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For the Minecraft YouTuber:

  • Accidental Innuendo: This happens with alarming frequency, usually between Dream and George. More often than not, it's lampshaded.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Dream spinning around in a boat in 3 Hunters Grand Finale. Some consider it to be Dream trying to make Sapnap (who was in the boat with him) dizzy for the sake of humor, while others believe that Dream was spinning around so the other hunters would accidently hit Sapnap instead. Knowing Dream, it could be either.
  • Awesome Music: Every one of the background songs Dream plays in his videos. Dream even said on his Minecraft Manhunt Debunking livestream that when he's editing, he times his cuts to his music.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Near the end of the "4 Hunters Finale Rematch", Dream builds a pit trap in a music montage (to "Feeling Mean" by Ben Bostick), something he's never done before or since.
  • Broken Base:
    • The shipping of the Dream Team. Some argue that people shouldn't be shipping real-life people despite whatever chemistry they may have, while others don't see a problem with doing so. For the record, Dream & George themselves have stated that they don't mind it.
    • Reuploading clips of Dream's content has become one. In the wake of several channels reuploading clips of Dream (most infamously the "Dream [insert number here] IQ Compilation" videos or a fan-channel called "Dream's Mom" uploading stream highlights), fans have come to argue over whether or not they're within their right to. Some fans believe that so long as they're not monetizing the content it's alright, stating that said compilations are how they found Dream in the first place. Others believe that, monetized or not, it's still immoral to reupload content about someone else and potentially luring away viewers who'd otherwise go to Dream's channel. Not helping is that Dream himself, as well as TommyInnit, Tubbo, and Jschlatt, discussed such a topic on the SMP—and even they couldn't come to a general consensus. Though, for the record, Dream stated that he's of the "fine if not monetized" mindset and says that he likely wouldn't have uploaded his own stream highlights anyways. The group also decided that reuploading would be fine so long as something unique and original was done with the clips, something Tommy praises a creator known as Mugo for.
    • Whether or not Dream deliberately cheated for his speedruns has become a huge one after evidence has been brought up that his 1.16 speedrun was not legitimate. The resulting split between people believing his claims or believing the evidence against him has become so fierce, the fanbase schismed into two separate subreddits. He eventually admitted that he did have performance-enhancing mods on his game at the time, but this caused another split as to whether his claims that he'd forgotten to turn them off before starting the run were true or not.
  • Common Knowledge:
    • Based on memes, "Dream 10,000 IQ" videos, and comments about Dream being a Memetic Badass, it wouldn't be entirely rare for a new viewer to assume that Dream has won every Manhunt he and his friends have done. In reality, though, he's won only 10 of the non-special Manhunts (barely over half of them) and every single hunter in the series has won their first bout against him, meaning every hunter has had a 100% win rate at some point, even if only for a brief while (Bad gets notable praise here, being the only hunter to win both of his first two Manhunts and the only hunter to have two consecutive wins as a result of those same two games). That said, though, Dream does get a lion's share of the coolest moments regardless of final results, and he has the best win rate of the groupnote .
    • Even in Manhunts where he loses, it seems like Dream is guaranteed to make it to the End in order to allow for an entertaining video. This is not the case—any death outside the opening chase is fair game. In fact, a couple of the early Manhunts ended without him even making it to the End stronghold. The misconception seems to come from the fact that, for ten months (from the "Speedrunner VS Hunter (Again)" video to the "4 Hunters Finale" video), all main series Manhunts had Dream make it to the End (even the matches he lost). This trope was played to the extreme where most viewers became complacent in Dream making it to the End, which made the "4 Hunters Finale Rematch" video (the first time in ten months where Dream died before reaching the End) a complete blindside.
    • As iconic as "Trance Music for Racing Game" is, it actually doesn't appear in every Manhunt. Its last appearance was in the "4 Hunters Finale Rematch" video, but prior to then it hadn't appeared in a Manhunt since the "3 Hunters Finale Rematch" video (it was absent in the "3 Hunters Grand Finale" video all the way through the "4 Hunters Finale" video). The most prolific song in Manhunt is actually "Epic Dawn", the song that appears in Dream's now-memetic intro and is present in every Manhunt.
  • Crosses the Line Twice:
    • In the "4 Hunters Finale Rematch" video, Dream visits one of his Piglin trading pits only to find a baby Piglin next to the adult Piglinnote . Dream's hammy response of "Why is there a dumb little baby?!" followed by him ruthlessly slaughtering the baby with no hint of remorse should not be as funny as it is. Ditto for Dream slaughtering the adult Piglin about a minute later for not giving him Ender Pearls.
