Dream SMP: The Badlands / Characters

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General

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"We of the Badlands, whatever side we think is losing, we just join in and help that side! We just keep the conflict going! It's great!"

"So, at the end of the day, let– let the space between the Badlands, it'll be total chaos. Like, that's got nothing to do with us! Manburg, Pogtopia... Who cares!"

—BadBoyHalo

A faction formed during the L'Manburg Civil War by players who wanted to stay out of the war, the Badlands' major goal is to escalate conflict between other factions as much as possible to fuel their own expansion, until they rule the entire SMP. It's also where the Crimson was first found, and the Eggpire is based in its territory. The Badlands have no real government, but Bad usually serves as their de facto leader.

Blue-and-Orange Morality: The morality system in the Badlands is quite different from the "normal" one held by most viewers, where the execution of teenagers means quite little, the murder of cats is an irredeemable sin, and most typically friendship-ending conflicts like murder and getting murdered can be solved by a heartfelt talking-to and a group hug.
Divide and Conquer: Their main tactic to take over the server is to fan the flames of conflict and let their opponents wear each other out before going in for the kill.
Out of Focus:
- As all members have been busy with other factions (Bad and Ant forming the Eggpire, and Sam working under Quackity in Las Nevadas), the faction is currently de facto inactive, L'Sandberg notwithstanding.
- With the Eggpire's collapse, all four are back as members of the Badlands, though with Sam, he's more or less double dipping as both members of Las Nevadas and Badlands than a formal exit... Except with the finale of the Eggpire lore for Volume 1, not only has it been revealed Skeppy still aligned with the Egg, both Sam and Ant were on the side against Bad in the conflict that ended with all three fighting and getting themselves killed, effectively putting the Badlands as a team out of commission for the time being.
Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: The faction was formed by Bad, Ant, and Sam, under the decision that they will no longer support Manburg in favor of making their own faction.
Skewed Priorities: One of the reasons for the formation of the faction isn't due to Tubbo's execution, but rather Schlatt killing cats. To be fair, though, Antfrost himself is an anthropomorphic cat, so his dislike for Schlatt is a little more justified in this case.
Take a Third Option: In the midst of the L'Manburg Civil War, the members of the Badlands support neither Manburg or Pogtopia, instead choosing to start their own faction.
Take Over the World: The end goal of the faction is to take over the server, using Divide and Conquer between the other factions as their main strategy.
War for Fun and Profit: Their main goal is to escalate conflicts between other factions so that they can take advantage of the conflict to expand their own faction.

BadBoyHalo

"I think you kept Ant and I on as security guards because you knew that we would trust you and I think that our trust in you blinded us to some of the stuff that was going on in here...and I think that was where we dropped the ball."

^{Click here to see his Eggpire skin.}

In-game name: BadBoyHalo
Preferred name: Bad

"So, at the end of the day, let– let the space between the Badlands, it'll be total chaos. Like, that's got nothing to do with us! Manburg, Pogtopia... Who cares!"

One of the eight original SMP members and the leader of the Badlands. Bad started out on the Dream SMP's side as a genuinely good guy, most known for his love of muffins, close relationship with his best friend Skeppy, and hating swearing. Recently, he's taken a turn to the dark side, founding his own faction with the intent on stoking the conflict between the other major players, keeping it going as long as possible while the Badlands expands. It wasn't until Skeppy became a soulless husk thanks to the Egg's influence, that the world was truly shown how far Bad was willing to go for Skeppy. With the Eggpire gone, a (mostly) remorseful Bad had since returned to being back as the de facto leader of the Badlands.

Bad has two to three lives left. He may have canonically died for the first time when he accidentally killed Skeppy by pushing him into lava, the second time when Skeppy killed him after the Red Banquet in an attempt to free him from the Egg's influence, and the third time when an Egg-controlled Puffy killed him so that the Egg would hatch. The way his lives work is unique: it has been made clear that as a demon, Bad is unkillable unless his source of power (in Bad's case, Skeppy) dies; however, there is debate as to whether Bad loses a canon life only when Skeppy does, or if Bad has only one life and simply cannot die until Skeppy has been Killed Off for Real, as these were the two initial explanations given by the content creator and no later clarification has been given.

