#roborambles

Twice now Techno has let people into his home, use his food, his armor, his weapons, and twice now he has had these people turn against him.

During the Pogtopia Arc, Wilbur and Tommy really did only see Techno as “The Blade.” A weapon to win their wars with. Even up until the exile, Tommy was suggesting they team with Techno to use him against Dream again. He had no plans to make up, only to convince Techno to fight for them again.

After the Exile Arc, I believe Tommy did come around to an extent, beginning to view Techno as more of a person than a weapon, but he was still too blinded by his discs and revenge. Both Techno and Tommy were very transparent about wanting to destroy L’manberg and just wanting to get back at Dream respectively, but neither actually took the time to listen and discuss this. And while Techno is far from innocent in this, he did treat Tommy with respect and kindness while they worked together (covering for him, protecting him, turning a mostly blind eye to being stolen from, the turtle helmet, respecting his triggers in regards to Dream and the control room despite not understanding them). None of which Tommy ever even tried to repay and he ultimately turned against him once more covered in the very armor Techno had supplied him with.

But now with Ranboo, you can tell he’s much more closed off. He doesn’t let Ranboo stay in (or under) his house, only on the surrounding property. He has not offered to supply Ranboo with anything despite being the primary reason Ranboo lost most of his things (though granted, Ranboo is perfectly self sufficient and does not need Techno to give him anything. Tommy, on the other hand, never once bothered to get his own things, which he was more than capable of doing). We know he and Ranboo are not on bad terms, he defended Ranboo when Dream accused him of being a traitor and even told Ranboo he’d cover for him if he wanted to escape the destruction of L’manberg. Techno has simply been hurt.

Sure, he has Tommy and Tubbo (and to a lesser extent Techno), but the thing is, Tommy, Tubbo, and Techno don’t really need him the way Fundy needs him. They love their dad but they’re also independent. Fundy needs someone he can depend upon.

Fundy needs someone who wants him.

Phil wants someone who needs him.

Okay

Taking Wilbur’s word as gospel (which I typically do when it comes to smp lore), here’s what we know:

• Fundy was roughly 14 at the time of the initial election.

• The max legal age that a child can be adopted is 18

• The minimum legal age one can marry, in both the US and the Netherlands, is 18

Given Dream is not canonically a child and roughly 21 irl, Fundy must be about 18 as of current canon

This means that from the election to current day, roughly 4 years have passed

If Wilbur’s last good memory of Fundy was during the election, then that means his descent into insanity started shortly after. This would mean:

• Wilbur spent roughly 4 or less years completely out of his mind.

• Tommy spent roughly 4 or less years under his brother’s emotional manipulation and abuse

• Tubbo (along with the rest of the smp) spent roughly 4 years under Jschlatt’s thumb

“How long have you been in my head?”

“Well, forever, I’m you.”

“That doesn’t make sense, why now all of the sudden did you just randomly appear?”

“Well, I mean, you’re looking at your book, you’re looking at a smile, you’re thinking about Dream. You think about Dream a lot.”

The voice acknowledges that it is not Dream himself, but rather a severed part of Ranboo’s own mind. Ranboo simply heavily associates it with Dream, which is likely why it sounds so much like him. (We have also had outward confirmation that it is not the physical Dream himself).

“Yeah, I do, he’s the reason everything is going wrong.”

“What are some of the bad things Dream has done?”

“Well you, er, he fights against Tommy and Tubbo all the time [...]”

As much as Ranboo doesn’t like to see in terms of black and white sides, he is very insistent that Dream is The Bad Guy. He blames Dream for everything that has ever gone wrong on the server, even when they weren’t directly caused by him. He has stated several times that it should be Everyone vs. Dream. Dream is always in the wrong no matter what. This might contribute to him identifying the voice as Dream. It tells him bad things he did, but Dream is always the bad guy so it must be Dream.

“My memory is interesting. I remember big things, I would have remembered if I blew up the community house.”

“You do remember, this is you.”

“But how do you remember stuff that I don’t?”

“Well, it’s complicated, your brain is a funny place. I see two sides of you.”

This could be taken one of two ways. If the voice is a separate entity such as a Dreamon and is simply manipulating Ranboo, then it may be implying that there are two independent halves of Ranboo, neither of which are aware of each other, and it can see and interact with both of them independently.

