Dreamnotfound: The New DNP?
As a multi fandom blog run by a person with ADHD who switches their hyperfixation every couple months or so, I have seen my fair share of shipping RP or otherwise. I have been on tumblr since 2012, and honestly have shifted fandoms so many times its hard to keep track. MCC, Spiderman, Supernatural, Voltron, She-Ra, Euphoria, Markiplier, Sanders Sides, Nightvale, MHA, Dan and Phil, Troye Sivan, Panic! At The Disco, BTS, Hannibal, Corpse Husband, Sherlock, Once Upon a Time, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, you name it. Honestly i’ve probably seen it all.
However DreamNotFound is so different from the RP or FP shipping I have seen, and I feel like people don’t think about that enough. People constantly compare DNF to ships like Dan and Phil, and i’m sorry but it just isn’t the same. I remember these ships, I personally shipped them. I read the fanfiction, I watched the clips. Being a DNP shipper in 2012-2016 ish was extremely complex and honestly in retrospect feels wrong. It was invasive, and Dan and Phil clearly did not enjoy it. They visibly distanced themselves and were uncomfortable with how much their brand surrounded this ship. They never purposely encouraged it, if anything they discouraged it. I remember when Dan full on stopped mentioning Phil or having him be in videos for I think a year or maybe two. Those two were never okay with shipping, verbally discouraged it, and displayed behavior showing how uncomfortable they were with it.
If we compare this to DNF, we literally see them doing the exact opposite. Dream and George seem to revel in the theories that they are romantically or sexually attracted to each other. They have verbally said that fan’s are allowed to do what they want, and even in some cases encouraged it (mostly Dream). They know fans react a certain way to certain behavior, but they still do it anyway. They acknowledge the fanfiction (George even read some) the fanart (they both regularly like and comment on romantic dnf fanart) the compilations (they reference them constantly and even quote them) and the dnf themed mail they receive. Hell, Dream has an entire corner in his fanart room dedicated to Dreamnotfound stuff he get’s sent, and most recently sent George a phonecase that was DNF themed to which George immediately thought of putting it on his phone. These people clearly are not uncomfortable. Every time people think that maybe the shipping has finally gotten to them, they come back on the scene full force flirting live in front of thousands of people, or making every DNF reference under the sun. They have even been publicly accused of queerbaiting by other ccs (fuck Kaceytron) because of the amount of flirting they do and how much they encourage shipping, and they just ignore it. They reference their ship all the time, even explicitly sexual or romance stuff, and although they get flustered sometimes, show an insane level of nonchalance about the whole thing. All their friends talk about it, many of them (Tommyinnit, BadBoyHalo, etc) explicitly saying that they ship it or talking about DNF like they are a couple. They have never talked about being uncomfortable with the shipping, sometimes even purposely doing stuff in order to get people to talk about DNF more. Dream and George know that their every interaction is scrutinized a certain way, and they just don’t care because either they enjoy riling fans up, or they enjoy flirting with each other that much.
There we see a huge difference between the two ships. DNP was not consensual, was highly discouraged and visibly made the involved CC’s uncomfortable. DNF, however, is highly encouraged and referenced by the involved cc’s. Honestly there is so much that Dream and George do surrounding the ship, that I could talk for ever about it. They enjoy talking about it, they enjoy flirting, and I think they really don’t give a damn what people do or say.
I just wanted to write this because I’m getting sick of people saying DNP and DNF are the same, and that DNF shippers are just as creepy as DNP shippers were. I’m here to say that that is completely false, as someone who lived through that time, and the difference lays in consent from the cc’s.
Do DNF shippers take things to very weird levels sometimes? Sure. Is it vaguely parasocial? Defiantly. But Dream and George have seen the very worst that the fandom has to offer, and still allow/encourgae shipping and never changed their boundaries. If they aren’t getting upset, why are you?
So please, get off DNF shippers asses and focus on stopping things that actually make cc’s uncomfortable, or better yet, real world problems. If anyone wants to discuss this topic you are welcome to comment or message me and i’m open to a nice civil discussion, but I will not entertain anyone looking for an aggressive verbal spar over something as silly as shipping.
izzy806
gummygunk
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