opinions. i own some.

I was talking over it with a friend and they sort of advised me against it because I might look back and cringe. at the time, I agreed with them, but now...

now I'm torn between two quotes. the original, and another one I sort of like but isn't as me. and I was thinking about what they said to me, and why should it matter?

the great thing about being a kid is that you don't realize (or care) if people are judging you, you just are. you can be as obnoxious or as loud as you want and the only thing that matters in that moment is you, and sure you might look back and sigh over how annoying you were but in that moment it doesn't matter what you you might think later because you were unabashedly, unashamedly happy.

I'm growing up, and it's scary, but I want to remember what it felt like to love without inhibitions, and if that means my future self cringes a bit—well, that's a future me problem.

techno is my favourite character, but that does not mean I am blind to his characters faults or hypocritical behaviour. I get it, c!techno isn't the best person, same with c!phil.

but I am begging some of y'all to chill.

c!techno did nothing to c!ranboo, and at most what c!phil suggested was that his memory problems might come in handy because he won't remember the syndicate and therefore can't accidentally or intentionally divulge information about it, and it was definitely an offhanded suggestion to try and convince techno go recruit him.

that's it, guys. they made some comments about distrusting him (which makes sense in the lore? because they barely know him) partly because he reminds techno of himself (which is objectively hilarious and surprisingly self aware).

and for the record? no one is forcing ranboo to stay. I saw some people going after c! techno and c!phil for deceiving ranboo? or something? like yes, he doesn't know about this secret organization they just founded, but a) they don't owe him anything and b) they literally said he's one of the potential recruits, they just want to get other members involved first because they distrust him.

also, I'd like to bring your attention to one of the passages in the manifesto that says members will not be forced to fight if they opt out. so if ranboo joins, he isn't going to have to fight.

so can someone explain to me what exactly they did that was so bad? they weren't even mean to ranboo? it makes sense with their characters to distrust him (especially with mr. trust issues blade)?

(all ppl mentioned are being referenced as their characters within dsmp and not their real selves)

so. the january 5th festival, huh? pretty wild. i personally thoroughly enjoyed it, but it’s sparked a lot of conflict between uhhh *glances over at c!tommy and c!techno apologists* some ppl, similar to what i saw during the original festival’s aftermath, and i figured i’d throw in my two cents in the form of my favourite fandom activity—a character study.

(spoilers below)

(edit: can't figure out how to do read more I tried tho srry for this long post clogging ppls dashes ;-;)

c!techno is my favourite character for multiple reasons, mostly because real techno is hilarious and i appreciate comedy always. one of his character traits i find so interesting is his relationship with loyalty—or his lack thereof.

in the original festival (and then the subsequent war between manberg and pogtopia) a lot of people said c!techno had betrayed pogtopia, which confused me because i didn’t see it that way. what was understood to me was that the only reason techno was fighting with pogtopia was because they shared a common goal—overthrowing a tyrannical government—not because of the motivations some of the other characters fought for (tommy, who fought for wilbur, tubbo, and for his love of manberg, wilbur who fought initially for justice and then for his pride, tubbo who fought for tommy, etc.). techno made it completely clear that the only reason he was siding with pogtopia was because of their common goal, and nothing else, which makes sense. techno was newly arrived in the smp, shared none of the history the other characters did (and therefore felt no emotional connection or duty to any of them) which fits in with his denial of sbi family dynamic. if he was their brother, then ~yikes~ but his actions make way more sense if he isn’t. he might know them from before he joined the smp (hence his involvement in the first place) but beyond that he probably only holds vague feelings of fondness for them at most.

so why does that matter? techno has no strong attachment to wilbur, tommy, or anyone else in the smp (excepting phil) and while his initial involvement with pogtopia was hinging on his fondness with wilbur and tommy, he continued to back them because they shared his ideals.

and when they “betrayed his ideals” and put tubbo in charge? well... he doesn’t care for any of them. so he fought against them, like he said he would.

the same thing is happening with dream. it doesn’t seem to me that techno likes c!dream that much, and he clearly suspects all the bs that happened between him and tommy. but as we’ve seen with pogtopia, it doesn’t matter who he’s backing, as long as they share a common goal. c!techno doesn’t deal in loyalty like tommy or passion like wilbur—he deals in cooperation. he’ll go along with anything as long as it either directly benefits his personal morals/beliefs, or at the very least doesn’t challenge them. he’s going along with dream because they have a common goal, but the instant that goal is accomplished, techno’s interest is gone and he’ll either fight dream or leave.

(does it make it morally right that he’s teaming with c!dream after all he’s done? no. but it’s consistent with his character, and from a storywriter’s perspective i’ll say that’s fair enough.)

tommy was an interesting case. as a lot of people pointed out at the time, techno gained nothing from teaming with tommy. tommy, who had no weapons or advantages to offer. tommy, who even came with the disadvantage of a potential enemy in dream and of l’manberg. but techno took him in, gave him some pretty damn good gear, and let him have the choice of teaming with him or not, and was pretty transparent over what that would mean, ie destruction of l’manberg. (side note, i seem to remember techno verbally telling tommy that was his plan from the very beginning, but then trying to “hide” it (poorly) afterwards until his Grand Reveal in the pouring rain? am i misremembering or is that a plothole? lmao.) 

honestly techno and tommy’s partnership was fascinating to me because of how different is from techno’s other partnerships. there was literally nothing tommy could offer to him. they didn’t even share the same goal, something that is necessary for all techno partnerships! but techno looked at him, went “our goals are close enough” and let him stay anyways. and started to develop respect for him. had tommy chose him over l’manberg during yesterday’s festival, i think their relationship could have continued its development—from distant fondness v admiration, to enemies, to grudging allies, to eager allies, to something similar to what techno and phil have.

techno took in tommy because tommy reminded him of phil. this is the hill i will die on. 

and finally we have phil and techno. ofc my favourite dynamic. phil is the one person on this server that techno doesn’t just cooperate with. he’s loyal to phil, and phil is loyal to him. so far we haven’t seen phil actively going against any of techno’s ideals (even completely agreeing with him,,,, phil is the og c!techno apologist lmao) but i’m interested to see how their relationship would change or stay the same if their was conflict between something like that. historically techno doesn’t take well to people going against his ideals but if it’s philza “for you the world” minecraft?

well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. we shall see.

ik the multitudes of storylines is a bit overwhelming to some ppl (especially those who are trying to keep up to date on EVERYTHING) but i kinda like it because it gives me options. i used to keep up to date with tommy’s storyline but the exile angst was starting to stress me out so i just... stopped? and watched some other povs. and i’m not missing out? there’s another just as interesting storyline going on at the same time that i can invest in (like the prison arc, the ~mysterious egg~, the ominous techno retirement arc). and they all intersect and bounce off of each other that i honestly don’t find it that hard to catch up if i need to. 

it’s like all the others have said, the dsmp really is a new type of story telling, where literally everyone is the protagonist and antagonist, and moreover you can choose who you watch. you can choose who’s your hero (hello c!techno apologists) and who’s your antagonist (i see you c!dream haters). everyone’s an unreliable narrator, but you can choose who’s story you want to invest in, and you’re not missing out.