🥀

stop putting yourself in the middle of a situation you can’t ever fucking possibly relate to. dream has faced more harassment online than any other content creator i can think of. every single day his qrts are full of doxxers, death threats, gore, and shit i don’t even want to name. it is absolutely vile. he cannot make a single move without getting swarmed and attacked by literal hate mobs who spend hours dedicated to trying to defame and provoke him. no fucking shit they get a reaction out of him sometimes - there are thousands of them trying to do so! obviously dream is going to come across what they’re saying, especially when he’s been fucking locked in his house for two years because he’s terrified of being recognised before he’s ready to face reveal (because we all know exactly how much fun the people who hate him are going to have when that happens).

none of us can ever fathom what it’s like to have the fame dream does. the spotlight dream does. content creators with a millionth of his view count will SPRINT to call him parasocial and weird for the relationship he has with his audience, but if we think critically for a second here (which i understand can be hard for some of you) let’s consider just how and why a man who knows how much of the wider internet openly despises him wants to show appreciation for the fans who have his back. deny it all you want, but dream is one of the internet’s favourite punching bags, and has been for the better part of the past year or so. because so many people love to forget the fact that there is a man behind the screen - a 22 year old man, who got famous nearly overnight, who broke away from the conservative upbringing he had and took every opportunity to educate and better himself, who vocally and consistently tries to make his community as welcoming as possible for everyone.

ranboo gives tommy an allium he happened to pick up on the day they met; later, when ranboo is grieving tommy and trying to figure out whether tommy actually cared about him, he finds out that tommy kept the allium, confirming that they were friends

eret builds his museum, adding a recreation of the final control room and breaking her aim of historical accuracy to add a note of apology; when tommy is trying to confront his fears, eret offers the use of the recreation. tommy panics but snaps out of it when he finds the apology note and overcomes the fear

Written by somebody who actually knows about governments and subversion of media tropes

I think the reason that people often discredit the syndicate for actually being anarchist is because they're too powerful. At least physically. They're faction is a powerhouse who have some of the richest and strongest players. Which means that they are a subversion of the typical extremist trope. I get it you're used to seeing small united groups as the underdogs and virtually powerless when they start and then rising up to the top. But now the narrative is flipped where the underdogs aren't actual underdogs and they can actually make real change if they wanted too. Each member brings in their own power. Techno and Philza can do so much damage physically ie.. Ranboo is the richest person on the server and not necessarily enemies with anyone. And Niki can actually talk to people (trust me she's the most important asset/gen but more on that later). They don't have to fight to be listened too, and that scares people. Scares fans because that is easily corruptable. They are an ultimate force to be reckoned with. So obviously the conclusion is....the Syndicate is not the oppressed but rather the oppressive. But that's bullshit, being powerful does not mean they don't stick with their ideals. They did not form a group to seize power. They did not form a group to enforce rules. And they especially did not form a group to just be called a hastily thrown together government.

I saw someone once call em an oligarch. There's so much wrong with this.

Ogliarchy- 1 : government by the few 2: a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes

Now before we take a deep dive into what that means and why it's been used incorrectly let's talk about why the Syndicate is Not A Government (cause heavens know some of y'all still think it is.)

I am so tempted to link the video of Techno saying the syndicate was more of a book club than a government and leave it at that.

First let's look at the definition of a government.

Government- The governing body of a nation, state, or community

That is the simplest meaning of a government. A governing body. A political power that rules over an area. Name me one place the Syndicate has political power over. I'll wait.

Hey while you're doing that do me a quick favor and look at this please

Oh what's this The Communist Manifesto it's the Syndicate Manifesto!!

And it's a good thing you read that second point very well. They're not even obligated to help each other what???? It's almost like they're a group of people who just so happened to have similar ideals and have separate things outside of that and understand that a mutual principle is what is bringing them together and not the desire to rule over others🤔

Yet some of you will call them a government just cause they have physical power with your full chest and a lack of understanding how politics actually work

To paraphrase some quotes of the main man himself, "Not every group of people is a government" and "Do you guys not think that anarchists have friends in real life????" -Techno "I ❤ Authority" Blade

Anyway back to ogliarchy statement. Please read both definitions again

1. By first definition we just established that The Syndicate is not a government so we can cross that out

2. "A government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes." Now this is where the lines of morality blur. You can argue the syndicate was created for selfish purposes or you can argue the opposite. I don't care much for that aspect. But the going back to the manifesto that was written above. They just wanna pursue anarchy and fight against tyranny. That doesn't sound very corrupt to me.

"Oh but Alex aren't they technically tyrants themselves-"

Sit down. Shut up. Close your mouth.

Which group of people are they ruling over again? Where are they're followers? To be a tyrant you MUST be ruling over something. And what are they ruling? The snow???

But yes I know what you mean. They use their "power" to oppress others and get them to listen to them. Here's why it's not tyranny though. Anyone can have their power.

That's it.

That's the hugest reason why it's not tyranny.

To be a tyrant you must have had to take advantage of the system and have access to resources that others don't have so you can rule over them. Tyranny is backed by injustice and unfairness.

For those of y'all who still don't get it- THEY CAN'T BE TYRANTS CAUSE IT'S MINECRAFT AND EVERYONE HAS ACCESS TO THE SAME FUCKING RESOURCES. (Except maybe Dream and co from early days) NONE OF THEM ARE EVEN CODERS SO THEY CAN'T EVEN CREATE THAT ADVANTAGE IF THEY WANTED TOO.