On the other hand, if the voice is truly a part of Ranboo’s mind like it claims, then it may be speaking objectively when it says there are two sides. This would explain why it knows things Ranboo doesn’t, as it may be the other side it’s referring to and was the one consciously doing those things. When Ranboo first started to panic, he spoke to and about himself in the second person, using “you” and “we,” which the voice has continued doing. However, it still acknowledges that they are technically the same person, meaning “Ranboo” as a whole was still the one that did these things, even if the side we see through was not aware of it.

“No, you’re just what happens whenever I panic. This is my panic room and I’ve only talked to you here. There’s no way, this has to just be something with my past, there’s no reason for you to be here.”

“I’m here all the time, you just never open your mind to me unless you’re in the panic room, you don’t let me talk unless you’re in the panic room. You don’t listen to me. Even if I scream, you don’t listen unless you’re in this room.”

“But I don’t, I don’t want to talk to you. You tell me things that you, that you, apparently I did but I don’t think that I did those things. I mean, what else have I done, Dream? Because apparently there’s more, there must be more if there’s an entire, just...”

The Ranboo we’ve been following, intentionally or not, is making a mental effort to block out the voice because he doesn’t want to confront the things it tells him. It is only able to make itself heard when he is less than mentally stable. It is also to be noted that thoughts of Dream seem to trigger the voice, and whether that is because Ranboo associates it with Dream, because the thought of him causes Ranboo mental distress, or both are all equally possible.

“You helped Dream with the tnt that he used to blow up L’manberg, you helped Dream blow up the community house, you helped Techno, and he blew up L’manberg as well, and these are all things you’re blaming on Dream.”

“So I’ve been helping Dream?”

“Yeah, you help Dream all the time.”

“No, no, no, there’s no way that I’ve been, why would I help Dream?”

“You tell me.”

“Dream is the reason why there’s conflict, Dream is the reason why my friends can’t just be happy, why would I be helping him this entire time?”

“That’s something you should ask yourself.”

“I am asking myself! If you’re part of me, then I am asking myself right now.”

“You’re asking the wrong part of yourself.”

This last line once again is implying there’s a second half of Ranboo that’s separate and conscious to the one we watch. Given it is once again speaking objectively, it’s difficult to tell whether this voice is the literal manifestation of Ranboo’s other half trying to bridge the gap, or a separate entity entirely only informing him that it exists.

Phil witnessed first hand what L’manberg did to Wilbur. He saw his son fall from grace right in front of his eyes. So did Tommy. But the difference between them was that Tommy didn’t understand why.

Phil did.

Tommy is too young and too hopeful to understand the way power corrupts people. He didn’t see the way L’manberg had stopped being a home, and had started becoming a symbol of power over others. A symbol that meant “I’m in charge. I’m the one keeping people safe. I’m the Hero.” in people’s mind.

Phil did.

“Since when was Philza against the government?”

“Since it forced me to kill my own son!”

Phil was being a father to Tommy through his actions.

Imagine you have a child and there’s a particular toy they love. They spent hours putting the pieces together and playing with it. The problem is, it’s covered in sharp bits and the child keeps pricking their fingers on it. “But it’s mine!” they shout, “I made it! I love it!” You know they love it, you know they spent so much time playing with it, but you also know that it’s hurting them.

There’s no winning in this situation. If you let them keep it, they’ll just keep hurting themselves. But if you take it away, they’ll be heartbroken and hate you for it.

Obviously the correct answer is not blowing it up in front of their face (I only said he’s not the worst dad), but ultimately Phil was genuinely trying to protect his son from himself. He was trying to save Tommy from falling the way Wilbur did.

(Also, a reminder that Philza didn’t hear Tommy’s speech about the discs. He wasn’t there to see Tommy realize that he was becoming obsessive and step back. All Philza knew was that Tommy left Techno for L’manberg. As far as Phil could have known at the time, Tommy was falling right into the same trap Wilbur had, and he needed to stop it.)

Don’t picture Phil bringing Fundy along on building projects

Don’t picture Phil telling Fundy silly stories about his dad and uncles when they were his age

Don’t picture Phil and Fundy having meals together as a family now that they live together

And whatever you do

So perhaps respawning is a choice, much like it is in the actual game. You can choose to respawn or you can choose to exit the game. Perhaps because Schlatt still had a life on him, Ghostbur needed to attached to him to come back, using his remaining life energy to return.

Fundy had absolutely taken advantage of this and made him cry to get a bunch of regen potions