I’ve had a couple of dreams with Infinity Stones and the entire Infinity Gauntlet but todays Lucid Dream adventure was staring Thanos, the Mad Titan himself with the full Infinity Gauntlet and he looked absolutely fantastic, was a fun dream character.
The dream starts off where I am watching TV with my daughter. I see a show called Thanos and Friends, and it is a cartoon animated series staring Thanos, complete with Infinity Guantlet but he is friendly. There are two characters I recognize Rocket Raccoon and Groot but others I do not.
I’m watching the show and Thanos, Rocket and Groot are all at this Alien Daycare babysitting a bunch of Skrull children and other alien races. Right away I am laughing at how stupid this idea for a show was yet how funny it was. I am watching in disbelief thinking how badly could Marvel sell out a character just to cash in on some series. And thinking in a dream is a good thing, because it leads up to the reality-check.
I’m talking to my daughter and telling her Thanos is a super-villain who wields infinite power, he would be babysitting kids with a weapon of mass destruction on his hand. But then I start to think about why I was with my Daughter at my Mom’s place watching TV when it wasn’t the weekend. Would Marvel really do this to Thanos? Or maybe something else is going on… like I am dreaming.
It can be tough to break that immersion, the general dream setting was a near perfect replica of my Mom’s living room except the TV show was really the only detail indicating that I was dreaming at all. Sitting in a recliner it was very easy to stabilize and focus on lucidity as I was already in a very connected and relaxed position.
I become fully conscious and the animated cartoon is playing but now I love it, I understand why it’s not based on actual reality yet the quality of the animation and characters was so fantastic. I had to have a closer look so I focus on the TV and project myself into the story. This is a very old trick I’ve used in dreams switching from one dream environment to another. Just a focus technique.
Now, how can I describe how amazing and cartoony the dream reality became. Dream reality is a master of simulating color, form, texture, sound even other sensory states. The first thing I did was stare at Thanos checking out the details, even to the point where he said, “Stop staring at me kid, you are creeping me out.”
There is this uncanny perfection in the dream simulation where the dream character looks identical to Thanos, not from the new Avenger’s Infinity War movie trailer, but with the way he looks in the comics with a much larger mouth and teeth. His skin was more purple, but it was like CGI graphics with a style filter giving more rich color to the suit. But the Animation quality, his speaking and movements were just perfect.
I didn’t want to really get drawn into the dream drama because let’s face it. How often does one get to see Thanos rendered in near perfect reality simulation that only a dream can provide? This was my first time and I guess the fanboy in me knew to soak it up and capture the moment. He was very muscular, I followed his shoulder down to the arm to the Infinity guantlet where I saw the colored gems gleaming with energy, having a very nice outer glow effect to them.
Being lucid, aware I was dreaming to now be in this cartoon themed dream was just magic, pure magic. Rocket and Groot also had a animated style to them so they didn’t look like how we see them from the Guardians Movie. Rocket had more brown hair that clumped and again this is because the dream took his Comic book appearance keeping in theme with a more comic book style. I almost didn’t recognize him but referencing how he looks in comics that is exactly the source my subconscious used.
Groot as well had a comic book simplicity to him but all three looked very real as they were in full 3D walking around as if they lived and breathed in the dream environment. The Skrull kids looked very cartoony, and they were basically driving Rocket crazy by getting into everything and doing the opposite of what he was asking him. His voice did sound like the Movie version obviously, my subconscious used that reference because it is all I would be familiar with.
Thanos goes and sits down on this chair which is kind of like his throne and the Skrull kids start to climb up and get all over him. Rocket and Groot are all trying to figure out how to calm the kids down.
Then Dr. Strange appears with some great special effects right before Thanos. He accuses Thanos of still being the Mad Titan, “I don’t know what game you are playing Thanos, but running a daycare is not one of them.”
Rocket yells out, “He’s a good guy now, has gone totally legit!”
Groot says classically, “I am Groot!”
I stand there looking at Dr. Strange thinking this dream just got even more surprising epic. Then Strange decides to test Thanos by using magic to do these humiliating yet funny things to him. He casts a spell, and Thanos suddenly has blond curly hair like Goldie locks and this crazy little collor with a bow tie. He get’s this look on his face of confusion and sees the golden curls and tells Strange to stop it. I see him flex his infinity gauntlet and he makes the hair vanish.
Strange then casts another spell and makes Thanos head shrink into literally the guy’s head from Beetlejuice with the big eyes and funny mouth. Again Thanos says “Stop it!” used the glove to restore himself and the tempo picks up and as fast as Strange and change his appearance, always the head and always funny Thanos would say “Stop it!”
This back and forth goes on and I am just killing myself it looks so damn funny. Finally, Thanos says “Enough” and he turns Dr. Strange into a cartoon child version complete with the Strange’s beard and he plots down with the rest of the kids, his outfit too large and the Eye of Agimoto now touching the floor with the chain making it look like bad ass bling.
