The following page contains spoilers for the plot of the Dream SMP.
| “ | I thought that today would be my last time here. Honestly, I was considering blowing up Manberg, having a big moment where I'm like looking over the rubble and saying "I've changed as a person", but after this, I wanna go deeper. | ” |
—Wilbur Soot | ||
The TNT Plot, also known as Plan Bomb, was the terrorist plan to explode Manberg, orchestrated by Wilbur Soot. It was initially conceptualized on October 8, 2020, following Schlatt's announcement of the Manberg Festival. Dream acted as its main benefactor, supplying Wilbur with key materials for the plan's success.
As the main driving force to Wilbur's antagonism, it was driven by his wavering belief in his own morals and his impact on the unfolding storyline. It would serve as the looming threat that spurred on a majority of the events of the Manberg Rebellion, as the other members of Pogtopia struggled to convince Wilbur to abandon the plot.
Despite being held back on several occasions, Wilbur's plans would eventually succeed on November 16, 2020, in the aftermath of the Manberg vs Pogtopia War.
Location[]
The TNT Plot's central focus was located in the Button Room, a small stone cave hollowed out into a hill under the Presidential podium by Wilbur. It was very simple, consisting of minimal decoration. The lyrics to the L'Manberg National Anthem were written down over a series of signs on the walls, in all capital letters, though some would come to be destroyed through a variety of means. In the center of the room was a wooden chair, facing the Button itself - this button was wired by redstone to the TNT that would destroy L'Manberg.
Wilbur would spend a lot of time here at the peak of the plan, contemplating his inevitable execution of it. In his words, he visited it at least seven or eight times, implying that he would travel out to see it alone on occasion. The room would end up partially destroyed by its own TNT upon the plan's completion, and later completely destroyed by the escalation efforts by Dream, Technoblade, and Philza.
The exact coordinates of the entrance to the Button Room were 454, 63, -559.
History[]
Festival phase[]
After witnessing Schlatt announce the festival, Wilbur began to wonder aloud if he and TommyInnit were in the right to reclaim their presidency in blood, considering the democratic nature of Schlatt's victory. Wilbur rationalized that they may be right in taking the land back from his dictatorial leadership style, but that would make them the story's villains. He fully embraced that role when he realized that L'Manberg as a nation could no longer be reclaimed due to the loss of its central beliefs.
He planned to detonate the entire nation at the festival, with little to no regard for the attendants. Tommy attempted to talk Wilbur out of it, but he ignored Tommy's input, contacting Dream for the tools he required - 51 blocks of TNT. Wilbur was aware of Dream's ulterior motives of destroying Pogtopia and L'Manberg, but did not care, knowing that they shared the belief that L'Manberg needed to be wiped away. Wilbur would later get more TNT of his own accord, laying it beneath the festival grounds and wiring it to a button room in the hillside.
During the set-up, Wilbur informed Tubbo of the plot, informing him of the plans and convincing him to go along with it. Later, on the day of the festival, Tommy would attempt to try to convince Wilbur to back down again, yielding little result even when Tubbo joined in and pleaded with him. In order to test his loyalty, Wilbur gave Tubbo a code phrase to say to trigger the entire plot - "let the festival begin" - and let him prepare to give his speech, placing the decision to say it entirely on his shoulders.
However, after the speech was finished, Tubbo was instead executed, prompting Wilbur to delay the plan as the resultant panic caused him to lose the button room. The plan ended up abandoned for the day in favor of establishing Pogtopia's new position in the rebellion landscape.
When Wilbur, Tommy, Nihachu, Tubbo, and Technoblade got back to Pogtopia, Niki was informed of the plan which led to some distress. Wilbur also asked Technoblade to bring along some withers for the plan, which caused Tubbo, Tommy, and Niki to realize he had gone insane. The three watched the sunset together and agreed to take L'Manberg back without resorting to the plot.
Negotiation phase[]
The day after the Festival, October 17, Wilbur took Tommy and a newly defected Quackity to the button room, having managed to find it. He declared that he would press it there and then, as Schlatt was the only one in Manberg at that moment. The two argued with him, bargaining with their lives in order to get him to step away from the button. Upon hearing that Quackity had another plan to restore L'Manberg, and seeing Tommy place his faith in him, he reluctantly destroyed the button, stating that he would follow their plans.
