#shlt 8w9

[enneamage]

Would you say a bit more on Schlatt? I find him interesting if for no other reason that he appears to be a bit of an enigma. Watching him on his own or when he is the one making the content is a completely different experience than when he is surrounded by the rest of OTK. He may say a thing or two that is intentionally odd or unsettling, but that's it. He does nothing to compete with the other big personalities. It is like if he is not driving, he really doesn't want to get in the car.

I have a kind of surface-level exposure to Schlatt with some critblr flakes thrown in so this is going to be me interpreting in some fairly broad strokes, but I can tackle what I think the dynamics are in his Big Persona / shy persona split.

First off, I think Schlatt does better with different people. Not to wax nostalgic for Chuckle Sandwich but he seemed to be a much more willing collaborator with them, and I think the environment was a big part of that. Other more experienced Schlatt lorekeepers could probably tell you about times he's done better or worse, but I think when he’s with people he trusts more he’s more likely to come out of his shell. Him truly fighting other people is a bit more of a raw nerve than one might expect from him though.

Schlatt hit me as a fairly obvious Eight from the beginning, and one of the central themes that come up in writing about Eights is conflict and power. Some writeups will say they lean into it as a form of getting to know what other people are really made of, others will say they don’t like it because they don’t like being challenged and prefer to stay in control of their life and their environment, but most Eight literature has something to say on the theme of conflict. The interesting thing about Schlatt is that he seems to prefer not getting into real conflicts in spite of the big challenger energy in his persona.

I think that despite what he wants to believe about himself, he is afraid of being judged to an extent, especially by the people that he hangs out with. He may not want to admit that he isn’t like or doesn’t want to be around people he may see as ‘strong’ so he just rides it out. He may be trying to keep a sense of control by not putting himself in a position to be challenged by the other strong personalities he’s around; if he picks a fight, he could lose a fight, and that would hurt like hell.  While sometimes the best defense is a good offense, some days he just plays defense, and keeps the energy for when he’s on his own and in complete control.

People tend to not realise how vulnerable Eights are, even Eights themselves. Part of the Eight reactivity can come from feeling like an exposed nerve that needs to react to their environment or otherwise wind up feeling ruled by it, which they can’t tolerate. They would usually much sooner withdraw or fight back than comply with something that they don’t believe is right. From what I’ve heard Schlatt actually bends this rule, as he’s more of a people-pleaser than one would assume if you look at him interacting with the right people. I think in those situations his self-conscious fear of being vulnerable wraps right back around to making him strangely pliant.

I feel like there’s a pattern between some of his traumas as a CC and it’s him not realising that he’s not prepared for what’s going to happen next; there’s an odd innocence about when he’s in over his head. He charges into situations assuming the world is one way and has to deal with the practical and emotional fallout when it turns out it isn’t.

[enneamage]

any thoughts on tommy’s fanboy behavior over schlatt? watching the more recent chuckle sandwich episode with him and started wondering lol

Tommy seems to be very impressionable if he likes someone because he wants to learn everything from them. In the beginning this came off as straight up copying/mirroring/imitation but it’s refined over time (with the intervention and advice of his mentors, ironically.) Tommy is kind of built to be a fanboy, he gets very intensely into things mentally/emotionally and wants to understand them in detail.

Schlatt is a strong comedic talent. He’s got good memesense, his delivery is powerful, and he’s got a lot of charisma. Tommy cites him as some of the first comedy-based Minecraft content he had seen, which resonated with him very deeply. It seems like Tommy was always going to like playing with fire (got that counterphobic style) and Schlatt is that in a nutshell. I feel like Schlatt’s edge really appeals to Tommy’s sense of humor, and likely even shaped it. They’re both concerned with hiding their vulnerability under energy and bravado, and Tommy took cues from him in his younger years about how to do that.

Schlatt was a formative figure to Tommy, but an interesting thing about Schlatt is he also seems to have these tender, earnest connections to the people who made an impression on him when he was younger. This shows up in some content decisions that Schlatt has made, like taking after Sips in his Bad Boss persona. The two of them seem to really value generational continuity, whether they know it or not. Schlatt has a massive soft spot for the memory of the creators he looked up to in his younger years, and you can tell when he talks about them today.

Schlatt is not a ‘safe’ man by his nature, but Tommy lucked out in that his main dude is someone who can appreciate his attachment, however awkward he may be about it. Tommy is still a very… intense young man when it comes to his attachments, for better or for worse, but this arrangement is not nearly as bad as it could be. It’s pretty sweet sometimes.

[enneamage]

Why does the chuckle sandwich gang work?

The power of friendship.

This is an interesting one because we’ve got a Schlatt (8w9) Ted (definitely core 2, still thinking about wings) and Charlie (3w2). If we add in the type Eight growth point (Eight goes to a very devoted and provider-like Two as growth) there’s a surprising density of Two-energy in this trio, on top of all their talent as entertainers.

Both Ted and Charlie are good at playing with Schlatt while also being accommodating to his feelings. Schlatt can be delicate, in the sense that small things can set him off, including being called delicate. Ted and Charlie both have a good enough read on his feelings to know when to push as well as when to stop, all without coming off as babying. Schlatt has a lot of raw, reactive talent, so having two people who are actively invested in his wellbeing gives him a good environment to work in.

