#(btw undertale does broach the topic of fascism a couple times in neutral endings! but it treats it as a consequence of war)

[shedpuns]

"undyne was a cop in undertale" cold take. undyne was a soldier. they say multiple times that the royal guard exists because of the war and that when they don't have to fight humans the royal guard disbands. in the neutral pacifist ending the guard is disbanded because it's a tool of war with the humans, not of control over the monster populace.

there's plenty wrong with soldier being a profession and with standing armies in general and with keeping a populace in a state of constant cold war, but it's not the same things that are wrong with police, and the willingness of even Asgore (after the true pacifist ending) to disband the guard is a super positive sign.

Undyne cares deeply about the welfare and the freedom of monsterkind in a way that cops do not care about you. The fact that she doesn't in Deltarune is as much of a red flag as the fact that Toriel lets Kris' half of the room go empty or that Asgore doesn't remember that they don't like hugs or that Alphys prefers grim and joyless anime.