Accidental Murder: Bad accidentally took Skeppy's first canon life after an argument between them about the Egg escalated into Bad punching Skeppy right into a pool of lava.
Affably Evil: Bad may have some morally questionable goals, but he is still BadBoyHalo at the end of the day. Subverted while he is a part of the Eggpire, when it shifts into Faux Affably Evil.
The Alcoholic: Bad started drinking around the time of the prison break to help cope with the guilt over his partial role in Ranboo's death and assisting Dream's escape, and since then it appears to have become a habit, over which multiple characters, including several of Bad's enemies, have expressed concern.
And I Must Scream: His conversation with Quackity reveals that on some level Bad is aware of what is happening to him and knows that the Egg is bad news, but the longer he's under its control, the more it erodes at the good and sensible parts of his personality.
Anti-Villain: Type 1. Bad is an ambitious, somewhat treacherous war profiteer who intends to exploit the Pogtopia-Manburg War for his own benefit, but he's also a kind, sweet-natured man with plenty of Pet the Dog moments and moral principles. He develops into a Type 2 after he lets himself be brainwashed by the Egg to be with Skeppy; he's corrupted against his will into a monstrous zealot doing things that his normal self would be absolutely horrified by and shows flashes of awareness of how far he's fallen that he's unable to act on.
Arc Villain: He and the Eggpire as a whole are slowly shaping up to be this for the Imprisonment Era with Dream now out of the picture.
Berserk Button: Bad hates people swearing and doesn't hesitate to chastise people who curse in front of him. This is often exploited by the more cuss-happy characters like Quackity and Tommy for the sole purpose of riling him up.
Big "NO!": Immediately after he accidentally pushes Skeppy into a lava pit during an argument, canonically killing him.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: When confronting Sam about his actions during Dream's escape from prison, Bad seems more angry about Sam killing Techno's pet dog Apollo than Ranboo being Killed Off for Real.
Brainwashed and Crazy: It's unknown how many of his actions are the result of his corruption by the Crimson or when he was corrupted, but it's clear it's having a very negative effect on him.
Cooperation Gambit: Bad's faction supported Pogtopia in their war against Dream and Schlatt. However, Bad's primary motive was to keep the war going for as long as possible so the Badlands could take over while the others were distracted.
Disproportionate Retribution: His response to Tommy reverting the Prime Path back to its original look? Encase his entire house and property in obsidian.
Drowning My Sorrows:
- When Ant runs into him after Dream's escape, Bad is clearly drunk, and continues drinking throughout the stream (though he denies it and claims that it's apple juice). It is heavily implied that he is doing so to cope with the guilt over letting Dream escape and his partial role in Ranboo's death.
- Another layer or alternative to this is revealed after Dream's January 14th 2022 lore video, as it shows Bad previously giving a presumably-Enderwalking Ranboo the prison blueprints that Techno would eventually find (under Dream's instructions) and use to engineer the Jailbreak... which altogether implies that Bad might also feel guilty for indirectly helping Dream escape in the first place. However, the conversation as mentioned above indicates that Bad might not remember doing this.
- This has happened numerous times since, escalating to the point where it can safely be said that Bad has become an alcoholic.
Engineered Heroics: Bad planned to have the Blood Vines spread all over the SMP and then arrive with the only solution to remove the Vines in order to gain control over the entire server.
Evil Is Petty: As of Season 4, Bad has made a habit of getting back at others in the most annoying of ways for slighting him (even though its usually out of Bad's victims being inconvenienced first). For example, when it comes to Foolish, Bad usually tampers with his DreamXD statue or someplace around his summer home.
Face–Heel Turn: While Bad was always morally grey (as was pretty much everyone else), his corruption by the Egg turns him into one of the most ruthless and manipulative people on the server, with his endgame being to corrupt everyone else on the server into worshippers of the Egg like him.
False Innocence Trick: Bad feigns coming back to his senses to lower Sam's guard before trapping him in an obsidian cage directly above the Egg.
Fatal Flaw:
- His arguable codependency on Skeppy, which leads him to risk everything he has — his freedom, safety, happiness, and most notably, his free will — if it means Skeppy is alright. It also doesn't help that his life is outright tied to Skeppy's, so if/when Skeppy loses all his canon lives and is Killed Off for Real, Bad will die with him.
- Personality-wise, Bad's own refusal to accept the blame for his misdeeds and opting to take petty vengeance is pretty much a good factor for the conflicts that revolve around him.
Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Bad prefers to keep his content family friendly, using the words "muffin" or "muffinhead" as replacement for swears, while acting as the Profanity Police to his server-mates. Tommy and Quackity often troll BBH by openly cursing in front of him.
Killed Offscreen:
- Bad's second canon death is a Sound-Only Death, with Skeppy drawing a diamond sword next to him in the art sequence. The screen is then cut to black, with the sound of Audible Sharpness and confirmation later in the livestream that it was a canon death.
- Bad's third canon death is more explicit than the above, with a scene of Egg-controlled Puffy striking Bad with a weapon being shown before the camera moves to behind nearby scenery, thus fading the scene to black.
Interspecies Adoption: One day, the demon Bad found a young human Sapnap "under a rock" and adopted him.
In the Hood: His face is concealed by his hood.
Irony:
- Bad was probably one of the nicest people on the server, but very quickly becomes one of the most ruthless after succumbing to the influence of the Egg.
- Bad's second possession happened when he willingly gave himself up to the Egg because he didn't want to lose his friend Skeppy, who sacrificed his free will first to end Bad's initial possession. It got worse when the Egg's influence on Skeppy strains the duo's friendship, leading to an argument that ended in Bad accidentally killing Skeppy.
Light Is Not Good: His skin change to a lighter white and black design once fully under the Egg's control has shades of this, as he becomes noticeably more menacing and ruthless.
My God, What Have I Done?: He reacts this way after accidentally punching Skeppy into lava, taking his first canon life in the process.
Bad: What– what happened? What did I do?
Never My Fault: While most other former Eggpire cultists have since apologized and tried to make up for their wrongdoings, Bad has a notorious tendency to never own up to his past misdeeds. This refusal to accept the blame extends to even in Season 4, where he has yet to realize that those that he wronged, such as Foolish with his builds or Tommy and the Prime Path, only retaliated because his own actions forced their hand.
Offing the Offspring: Implied, as Bad invited Sapnap (his canonical adopted son) to the Red Banquet, which later turned out to be a trap which would have ended in the sacrifice of its attendees to the Egg. Later subverted as Bad went back on that and confirmed he deliberately kept Sapnap out of the way to protect him.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: During his conversation with Quackity on top of Punz's tower, he acts uncharacteristically serious throughout the entire exchange.
Ornamental Weapon: He has a diamond sword strapped to his back in a scabbard that is never used in combat. Enforced as it is part of his Minecraft skin and not an actual weapon.
Our Demons Are Different: His demonic blood grants him semi-immortality, as he cannot be killed unless Skeppy (his source of power) dies first. He is also incredibly tall standing at 9 feet and 6 inches (289.56cm) — not that you'd be able to tell by looking at his character in-game.
Profanity Police: Bad often chastises those who swore in front of him by saying "Language!" while using any form of "muffin" as a replacement for swearing. As the result, some more cuss-happy players such as Tommyinnit and Quackity would often mess with Bad by ignoring Bad's anger or getting him into swearing through chat.

