

But yeah also because of the one panel with the child my entire TL has errupted with conversation about how did the child even happen in this fantasy and so i've seen m/p/reg stuff. quite a few. And i have to live with the fact that it's canon that did this to us.

tl;dr local writer who loves to lie about everything to spice things up realizes messing with that one guy is so much fun that no matter how possibly reserved he is he will go completely off the wall insane just to tease that guy no matter how weird that is. And he uses how the guy react to his ideas as inspirations for his books. That's the world i live in. That's the ship i decided to stay on this hill to die for.

I'm being so normal right now.

So yeah, i'm not okay by any stretch and i want Gentaro to pay me emotional compensation.

[tis-i-the-nerdy-nerd]

Listened to Falsettos again on a whim and yknow what? Ace Attorney would be perfect for the Falsettos AU. We have:

Phoenix as Whizzer

Miles as Marvin

Apollo/Trucy as Jason

Thalassa as Trina

Zak as Mendel

Maya as Cordelia

Franziska as Charlotte

Pepper in some AA plot points and events, and you'd have the recipe for a perfect tragedy. You cannot convince me otherwise; Falsettos is already so deliciously tragic, so combine that with the darker elements and themes below the surface of Ace Attorney and you'd get *chef's kiss* a perfect plot to explore the unfairness of the world and tragedy as a whole. I just think it'd be neat, y'know?

[seance]

I don't want to forget you. I don't want to forget us.

[seveneyesoup]

Questioning your Gender (for Trans People!)

So not long ago, I realized my gender had changed, or my relationship to it had. I went in the questioning tags, as well as tags for labels I thought might apply to me, to see if I could find stories that resonated with me. Unfortunately, at least from what I saw, most the posts in the tags for different labels were pride things, rather than people’s experiences, and ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING I saw in the questioning tag was for people wondering if they were trans for the first time. So, I’m making this post, which can hopefully help out someone in the same position I was in.

It'll be split into two sections - things to ask yourself and actions to take - and each section will have things that should hopefully help you, whether you're a binary trans person wondering if you're nb, nonbinary and questioning if you're binary, or if you're nonbinary and just thinking your current label no longer fits.

Questions to Ask:

When you first learned about trans people, did you decide you must be a binary trans person in an attempt to get as far away from your agab as possible?

Do you gravitate toward leaning very hard into the feminine or masculine solely or primarily so people don't see you as your agab?

When you first wondered if you were trans, did you decide you must be nb because it felt like a big leap to be the "opposite gender" or because you didn't altogether dislike having ties to your agab?

Have you told people you use any pronouns, secretly hoping they'd use a certain set of them for you, only to be let down when no one does?

When you get ready to go somewhere, how do you want people to see you? As a feminine man? A masculine woman? Do you just want them to have a hard time guessing your gender?

Imagine people saw you, with no effort on your part, as completely, wholly, the gender in question. How does that prospect make you feel?

If you feel gender envy, who do you feel it toward? Is there something your envies have in common?

How do you mentally refer to yourself in your head? Does it match with the pronouns you've asked other people to use for you?

When do you feel the most "gender"? What things make you feel like you're most in line with the gender you want to present? How does it compare to the gender you feel like you "should present" because of your label?

Do you find yourself seeing people in public and hoping that's how people see you? What aspects of that person do you hope you have in common?

If you identify as nonbinary but lean heavily to one side of the spectrum, do you think you would id as nb if you were the other agab?

If you've begun to transition (in any capacity), are there any relics of your agab you've kept? Is it because you like them, or just because you don't see them as an obstacle to your transition? (For example, if your given name is gender neutral, do you keep it because you like it and it feels like you, or because you don't think it's gendered enough to require replacing?)

If you present in a mostly neutral way, how do you feel when strangers refer to you in gendered terms?

If you have a specific label in mind, how do you think of people who use that label? How does the idea of people feeling that way about you make you feel?

If you had to choose, would you rather be a binary-gendered person who uses neutral pronouns, or a nonbinary person who uses gendered pronouns?

Actions to Take

Are there any things marketed for the "other" gender (eg soaps, socks, underwear) that you haven't tried because you don't think you need them? Try them anyway and see how you feel about them!

Is there a name that's appealing to you, but you haven't asked anyone to use because it's too gendered, or not gendered enough? Give it a shot.

Is there anything associated with your agab that you miss? Maybe you left it behind deliberately in an attempt to be more in line with your gender, maybe you just stopped doing it without noticing. Pick it back up!

After you shower, try wearing your towel under your arms instead of around your waist or vice versa.

Experiment with things you don't need associated with the "opposite" gender, like wearing a bra or shaving your face, even if you're not on the hormones to need to do those things.

Are there pronouns you want to try, but haven't? Do it! If you want, you can send me an ask with a name and pronouns you'd like to test, and I'll write a few sentences for you using them. (If they're neopronouns, please include the full set of them so I know how to use them correctly.)

