Mangoball

Fanfiction
Title:	Cheater
Author(s):	Mangoball
Date(s):	2021
Length:	many tweets and text conversations
Genre:	Slash, Epistolary fic, M/M
Fandom:	MCYT
External Links:	Twitter, Transcribed Christmas Special, Transcribed
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Cheater Cheater (more commonly referred to by the pseudonym of its author, Mangoball) is a comedic or parodic Social Media AU and College AU fanfic for the pairing DreamNotFound. It was written after the popularity of the pairing was rising and such fics as Heat Waves were written. It is written as a series of tweets and text conversations (and other forms of social media or talking) between various MCYT creators, especially those from the Dream SMP.

Similar to Dracula Daily and Epistolary Fic, there was a reposting of the fanfic as "Mangoball Daily" in late 2022 on Tumblr.

Name

Cheater Cheater is the title, but Mangoball is often used for distinctiveness or ease of searching. The actual Twitter username of the author, though, is MangobaII with two capital letter i's.

Content

It starts with Georgenotfound and Sapnap in a relationship and Sapnap cheating on George with Dream while at a frat-influenced party. George then meets and realizes he has a crush on Dream, and he gets together with Dream, starting a relationship with him. They date for a while, various friends get in and out of pranks and trouble, and Dream eventually has a breakdown and second thoughts and "runs off" to work at Disney World, where he works along with characters he thinks might be Technoblade and Quackity. Eventually Georgenotfound calls on several other characters, including BadBoyHalo who in this fic is Quackity's uptight Christian but kind dad, to go on a roadtrip to "rescue" and bring back Dream. Many characters have extreme or exaggerated versions of their canon or fanon traits. In particular it is known, even in somewhat wider circles as a meme, for Georgenotfound's increasingly over the top pet names for Dream.

There is also a Christmas outtake written in the same "universe" by Mangoball, published shortly after Cheater Cheater.

Fandom Response

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Twitter response needed

Large amounts of fans on both Twitter and Tumblr quickly took to the fic, loving it for its satirical accuracy and humor.

yknow that month of universal peace we achieved in 2016 when pokemon go came out? the dsmp equivalent to that was the week of mangoball

bonesandthebees on Tumblr

as someone who was on tumblr for both nov 5th and many many events. i dont thikn any of them beat the like 4 day long period of mangoball in mcytblr. like we got a fucking 100-part mc socmed fanfic that the creator INTERACTED with tumblr for. it was fucking amazing

cosmosisfold on Tumblr

Some fans go so far as to view it as one one of the most important works of the Dream SMP fandom, or even fandom as a whole.

mangoball is a cringe social media wattpad fic that broke into our reality from 2016. mangoball is the most creative and ingenious masterpiece that dsmptwt has created. its a shipping fanfic revolving around the petty relationship drama of the teenage caricatures of dream and george. dnf's weird yassified personalities are genuinely hilarious and also the least interesting part of the story, because the side characters are all fucking batshit.

demonboyhalo on Tumblr

the thing about mangoball is that it has an honest to god truly unique sense of humor pulled from online stan culture and amplified to extreme camp. and i mean this one hundred percent seriously: it’s a genuine masterpiece. genre defining. it should go down in history as one of the most important pieces of fan content ever created. the way it is such a perfect reflection of 2021 mcyttwt. an incredible satire of rpf and the way fans ignore the complexities of a cc’s humanity in favor of casting them into fandomized versions of who they are. and above all it’s fucking funny. like dear lord it’s so funny

wetchickenbreast on Tumblr

Additionally, the fic is often quoted and seems to be considered highly quotable by its fans.

No it's actually wild that "this has GOT to be the exact same emotional mental and physical feeling as getting eaten alive limb by limb" is not a commonly quoted meme by anyone other than the people who've read a satire dsmp rpf crackfic. The masses would go crazy over this

bronzetomatoes on Tumblr

Nonetheless, some fans are annoyed by this perception, seeing the fic as typical rather than innovative.

Has enough time passed to talk about how mangoball didn’t reinvent satire and comedy and was actually pretty mid

Anonymous, in an ask to Tumblr blog mcytblrconfessions

After Dream lost popularity for accusations of grooming in 2022, discussions popped up over whether the fic should be separated from the Dream Team as a whole, or what that should mean for analysis of it.

Dream team did not deserve mangoball

thatweirdnoise on Tumblr

dteam didnt deserve mangoball but i don't think mangoball would be mangoball if it weren't dteam

like if you reread mangoball or if you ever want to take a shot at making an au in the same style as mangoball there is one thing that starts to pop up so frequently it is an unending roadblock: every dteam character in mangoball is fundamentally so horrible and awful to everyone around them that it feels bad to reassign their roles to literally anyone else. one of the main plotlines of mangoball is nobody really wants to help either of these guys because No One Really Likes Them. But they end up getting dragged along anyway.

etoilesbienne on Tumblr

Resources

• Archived version of the Cheater Christmas special by glittering-world