Yes I said it! The only reason why the Syndicate is a powerhouse is because it's basically 3/4 tryhards who grind so much that they have become virtually *indestructible.

*I use the word indestructible very loosely here for lack of a better word. I am not saying these characters are invincible at all

"But Alex they're not even doing a completely accurate representation of anarchy?"

1. It's a Minecraft rp :D

2. I've said it before but point me to a dream smp faction that is doing or has done an accurate representation of government and then I won't laugh at you

"The Syndicate makes anarchy seem only about violence"

1. There was a whole conversation between Niki and Techno about this in which Techno admitted that he had been given anarchy a bad name because of said violence (Also the Syndicate is not an extension of only Technoblade so do not treat it like it is. Y'all tend to do that a lot)

2. Also they've done 3 streams so far all nonviolent and 1 of them was to throw a birthday party so you can chill

"I just don't think that it's fair for them to decide which governments are good and should exist or not."

That's valid. Still doesn't make them a government themselves though. Just a group of people who have the power to make changes through sheer force and will. They aren't stopping anyone from creating a government. Just saying that if they see it as oppressive structure they'll do anything in their power to remove it. Once again that is a characters/moral dilemma and I don't care about that right now in this analysis.

Point is the Syndicate is not a government in any shape or form. Not even close. But they are not the underdogs you expect either and they can and will bite. Hard.

TL;DR: The Syndicate has no political power but only physical power that they have fairly worked for. Therefore not a government.

Last but not least!!

Tag :D Your :D Critical :D Posts :D Please :D This was mainly written because I had go through too many untagged crit posts

Every stream is a canon stream. If we Want improv lore, we can’t just pick and choose. Yes, you’ll get cool epic moments like the betrayal, but you’ll also get things like c!George being turned into a pig for some reason, or Bad, Ponk and Foolish making a toll gate company and never speak of it again. That’s more fun.

So in DSMP fanon, one of the popular methods to represent enchanting something is by carving runes into it (bigbrain)

Today I was sketching some potential character designs when I started thinking about this hc and whether I could turn Standard Galactic (Minecraft enchantment table language) into runes

Anyway, I ended up doing it

My process was basically to take the names of the enchantments, shorten them to 3-4 letters, and then combine them to make a symbol (notice fire prot has the same symbol as fire aspect, its symbol - along with the other prot symbols - would be combined with regular prot)

I'll still probably workshop them a bit more but this is where I'm at. Feel free to use them if you want!

(process under the cut)

It’s been one year since Tommy performed Hamilton and Macbeth, c!Quackity got out of juvie, Skeppy stole Spirit, Tommy organized a flash mob with Fundy and Tubbo to perform Blitz by Technoblade, Jack and Fundy stole the throne of Dream SMP and the birth of the legendary Big Law himself!

But what do you think?

/rp

i know i joke about being in denial and what not but it's COMPLETELY fucked up what ponk had to go through with sam, and it wasn't deserved at all!! there are a lot of layers when it comes to that scene: the torture itself with the lava and the poison, the fact that it was sam who did it, the reasoning behind it all, the true intent and purpose of why this happened, and amputating ponk's damn arm. when you consider everything that went into it, it's heart-wrenching and disgusting.

i think the part that hurts the most is the fact that it was sam who did all of this. people in the fandom may say "warden!sam" but that's still sam. that's still the sam ponk knew and loved... and i think that ponk is still, to this day, in disbelief that sam killed, tortured, and mutilated them! it was sam, it was awesamdude, it was sammywammy123. and for sam to just flirt and minimize the severity of his actions is despicable and must feel like torment to a certain extent on ponk’s end. sam is able to acknowledge his actions but not the impact. he’s on his “the ends justify the means” bullshit and it makes me wanna kick him in his shins. i believe that the scene will hurt more once ponk’s backstory lore comes out because we’ll be able to compare pre-dsmp awesamponk to current day awesamponk.

can you believe that people say that Ponk is in the wrong for holding a grudge?

But seriously this is the worst thing shown on screen ever on the dsmp. Ponk doesn’t have anyone to talk to about. He is a strong person but seriously this is messed up. I don’t know what Ponk would do now, if Ponk never forgave Sam, he is in the right. If he chose to never speak to him again, he is in the right. If Ponk chose to forgive, he is right.

Seriously Ponk was done so dirty and what hurts is that Ponk doesn’t have people who he can really go to. Sam was like the Tubbo to his Tommy and it completely switched up like Sam becoming the Dream to his Tommy. That wasn’t the best metaphor but still...

Dream has consistently uplifted smaller creators, fanartists, and minority communities through his platform. This is through a multitude of promotions and donations.

He is one of the most outspoken ccs (who’s platform doesn’t mainly focus on it) about mental health and awareness, speaking about his own struggles with anxiety, adhd, and depression.

He has helped change the face of the gaming community for the better. He has turned the norm for a usually toxic online space into one that openly welcomes the lgbtq+ community, female creators and fans, and poc.

Dream is described as one of the most genuine creators out there, because of the continue support of his own community.

He got some people through probably one of the most difficult times in their lives. With his humorous and light content, he distracted people while the world fell apart around them.

His laugh is so contagious and heartwarming, his love for his friends is absolutely boundless. He shows his love for them through small gestures and gifts. Ranging from money to tips on how to improve their content to the best it can be.

He has grown so much as a person, through toxic and constructive criticism, and had left a mark on thousands of peoples lives.