    • After the incredibly controversial drama over Dream's 1.16 speedrun has died down (the crux of it being the Piglin's Ender Pearl trades), Dream decides to livestream a leaderboardless speedrun to see if he can get a good time, just for fun. Unfortunately, when he gets to bartering with piglins, the piglins immediately start giving him ender pearls again, giving off the impression that the piglins were accomplices in disqualifying Dream's speedrun. Nothing too over the top at first, but Dream's response pushes it over the edge. Rather than accept the trades, he willingly sabotages his own run—first by wasting time by deliberately staying to trade more even when he had what he needed, then by going into Creative Mode to spawn more gold and Piglins so that he can do more tradesnote —all just so he can ensure the statistics remain balanced.
  • Fandom Rivalry: Dream and Techno's fanbases used to clash a lot, starting with MCC and coming to a head in the MrBeast $100,000 duel. It seems to have died down as of recent, however, and for the most part the fanbases are now on friendlier terms.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • Dream refers to Sapnap as "Sapitus Napitus" in the "Minecraft Speedrunner VS 3 Hunters" video, which fans have adopted themselves.
    • Dream and his friends are called, by fans, the "Dream Team". At the same time, the Dream Team plus Karl Jacobs and Quackity make the "Feral Boys".
    • George has been called "Gogy" by his fans.
    • Much less frequently used, but due to the 10'th Minecraft Championship team roster cutting off his name to "Dre", his friends in the event noticed and started making fun of it, which stuck for some people.
  • Fridge Brilliance:
    • The reason Dream gets hay bales at the beginning of the grand finale? So he could use one of them to escape the hunters by going on top of a mountain and jumping off, placing the hay bale on the ground right as he lands.
    • The reason why Dream drank a fire resistance potion before dropping TNT through the End portal in the "3 Hunters Grand Finale" video (despite the fact that it wouldn't give him protection from the TNT and he wouldn't have gone in until the TNT detonated anyway)?. In the first 3 Hunter video, the End trap that killed Dream was a lava trap. Dream was simply prepping himself for every possible contingency, dropping TNT to kill the hunters and destroy any physical traps, and drinking the potion in case they simply used the lava trap again. He also has a bucket of water and Ender Pearls in his hotbar, in case the hunters knocked him off the edge.
    • In several cases, it seems like Dream has a bit too convenient of a trap to use in any given situation. That is, until one remembers that Dream plans out several traps in advance and only uses them when a perfect opportunity arises. Of course he has a trap for every situation—he specifically plans for every situation.
  • Friendly Fandoms: Fans of the Dream Team are generally on good terms with the fandom for Sleepy Bois Inc. (TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot, Philza, and Technoblade), both being groups of Minecraft YouTubers who engage in hijinks and are known for their chemistry—it also helps that both groups are united by Minecraft Championships and the Dream SMP. It's especially the case with Technoblade in particular, with any collab between Dream and Techno (from their Rivals Team Up moment in MCC 8 to their 1v1 duel) being highly anticipated. Many fans of either or both creators have expressed a desire to see Technoblade in a Manhunt, whether as a hunter or as a speedrunner.
  • Growing the Beard: Dream's videos were always high-quality and the Manhunts were always popular, but the "2 Hunters" video and especially the "3 Hunters" subseries were when the series became especially good, with these videos forming the origin of Dream's best plays and also being where the series (as well as the Dream Team themselves) exponentially skyrocketed in popularity.
  • LGBT Fanbase: Dream and his friends have a considerable following within the LGBTQ+ community. It helps that they have more than once stated support for the community, not to mention the copious amounts of Ho Yay (and the fact that one of the hunters, Antfrost, really is gay).
  • Like You Would Really Do It: In combination with Spoiled by the Format, if Dream gets in a tricky situation where death is waiting, and the video is not close to ending, he usually survives.
  • Memetic Badass: Dream himself. As if the stunts he pulls aren't already impressive, the fanbase runs with it and repeatedly portrays him as an unkillable god-like being with Plot Armor akin to an anime protagonist. Dream's famous escape near the end of the "2 Hunters" video is really where that took off, and his increasingly over-the-top plays in the "3 Hunters" saga solidified it.