Try presenting as a binary gender, but doing it Wrong. How does it make you feel? If you already do, what part is appealing to you? Is it the wrongness or the proximity to the gender it represents? Try playing that up next time.

What specific things, if any, do you need to stop you from feeling dysphoric? Try presenting in a way that, aside from accounting for those things, is very gender neutral.

Try dressing in ways that defy gender, like a super masculine outfit with lipstick only, a very feminine outfit with masc boots and jacket and no makeup, or a masc outfit with a fem button-down, big earrings, and winged eyeliner with no other makeup.

Write a little paragraph about yourself, or even just say aloud "My name is [name], my pronouns are [pronouns], and I am [label]." How does that sound to you? How does it feel? You can supplement that by writing a little in the third person about yourself using the name and pronouns in question, like "[name] is questioning [pronoun]'s gender. [pronoun] thinks [pronoun] might be [label] or [label], but [pronoun] isn't sure. [name] is planning to experiment and see what [pronoun] likes, and suspects ultimately [pronoun] may end up using [label]."

The last piece of advice I have to give is to not focus too much on labels. Don't worry about finding the next box to put yourself in, just focus on doing what makes you feel content in yourself and your gender. Labels can come later, and when you feel like it's time, keep in mind that it's better to have a label that feels right, even if it's not a perfect description of your experience, than it is to have a label that matches perfectly and that you don't like.

Best of luck on your journey, and remember:

[ID: a post by tumblr user @a-bright-ray-of-sunshine reading "If something makes you go "!!!!!!!!!" inside, it is completely valid and worth keeping around!" End ID]

[science-lings]

am i going through every single amiibo item that you can get in botw to research exactly what kind of things they know about past heroes and legends for a fic, uh, you may have already guessed the answer to that but in case you didn’t, yes. I am. 

[tiredrobin-scooted]

link is like yeah i woke up with only my name and the shadow of your voice begging me for help but had i not even that i would have still saved you i would have still fought with you till the end because i love you and that is not something my body can forget

[umbrify]

Okay @bluest-of-bells I’m making a new post, hope that’s okay :D

For anyone who’s happening to see this, me and Blue are having a really long discussion about c!Dream and the staged disc finale. This is all /dsmp /rp. If you’d like to catch up on the discussion, you can find part one here and part two here. Warning, it’s really really long, and you probably should read the whole thing if you wanna know what we’re on about. Good discussions though. Anyway Blue, here we go

“With Enderboo being almost certainly clued in to staged finale that has a lot of really funny implications. Like say, Dream doing stage rehearsals with Punz and Ranboo in order to perfect his Disney villain speech there.”

The concept of Dream doing stage rehearsals of his evil Disney plan is honestly quite funny?? Mans out here dramatically monologuing to Punz and e!Ranboo and that is funny to me. But assuming everything was planned, it also means he had to rehearse him being killed and pleading for his life. Which may have been a bit upsetting to his stage partners, especially Punz, whose been with him a long time.

The clip you included is actually from the very same vod I sent you, just a few minutes after the timestamp I left. Ranboo kind of half Enderwalking to the vault and realizing everything that happened there. I think it’s interesting, and I’ve just now clocked this rewatching it right now, that Ranboo almost seems to be following the path of Tommy. From walking kinda tight to the corner into the vault area, to going down the hallway and looking from the right wall to the left, and then ending standing near Friend’s cage and looking right where Dream would’ve been standing. Then he stands close to where Tommy stood after killing Dream the second time, before walking over and looking up the elevator, then walking up the stairs, before turning around to face the portal. Perhaps I’m looking too closely into things that don’t need to be looked into, but perhaps e!Ranboo played the part of Tommy in their stage rehearsals.

“even in such a situation where Dream has knowledge of where things are, his goal being primarily the axe still makes more sense than his goal being primarily Tommy.”

While Dream’s terrorizing of Tommy in that moment may have not been his primary goal, I still pretty firmly believe that he definitely jumped at the opportunity. He didn’t just decide on a whim to terrorize Tommy cause he happened to be there. Dream wanted to harass Tommy anyway, and planned to do so at some point. The fact that he was able to do it while also getting the axe of peace may have been a convenient coincidence for him, but he was definitely very deliberate in his actions with Tommy in that moment. I guess my point is that Dream definitely meant to terrorize Tommy there, as opposed to him just going for the axe and seeing the whole Tommy thing as just an afterthought. If that makes sense at all? It happening at that exact time was a coincidence that worked out for Dream, but he was gonna do that anyway at some point, is what I’m saying basically.

I think I just said the same thing like four different ways in that paragraph. Hopefully one of them made sense.

“[Dream] says he wants the armour for sentimental reasons, so I think we can confidently conclude the armour has some practical purpose other than being a set of good armour. Who knows, maybe all those theories about it being cursed have some merit to them.”

