#doomsday arc

Dear lord, where to even begin. Today was a mess, and not in the nicely crafted “everyone’s supposed to be shocked and confused” way, but in the “yikes... was this planned out well at all” way.

The first, beyond giant offender, is the action of the ‘villains’ arriving early. There were so many missed opportunities with them not arriving early, and it did a huge punch in the gut to the suspense. First and foremost, so many characters of l’manburg were not given the chance to wrap up the loose ends they currently had, at no point where they all able to communicate what was happening to each other. I want you to imagine quickly the kind of content that could’ve been gotten from a ‘the rest of L’manburg finds out Niki and Fundy have decided to turn against their own country’ interaction. Or even from a ‘Quackity almost ran away, but was able to sort himself out and do the right thing’ conversation. And most importantly; a reveal of what the hell Dream did to Tommy in exile kind of conversation. Something that this event needed a lot that it didn’t get was a heartfelt rallying and sharing of feelings before the big war. Tensions that have been running high through this entire arc disappeared in moments because there was no chance to address or bring them to light. Hell, Tommy and Tubbo’s conversation was extremely short lived, and they should’ve had a deeper discussion than they did. I’d honestly argue that Tommy’s conversation with Sapnap was more effective.

The second issue was, of course, that arriving early didn’t allow the suspense to build. Even as someone who was watching Technoblade’s stream when Dream appeared to tell them that they’d be leaving early, any notion of suspense I had once felt immediately dissipated, I knew they’d be caught off guard and I knew that it would be a loosing battle. And if you didn’t watch technoblade’s stream, I’m sure you were quite caught off gaurd and confused, even Tommy himself seemed to be quiet confused as to why they were already there. No one was ready to face the enemy, and you know that as soon as Tommy smacks the ground and dies for the first time that it’s a losing battle. I want you to now imagine the tension, the suspense that could’ve been built as team L’Manburg sets aside their differences to gear up together, to stand their ground together and wait, heads held high as they look for Technoblade and Dream to appear on the horizon, ready to fight with all they have, win or lose. Now of course, we unfortunately didn’t get that, we got a whole bunch of confused yelling and the beginning of an extremely anti climactic, losing battle. (Although... if you’re team technoblade like me I guess it was a winning battle?)

Well jeeze, I’ve already written two big paragraphs, what else could I have an issue with? For one, there was nothing really on the line this battle. The entire time I found myself basically begging for someone to lose a canon life (or die, in the case of our one life left friends) to add some sort of real big danger or give a “holy shit...” moment. Of course, this didn’t happen. Everyone got picked off like flies but none of them really mattered. If I had to give an example of a good choice of canon death, I would point out the moment where Tubbo seemed to jump infront of the rocket Technoblade had launched at Tommy while they were arguing over the crater. Not to throw you into another scenario or anything, but think about the reaction Tommy could’ve had to Tubbo sacrificing his life for him, after all that time in exile thinking Tubbo didn’t care. Realizing that his best friend did care, and that the villain infront of him just took away his best friend forever. A little gloomy, sure, but this is war. And quite frankly it would’ve been a little more interesting for the President of the worlds largest crater to die than to just be left alive with... well the worlds largest crater. There are plenty of other points where a canon life could’ve been taken that would’ve worked well, that’s just the one that sticks out to me the most.

Another thing of note is that there really apparently needs to be some “okay, your turn to talk” ques. Because my god, I don’t think I’d ever been more frustrated than when Tommy and Technoblade just kept. Shouting. Over. Each other. In the crater. They both have some fantastic things to say, but between the constant exploding TNT, the other people talking, and them shouting over each other, it was extremely hard to really enjoy the scene and digest what it was and what it meant.