Red Oni, Blue Oni: Bad acts as the easygoing Blue Oni to Skeppy's energetic Red Oni behaviour, which is ironic, as the primary colors in their designs are inverted.
Red and Black and Evil All Over:
- Initially averted for the most part. Bad's skin mostly comprises of black and red, but is generally a nice person towards everyone… though, in the world of Dream SMP, everyone is on a varying point of view about him.
- Played straight when he is possessed by the Egg and is the one responsible for spreading the Blood Vines all over the place, though the longtime exposure to the Egg has leeched the red highlights of his outfit into a Grayscale of Evil.
Resign in Protest: He and Antfrost resign their jobs as prison guards in protest of Sam's treatment of them, corruption in the prison, and Ranboo's murder.
Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: He, along with Sam and Ant, decided that they will no longer support Manburg in favor of making their own faction called the Badlands.
Sinister Minister: He is the de facto leader of the Eggpire, which is essentially a theocracy based around The Egg, and is very menacing when he wants to be.
Take a Third Option: Bad didn't want to support either Manburg or Pogtopia, so he decided to make a new faction with Antfrost and Awesamdude, the Badlands.
Team Dad: He is sometimes seen as a "dad friend" and is occasionally called "DadBoyHalo" by his presumably-adoptive son, Sapnap.
Took a Level in Jerkass: While the Egg has a negative influence on anyone it controls, Bad has gotten it especially, well, bad, becoming a ruthless, cruel zealot. Even after the influence is gone, as of Season 4, Bad has since fallen into becoming a petty annoyance amongst those around the server.
Trademark Favorite Food: He really loves muffins.
Tragic Villain: Bad willingly allowed himself to get re-corrupted by the Crimson after failing to find any way to undo his best friend Skeppy's possession, corrupting him into a villain that would've horrified his normal self.
Would Hurt a Child: After getting possessed, Bad had no qualms about trapping Tommy and Tubbo inside the room with the Egg, and planned to get Tommy and use the Egg to corrupt him to their cause. This goal was what ultimately caused Puffy and Sam to actively go against him.
You Are Worth Hell: Bad chose to get re-corrupted by the Egg after failing to find a way to undo Skeppy's possession because he didn't want to lose Skeppy.