I’m a firm believer that something is up with Dream’s armor. Not only would he not care that much if it was just armor, everyone who has worn it has had something to say about how it makes them feel. Such as Tubbo saying he was scared to wear it, and saying it made him feel different, to the point that Ranboo makes him new armor because he wasn’t comfortable with Tubbo using Dream’s armor (saying that the armor has some sort of effect and making Tubbo lock it away again). Then of course there’s Sapnap saying that the armor feels good on him, which I’m sure you know about. There’s gotta be something up with the armor, I’m sure of it.

“The problem with this kind of character (which isn't really a problem so much as a matter of personal taste), is that [Dream’s] actions can seem nonsensical unless you get seventeen layers deep into his motivations.”

Honestly I think having to go seventeen layers deep into a characters motivations is part of what makes the Dream SMP such a fun story. Like yeah there’s something to be said about stories that are just fun to watch for the sake of it, but I like having to think about everyone’s actions and having to really think about motives and goals and intentions to really have a solid understanding of the characters. I do think part of that enjoyment comes from a certain love of the cc’s themselves though. This story wouldn’t be the same if they were all just actors that we never saw outside of the DSMP setting. We care about these people, and as such, care about putting the same effort into understanding their art as they put into making it for us. It’s one of the many things that makes this story so unique, I think. I’ve never really been in any sort of fandom where discussions like this are ones I see or take part in, and perhaps that’s just because this is the first fandom like this that I’ve really deep dived into, but I think this community has something special going on. Especially here on Tumblr where we’re able to have long form discussions like this.

“[…] everyone is an unreliable narrator and each pov is working with incomplete information and no character's word can really be trusted. […] the viewer needs to watch the events unfold and create their own understanding of things, separate from that of the characters, in order to get the full picture.”

The concept of everyone being an unreliable narrator in this story is honestly one of my favorite things about it, I think. Everyone has the chance to look back on all the actions throughout the story and really think about what it all means. It leaves a lot of room for theories and analysis and discussion that I feel can be harder to find in some other medias, specifically because other medias have a definitively correct answer. In this story, there’s so many different angles that you can take to look at certain actions and events, such as both of us having different interpretations of the intent behind Dream’s line of questioning to Tommy, with both interpretations not necessarily being right or wrong. It just leaves so much to think about. Every character can be looked at through multiple different lenses, and through each one you can see different motivations and intentions behind them.

(Things like this are what really make Sam one of my favorites, now that I’ve thought about him more. On the surface he just seems to be the unforgiving prison warden that’s kinda shit at his job, but then you look deeper. And you can see just how much Sam has lost of himself to the prison. How hard he tries to do the right thing, how much he plans everything out to the most meticulous details, but then fails to account for one little thing and his entire plans fall apart. How deeply he truly cares about people, especially about Tommy, and how he does his best to do what he can to protect everyone, but his best was never enough. He hoped the ends would justify his means but now he’s left in a world where he’s failed. Dream’s escaped and he’s left a shell of himself now, without the prison. Without that purpose, and with the knowledge that his means weren’t even good enough to reach his end, despite how far he took them.)

“The question of Punz is a really interesting one.”

God, Punz. I love thinking about Punz. He really does seem to trust Dream a lot, and I think he’s riding on that in putting his faith in Dream’s plan. I highly doubt he knows all the details; Dream is a secretive bitch and he likes to make sure nobody knows too much about what he’s doing, and I think Punz probably understands that. Being a mercenary as he is, it’s probably not too unusual for him to have people keep random secrets. He trusts Dream, so it’s okay. But I have to wonder if he’s realized just how extreme Dream’s means have become, to the point where psychological manipulation and torture are just a casual thing to him. I have to wonder if Punz is aware of just how far gone Dream is about his ultimate end goal. I wonder if Punz would still find it worth it if he knew. I wonder if knowing would make him start to question Dream a little bit more. If Punz would start to wanna know what secrets Dream is keeping. I wonder if that would drive them apart.

Can you tell I’m a big fan of emotional characters and moments?

“And isn't that a whole new shade of awful? Where so much of the abuse Tommy suffered at Dream's hands wasn't even really about him? Just cold calculation about how to get what he wants.”

Honestly the lens that everything Dream’s done to Tommy was just purely for Dream’s own means almost makes it worse? Like he really just saw this kid and said “what if I make your life just the worst thing possible. As a treat for me. Nothing personal man, don’t care about you.”

Like I can’t really describe how exactly that’s worse? But it feels worse. Like he doesn’t even care about Tommy in a twisted fucked up kinda way. He’s just doing what’s good for him.

But then again we get to the question here: what even is Dream’s main big goal? What is he even trying to achieve anymore? Is it still to have the server be a big happy family? How does terrorizing Tommy help him with that? How does any of what he’s doing help with that at all? Or has his goal changed by now?

[partywithponies]