#mt's words

[mt-words]

It has taken me eight months but I finally figured out why Techno's Theseus speech seemed familiar.

It’s Roman Torchwick from RWBY.

Consider: You want to be a hero, Tommy? Then die like one!

Vs

You want to be a hero? Then play the part and die like every other huntsman in history!

[mt-words]

Technoblade and Dream have each been completely powerless only once.

Quackity was the cause both times.

Let that sink in.

[mt-words]

I’ve been seeing some concerns about the egg stream yesterday that Techno isn’t taking Bad’s plot seriously enough, and I have some thoughts. (Also, so excited to see this plot pulling in so many members of the server, I’ve enjoyed it a lot so far!)

On a meta level (talking ccs here) BBH and Techno probably talked before the stream and planned for things to go something like this. They even had the prerecorded line of the Egg screaming “Silence!” and trying to get Technoblade’s attention with his name. If Bad had a problem he would have talked with his fellow creators and gotten it sorted out.

Looking at the characters, guys. This is Technoblade. If Quackity has a fight flight flirt response to fear, Techno’s is fight flight frustrate. This man was joking about writing a yelp review for his kidnapping while being dragged to his execution. He was ordered to kill Tubbo and stalled for time by asking if he was supposed to take him out to dinner. Dream came to his home to accuse him of lying to his face about Tommy and he responded by filibustering him with donations and making fun of him for being homeless. The list goes on.

Some of these events were actually nerve wracking for him, some of them still impact his character to this day. And sometimes it’s just because he wants to mess with people 😊. Techno tries to get control in situations where he may not have it by deflecting and pushing his opponents to see how much he can get away with. He also used his sarcastic comments to get Bad to contradict himself several times, showing that he was insincere with his motives and only wanted Technoblade’s power.

If you want to see whether Techno is actually concerned over a situation, look at how he interacts with his “associates” (sure, pig man). He tries to hide Ranboo from Bad and tries to make a distraction so Ranboo can run when he’s discovered. He panics when Ranboo is trapped with the Egg, immediately giving him suggestions to try to talk him through his agitation and throwing down resources as soon as he gets the thought that they might be useful. He repeatedly moves himself to be closer to Ranboo or between him and Bad during the confrontation. You think Techno’s completely nonchalant about the threat the Eggpire poses?

Follow up note, you think Bad and the Egg won’t try to find a way to exploit that?

[mt-words]

/rp

I wonder if some of people’s views of Techno are skewed by the expectations of how a well intentioned extremist should work?

The Well Intentioned Extremist is a trope for an idealist antagonist. Generally, the antagonist has ideals that might be good in theory but the way they’re putting it into practice has consequences or uses methods the protagonist can’t support. It’s easy to see why Techno might fit this trope from the pov of someone like Tommy.

Techno has two ways he differs from how the trope normally plays out. The first is his methodology, the second is his own response to his actions, and I think both contribute to why people see him as evil.

-When an anarchist character is a well intentioned extremist, the conflict between them and the protagonist is typically their use of violence. They usually agree that the system is flawed but an extremist is willing to cause harm to bystanders while trying to cause change and the protagonist can’t let that stand.

There are two differences here.

Violence is a constant in this world, Techno is not set apart from other characters by using it.

Techno targets people that perpetuate the problems he sees and doesn’t usually (canonically) kill people unless it’s in self defense.

Other characters use violence frequently in this series, even ones generally seen as good. Wilbur and Tommy killed Jack, Quackity and co killed Karl, New L’manburg tried to kill Techno, Sam killed Ponk, Bad killed Skeppy, and there’s too much griefing on the server to start a list here.

Techno tries to leave bystanders unharmed. On Doomsday he asks Ranboo to leave and get to safety and refuses to attack Jack Manifold’s home even after defending himself from Jack in a duel he didn’t initiate. The biggest point against him here is that he’s caused more extensive property damage than most characters.

If his methods aren’t the biggest point of conflict, it seems that people jump to his ideology being flawed and his character being hypocritical. This is true to some extent, he isn’t perfect, but I think some of his flaws are taken out of proportion to paint other characters in a better light.