Awesamdude

See Las Nevadas.

Antfrost

"We're monsters, Bad."

^{Click here to see his Eggpire skin.}

In-game name: Antfrost
Preferred name: Ant

An anthropomorphic cat who primarily focuses on his own projects, he was one of the co-founders of the Badlands and isn't afraid of fighting or instigating chaos. He was quickly corrupted by the Egg, serving as Bad's right hand man throughout his time in the Eggpire, but now feels incredibly guilty for what he did.

Ant has one life left. He lost his first life when he was killed by Puffy at the Red Banquet, and his second life when he was killed by Bad over a disagreement on how to deal with the Egg in the Volume 1 finale.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He screams for Puffy to stop as she hacks him to death with an axe during the Red Banquet.
Animal Motifs: Cats, being an anthropomorphic cat himself.
Animal Lover: He built an animal sanctuary on the SMP. This is subverted while he is under control of the Crimson, where he has not checked on his animal sanctuary since Puffy burned it down.
The Atoner: In the L'Sandberg arc, Ant goes to Foolish to try to make amends for his actions as part of the Eggpire out of shame.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: He supported Schlatt until after the Festival. Antfrost digressed that he can excuse the public executions but draws the line at excessive swearing and cat killing. The latter makes sense, seeing as he is one.
Cat Folk: He's an anthropomorphic Siamese cat. It's natural that he's not at all happy when Schlatt started killing cats for fun and attacked Ant for being one.
Desecrating the Dead: Upon hearing of Tommy's death, Ant wastes no time gathering the rest of the Eggpire to throw a party celebrating his demise — in Tommy's own house, no less (well, until Puffy chases them out, at least). Later on, he stumbles across Tommy's grave and dances on it.
The Dragon: He is the right hand man to BadBoyHalo and the Eggpire as a whole during Season 3, now that Dream is out of the picture.
Flat Character: Unlike the rest of the Eggpire, Ant doesn't seem to have any reason as to why the Egg was able to corrupt him. This is eventually subverted in that Ant the content creator has confirmed the reason he joined the Eggpire was because the Egg promised him Red in exchange for his allegiance.
Killed Offscreen: His second canon death is not shown onscreen; the relevant scene ends after Bad chases after Ant, swearing to kill him.
Love Makes You Evil: The reason Ant joined the Eggpire is revealed to be because the Egg promised him Red, his out-of-universe boyfriend.
Mundane Solution: As everyone is either dying or fleeing for their lives during Techno's massacre at the Manburg Festival, Ant is the only one who actually thinks to just use his shield, letting him No-Sell the fireworks and being the only survivor who didn't immediately run away.
My Country, Right or Wrong: It's implied that he holds this belief, as he condemns Puffy at the Red Banquet for turning against the Eggpire (of which she was initially part of) after they reveal the Egg doesn't give a shit about everyone else on the SMP, most notably Tommy and Tubbo.
Never My Fault: When Puffy screams at him for trying to kill her son, Foolish, in front of her, Ant takes no responsibility, instead fully blaming Puffy for Foolish's death, since she left the Eggpire once they made it clear they didn't care about people at all.
Odd Friendship: After fighting alongside one another against Purpled and Ponk, Antfrost and Jack made an alliance with each other that led to them become friends. Antfrost even lampshades this on L'Cast by saying how he initially didn't expect him and Jack to get along.

Resign in Protest: He and BadBoyHalo resign their jobs as prison guards in protest of Sam's treatment of them, corruption in the prison, and Ranboo's murder.
Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: He, along with Sam and Bad, decide they will no longer support Manburg in favor of making their own faction called the Badlands. Repeats with again as a prison guard for Sam, after he and Bad Resign in Protest.
Shout-Out: He — and by extension, his content creator counterpart — bear the Fantastic Naming Convention of the clan cats from Warrior Cats. It is worth noting that cc!Antfrost has said before that he has actually read Warriors.
Undying Loyalty:
- His speech to Puffy at the Red Banquet, albeit clouded by the Egg's influence and rife with victim blaming, shows that he believes Puffy's betrayal of the Eggpire was somehow morally worse than ritually sacrificing innocents to a parasitic Botanical Abomination which feeds on the life force of others.
- His motivation for joining the Eggpire has shades of this as well, as he did so in order to regain contact with presumably the love of his life.

Skeppy

See The Eggpire.

Characters / Dream SMP: The Badlands

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