In the overall scheme of things, I had really hoped this would be a tv show sort of finale for them, just to give a break, maybe even get some filler in there if they wanted to. But it does seem that they’ll be jumping right back into it, which, I’m not entirely a big fan of. This entire arc has been tiring and extremely rushed at some points. It’s been a near constant barrage of lore from all sides, and when they finally get to a plot point that could leave some room for filler or for a little breather, they seem to speed right over it. There should’ve been more time with Tommy hiding under Technoblade’s house, is the big one that comes forward to me. There should’ve been more time with introducing the butcher army. There should’ve been more time for Tommy and Technoblade to bond (so that their separation and later argument could be more of a punch in the gut than a sigh of disappointment) And most of all, someone should’ve been put in the prison. I felt at the beginning that someone would for sure get put in the prison today. During the stream, I hoped for someone to get put in the prison. At the end of the stream, I found myself wishing the damn thing would stop teasing me. It has been in the back of everyone’s minds for so long and it made so much sense that someone would’ve gotten put in it today. Unfortunately not the case.

There are many other things that I could say about the rest of this arc, but I’ll leave it at that since I did say I would be talking about Doomsday. I genuinely hope I don’t sound like I hated this entire arc- I didn’t! I just think there are quite a few things that could’ve been handled and written better. Well, no changing the past.

TL;DR: Techno, Philza, and Dream shouldn’t have arrived early. This led to a loss of important character moments and suspense. There was nothing on the line in this battle due to the loss of no lives from anyone and the boys need to learn to stop talking over each other. The entire arc was rushed and a little tiring. End cap: please don’t hate me I love the DSMP I just think it could be better.

Phil’s treatment of Ghostbur is wrong, ok. like, jesus he was practically dripping in apathy as he tried to placate Ghostbur when he confronted him about Friend’s death. He treated him like a child, acting as if Ghostbur’s emotions and outburst didn’t matter because he didn’t understand or some shit.

like, don’t get me wrong, I see why he was acting this way, why he considered it necessary but fucking hell mate, his child that he fucking killed is breaking down in front of him because of his actions and he feels not even a shred of remorse for it? what the shit

and it’s even worse, because he’s doing this all because of Wilbur, because of what Wilbur’s exile did to him. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that shit. and just.

Yes, absolute power corrupts, and L’manberg’s government was corrupt in many ways(the nepotism being one of the biggest ways) but it was being run by a bunch of fucking traumatized children and young adults!! Tubbo never even wanted to be president, he only got it because Wilbur gave it to him!! Quackity was traumatized by working with Schlatt and the things Techno has done to him!! Tommy has been abused by Dream, manipulated by Dream, and all around just been pushed around constantly ok!!! Ranboo wasn’t even technically on any of their sides, because that’s what he wanted. L’manberg was meant to be a place to escape from the tyranny of their rulers. and guess what, Phil was just proving how necessary that is!!

because absolute power corrupts absolutely. and what does this say about Phil, when he is one of the three most powerful members on the server? what does this say about Phil, who basically has Techno at his beck and call? who’s sided with Dream?

to send a message? to WHO? the traumatized children he is further traumatizing? to the weak, telling them to never try to rise up again, to never attempt to gain any power to protect themselves with because absolute power corrupts and that corruption only applies to governments? does he not see the hypocrisy in his actions?

and the thing is, with Friend? Phil was given an out. Techno offered to not get Phil’s house. he could’ve taken Friend away.

he knew that Friend was in his house.

and yes he still said that it didn’t matter, that he didn’t care if his house was blown sky high along with all the rest of L’manberg. 

and then, when faced with his son’s anguish over the ruins of the land he’s built up(for the second time)?

he says “it’s alright, he’s got infinite canon lives” and “I’m sorry, but maybe you’ll understand someday”

the apology means nothing, has no true remorse behind it, and pets do not come back.

(and the thing is, the thing that even Ghostbur points out, is that New L’manberg wasn’t even really Tubbo’s, it wasn’t Quackity’s or Tommy’s or any of theirs

it was Ghostbur’s. Ghostbur who lived there, in it’s sewers, who built it buildings up and who designed the land, who tried to help those around him with their sadness.

in the end, even though Wilbur blew up L’manberg and tossed it away, falling with it, he also rises up once more with it. Ghostbur builds New L’manberg. it was his, even if no one recognized that. all Phil was doing, when he blew up L’manberg, was hurt Ghostbur the most. Ghostbur, who only wanted peace.)

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