(NOTE: All of the drawing you see in this blog post are NOT MINE. They belong to the authors/writers of Myth of The Machine; Flygutzz and Nortsauce (except the last one))
Okay! 👏 Where do I begin?
This is a long one chat (I am not joking this is word vomit) so buckle up!
I was supposed to write and post this last night when the update was finished, but I was tired from work and ended up falling asleep as soon as I got home so it got pushed back. This is a more verbose follow-up to my previous post about this short and sweet update! Just some general feelings I had while reading it, and some observations I made as well.
(View Post Under The Cut!!!)
Jumping straight in and starting with where the update began...
This is an unimportant detail, but it is one I really like as someone who only found out about/got into Dandy's World because of MOTM. I'm positive the piano Bendy is referencing that kept him up all night is "Clair De Lune", which is Dandy's theme/motif. I'm actually listening to it on loop while writing this post.
Moving on to when Bendy actually enters Dandy's office, the first thing he even seems to notice isn't the source of his insomnia, but the plushies sitting on the shelf.
Looking at the plushies its quite obvious these are the same prototype plushies as seen in the flashback, which in turn makes me believe that this "big break" act the two of them were supposed to perform was possibly the same time they had their fallout, resulting in the breakup of the Darling Dancer Duo. (So, while posters and photos of the duo are likely lost memorabilia but still around in storage or what have you, the plushies never made it into becoming official merch.) Additionally, while Dandy's plush is facing the room, and obvious to the immediate eye, Bendy's plush is instead acting as Dandy's shadow, with the 2 plushies being back-to-back. That in itself I feel speaks volumes; Bendy being (in) Dandy's shadow.
Going into the flashback now, before I get to the meat and potatoes, it was a theory of mine that Dandy had far more interest in Science and Biology than singing and dancing, but he just so happened to be good at the latter as well which is why he started his professional career as a performer. The following panel (as seen below)
shows that even while performing, Dandy was likely going to school to learn about Biology, which helps it make sense as to how a singer and actor became the Director of Health; he went to school for it! Juggling a job and university at the same time? Exhausting, I'm proud of you Dandy, kudos.
While Dandy had a natural passion for things Toon Biology related, it's also shown that a part of him was motivated to pursue this form of study to aid his friend, and possibly even himself, since they both suffered from medical conditions that affected them physically.
And speaking of conditions, now we get to the major part of this update; Bendy's tendency to use guilt and emotional abuse to get his way.
This is the second time (as far as I can currently recall) Bendy has used his illness as a scapegoat to get what he wanted. The first time seen was in the previous update between he and Boris, with Bendy ending the train of thought with "I want to live!", which while not as obvious as the 2nd example, I believe is still him hinting at his ticking timebomb of a lifespan and using that to gain sympathy from his brother and guilt Boris into letting him leave in peace. (I have thoughts on that conversation between Bendy and Boris as well, if you guys potentially want to see me yap about that send me an ask! 👀)
Now compared to Boris' example, Bendy's use of guilt is much more obvious with Dandy. Aside from the reference to The-Blog-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named's panels Nort and Fly keep getting away with; Bendy shutting down Dandy's studies and attempts to speak of them by pulling his "I have The Blot and could die at any moment" card to get Dandy to prioritize Bendy's dream is blatant emotional abuse.
Dandy had feelings for Bendy, that was obvious, and something he admitted, and I think Bendy knew all along, and as people sadly tend to do when it comes to someone they view with rose colored glasses, they ignore the red flags. Out of what he thought was unrequited love and guilt Dandy let Bendy toss his studies aside and focus on their work as performers instead; Bendy using praise to attempt to cool the air after the fact.
And this interaction they had in the past makes these panels below really hit hard.
From what we've now seen of Dandy and Bendy's past, Bendy's hypocrisy is in full view, and Dandy's anger at this accusation is beyond justified. When they were younger, at least, Dandy was everything BUT selfish. He put his own dreams on hold time and possibly time again to chase Bendy's passion and what was only his own hobby. This is not to say Dandy himself is not selfish at all, it's possible he has his own selfish tendencies, but they are few and far between. He puts the people he cares about above those tendencies, from what I recall seeing.
This next portion I'm going to try to keep brief, since I already lightly touched on it in my post from before.
Some part of Dandy is plagued by nostalgia for what he and Bendy used to be, and I admire that he had the maturity to go as far as to admit that but also let it be known that Bendy wasn't welcomed back into his circle with open arms. Bendy has been reduced to neutrality, as he should be, but Bendy himself didn't expect such. He pokes at Dandy's nostalgia for their history and gets visibly upset when his attempts are shut down with calmness.
Lastly, the final panel of their conversation oddly reminded me of Bojack Horseman's final conversation with Herb Kazazz, just minus the cursing. I thought that was funny, but also interesting.
I genuinely admire the maturity Dandy displays when it comes to him and Bendy. I hope I have that same wisdom by the time I'm his age, not just with relationships but with anything. I adore how Nort and Fly are writing him so far!
As a final note for this LONG yap session of mine, I present a theory. So far, I've been wondering how exactly Pebble is going to end up joining the Gang on their journey. I've had theories about their being some sort of emergency and Pebble being an accidental stowaway or being intentionally taken by one of the crew. While those both are still very possible, my new growing theory is that Dandy asks Pebble to go with them. Just food for thought.
But that'll be all from me for now! Please, anyone who got this far feel free to comment or send me asks about your own ideas! Thank you so much for even reading all of this lol. Until I post again!