Thanos then says to Strange, “How do you like it.” and Rocket and Groot are laughing. Baby Strange starts to cry, cartoon tears shooting out each side of his eyes and the crying Rocket and Groot are now annoyed by the crying.
I look at Thanos and I laugh. “You can conqueror the Universe with that thing and instead all you wanted to do was setup a daycare?”
“Someone has to take care of the kids.” he tells me. And I just laugh, it was too much. The comedy, the cartoon quality of the dream was just over the top.
Thanos looks at me then gives me this smile and unzips himself as if he was wearing a suit. This energetic being slips out and folds up the skin. Bops me on the nose and says, “Nice dreaming with ya! I gotta split.” and leaves.
Everyone packs up and leaves, I follow after Dr. Strange but he shifts into this guy with red hair walks down a corridor that now becomes just normal looking every day reality. The corridor opens up to a sidewalk and we are outside.
“You know Thanos could have kicked your ass with that Infinity Guantlet.” I tell the now normal looking person.
“Yeah, who cares it’s just a dream kid.” he says as he blows me off and walks away like it’s no big deal.
Then I stop and laugh, yeah it is a dream. I decide to explore the dream now that it looks more like waking reality. I walk into this pub, sometimes I like to have a drink or eat food in my dream. There is a nice bar with a bar tender and tables and chairs.
I look for a chair and as I walk past a table I see a very old friend from my high-school days sitting with some people at a round table. I walk over and say Hi. He is both surprised and happy to see me. He gets this big smile on his face and stands up, shakes my hand.
“Of all the people I never expected to bump into.” he says. “What have you been up to?” he asks.
“You know, the same old work, being a dad and of course dreaming. Always dreaming.” I tell him.
He asks, “You are still into that dreams stuff hey?”
“Well, considering this is a dream I would have to answer yes.” I tell him. Which immediately makes his company and himself a bit weirded out.
They start to argue with me that it’s not a dream. This one lady says, “What is he talking about? This can’t be a dream!”
The other man says, “He’s probably crazy.”
I pick up this glass candle holder from the center of the table and I smash it down on the table, it hits hard I could feel the solidity and even the vibration in my hand. The glass edge chips and even dents the table.
“What the hell are you doing?” yells the lady.
I pick it up and smash it down hard a second time. “This is a dream!” the glass hitting the table makes a loud cracking sound and now other patrons in the Pub are looking at me.
They tell me to stop it but I wind up and smash it down as hard as I can and say, “This is a dream! I should know, I’m the one dreaming it!”
But they still are not convinced, so I resort to some more classic tactics. I put my hand on the table and grab a steak knife. “If this wasn’t a dream, I wouldn’t be willing to stab my hand in real life to prove it.”
They tell me it’s not a dream and not to do it. “Hey man, I don’t know what you are on but stop before you hurt yourself.” complains my friend.
I touch the tip of the blade between the tendons of the middle and ring finger. Now, unless you have super-real dreams where you feel pain this isn’t always as fun as you think. I am at a point in the quality of the dream realism where I now feel bone to near accuracy which is something my dreams never had, used to be a give away but I could feel the sharp tip of the knife pressing metacarpal bones. My hand in that dream felt as real as my hand in waking life. This is the deep level of immersion I have come to know from lucid dreaming which makes breaking it and challenging it to prove a point always worth it.
I stab the knife down full force stabbing through the metacarpals into the wooden table. And I could feel the blade pass through my hand. They all scream out in shock and disbelief. I tell my friend to take a closer look, “See the knife went right through my hand. It has to be a dream.”
“That doesn’t prove it’s a dream, it just proves that you are nuts!” he tells me.
“Watch closely.” I tell him as I pull the handle of the knife and remove it from my hand. The knife even has resistance being stuck in the wood. But as the knife is fully removed my hand shows zero sign of damage, no blood. I hold it up and show it too him.
“If it wasn’t a dream I would be bleeding all over the place. Not a scratch on me!” I tell him,.
“No way! NO FUCKING WAY! This is a dream?” he explodes with enthusiasm. “Didn’t that hurt?” he asked.
“Yeah, kind of feels like a knife is passing through the hand but it’s no big deal.” I tell him. “Go ahead, give it a try.” I pass him the knife and put both my hands on the table one over the other and tell him. “Just stab it through both hands, it’s a dream so it’s not as bad as you think.”
He stabs the knife down into both my hands and this time I feel nothing, the knife blade actually disappears as it touches my skin like one of those fake knives. He looks at the handle and says, “The blade is gone?”
I still have my hands on the table and the lady who was all in dream denial grabs a knife and stabs my fingers almost cutting the tip of the ring finger off. And that one hurt, I got a very sharp pain and this time blood came out. She panics because it doesn’t heal. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry! I didn’t think it would cut you!” she tells me.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s a dream, sure they can be very real but I won’t wake up with a cut on my hand.” I look at the damages and it hurts but I don’t mind. The finger has a large gash and I push it closed and then focus my attention of simply fixing it and it returns to normal.