  • Memetic Loser:
    • The Ender Dragon, who has gone from being the Final Boss of the Manhunts to being nothing more than an obstacle at best compared to the hunters and Dream, and a punching bag that gets killed nearly every video at worst. Not helping is the fact its fight is sometimes almost entirely cut out, which usually happens whenever the hunters don't pose any sort of threat in the fight—which only emphasizes how little of a threat the dragon itself is. The Ender Dragon has appeared in over a dozen Manhunts, yet it only has relevance in three of them (and to date, it has only personally killed Dream once).
    • The hunters themselves are frequently depicted in fan works as being hopelessly outmatched against Dream, with their tendency to fall into traps being played up for all it's worth.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • "Also, according to YouTube's statistics, only a small percentage of people who watch my videos are actually subscribed, so if you end up liking this video, consider subscribing. It's free and you can always unsubscribe. Enjoy the video." Explanation 
    • Dream's speedrun removal / Dream just got really lucky / Let's see how long before I get banned Explanation 
    • Under the Tree. Explanation 
    • Cobblestone Crafting Table. Explanation 
    • "Dream 200 IQ Moments" Explanation 
    • "Mr. Wastaken" Explanation 
    • "Trance Music for Racing Game" has gotten as popular as Dream himself, and is often played over a sped-up scene of... well, just about anything. To an extension, the sound "dudududu" is taken from the music itself and is generally shorthand for the tune known in the community as "speedrun music".
    • The "Mask" music video, due to the uncanny animation and Narm it invokes.
      • Dream as portrayed by the video has been compared to Ben Tennyson.
      • "YOU ARE NOT NORMAL!"/Normal Pills Explanation 
      • Mask (Official Sus Remix) Explanation 
    • His face reveal also sparked a lot of memes, mainly comparing him to MatPat, Shane Dawson, or the Trollface.
  • Memetic Psychopath:
    • Dream himself. In real life, he's a pretty chill and amusing guy who has a competitive streak when playing against friends, but otherwise gets along great with them. In fan portrayals, he's a borderline insane murderer who frequently toys with his prey and wouldn't be out of place in a slasher film. Basically, just his appearances and behaviour in Manhunt taken up to eleven, and it likely fuels the fire that whenever he's the hunter in George's videos, as well as his main persona in the Dream SMP, Dream acts just as psychotic as he's portrayed.
    • Sapnap is also one. Much like Dream, he's a rather competitive guy but that's the extent of it. In fan portrayals, however, he's a Blood Knight who goes after Dream to satisfy his bloodlust. Later ManhuntsExamples , as well as the Dream SMP, have Sapnap act eerily in-line with this interpretation of him.
  • More Popular Spin Off: Manhunt was originally just another episode of the "Minecraft, But" series. Given how much Manhunt has completely eclipsed "Minecraft, But" in popularity, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that.
  • Most Wonderful Sound:
  • Narm: These content creators sure did a good job building off of Minecraft's inherently narmy nature.
  • Never Live It Down: Dream's cheating controversy. The moment you mention Dream, the likelihood of someone bringing up him cheating is almost guaranteed, and "Dream Luck" has entered the speedrunning lexicon to describe something that is either absurdly unlikely or impossible. Even his fellow content creators on the SMP bring it up very often. It's reached the point that people put "Trance Music for Racing Game" over anything related to cheating.
  • Nightmare Fuel:
    • When Sapnap is the hunter in the "Full Diamond Juggernaut" video, he adopts a persona some comments have compared to a stalker. This is supplemented with Sapnap addressing Dream in an overly-detailed fashion.
      Sapnap: Dream, Dreamypoo, my love~
      Sapnap: I see you. I can see that beautiful little- green bodynote  sticks out in this blue water.
    • Whenever Dream plays psychological warfare with his opponents moments before attacking them, whenever he's the speedrunner it's depicted as him turning the tides of war. When he's the hunter, however (and even moreso when it's from his opponent's point of view and thus Dream's position is unknown), it's utterly unnerving, as one commenter put it best:
      YouTube Comment: Watching Dream is like he's doing a challenge, watching George is like a survival horror game.
    • Dream plays it up for all it's worth in the Nether-only speedrun on George's channel.
      • One of the best instances is near the 20 minute mark. George is just bartering with a Piglin, minding his own business, and all of a sudden...
      • And then the ending. As Dream is chasing an utterly terrified George and dramatic music plays in the background, he has this to say:
        Dream (sounding gleefully deranged): Nowhere to run! Nowhere to hide! You're a dead man walking!
