some ppl on twitter are talking abt c!ranboo maybe never coming back and. idk how i feel abt that.
i just. i hate limbo if this is what it does
when c!wilbur died i was heartbroken, but i could always make up my own comfort hcs for where he was gonna spend the rest of his days; now that i know characters are living the worst experiences imaginable for decades, it feels… empty.
killing off c!ranboo and leaving them dead at this point feels like pointless angst. it hasnt had any plot relevance so far other than upsetting c!tubbo and c!techno, but even c!tubbo has been more focused on michael. you could make the argument that c!ranboo’s death led to c!sam’s imprisonment but, idk, that felt far more connected to michael imo.
personally, i think that it would’ve been best if c!ranboo either:
a. never died and continued the burger arc properly
b. died but had a death that was meaningful and didnt leave me asking “was that intentional or a blooper? did i imagine that?”
c. died and came back a week or so later
yeah so. idk if u can tell from that but im really not a fan of the way c!ranboo died, i think it was a waste of the potential he has, and im not a fan of how horrific limbo reportedly is for him bc it feels like pointless angst (a lot like the ghostbur drabbles)
also i do enjoy limbo tho, i rly like what it added to c!wilbur (showed that death doesnt fix someone and only serves to further mental issues), and i KINDA like the way it was done w c!tommy (a short time, a reunion w c!wilbur, proof that revive book is real)
im just not a fan of pointless angst that does nothing for the plot
anyway that is all my rambling for tonight thank u ❤️ (damn its been a long time since ive posted analysis it feels good)
Ok, this will probably be a bit of a mess and not original at all, but listening to Monster by dodie made me think about this and I haven’t stopped for days.
Character design regarding the Dream Smp has fascinated me not only because of the sheer variety but mainly because of the interesting relationship between canon and semi-canon or fanon designs. There are elements that are Explicity canon (visible on the mc skin such as c!Wilbur’s white streak), Verbally canon (stated by characters such as c!Tubbo’s firework scars), Implied canon (referenced or alluded to by characters or ccs such as c!Tommy’s white streak) and fanon.
Horns are something that fit into that picture in an interesting way. I’m going off of memory for a lot of this, so feel free to correct me (also this is my first meta type post, please be gentle). As far as I recall no character has actual horns as part of their mc skin, making the existence or non-existence of character’s horns be an interesting situation. Some characters have stronger allusions to having horns (c!Schlatt) while with others it’s less clear (c!Tubbo and c!Puffy). Ranboo’s vtuber model, which is based on his mc skin, has horns, while the snowglobe version has both horns and a tail. But rather than ponder simply on the canonicity of horns as part of a character design, I want to talk a bit about what characters are visualised by either the cc’s, the community, or both, to have horns, because it is rather compelling in my view.
Horns are traditionally a symbol of strength and aggressiveness, most notably as a sign of evil in the form of the devil. Horns represent not only an Active character but potentially a wicked one whose morality may be questioned.
c!Schlatt (due to cc!Schlatt’s previously established branding) is almost universally presented as having horns, fitting the stereotype of the morally rotten antagonist, even as his strength is largely a show especially near the end of his life. Contrasting that to c!Tubbo who started to be associated with horns especially as he was as President of New L’Manburg. Paralleling to c!Schlatt, the connotations applied to c!Tubbo can be somewhat negative, but it also presents an interesting contrast between the seemingly more active role he takes as a President as opposed to being a right-hand man as part of the Manburg cabinet. It also strengthens the view of c!Tubbo as a threat which is especially realized after the founding of Snowchester.
Interestingly, other characters to which the morally conflicted interpretation of horns can be applied to are c!Ranboo, c!Tommy, and c!Puffy. c!Puffy has played roles meant to positively influence the server (opening a therapy office and wanting to throw Michael a birthday party with a friend just to name a few) but also been drawn to negative actions, sometimes with external influences (griefing the server with c!Dream). For her the horns function more as a symbol of mischief than deep moral decay.
c!Ranboo, while never physically powerful, had not only power in wealth but power in connections, as well as internally and externally struggling with morality. Having a character that was so afraid of being viewed as a traitor have a symbol reminiscent of arguably the ultimate traitor right on his head is so narratively interesting to me!