Charlie is just happy to be here. He can handle the socially conscious role of co-host when they’ve got guests on as well as handle The Bits when he needs to bust out his improv side. Charlie takes on a bit of a Freudian superego role, paying attention to the emotional meta of what makes a good show and balancing out the energy in whatever direction it needs intuitively. (Basically they’re right to be concerned that episodes without him might be like driving without brakes.)

Ted has similar priorities to Charlie, just slightly different instincts. He’s the technical host of the podcast so his role in steering the ship is more explicit, so that’s where he’s at most often, making sure things run smoothly. He can get tunnel vision when he’s concerned about a certain thing (the show being good, the guest being comfortable, the show following a structure, the bit being funny) so having a pair of invested co-pilots was very good for him.

Chuckle Sandwich is two explicitly caring people and one implicitly caring person with a heart too big to hide (despite his many desperate efforts.) Applied well, care is the beginning of competence. It means you give a damn about your output and you are invested in your impact on people. All three of these boys are powerhouses and they managed to pull together a podcast where I wouldn’t have had to be aware of them before listening, which isn’t always the case for youtuber/streamer podcast content.

[enneamage]

HELLO PAGING DOCTOR ENNEAWIZARD

so, a lot of the time, i wonder what happened with schlatt and quackity. i'm sure it's all fine and that they're on decent (probably distant) terms, but, ya know ... 🤔

anyway, it makes me think, since the enneagram institute's description of 8+4 relationships is ... interesting.

the darker parts of the write-up reminds me a lot of their respective characters during the old manburg days. like, not the CCs, but the characters.

it's weird and kind of funny how even though their on-screen CC relationship barely resembled those parts, when schlatt and quackity were both like "let's be as toxic as possible in minecraft as a joke" ... THAT'S the way it manifested.

food for thought!

Ah, I see you found the “well, someone is feeling brave” 8/4 entry as foreboding/funny as I did. Compatibility lists try to play it neutral but occasionally you get a gem like that. I can see why in the abstract, but the good news is I feel like Q and Schlatt are just friends that come and go in phases rather than subject to real explosive blowouts. It seems more likely that it was introversion and natural work-related drift than anything sinister. Q also likes to keep his friendships to himself before he makes content with people so he might be smuggling some Schlatt here and there behind the scenes.

Play-Fighting during lore and being someone’s villain is such a trust-fall thing that the irony is c!schlackity proves how stable their friendship was. They were both able to take the full heat of the other and be like “this is fun :D.” Being allowed to come and go probably prevents the hyper-intense energy that the 4/8 relationship models talk about, so they seem safe from it this way.

If I’ve got my secondhand irl lore right they were quite close for a while, but the thing that brought them together was Quackity being ostracised, so the conditions around their relationship changing might have even been positive. If they were to fight, I don’t know what they would have fought about since they’ve both got such a well defined private streak. It’s not impossible that there was some friction, but I haven’t caught wind of any evidence for it.

Below the break I’m copy-pasting a long section from this website because the romance writeup is… unprecedented.  

Romantically, there is much potential for these two to feel deeply, if not dangerously, attracted to one another. As volatile, emotionally expressed people, these two are drawn to one another’s storminess and raw vulnerability. In the other, they see someone who possesses more than meets the eye. Additionally, both Fours and Eights have a very embodied and heartfelt intuition, which usually becomes activated in each other’s presence. Fours have a heightened sense of their own and others’ deeper feelings, while Eights have an accurate radar about external phenomena unfolding around them—together, these two can feel supercharged, as if they possess superhuman abilities. Full of passion, and often ruled by more impulsive tendencies, these two take on the world one thrill at a time, savoring the heightened sense of their aliveness they feel when together. They feel excited, wild, and turned on, which can lead to great passion, but also great recklessness. Fours are attracted to Eight’s strength and protective nature—Fours feel safe, nurtured, and cherished by the solid, practical, grounded Eight. Eights, on the other hand, are attracted to Four’s mysterious, hidden depths, and feel continually enticed by the inner world of this person they may never fully understand. They are both attracted to the feeling of being emotionally met by the other, as if at last here is someone who can not only handle them but also enjoy the ride with them. While thrilling, this natural vitality can also have painful consequences. When their need for (and love of) drama turns on each other and conflict arises, their genuine connection becomes engulfed in argumentative fighting (and possibly physical violence), and typically remains there. Because of their addiction to intensity, if their loving relationship burns away in favor of a more hostile one, these two will usually stay locked in fiery fighting to continue to feel some way toward one another. Fighting can become a standard way of communicating. Also, of course, every fight needs some resolution, the intensity of which can also draw these two in. Lured by the immediacy and the drama, these two can get stuck in a cycle of fighting and making up, fighting and making up, just because life is more exciting that way. There is also a high probability they turn to emotional manipulation as a means of controlling one another. Fours can become withholding and secretive, while Eights can become verbally aggressive. These two will enjoy the thrill of causing scenes in public, and will often put their problems on display as a way of baiting the other. This is the most passionate coupling of the Enneagram, but also the most likely to deteriorate into verbal and physical abuse. Often, after a particular high-level emotional pitch has been reached, these two will feel like they can’t help themselves: the abuse, the drama, the constant fighting are merely out of their control. They know they should stop, but just can’t. Their passionate feelings turn into ruinously impulsive actions, intensely personal pain, and obsession.