    • In the "4 Hunters Finale" video, a Strength-buffed Dream Ender Pearling behind Sapnap (who Screams Like a Little Girl when he turns around) is a funny moment. But it's this from Sapnap's perspective; Imagine, your enemy downs a Strength potion. Remembering what happened the last time you tried to fight him in this manner, you teleport away, hoping to put plenty of distance between you two. Now halfway across the map from him, you breathe a sigh of relief as you turn around... and he's right behind you.
  • Older Than They Think:
    • Dream's channel is this. He started his channel on Feb. 8, 2014, and got his first 1,000 subscribers during that time, but didn't upload for the next five years. During that time he studied the YouTube algorithm, and came back onto the platform in late 2019 with a goal: exploit his newfound knowledge to gain a massive following. No guesses for how well that worked.
    • The Minecraft Manhunt concept as a whole was originally conceptualized by Wilbur Soot in this video, over four months before Dream's first Manhunt. However, there are several key differences (for example, Wilbur's goal was just to survive and not beat the game) from the Manhunt series that Dream popularized, and overall Wilbur's video is more comparable in concept to the Hitmen spin-off video than it is to Manhunt. Dream later reworked the concept into what it's most famous as today.
  • Overshadowed by Controversy:
    • Due to numerous allegations against Dream related to him grooming minors that have arose over the years, it's rather common nowadays to see any talks or memes about Dream in social media be related to these allegations rather than any of his content.
    • He's also more well known for the controversy of him cheating in his speedruns. See Never Live It Down above
  • Retroactive Recognition:
    • Back when he was semi-popular but not anywhere near the level he is now, Dream participated in Week 9 of the infamous Minecraft Monday, teamed with none other than Bad. Back then, he was heavily overshadowed by the likes of Technoblade, DanTDM, Bad himself (whose collabs with Skeppy brought him to early fame), DolanDark, and CaptainSparklez (to name a few). Now, however, Dream is just as if not more popular than most of the creators in Week 9, and Week 9 is arguably now best known as "the week where Dream participated."
    • In a strange case of this happening to a world, the seed for the "2 Hunters" video was later reused for none other than the Dream SMP itself, only updated to 1.16+note . Most fans didn't think twice about the world the "2 Hunters" video was set in until the connection to the SMP became known.
  • Rooting for the Empire: Just because it's Dream's point of view doesn't mean people have to root for him over the hunters. Likewise, in George's videos where the roles are reversed and Dream takes the "antagonist" role, it's not uncommon to root for Dream.
  • Self-Imposed Challenge: Dream's entire channel is based on them, from the Manhunts to various plugins.
  • Shocking Moments:
    • Dream's survival at the end of the 2 Hunters video, through an Ender Pearl Sapnap dropped because of George's Accidental Murder. It was a combination of sheer luck and perfect timing that nobody expected on either end.
    • Bad setting up a lava trap in the End that successfully kills Dream. The focus on Dream's fight with Sapnap and George means it's easy to forget that Bad was teleported to the End at all (even with the achievement showing up in chat), which isn't helped by the fact that Bad dies anticlimactically soon after. But even if one does notice that Bad was warped to the End, there's no indication at all that he's set up a trap until Dream's burning to death in lava.
    • The ending of the "4 Hunters Finale Rematch" video. Not necessarily because of who won, but because it's the first Manhunt in over ten months (since the "Full Diamond Juggernaut" video with Sapnap) where Dream doesn't even make it to the End—viewers had gotten so complacent in Dream usually making it to the final battle that Ant killing him with harming potions in a random desert temple was a complete blindside.
  • Signature Scene: There are several.
    • The ending of "Minecraft Speedrunner VS 2 Hunters", where Dream survives being knocked into the void by sheer luck and a particular blunder on George's part, causing Dream to receive Sapnap's Ender Pearls and escape before winning the game. It's easily one of the most iconic moments in Dream's Manhunt series.
    • The endings of both Death Swaps. Minecraft Manhunt hadn't yet become a major recurring series, so the first Death Swap was the point most people were exposed to Dream's quick thinking and ability to reverse any bad situation.
    • The ending of "Minecraft Speedrunner VS 3 Hunters GRAND FINALE" just about tops the 2 Hunters ending, with Dream dropping TNT into the hunters' unbeatable trap from an entirely different dimension. It seems to have supplanted the ending of the "2 Hunters" video as the most iconic moment in Manhunt history (helped by the fact that the Grand Finale is Dream's most-viewed video).
    • In the 4 Hunters rematch, Dream deploys one of his most esoteric traps yet: using the top of the nether as a trap to seal the four hunters and their very powerful armors with no possibility of getting them back.
