So about a week ago, I made a poll about who the original 8 members of the dsmp were out of curiosity. While 56% of people knew, there were still 44% of people who didn’t know. I thought that the number was unfortunate because of the significance of the og8 on the server as a whole but especially c!dream’s character. Thus, I decided to make a brief post about it (which unfortunately won’t be super in depth, but people are free to use this as the starting point for a discussion!)
To start, I’d like to say that this misconception of c!punz being a part of the og8 is in some ways a disservice to the story, in my opinion. There’s something very significant about the fact that c!dream has none of the og8 by his side, not anymore. This directly ties into what c!dream says in the finale, about not wanting to be alone.
c!dream wants the server to go back to simpler times. those simpler times? the time when it was just when the og8 were on the server. They spent nearly 2 months on the server together before other people started joining. And I think it’s important to remember that c!tommy was the first person after the og8 to join the server.
This is particularly important because of the amount of blame that c!dream places on c!tommy. We know that c!dream (wrongly) thinks of c!tommy as the source of all his issues and all the issues on the server itself. While this is large part because of c!wilbur, it’s also because of the division of time on the server: pre-tommy and post-tommy.
now, this is where c!punz not being apart of the og8 really becomes important. There’s a disconnect in c!dream and c!punz’s motivations and goals. c!punz wasn’t a part of that idealized past that c!dream wants to return to. that’s not c!punz’s motivation.
c!tommy in the finale says that c!dream just wants friends. c!punz refutes that by saying that he’s c!dream’s friend, but c!dream stays silent because that’s not what c!tommy is talking about. that’s not what it’s about. c!dream wants the friends that he made the server for. he wants the friends that he made a home with.
part of the tragedy of c!discduo is that c!tommy could have been a part of that. he could of joined the server after the og8 and joined that group of friends. it could’ve been an expansion of that home that c!dream created. there still would have been some chaos and some issues, but things only really started spiraling down with l’manberg and c!wilbur.
and, in hindsight, for c!dream who places the blame on c!tommy, it’s easier to just think of things immediately falling apart upon c!tommy joining the server.
knowing who the og8 are specifically is also really important because of the ways it re-contextualizes c!dream’s relations to those people. it makes sense that c!dream would trust c!sam to be the warden, and it makes that betrayal sting all the more. it adds depth to c!bad being the guard to show c!dream the most kindness. c!ponk’s thoughts on c!dream being locked in pandora has a history to it. c!dream team’s tragedy is well known, and c!callahan and c!alyssa aren’t around anymore.
and in terms of c!dream and c!punz, the fact that c!punz wasn’t a part of the og8 is vital to their dynamic, as it lays the foundation for their disconnect in the finale stream.
the og8 haunt c!dream and the server as a whole, and it’s really important that the og8 are who they are.