Now c!Tommy. Unlike the other characters who most frequently are depicted with animal or animal-like horns, c!Tommy has devil horns specifically. Much more eloquent writers than myself have spoken about how the presence of c!Tommy with horns is mostly used as highlighting his mischievous streak but he, too, is a character that struggles with morality, internally and externally. Further, the idea of devil horns as a visual representation of the demonisation c!Tommy experiences is rather compelling to me.
These five characters have many things in common but at least as many differences, especially with how they are viewed in-universe. c!Schlatt is near universally hated. c!Puffy is viewed ambivalently (if at all) while c!Ranboo has a good if shallow reputation. c!Tommy is a polarising character disliked by many and loved fiercely by few. Sometimes by the very same people. And c!Tubbo, formerly beloved, now largely deserted. Secure but alone.
Any character’s could have been viewed as having horns, but prior branding, narrative parallels, and other factors influenced the perception of these five specifically. While not universal, the way characters are portrayed is not only interesting from an analytical perspective. The perception of a striking visual elements such as horns by observers is quite interesting, too. This might not be the most cohesive meta post, but I just had to write it.
one of my favorite things about ranboo’s character is how he’s got a pretty good sense of self-perception, but terrible self-discipline. he consistently picks up on his flaws: he KNOWS he’s a pushover, a hypocrite, a bad friend, and a detrimental people-pleaser. he’s aware of all of this, and he points it out in conversations with people (like in his talk with wilbur, when he explains his issues with discerning what will become conflicts and what will stay light-hearted).
but no matter how many times he says it, he never puts a lot of personal work into fixing these flaws (he’s similar to wilbur in this way). it’s almost as if he works in extremes. he either accepts that everyone on the server is a hypocrite (so why bother trying to change?) or he’s begging sam to put him in the prison for a crime he doesn’t even remember committing.
i think it all boils down to the way he panics when he starts feeling pressured (and how little it takes to send him into a spiral). he loses a lot of his clarity, and he makes choices that directly contradicts his beliefs. and he HATES himself for it, but he doesn’t know how to stop. again, i’m picking up a lot of similarities between him and wilbur. all this to say, i think this arc with wilbur is what’s going to make or break his morals: either he’ll finally grow a spine and learn to defend what he loves and believes, or he’ll convince himself that he’s never going to be able to change. and i’m sure as his memory slowly returns, this will all get more stressful for him, so maybe this is all building up to a climax. anyway, i love c!ranboo with all my heart because he is a messed-up kid who has an unhealthy need for validation (affectionate).
I ANALYZED ALL OF THE NEW SONGS ON RANBOO'S LORE PLAYLIST - HERE'S WHAT I FOUND
Back in March, I listened to every single song on Ranboo's DMCA Lore Playlist. I came up with a solid theory, published my evidence and that was that. My work was done.
But nope! Ranboo's back and he's deleted a ton of songs and added more. And so I listened. Again. And I'm back with a theory, and it does not look good.
This new batch of songs shows us that this is a new era of c!Ranboo. Redesign Your Logo is meant to tell us that things are changing, and so is c!Ranboo. This could be do to the fact that something bad is most likely going to happen to c!Ranboo in the near future, probably the taking of his first canon life. Songs like Eyewishes and Goodbye heavily point to the ending of a chapter (or life) of c!Ranboo. The song Blue Monday isn’t anything revolutionary, as we were already well aware of the toxic relationship between c!Ranboo and c!Dream. Another thing to point out is that Everybody Wants To Rule The World sets up an interesting take on nuclear weapons, a thing that c!Tubbo has and c!Ranboo doesn’t know exists. If c!Ranboo were to find out about the nukes, it could lead to the two fighting over whether or not they were a good thing. Going into Time Moves Slow, the narrator there discusses a relationship that just ended between them and their lover, meaning there could be a c!Beeduo divorce arc in the near future.