    • In the "4 Hunters Finale Rematch", Dream and Sapnap end up fighting underneath lava. Not near lava or in the Nether, at the bottom of a lava lake that's been sealed by obsidian. Said fight has become one of the best-known skirmishes in Manhunt (though not to the same extent as the above scenes) for Rule of Cool and for its unique twist (the two aren't trying to kill each other in the fight, rather, Sapnap is trying to stall Dream long enough for his fire resistance potion to run out and Dream is trying to find a way to escape the lake and douse himself before that happens).
    • In the 5 Hunters, Dream gets so close to killing the dragon, the hunters place End Crystals which activate, reviving the dragon. The "Free the End" advancement that usually signifies Dream's victory doesn't appear. Soon after, The Ender Dragon rises back from the dead and all six player got this advancement "The End... Again..."
  • Signature Song: Trance Music for Racing Game, which is considered the song of Dream's videos and Dream himself. Whenever he's referenced or joked about by different YouTubers, this will be the song that plays.
  • Spoiled by the Format:
    • If Dream hasn't gotten to the End near the end of the video, that's a warning sign that he loses the Manhunt. That said, Dream himself has gone to increasing lengths to avert it—first by premiering his videos (so that the early viewers can't check the timestamp to see how close to the end it is), and also by editing some Manhunts to have the end of the game depicted within only a few minutes (for example, in both Grand Finales Dream hasn't even made it to the End stronghold with only a couple minutes left in the video, but he still wins in both cases).
    • Similarly, if Dream is cornered or on the run with half a heart left, but the video hasn't gotten to a minute or less remaining... yeah, he escapes somehow. Furthermore, it's guaranteed that Dream survives the early game chase since in the few cases where he does get punched to death the moment the game starts, they have another game and we never see that recording, as it would not make for a very entertaining video.
  • Squick: From the 3 Hunters Finale:
    George: Keep your eyes peeled.
    Bad: Peel your eyes.
    George: Peel them. Use the eye peeler.
    Dream: Oh my god.
  • Tear Jerker: At the end of George's video "Minecraft, But My Friend Is A Dog...", Dream the dog dies while they were fighting mobs. Sad music plays and a montage of when Dream the dog was alive plays in monochrome.
  • Tough Act to Follow: Just about every Manhunt in the series gets this reaction, with most fans believing that each Manhunt can't be topped upon release—which is generally followed by Dream uploading another Manhunt that tops it. In the series as a whole, the "3 Hunters Grand Finale" video is generally regarded as one of the best Manhunts if not the best. Though the plays get even crazier and the fights more intense, there are many who view the "3 Hunters Grand Finale" video as the golden standard for Manhunts.

For the novel:

  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: A few, notably the one where the fourth wall started malfunctioning and the Starship Entrancefee sequence.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome
    • Izumo, too many times to list here.
    • Lani immediately after Izumo is sent to another dimension.
    • Alania in Coreng, although this is also a Crowning Moment of Squick.
    • Spirit Tsunami XVIII, almost as soon as he arrives. I told you it was set considerably later than the Chaos Chronicles?the name I've taken as my troper name and identity on most sites comes from the original, not from the character in this story.
  • Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming: Surprisingly common.
    • Deirya and Souya's sisterly bonding in Chapter 48.
    • Alania suggesting a "date" with Rin'ku after her near-death experience in Chapter 157.
    • But most of all, Alania's conversation with Kisa in Chapter 200.
      Kisalia: With all of these couples falling apart right before your eyes, how can you still be so confident in The Power of Love?
      Alania: ...I have Rin'ku. That's all I need.
      • Note that Kisa was not officially part of the True Companions at the time, and that this was the first time Alania had admitted her feelings for Rin'ku to anyone else (besides Rin'ku himself).
  • Epileptic Trees: Just what is Piru, anyway?
  • Hollywood Homely: Acknowledged as such during the Pool Scene:
    Sekiya: I look horrible. Maybe if I went off on my own I'd look good, but surrounded by all of you, I look horrible.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: If a character survives for one entire season, they're probably not going to be dying, period. Or maybe not...
  • Narm: The end of the Shadow Executive arc.
  • Squick: The ending to the Super-CEO saga. Possibly even Nightmare Fuel, but absurd to be sure. Also, Hoshimaru's attacks. And in story, the nameless grunts from the same saga.
  • Toy Ship: Tillli and Tomai.
  • Wangst: Happens quite a bit, but oddly enough, Oroko ends up being the worst offender.

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