However, when their backs were turned, he placed it back, promising he would be back for it eventually, betraying how little faith in the plan he had. He referred to the button as a Chekhov's Gun, stating that as it had been teased for so long, eventually, it would need to be used. Sealing the room up, he went to discuss the backup plan with Quackity and Tommy - the duo wanted to trick Schlatt into conceding his Presidency in a meeting. The plan was dubbed Plan Ass, after Quackity's ass-focused skillset. A second plan was conceptualized that would focus on killing Schlatt in a trap. Despite the optimistic discussion, Wilbur insisted that they keep the Button as a backup plan, dubbing his idea as Plan Bomb. Reluctantly, the duo accepted his terms.
As time passed, Wilbur would grow restless with the lack of development, bringing the negotiation into jeopardy. During Nihachu's birthday party, he attempted to resort to Plan Bomb once again, stating that he'd been waiting for an audience. The three remaining guests, Niki, Karl and Quackity ran after him in order to calm him down. Wilbur sang the L'Manberg anthem dedicated to Niki, but she stopped him from continuing. Quackity then went to the button room without Niki and Karl although they were listening to the conversation, he reassured Wilbur the meeting would go through and convinced him not to ruin Niki's birthday. Wilbur gave Quackity a final deadline - Friday 6th November - to get the plan into motion, and reminded him that if anything went wrong, he would be detonating everything.
During the meeting, Quackity attempted his plan to deceive Schlatt, but when things fell through, Wilbur extracted him and went to follow through on his promise to detonate everything. However, Schlatt had come across the TNT, and deactivated the bomb, supposedly taking it to Pogtopia (this would likely turn out to be an empty threat, but it is not clear what Schlatt really did with any of the retrieved TNT). The group were forced to retreat, and Wilbur was forced to reconsider the logistics of his plan for a second time.
Betrayal / Final phase[]
After their defeat in the Meeting, Dream met the Pogtopia fighters to inform them of his loyalty switch. In response, Wilbur set up a date for a final fight - November the 16th - stating that he would fight for the rebellion, but if things showed any signs of going badly for them, he would re-wire and activate the button. Dream took the opportunity to let them know of the traitor in their ranks. This traitor was Wilbur - in exchange for his support, Wilbur would promise to detonate L'Manberg no matter what happened in the war. With Dream's help, he secured and laid eleven and a half stacks of TNT underneath Manberg.
On the day of the Manberg vs Pogtopia War, Dream contacted Wilbur and surrendered to the Pogtopian forces, giving them their victory. Intending to follow through on his plan, Wilbur gave the presidency away, leaving the celebration early in order to follow through with the plan at last. During his final suicidal monologues, though, Ph1LzA logged in behind him, intending to dissuade him from the plot and re-welcome him into L'Manberg. His attempts at reassurance failed, and Wilbur gave him a solemn salute, reciting Eret's infamous line of betrayal - "It was never meant to be," - before finally hitting the button.
The majority of the TNT destroyed central L'Manberg, leaving a crater in its wake.
Aftermath[]
The TNT Plot was one of the biggest climactic plot points to ever take place on the server. It would result in the final canonical death of Wilbur, one of the central members of the Season One cast, and the complete desolation of Old L'Manberg.
Its resulting desolation would require the Third President, Tubbo, to declare and follow through on his first decree to repair the damages left by the bombs. Notably, it has left a lot of members of L'Manberg with heightened anxiety around buttons, explosives, and has resulted in the nationwide ban on TNT that L'Manberg enforced up until its dissolution. It firmly placed Wilbur on L'Manburg's Official Hitlist, despite his status as the First President.
After the Green Festival, Dream voiced a desire to finish what Wilbur had successfully started with these bomb plans, intending to take its intended destruction one step further. As a result, the events of the Doomsday War could be considered to be a continuation of Plan Bomb.
The Button Room remained half-constructed in the center of L'Manberg, covered up by Tubbo and Fundy as a memorial of the past. It is rumored that Wilbur's body was left there, as well. After the complete eradication of the city during Doomsday, nearly all of the room was completely destroyed. Eret turned the location into a shrine to be used for Wilbur's resurrection.