-A sympathetic well intentioned extremist almost always has a My God, What Have I Done? moment (not uncommonly paired with Redemption Equals Death). The protagonist is portrayed as right so any good person will eventually come to their senses and agree with them.

Technoblade doesn’t do this. He tries to correct his methods when he sees them as flawed, and regrets some of his past actions (as seen in his conversation with Niki). He doesn’t really have a moment of thinking he shouldn’t have destroyed New L’manburg, or a huge soliloquy about what bad choices he’s made. 

I think because of our expectations with this trope, there will always be people who see Techno as wrong for not changing his worldview.

[mt-words]

All these people theorizing that the letter Quackity made Dream write is going to end with Techno being trapped in the prison, and I get the feeling they don’t watch Philza Minecraft.

Specifically, there was a tts donation one time that suggested building an enderpearl stasis chamber in case one of them was in trouble and needed to retreat.

If I remember correctly, he smiled, looked straight into the camera, and implied that they had already thought of that.

[mt-words]

As a fan of Niki I love her section of Techno’s will.

“Tell Ranboo &Niki that they’re stronger than they know.”

So much of Niki’s story is about what it means to make an impact, what it means to belong. Does making the best choice you can matter if no one knows or cares either way? Does kindness make a difference if people don’t accept it? Does it matter if you fight if you don’t succeed?

Niki frequently feels invisible. It’s why she ultimately left L’manburg, she went there for her best friend and was promised that no one fights alone, where was that promise when she was left standing alone against Schlatt? Even once they reclaimed the country she felt like there was no family for her there, so she left.

Niki struggled to make the choice to join the Syndicate because she wasn’t sure what she wanted, she had unfinished business she wanted to sort out first. The deciding factor was that she wanted a place to belong.

By having Philza pass her this message if he dies, Techno doesn’t only assure her that he sees her, she’s one of the only four people he mentioned by name (aside from pets), he values her friendship, he also makes sure Philza will reach out to her if he’s gone. He makes sure she won’t be left alone and that belonging won’t be gone with him.

And Techno uses these couple of words to tell her how strong she is.

After all those sleepless nights in an uncomfortable, small room in her underground city, surrounded only by her doubts and fearful thoughts, don’t you think that would mean the world?

[mt-words]

/rp

There have been a lot of comments about how Doomsday wasn’t very satisying, and I think that’s the point? Doomsday wasn’t supposed to be a cathartic resolution. It was supposed to be destruction, leaving an empty void and making room for new stories.

It was a catalyst for many character’s arcs.

Fundy and Niki turned against the home that hurt them, that they didn’t feel was really there anymore, finally moving on. Dream, Tommy, and Tubbo were set up for a final confrontation to end the disk war. Ranboo realized that by choosing everyone he had chosen no one. He lost everything and started over with new allies. Quackity knew it was a losing fight and went back anyway. He risked his last life to stand against Dream’s power once again and further solidified his character. Jack fought for a nation and friend that had left him behind and gained nothing for it but death and a burning anger.

That’s just naming a few central characters, but no one’s current arcs were really in a place to wrap up neatly here.

If Doomsday resolved anything it was the Butcher Army Arc. I’ve said it before, but for Techno Doomsday was mostly retribution and self defense because of his execution. It highlights the futility and endless nature of retribution, of the cycle of violence everyone is locked into. No one came out any better after the smoke cleared. No one’s mind was changed, no one became a better person because of anything that happened, it was just destruction.

So if you felt empy and unsatisfied after Doomsday, good.

That was the point.

[mt-words]

/rp

Sometimes I see posts and wonder how many people realize it was Technoblade who came up with the favor to Dream? Dream was just going to leave it as an ambiguous 'you kinda owe me' thing, Techno was the one who used the word favor first and put terms on it (one time use for whatever you want, although described in terms that make it sound a bit monkey paw-esque if used for the wrong thing).

It provides some insight to Techno’s character, first that he thinks it’s important to honor debts like this. Second that he wanted to set terms to it. He didn’t want the life debt to be constantly hanging over his head, so he set the limit to one favor. It’s an interesting example of him thinking about the consequences of his words and planning around that rather than giving full unquestioning support up 'till it backfires as he had in the past.

Anyway, just thinking about Techno and character development.