Dream Face Reveal

Overview

The Dream Face Reveal (#dreamfacereveal) refers to the 2022 reveal of American YouTuber and Minecraft speedrunner Dream's face. After he first talked about it during a Discord meeting in September 2022, he later confirmed it in a YouTube Community post. Then, a screenshot of his Snapchat Story landed on Twitter causing viral discussions, memes and fan art to emerge. On October 2nd, 2022, Dream then revealed his face and his real name, Clay, in a YouTube video, sparking widespread discussion and memes online. Many commented on him being "ugly," centering on his large chin and the alleged emphasis he put on his jawline by keeping his head at a specific angle throughout the video. He was then likened to many lookalikes and comparisons such as Walt Jr. from Breaking Bad and Lord Farquaad from Shrek, among others. The reveal also resurfaced an older image of Dream when he was "fat," however, its authenticity is currently unconfirmed. Going into October 2022, hashtags such as #PutTheMaskBackOn and #dreamunmasked also trended on Twitter. Despite this, fan art of Dream also emerged.

Background

On September 5th, 2022, Dream voice chatted with his Discord server, stating that he was going to share his face sometime after September 23rd but before October 1st, 2022, depending on when fellow Minecraft YouTuber GeorgeNotFound moved to America to join Dream's "Dream Team" in person. A full-length video of the Discord meeting was uploaded to YouTube by the channel Daily Dream Team Clips on September 5th, gaining roughly 16,500 views in 17 days (shown below).

Developments

On September 19th, 2022, Dream made a community post on his YouTube^[1] channel stating that his next upload would be a face reveal, writing, "The mask is coming off, and George is finally moving to Florida with the Dream Team!" Over the course of three days, the post received roughly 230,000 likes and 9,000 comments (shown below).

On September 20th, 2022, Dream then posted a Snapchat Story of him recording the face reveal video, however, he drew over his face in red (shown below, left). Soon after on September 20th, Twitter^[2] user fentysimp tweeted a screenshot of Dream's Story, captioning it, "DREAM WHAT THW FUCKAJJDJAD," gaining roughly 11,600 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Online Reactions and Memes

After Dream's Snapchat Story surfaced on Twitter, memes and reactions surfaced en masse. For instance, on September 20th, 2022, Twitter^[3] user ksd_esign posted redraw fan art of the Snapchat Story, gaining roughly 10,800 likes in two days (shown below, left). Also on September 20th, 2022, Twitter^[4] user irrttggg tweeted similar fan art, gaining roughly 22,300 likes in two days (shown below, right).

More humorous reactions also surfaced about the upcoming reveal. For instance, on September 20th, Twitter^[5] user Aviizoll pieced together what Dream's face might look like in a tweet that received roughly 10,500 likes in two days (shown below, left). On September 21st, TikToker^[6] yacksondean posted a video with a text overlay reading, "I never watched a dream video in my life but I'm so hyped for his face reveal for some reason." In less than a day, the video received roughly 2.4 million plays and 662,600 likes (screenshot shown below, right).

The Reveal

On October 2nd, 2022, Dream tweeted^[7] out just one word, "Today," erupting his fanbase in a flurry and causing the tweet to gain over 500,000 likes in 16 hours, as people began to tweet out their speculation as to the time, medium as to what the face reveal would be seen, and what he looks like under the mask (shown below). The date is notable as being five days before Twitchcon, one of the largest conventions in which most large-name streamers gather together, and by revealing himself days prior, it is expected that he would now be able to go and enjoy the event to the fullest compared to if he had to be tightly controlled to avoid accidental face reveals.

This caused the hashtag #DreamFaceReveal to trend throughout the day, with the majority of people using it to tweet their reactions to the face reveal finally being at hand, memes about who is really under the mask, and just general memeing about the event and what his fanbase will be like after the reveal is done. An example of this can be seen by the Tweet done by the Twitter account @ccatefish^[8] in which a starter pack meme is used to make fun of the fan base who is trying to stay up until the reveal happens, panicking over not knowing the exact time, and earning over 10,000 likes in 11 hours (shown below).

On October 2nd, 2022, Dream then uploaded the video titled "hi, I'm Dream." to his YouTube^[10] channel, where he finally revealed his face after some teasing around the 1:17-minute mark (shown below). The video rapidly went viral, garnering over 18 million views and nearly 300,000 comments in 13 hours, as well as becoming the No. 1 trending video on the platform.

Dream and Walt Jr. Comparisons

After the reveal, it was suddenly noticed by thousands that Dream, real name Clay, looks strikingly similar to Walt Jr. from Breaking Bad, with the Twitter account @sounders69^[9] being the first to put the two side-by-side on Twitter, gaining over 3,500 likes in one hour for the deduction (shown below).

Dream's Chin and Jawline

Multiple reactions surfaced across Twitter and elsewhere about Dream's reveal. Many centered on the size of Dream's chin and his emphasis on his jawline. For instance, on October 2nd, 2022, Twitter^[11] user harrynotaverage tweeted, "he looks like he is itching to tell me a riddle," gaining roughly 191,900 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). Also on October 2nd, Twitter^[12] user motivatefenty compared Dream's jawline to Jackie Kennedy Eating Sheet Metal, gaining roughly 35,500 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

TikTokers also posted memes about Dream's chin and jawline. For instance, on October 2nd, 2022, TikToker^[13] alaskashane posted a video that demonstrated how Dream kept himself at a 45-degree angle throughout his video, gaining roughly 833,200 plays and 148,200 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). On October 3rd, 2022, TikToker^[14] tobynjacobs posted a video that showed a 20-foot-tall cutout he made of Dream's face, gaining roughly 517,100 plays and 112,900 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Dream's Face Fan Art

After his reveal, Twitter users started posting fan art of Dream's face. For instance, on October 3rd, 2022, Twitter^[15] user weaskie tweeted fan art, captioning it, "nice to see you dream :)" and gaining roughly 132,000 likes in one day (shown below, left). Also on October 3rd, 2022, Twitter^[16] user sinaheh tweeted, "hi clay :D" and attached fan art, gaining roughly 20,100 likes in one day (shown below, right).

bye, from Dream.

On June 9th, 2023, Dream posted a video to his YouTube^[17] titled "bye, from Dream" in which he "put the mask back on" and claimed he was going to unlist his original face reveal video. Around the same time, he removed his face reveal video from the platform. In the video, Dream portrayed that he got a new, higher-quality mask that he'd be wearing during his videos. In less than an hour, the video gained over 473,000 views (shown below).

Soon after the video was posted, reactions surfaced on social media. For instance, on June 9th, Twitter^[18] user @M1das_OW2 tweeted a screenshot of the video's thumbnail, writing, "EVERYONE BULLIED HIM SO HARD HE ACTUALLY PUT THE MASK BACK ON LMFAO 😭," gaining roughly 6,500 likes in less than an hour (shown below, left). Others, like Twitter^[19] user @DNFVlBES seemed to believe Dream was joking, with a tweet (seen below) that garnered over 2,700 likes and 242 retweets in less than one day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References