poke-maniac

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Gasp. A new video ? On the YT channel ? After over a year ? Impossible.

So, this was supposed to be out a very long time ago, and since then, there are actually quite a few things that i would change about this video script.

But for the most part, i am just glad to be able to post this and say that hopefully, this time it'll stick and i'll be able to start making videos at an acceptable rate in the future.

Also, this one is a YT exclusive ! Not based on an existing Tumblr post like the first one.

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How does Sans feel about Papyrus' death ?

A lot of common Undertale-related debates revolve around the morality of a character.

But among these, the one about Sans' reaction to Papyrus' death somewhat stands out. Both because of how widespread it is, but also because of the way two opposite yet equally inaccurate interpretations of it repeatedly seem to clash against one another.

So let's take a look at how Sans actually behaves in Undertale after his brother is killed :

First, we can observe a number of changes in his behavior, showcasing that he is not unaffected by it.

To start with an obvious one, the fact that nearly all of Sans' other casual appearances during that playthrough will be gone, Sans just... doesn't show up.

No pranks with telescopes, no stacking 29 hotdogs on your head.

While one flavor text with Shyren mentions that he is still 'watching over us' in some form even then due to his promise, he is evidently not as thrilled about this as usual.

But his lack of enthusiasm when it comes to watching over Frisk isn't the only thing that changes.

For instance, there is a present for Papyrus under the tree in Snowdin. However, as soon as Papyrus is killed and Sans vanishes, the present disappears along with him. Implying that Sans has retrieved the gift that his brother will not be able to open anymore.

He also appears to not have gone to Grillby's after our passage in Snowdin this time around. Something that's apparently quite unusual for him as it is part of his routine for that time of day.

And of course, in some iterations of his judgement scene in neutral routes :

...Needless to say that claiming Sans is totally unaffected by the death of his brother is inaccurate. While we do not see much of it, it is fairly solidly implied that Sans does grief his brother at least in his own way. And he does hold it against us to an extent.

However, that isn't all there is to it.

Sans' knowledge of RESETs does play a role in the way he handles the situation. Just not quite in the way it is often portrayed.

First, Sans may be aware of resets, but he does not remember them. This means that for a given Sans, the loss of his brother still feels permanent for that particular timeline iteration's Sans.

Knowing his brother will probably be alive again in another timeline eventually doesn't mean his loss in this one isn't real. Even if it does happen, he will not be there to see it. At least not this version of him.

However, Sans does still have a couple tricks up his sleeve, that maybe, if things work out, could spare of that fate the other Sans'es.

I showed this line earlier on :

However, this line isn't just Sans showing us his feelings about our actions. Instead, it is a part of a much more tricky strategy Sans begins engaging in after Papyrus is killed :

Psychological warfare.

The anomaly has reset this world many times before, and in neutral routes, he is left with the impression that it will likely do so again. This thought had previously been a demotivating one for Sans as he explained in genocide.

This was the case whilst Sans lived a semi-regular life under the constant threat of everything being undone on the snap of a finger.

However, now that what Sans incorrectly believes to be the anomaly has revealed itself and killed his brother, the situation has actually somewhat changed.

A reset, while it would wipe out his memories, would still bring his brother back to a different Sans. Papyrus' death doesn't have to be truly permanent. Because of this, Sans now wants the anomaly to reset. Not to keep doing it forever, but at least just one more time, to make sure that this timeline won't be the one that'll end up sticking around for good.

He also has a secondary motive :

While he is at it, he might also try to get the anomaly to changes its ways. Of course, Sans knows he's not a time traveller, not a god, but just a guy who is probably not capable of forcing a being such as the anomaly to change.

That being said, maybe, just maybe, he could help in giving it a little push to make it decide to want to change on its own.

To incite a RESET to happen, Sans has one main strategy : Making the anomaly regret its actions.

Sans believes that the anomaly keeps on RESETing the world because it is unable to find fulfillment, and that it keeps consuming timelines out of a desire to find happiness one way or another.

Thus, Sans aims to make the anomaly feel like this timeline can't be what they were looking for. Ensuring that, for the anomaly's quest for happiness to continue, they will have no choice but to reset this timeline as well.

That is the reason why Sans asks us this question :

The question was very carefully chosen on his part.

It both serves to confirm the anomaly's identity, but also more importantly, no matter what they answer, it allows him to either point out that the anomaly's actions did not match with their own morals, or forces them into making a selfish confession which he can then use to make them feel like they've done the wrong thing.

In either case, Sans is able to present his brother's death as an event that would only bring the anomaly further unhappiness. And thus, might get the anomaly to reach by itself the conclusion that the only way for it to find happiness now would be to RESET this world once more and avoiding killing Papyrus again in the future. A pretty good outcome for Sans.

This is what he refers to as taking it the 'easy way' to deal with an aggressive anomaly in a few routes. (as opposed to the 'hard way' he mentions halfway through his genocide dialogue).

In the neutral endings in which Papyrus was slain, Sans once again attempts a similar strategy. Although the awareness that a RESET still hasn't taken place even after quite some time passed since the anomaly was last seen in the underground & his last attempt at it is likely quite worrying to him.

This leads him to be a little more blunt than last time when it comes to the ways he tries to make the anomaly feel like this timeline isn't the one. Although his approach method remains broadly the same.