I show her that it’s fixed, “See, aren’t dreams fun? It’s like a big game of pretend.”
I decide that I wanted to something else kind of wild and extreme so I walk over to the bar tender and ask him for his most expensive bottle of alcohol. He gives me this whiskey in this fancy bottle. It is flat on one side, but the back side is curved. I open the lid and proceed to chug the whole bottle down, the bartender freaking out over it.
It tastes like whiskey but has a sweetness to it. Also, there is no burning sensation or effect. I’ve never chugged a full bottle of hard alcohol so no idea what that would feel like but I know by doing a couple of shots it would probably suck in real life.
I put the bottle down on the counter and tell the Bartender to relax, “It’s only a dream!” I tell him.
“You have to pay for that!” he tells me.
“What with monopoly money?” I reply. “You think you’ll even be here when I wake up?”
“No with cold hard cash!” he tells me. “That will be $1,500!”
I take the bottle and close the lid then focus on it causing it to fill up, he watches in amazement as the bottle starts to refill, at first it looks like whiskey but then these colorful strands start to appear and it becomes like a Universe with glimmering stars and nebulas. It was actually really beautiful to look at.
“How? How in the hell did you do that?” he asks.
“Like I said, this is just a dream. I’m just having fun.” I reply.
“I can’t sell this! You still have to pay!” he demands.
I smile like a magician snap my fingers and a $100 dollar bill in US currency appears in my hand and I give it to him. Then I do it again and another appears which I flip his way. Then I shake my hand and a stack of $20 dollar bills appear and he complains that it’s too many bills and just wants $100 dollar bills.
I try to make another bill but my focus is shifting. “Sorry mate, will have to pay you later can’t focus.” I tell him.
“Ah you are finally feeling drunk!” he tells me.
“No worse, I am waking up!” I complain so I try to stabilize right away and stop engaging the dream. I put both hands on the counter and resist. There are outside noises, roomate has returned with his dog and they are right by my door.
It is crazy, the dream starts to destabilize and I fight like hell to stay in the dream. I feel like I am being stretched into infinity, real intense effects and it’s hard to focus but finally I snap back at the bar and am still in the dream.
This is a very tough fight, I don’t always win this one because the body when awake usually snaps me back so fast but I have been finding if I really cling to the dream and by some act of pure willpower I can resist returning and the body just drops back to sleep. So I won this round.
But the effect on the dream was noted, the bar had changed slightly and the bartender disappeared. I was all alone. The pub was empty, even my friend was gone. I was a bit disappointed in that, kind of liked how things were role-playing.
I go outside and walk on the street. There is some commotion in the distance and I walk over to see what was going on. There was this female news caster holding a mic by some abandoned building.
I couldn’t hear what she was saying and was interested so why not fly over and check it out. I lift up and start to fly over and land right beside her. Her camera man screams, “Jesus Christ that guy just flew over to her!”
She is all blown away! “Did you just fly here?” she asks. It never get’s old when dream characters role-play real-life when in reality it’s a dream.
“Yeah, I wanted to hear what you were reporting on, so I flew over.” I tell her.
“How did you fly? Do you have a rocket?” she puts the mic to my face and starts interviewing me, her camera man focusing.
I start to laugh, “No, this is a dream. You can fly in dreams you know. It’s not a big deal.”
“Wait what? You are telling me this is a dream? It can’t be!” she asks now all confused.
“Well, if it wasn’t a dream, I couldn’t fly over to talk to you now could I?” I nudge her arm and wink.
“But this can’t be a dream, it’s real!” she points out the obvious.
“Yeah, dreams are a type of reality. They have realism. That’s why I love to dream them.” I reply.
“How did you discover this?” she asks.
“I’ve been at this little game for about 30 years now. I love it. I get to be here, my body gets to sleep. It’s a win win!” I tell her.
“Can you show me more? What can you do?” she asks.
“Anything really.” It’s night time in the dream so I make it instantly day time. “See, just change it at a whim.”
She drops back in shock and awe. “Oh my God! You just made it daylight!”
I laugh, “Yeah, like I said. It’s a dream, so no big deal.”
Then she changes the questioning very unexpectedly, “So… if this is a dream, then I can have sex with you.” and she just throws her self at me. I was like, not expecting that but really I should have.
She starts to kiss me and I am resisting and push her back.
“Don’t you like me?”, she asks.
“No, it’s not that I just wasn’t expecting that!” I told her.
She stops being so aggressive and takes my hand and rubs her finger down my face and bites her lip. “But, I really like you.” she tells me. Well here I was in a moral crisis, a beautiful model quality woman with long blond hair and beautiful red lips and me without a girlfriend in real life. It wasn’t a hard choice let me tell you. The rest you can fill in with your imagination suffice to say I could smoke a whole cigar after that dream. Woke up with a smile on my face.
Total time to sleep: 1 hour 30 minutes. Not bad for a nap.