By Abigail Chai, Staff Writer
After several years of remaining one of the most famous anonymous internet personalities, popular Minecraft YouTuber and streamer Dream, officially revealed his face to the internet on October 2nd.
The 23-year-old YouTuber, who gained traction for his Minecraft videos and streams initially kept his identity anonymous for seven years on the internet. But, he ultimately decided to reveal his face in October of 2022 as he would be in attendance at San Diego’s Twitchcon. On September 19, he announced in the form of a community post to his 30 million YouTube subscribers: “My next upload will be me face revealing. . . I can’t wait to start meeting you guys in person.” Fans were thrilled by this news, as their longtime wait to see Dream’s face would seemingly come to an end.
Around a week after Dream had confirmed his impending face reveal, he teased his followers relentlessly that the video would be coming extremely soon. On September 30, two days before his official face reveal, he Facetimed several of his internet friends for the first time, who then posted their first-time reactions to Dream’s face on Twitter. Some people who he Facetimed include TikTok stars Addison Rae and Bella Poarch, along with many others.
Just two hours before the video’s official premiere, Dream notified his 5.7 million followers on Twitter that the face reveal video would be premiering on YouTube in just a few hours. Many fans eagerly awaited the video, along with many nonfans who were curious to see the true identity of the star. Popular content creators were also in attendance of the video’s premiere, expressing their excitement to finally see Dream’s face, some even live streaming their reactions to his video.
It’s safe to say that Dream’s face reveal essentially broke the internet. Over 1.2 million people witnessed the face reveal premiere live on YouTube, and in just 21 hours, the video accumulated 24 millions views. Dream’s first ever tweet on Twitter that included his face received over 138k retweets and 900k likes.
The number one trending topic on Twitter in the U.S. that day was “#dreamfacereveal”, but that wasn’t the only trending hashtag in relation to the Youtuber. While Dream was met with support from many of his fans and friends, there was also an overwhelming amount of animosity and hate directed at his physical appearance. The phrases “#PUT THE MASK BACK ON” and “#HES UGLY” trended on Twitter almost immediately after the face reveal. Many began to equate Dream to several cartoon characters, but the most popular comparison was to Rumpelstiltskin, a villain from the Shrek movie franchise. Additionally, Twitter users found resemblances between Dream and many other YouTubers such as the infamous Shane Dawson.
Despite the negative feedback and trolling seemingly made by the whole internet, Dream maintained a relatively positive attitude and even kept a humorous tone about the situation. In his first face-to-face interview with Buzzfeed News, he excitedly talked about everything he was eager to do now which he previously couldn’t while keeping his identity anonymous. “I’ve never been to a concert ever. I’d love to travel. I want to go to Europe. And I want to meet a lot of creators.” he said. When asked about the negativity he faced at the initial reveal, he stated that it didn’t bother him. “There’s gonna be bad people, people that are going to be mean,” he commented. “So I didn’t take it to heart.” He seemingly doesn’t regret his decision to face reveal and that he feels “way more free.”
Watching the internet’s explosive reaction as a person who has never really paid attention to Dream, I feel a sense of sympathy for him, and other faceless stars who fear revealing their identities to the internet. There’s nothing about Dream’s appearance that necessarily stands out and to be frank, he looks like any normal guy. While beauty is subjective, a majority of the hate was unwarranted. If anything, the occurring events reveal the toxic pressure content creators face to live up the impossible beauty standards of the internet. While we have majorly seen female streamers/YouTubers face scrutiny for their appearance, it’s clear that as a public figure on the internet, your appearance will never be “good enough”. So it’s no surprise that other faceless creators will continue to live anonymously, comfortably away from the cruelness of the internet.
As Dream now seems more than comfortable to freely share selfies and photos with friends to the internet, it’s clear that he’s adamant in his feelings toward the hateful circumstances. While many of his own past personal videos and those he appeared in only featured his voice, fans are most likely to now expect more on screen content from him. Dream’s face reveal to the internet signifies the end of an era, but also the start of a new one for him and his fans.