Though these lines are still rather noteworthy :

Given Sans wants the anomaly to go back, they might sound odd to hear at first.

It turns out that the more brutal we have been throughout the run, the less optimistic Sans' approach to dealing with the anomaly becomes during the phone call.

Here, Sans might be trying to play on another bleaker aspect of his psychological profiling of the anomaly : The consideration that they may view the world as a kind of game to explore, in which if they 'can', then they 'have to'.

By saying it is not welcome down here, he is also saying that it won't be able to keep exploring the possibilities of this world unless it makes them all forget everything.

In another of the neutral endings where both Toriel and Papyrus are killed, Sans seems to begin to doubt wether the anomaly can really be redeemed after all.

This all ultimately culminates in the leaderless endings.

In this one, Sans acknowledges that this is likely not our first time hearing him saying those kinds of things over the phone.

And that his 'strategy' seems to have failed to push it towards the right path.

In this route, Sans appears to have reached a similar conclusion as in the genocide one, that his hope of a redeemable anomaly merely looking for happiness may have been just naive/wishful thinking on his part after all.

In sum, Sans' awareness of the RESETs does not prevent him from missing his brother if Papyrus is killed. However, it allows him to weaponise his own grief using the psychological profile he has made of the anomaly in order to attempt to push it to RESET. Although he knows his own memories would be wiped out if he is successful, it would ensure Papyrus' death isn't permanent. Depending on the run, he also still harbors a dwindling hope that the anomaly itself could be steered towards a better path.

He mostly just needs to convince them to RESET one way or another though.

Past that point, it'll be up to the other Sans'es.

[poke-maniac]

anyways I think it’s based that toby fox nade a game that sold a million copies and became massively culturally iconic and got in smash and was both given as a gift to and had its final boss theme played in a performance for the pope, but his wikipedia article has no “early life” section, the “personal life” section is three sentences long, and there isn’t even a picture of him. for the 3 years between the release of undertale and deltarune chapter 1 there was talk of deleting his article because they couldn’t find any information for it that wasn’t already on the one for undertale. king of privacy.

[poke-maniac]

Frisk the ambassador-

inspo/ref meme

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Man, this line REALLY hits differently after reading the latest newsletter, doesn't it?

Many people have debated the meaning of this line and how Asriel felt about Chara when he said it, and now, after reading his letter, we finally have a better understanding of what his feelings.

If you remember, Asriel said that Chara loved the number 9 because if they reach it, "nothing can hurt you" and "nothing can hurt anyone." This is important because it shows that Asriel understands (now more than ever) that Chara's failures as a sibling were tied to the trauma they suffered on the surface and that their desire to become invincible wasn't just because they were self-serving, psychopathic or just plain evil.

At the same time, he understands that just because Chara wanted to achieve power so that "nothing can hurt anyone," it doesn't excuse them for the hurt that they ended up causing Asriel, even if they didn't mean to hurt him.

So, while Asriel rightfully says that Chara is not an "ideal friend", THAT DOESN'T MEAN HE THINKS THEY DIDN'T HAVE GOOD IN THEM, and the newsletter helps prove that!

So, in the end, Chara is just like every other character in Undertale: far from good, but also not a terrible person either.

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FLOWEY FANCLUBBERS MAKE SOME NOISE

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this happened to me in my first playthrough and i wanted to draw it for years

i can't be the only one this happened to, right ?

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did you know: i am goign to throw UPPPPPP

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Toby Fox has CONFIRMED Chapter 3&4 is coming out next year!!

(On another note, I am aware there's been a lot of Toby Fox posting lately that I haven't covered! Transparently, it's been a difficult month mental health wise and I haven't been very focused on the blog. I apologize. I hope I can get back to posting soon!)

[poke-maniac]

Overcorrecting

Actual canon:

Furthermore:

I get wanting to distance yourself from old inaccurate fanon but recently it feels like the fandom is just being contrarian and overcorrecting so much they create a new fanon, just in the opposite direction

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Important reminder of the design philosophy behind Undertale.

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new personality just dropped

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There are plenty of questionable moments throughout Merlin but one thing they did super well is Arthur and Uther's relationship. Uther's an abusive father, but Arthur loves him, and we see Uther's delicate side often enough to understand why.

A moment that really hits hard is in season 3, after Uther discovers Arthur and Gwen together, is when Arthur pleads his case. He scrambles between three different tactics, first sincerity, followed by more princely authoritative force, and then begging and apologizing.

Uther is unpredictable, a trait that makes him so awful as a father. So watching Arthur, who knows him better than anyone, swing wide so fast, within a single conversation, trying to find the right card to play in his father's game, is really heart-wrenching.

It shows a very special emotional intelligence in Arthur, albeit a devastating one.

[poke-maniac]

I think it's severely overlooked that Arthur was raised by UTHER.

Uther who burned children, Uther who kept Arthur under so much pressure since he was a kid. And despite everything Arthur became the man his father never was. Yes he is a prat, yes he is arrogant, but he is also loyal to a fault and compassionate. He makes mistakes but he tries his best to fix it, Arthur isn't afraid to admit that he'd done something wrong. Which is a huge deal for a king or crown prince.

i can only imagine how difficult his childhood was, because he was growing up without mother. And he is stating repeatedly himself that he was trained to kill since birth. I just love him so fucking much.

Bro is my fav character

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Don't give shippers any ideas Peter. Also, WTF Peter?