Would you consider elaborating on c!Eret and c!Quackity’s relationship? I know the characters were engaged at some point, but I still see a lot of people talking about them and was wondering what’s up with them
I honestly forgot about this, but I've been seeing a lot of people bring it up, especially recently. I'm pretty sure it was honestly just a passing funny bit and not intended as anything much more than that (sorry to those who were invested in it though).
From the clip I saw from over a year ago, I had put pink wool in every chest on the DSMP that was named "You Matter - Eret ♥︎". I think Quackity found one, assumed it was the only one and meant for him like a love letter. I was very confused about all of that lol
Separately, I don't remember exactly as it was over a year ago now, but I think Karl, Quackity, myself and maybe someone else (sapnap? Schlatt?) once did a bit in Karl's Harry Potter house where we were all getting married and breaking up and stuff. Wasn't intended as canon, but some parts were pretty funny, so I think some of them ran with the bit for a while after (I think Karl, Quackity, and Sapnap had their whole thing for a while before that too, I was just there and got involved in the bit)
In early SMP days, it was like 90% improv, so I understand the want to read into things, but a lot of it was just stuff we came up with on the spot with little intention of continuing after the bit was done.
I know this might be sad to hear for those that were invested in this particular "arc" (if you can even call it that) but I doubt that it will being picked up again any time in the near future, if at all.
I really appreciate the enthusiasm though and AU-wise it's an interesting concept, but I would not say it's 100% canon in the SMP. It happened, but is not likely to impact character decisions in the future if that's what your concern is. <3
If you could retcon ghostburs character what would you do?
..........no.
This is tricky to talk about because i'm gonna end up repeating the stuff i mentioned in a previous post but I'll try and keep it paraphrased at least.
(to preface this i want to say im not accusing wilbur of anything, i know he's not a professional screenwriter. im only analyzing and critiquing this based on how nuanced his understanding of these topics seemed to be up until recently.)
ghostbur started out fine. At first he manifested as the culmination of wilbur's fondest memories, which on the surface seemed fine and merely melancholic, but later is proven to be much darker and subjective when we learn he remembers his death along with other upsetting things as something happy and celebrated. The most important thing to note here is ghostbur isn't necessarily his happiest memories, ghostbur is the personification of what wilbur viewed as weakness.
His talk with quackity during the elections arc is indicative of this. That's why ghostbur is tragic, and why he works so well as a metaphor for the effects of mental illness and suicide. This is strengthened by those downright bone chilling subtle nods to wilburs mental stability when he was alive, where ghostbur confirms he would cry often, and was morbidly depressed (can't find the source, but it's a clip of him comparing himself to neurotic artists, which in and of itself is sooo fucking cool and poetic given wilburs character having theater and musical motifs).
With that background out of the way, ghostbur, to me, started out as a chilling reminder for how your mental health can not only affect your life, but the people's around you. There's a reason he rarely streamed his perspective. It was about seeing those repercussions for the literal and figurative hole he left behind.
When someone dies, when someone chooses to leave, it's a ripple effect. Wilbur left in such a gruesome, violent way, and with no explanation or even a note. It's hard for me to not be sympathetic when I myself struggle with feelings of hopelessness and self destructive tendencies, but that sympathy has it's limits when you recognize wilburs refusal to see reason or get help. I'm not saying this wasnt without environmental/situational factors, but that's still no excuse for his treatment of tommy (who switched roles with wilbur as the level headed parental figure depsite being 16), and later the entire country he created. This is why november 16th as a metaphor for the effects of suicide makes perfect sense to me, ending with (again, literal. the metaphor isn't hard to identify) explosive consequences for a seemingly necessary action.
Ghostbur, being wilbur, seeing this ripple effect, perceiving the hurt he caused not just by blowing up the country, but by leaving them, was really where i thought this story was going to go. the scene where he revisits pogtopia was haunting and fit his character arc (at the time) perfectly. It conveyed to the audience that just because you arent physically there, you leave things behind. You leave people, places, and feelings that will forever be affected by your absence. I would have had no issue if this is how ghostbur continued, and even if there were no advancements in how much these impact him, id still be happy, since dream revived him in a way that we're supposed to believe was prematurely. to me, ghostburs perfect natural ending would be to understand he hurt people, realize he was loved and that he only hurt himself, and then pass on, giving his loved ones who he saw semblance of reconciliation with a proper goodbye.
(i do want to say while i do have issues with how wilbur was revived, i think this metaphor could have continued without much confusion if wilbur merged with his ghost, and slowly started unveiling ghostburs memories of progress and emotional recovery, leading him to eventually realize recovery is possible and kickstart his redemption arc in a much more meaningful, literal way. but thats my own personal daydream.)
But here we have the issue with the execution of the character. I have absolutely 0 fucking idea why wilbur The Writer decided to turn a painfully raw, beautiful metaphor for suicide/mental illness into a woobified softboy baby. Not only does that make me feel like everything interesting about ghostbur is suddenly called into question, but if he is supposed to be detached completely from wilbur, then we fall back into the trope of needlessly demonizing mentally ill people, completely erasing any sympathy and clarity we would have had for wilbur posthumously. it threatens the validity and impact of anything he fucking said about "himself" back when he was alive. not to mention is it kinda of uncomfortable to make the dead character seem happiest when he's dead, playing back into unsavory rhetoric about recovery.
What I'm trying to say is, from a thematic standpoint, it is completely useless. making ghostbur his own separate entity that has no association with wilbur ruins any nuance wilburs violent, deeply upsetting death had. If ghostbur is separate from wilbur, we have no frame of reference to how wilbur actually felt during l'manburg times, the elections, pogtopia, his suicide, NONE OF IT. So his death is added to the pile of characters that serve as a reminder to mentally ill people that is doesnt get better, you're only going to get worse, and then you'll die. Ghostbur was the reason why wilburs inital death became so poignant, and why the message is profound.
Im ending this by saying yes im aware not all mentally ill people are just good people with a scapegoat diagnosis for every bad thing you do. You can still be a bad person. What I'm saying is that this is an oversaturated, potentially dangerous message. (I once again have to link my favorite video about this subject, and i really really REALLY hope you watch it if you want to understand my frustration more and are understandably annoyed with my batshit insane thought process.) If that's the only consistent ending for stories like this, then that perpetuates the idea that there is no hope for recovery for mentally ill people, and the best option is to die.
So no, I don't want to retcon ghostbur. I want to retcon his most recent writing.
(i want to add that sometimes i fear that the smp members just straight up dont understand each others characters, and usually that translates into in character stuff, but right now, if that's whats happening with ghostbur, i think i made it abundantly clear that this is a HUGE DETRIMENTTTT. ok bye)
Someone break into hollywood hq and steal all their waxing supplies if men dont start having arm hair in movies again soon im going to start egging houses
I’m a gay man and i’m horny. This aint about misogyny and racism and body policing thats for another post with important political points. this is about wanting to gnaw on mark ruffalo’s forearms like a rottweiler with some rawhide.
areudirty
romaincrisis
izzy806
turnnoffyourmind
pixelskylines
dededos