Below are the analyses on each individual song and the added and deleted songs
Deleted: Prologue (StarKid), Introduction to the Snow (Miracle Musical), Dream Sweet in Sea Major (Miracle Musical), Turn the Lights Off (Tally Hall), The Mind Electric (Miracle Musical), The Ruler of Everything (Tally Hall), Ain't No Rest for The Wicked (Cage the Elephant), The Bidding (Tally Hall), Stranded Lullaby (Miracle Musical), Hidden in the San (Tally Hall), & (Tally Hall), I'm Gonna Win (Rob Cantor).
Added: Redesign Your Logo (Lemon Demon), Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears), Blue Monday (New Order), Eyewishes (Lemon Demon), Bystanding (Lemon Demon), Goodbye (Bo Burnham), Time Moves Slow (BADBADNOTGOOD and Samuel T. Herring).
Redesign Your Logo (Lemon Demon) - This song is about a pdf that went around during 2009 about the Pepsi company logo. In it, the Arnell group is trying to sell Pepsi a new logo, so that they can make tons of money. I feel that this song symbolizes evolution and growth, we’re entering a new era of c!Ranboo. He’s redesigned and rebranded. This song could also be on this playlist because of a fan animation on youtube set to the same song by Shyshui.
Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Tears for Fears) - This song was written about the Cold War between The Soviet Union and The United States that happened during the 20th Century. The main line of the song ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ is about how everyone wants power, and the misery that it brings with it. This is a theme we can see clearly on the DreamSMP, with many leaders such as c!Eret, c!George, c!Bad, c!Wilbur, and c!Dream all leading lives of misery in one way or another. This is also important for c!Ranboo, as he is the most powerful man on the server. It tells us that his power will soon be his misery. Also a small little thing I’d like to point out is the line ‘Say that you’ll never, never, never, never need it’ which is meant to be about the use of nuclear devices during that time period. Many governments had them but claimed they would only use them if another country was launching a nuclear attack. This could translate to c!Tubbo owning nukes and c!Ranboo possibly finding out, which could cause discourse between the two.
Blue Monday (New Order) - Blue Monday is about the singer pondering the mistreatment of their person by someone they trusted. The person seems to be manipulative and toxic for the singer but the singer is too far under their control to leave them. Immediately we can tell that this song is most likely about the relationship between c!Ranboo and c!Dream. c!Dream uses c!Ranboo as his errand boy, making him do all sorts of tasks, although this hasn’t really happened since the Disc War Confrontation. However, we know the c!Dream still has some sort of hold over c!Ranboo because we saw c!Sapnap trigger an Enderwalk episode by giving c!Ranboo a message from c!Dream.
Eyewishes (Lemon Demon) - Eyewishes is a song about a distraught man who has no eyelashes, as he used them all on wishes, and now he can make no more wishes. The man pours out his frustrations and then resolves to committing suicide. While I don’t believe c!Ranboo would take his own life, I believe that he soon will die. The last line of this song is ‘So take care of my plants and pets and now I’ll say good-’. c!Ranboo has many pets in his care and he would want them taken care of after he dies. I could see him saying this line to a character like c!Tubbo. However, c!Ranboo is still on three canon lives and would not perma died if killed.
Bystanding (Lemon Demon) - Bystanding is the direct sequel to Eyewishes, starting off with bi, completing the phrase ‘goodbye’ started at the end of Eyewishes. Other than this, the song has no real points of interest as it’s just the singer repeating different words, working his way up from 2 to 5.
Goodbye (Bo Burnham) - I’m going to split this song up into two sections, just because I think there’s a lot to cover here. Let’s start pre-bridge. For context, Goodbye is the final track from the comedy-musical special Inside, done by Bo Burnham. Bo says the special was a long project for him as he filmed the entire thing in his house during COVID-19 Quarantine. The beginning part of this song talks a lot about how Bo doesn’t want the special to be over because now he has nothing else to do, and he’ll just have to live his life. This could translate into c!Ranboo losing a lot of things that he worked for, such as his valuables (totems and riches) and just being a normal person again. It could also signify an ending of a chapter for him, maybe his marriage ending, his partnership with the Syndicate ending. However, I believe that its most likely to be c!Ranboo’s neutrality ending. During the recent lore stream he did with c!Wilbur, we finally saw c!Ranboo pick a side. He chose Wilburger over Las Nevadas, losing his trademark neutral stance. c!Ranboo thought his neutrality made him more than others, that he was the one able to see over the conflict, but now he’s just like everyone else. He has a side and an enemy. Let’s move into the bridge and ending of the song now. The first line I’d like to call specifically is ‘Wanna guess the ending, if it ever does.’ This line could maybe signify the fact that throughout the history of the SMP there have been many times that the conflict and story feel like they’ve finally come to a close, only for everything to start up once again. The next lyric is ‘If I wake up in a house that’s full of smoke, I’ll panic, so call me up and tell me a joke.’ This is a callback to another song on Inside, Comedy, in which Bo talks about using his comedy as a way to help people, but really it was he who needed help. c!Ranboo acts as a protector for a lot of characters, most notable c!Tubbo and tried hard to please most people and aid as many as he can, but most of the time he’s the one needed the most help. Similar to Bo, c!Ranboo doesn’t realize he needs help until it’s too late.
Time Moves Slow (BADBADNOTGOOD and Samuel T. Herring) - This song is about a person who’s lover has left them, and although it’s painful they know its for the better. This could, unfortunately, suggest a c!beeduo split but there is another part of this song that I’d like to touch on. ‘Running away is easy, its the living that’s hard.’ This is the chorus for the song and it talks about how running from your problems is easier than facing them but having to live without them is hard. Throughout the story, we often see c!Ranboo ignore his problems, most recently with the vandalism of c!Tubbo’s cookie shop. c!Ranboo found it and decided to fix it and tell no one it happened, which lead to a hostile confrontation between c!Quackity and c!Tubbo.
c!tubbo is not the only unhealthy factor in c!beeduo's relationship; it's a joint effort.
guys if you're going to be c!beeduo crit you gotta. you gotta be critical of the full duo not just c!tubbo hello??
(from here on out i'm dropping the c! tags this is all in reference to the dream smp characters)
i think i've seen two posts talking about how beeduo's relationship isn't healthy and there is a lot of unprocessed trauma and events that need to be reconciled between the two
only for the post to lead into like. heavy tubbo crit!
like guys, you realize ranboo is not some harmless little meow meow uncapable of making his own decisions? he's NOT ignorant! he's very capable!
where tubbo has kept secrets and also toyed with ranboo's memory by conducting experiments, ranboo is not incapable of saying no?
he's not ignorant! i really feel as if these posts view ranboo as if he simply doesn't understand, but as ranboo has said, there is a mutual understanding of... not telling each other their secrets.
however, i really think ranboo has even less of a leg to stand on about his secrecy, because it's been shown many times that ranboo is someone who stays in denial, which means he knows he really SHOULD be telling tubbo these actions he's made in secrecy. he falls back on the notion that they're both keeping secrets on purpose, though. however, he knows that's not true.
like you can pull all of this from subtext from where he's reassured himself many times over that shitty things he's done weren't actually shitty.
besides the point though, like
these posts don't talk about how ranboo has been made aware of all snowchester's actions and he has had the ability to have a say in what happens at snowchester, where tubbo cannot say the same for any actions ranboo has taken much less anything regarding the syndicate. which makes sense, of course, like obviously he wouldnt be comfortable there, but he doesn't even know ranboo is part of it or that it even exists. see the problem here?
theres a level of inequality on both of their parts, but they never speak about it. and like, ranboo does this... intentionally. i genuinely really can't say whether or not tubbo does? like in terms of... being aware he should tell ranboo. ranboo definitely knows that he should tell tubbo, though. you can tell in the way that he denies it. this is and has been a key characteristic of ranboos character for... a while.
so i just feel discouraged when i don't see anyone like... being critical of ranboo if theyre going to be critical of beeduo's relationship?
i know this post is lacking the tubbo critical part, but i just. MMM. wanted to talk about how it is not only just... tubbo who is "unhealthy" here. it is a joint effort due to the lack of communication between them both.
TLDR;
if you're going to be critical of beeduo's relationship, be critical of them both. if you're making a critical tubbo post just label it a critical tubbo post, not a critical beeduo post. because it takes two to tango and ranboo plays a part in the unhealthiness surrounding the twos relationship as well. he's not just some poor baby who's fallen victim to tubbo.
yess ok i feel like ranboo having such an obvious outlier in his morals and such a definitive one at that is 100% a set up for future character growth and Realizations. especially when we know some of his hatred for dream is moreso fear and confusion of the fact he’s worked w him before but isn’t sure of much more than that. honestly i’d even go as far as to say that All of this is leading to some sort of ‘heroes and villains aren’t real we are all just people, and people can change’ sort of moral-of-the-story thing and he might be the one articulating that 👀
oh absolutely. that is what i'm talking about. a lot of things about how a story is about to progress can be predicted if you look for clues, foreshadowing, and parallels that the will draw in the future.
it requires a great bit of foresight, but especially emphasising on a point like this multiple times while keeping it moderately unassuming is what leads to development.
i agree this is very likely a setup for ranboo's upcoming character arc. i have no idea how that would overlay with the enderwalking thing, but i am also interested in how it might play out.
part of his hatred definitely stems from fear and confusion - people are more likely to dehumanize and villainize the unknown, because they're terrified of it.
either way i really hope that's the lesson they're going for. i know the dream apologists were vindicated and we might be pushing our luck, but hey, we've technically never been wrong in our assumptions if today's anything to go off of.
FUCK YOU i’m making another post about this but more concise because i’m. hfdmhudfkmgyegrhjsfdnuiawehWIEUHJSFDIUWrejdfkshfksdjaniREUFDSQ37RE89WIUEHDFJSKQRIEDSFHUKJN
c!ranboo blowing himself up in las nevadas and taking his first life:
- could be done after c!wilbur told him to blow up the casino with las nevadas people potentially inside, one of such people being c!tubbo, which could give us a c!beeduo conversation that ties back to trust, OR be someone like c!fundy, who c!ranboo has rough history with. or c!tommy. or c!foolish. or ANYONE. and then he goes and he blows himself up and he only takes himself out with the casino and everyone else in las nevadas or otherwise has to watch
- shows the similarities between c!wilbur and c!ranboo except slightly different. both of them blew up a country that they cared for in front of everyone who had lived and fought and bled and hated and loved it. except for c!wilbur, his love was the country, and for c!ranboo, his love was for his friends (and namely c!tubbo) who had lived in it
- takes c!ranboo’s life which i normally would argue a character doesn’t need to lose a life to get character development but c!ranboo is the one exception i can see to that.
- COULD TIE BACK INTO THE ENDERWALK ARC AND HIS PAST PLANS FOR LORE
- would show that he both wants to please c!wilbur because he’s a people pleaser but that ultimately his loyalties are c!tubbo and that he’s still a pacifist but also still a traitor and him betraying everyone in las nevadas and everyone outside of it by blowing up las nevadas was also him trying to keep them alive and could both criticize and show that he’s still tied to his idealogy even when it hurts people
- would make FANTASTIC development for c!wilbur and c!ranboo’s relationship as well as c!quackity because we see history repeating itself
please. taps microphone. can any of you all hear me. can you hear me. please i. please. please. pl
it's so heartbreaking seeing c!Ranboo just letting c!Wilbur have his way. i think it's really nice of him that he wants to believe in him this much, wants to help him. but not calling him out when he seems to fall back into bad habits just doesn't help. he just keeps telling himself that it's not that bad, he really tried to ignore the red flags, but it will just spiral and he'll have to face the consequences of being just strung along and not voicing his thoughts
