#(obvious exception being certain people with Susie) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ariadnesweb · 3 years ago

Text

The Deltarune Prophecy was Manipulated: Noelle was Originally a Hero of Prophecy

In the goner maker sequence, when naming ourselves, certain names produce weird reactions from the questioner:

This specific specific comment, of meeting someone very wonderful: occurs with 3 characters: Kris, Susie, and Noelle. Our 3 playable Lightners.

They seem to create quite the special trio.

Noelle is often remarked to be ‘strong’ by Darkners, being Queen’s ideal candidate for Knighthood. And her magical prowess can be placed to the test during the Weird Route.

Susie, despite initial apathy, is the most traditionally heroic of the team. She’s the team member constantly pushing forward and facing foes, but also the team member questioning the videogame logic the world seems to run on.

And despite Kris’s extreme stoicism, they are the most reliably heroic member of the team, playing a default honorable attitude throughout normal playthrough. They currently struggle with being made a puppet for an eldritch player, and play as Knight and vessel for this being, a conflict that will become more relevant as we seem to be the thing allowing this whole prophecy to occur.

Between the three of them, we have a reliable team of heroes ready to save the world! Or doom it, I’m not going to judge.

WAIT. Something’s not right...

The Deltarune Prophecy as Ralsei tells it gives 3 heroes who will ‘Banish the Angel’s Heaven: a human, a monster, and a prince from the dark. While Kris and Susie are recognizably the human and monster, Noelle is obviously absent. In her place stands the vague outline of Ralsei, who acts as the prophecy’s prince. In this formation, our 3 heroes are: Kris, Susie, and Ralsei.

Is this hero formation different from the one including Noelle?

Comparing the two, Ralsei and Noelle, it’s obvious they both fill the same ‘support mage’ niche. Weak attack, a lot of magic, and spells to spend that magic on. They both have Heal Prayer to heal, and a spell to pacify tired foes.

Starting out, both at LV1, Ralsei has a very bare-bones kit. His Pacify spell has a low cost of 16%, but it can only spare 1 enemy at a time.

Noelle has an incredibly more advanced kit, if a bit specialized, with greater default Magic, and replacing Pacify with SleepMist. While double the TP cost, SleepMist can spare all enemies at once, being able to end a battle in a single turn. There’s also the legendary IceShock, with all warnings that entail in using it. The only downside Noelle has is a pitiful Attack stat of 3. It can do an amazingly low 30 points of damage on enemies, half of Ralsei’s default.

While Ralsei is more well-rounded, when both are forced to compete for the same ‘Support Mage’ role, Noelle is the member with the superior toolkit. She has stronger base stats and a clear finisher when dealing with enemies with SleepMist. Ralsei has absolutely nothing Noelle can’t already do better.

Okay, he can attack foes normally and not make me cringe, but his attack is poor compared to Susie and even Kris. Back to the support mage he must be!

And anyways, Ralsei is still a good hero of prophecy. We can’t just judge people purely through gameplay - sometimes we judge them by the effect they have on people~

Except Ralsei barely has any effect outside Kris and Susie...

Ralsei is very often the most ignored member of the team- generalized as a Lightner by King, weirdness unquestioned by those who meet him, and forgotten by Queen. It’s to the point that after two whole adventures to bring down the corrupt rulers, most Darkners have completely forgotten about him. If there is supposed to be something special about his character letting him take charge of the prophecy, his prowess nor his charisma is it.

The only really valuable thing Ralsei seems to have going for him in regards to his hero status is his assortment of lore about the Dark World. There’s literally no one else available to wait in creepy castles sprouting prophecies, follow us around in needy attempts to be useful, or to give us vital info regarding the consequences of our actions at the last-second. All that information is really useful, thank-god it’s all wrapped up in one character... who has literally nothing better to do...

Almost like... He was literally just made to fulfill specific requirements to keep the game on track...

Like something happened after the vessel creation sequence that would force Gaster to create a railroading tutorial character...

I propose the following occurred:

There were originally supposed to be three heroes: Kris, Susie, and Noelle, who all have roughly equal amounts of importance in the Dark World and Light World. Their adventures would bring them closer in the Dark World, and create an unbreakable bond of friendship that could last in the Light World.

The second narrator in the introduction sequence interrupted Gaster and broke the ‘script’ for the events to come. The vessel we were supposed to inhabit was discarded, Kris was forced to become a vessel instead, AND: Noelle was removed as a hero candidate. She is no longer prophesized by fate to save the world.

INSTEAD, Ralsei was created, as a makeshift replacement for what she could do, with the added bonus that he can keep the heroes on the correct path. This is a last-minute fix by Gaster, and Ralsei didn’t exist before then. This is why Gaster doesn’t mention Ralsei in the naming sequence, despite a hero of prophecy being a very important character in the plot.

How successful this ‘fix’ might be remains to be seen...

#deltarune #deltarune meta #noelle holiday #ralsei deltarune #deltarune theory #don't take this as me ragging on Ralsei #I think he's a very interesting hero and protagonist #especially as he is literally created for someone else's benefit #but I am incredibly interested in whatever relationship he and Noelle will have #they're parallels - the two doormat romantics more interested in having a good time over adventure or danger #they reference a fascinating character in Flow-Asriel - Noelle is an Asriel parallel while Ralsei is a Flowey parallel #And then they don't seem to see each other? What's up with them?#they're foils - Noelle is an emotional heart ready to throw herself at whatever she desires - Ralsei guards his emotions under several masks #always serving a greater purpose #so here's a theory on the two #meta #Soilai's labyrinth

274 notes · View notes

3wisellamas · 3 years ago

Text

Wow. So. Had a really fucked-up dream, since that's apparently what we're all doing in the Deltarune fandom right now. Didn't think I'd end up with one, but here we are. And I might have a new twist on the REALLY messed-up AU thing, a la Salt Route...

Gonna call this the Green Thumb AU, for reasons that will eventually become very, very obvious.

(Shoutout to @twitchyglitchy and @dungeonraided, who contributed a bit of this after I woke up and started ranting about my dream in the Treble Rebels server! Will note things that specifically came from them.)

So, I dreamt that, like Salt Route, there was a bonus route if you did certain things in chapters 1 and 2. I'm not sure what exactly those specific things were, but I think they had something to do with breaking the fourth wall, like solving that one puzzle to get Jevil's key before going to the castle and learning the room order, or hitting the switch on that one tree without making the room dark, or recruiting The Original Starwalker, maybe even hacking your save file a little to give Noelle a taste of Susie Tea, etc. If you did everything correctly, upon reaching Spamton's shop and asking him about the Knight...the phone would ring. And it would be Gaster on the other end.

Unfortunately, I don't remember any of the exact lines in this scene, but he basically goes "I'm sorry I didn't tell you what exactly I was selling, but aren't you happier like this? Aren't you glad to know the truth about this beautiful world you inhabit?" (In Wingdings of course, and he specifically used the phrase "beautiful world" a bunch of times.) Spamton is surprisingly distraught by suddenly being contacted again out of the blue, and the player / Kris, who was listening in to the conversation via another phone (like a linked landline kind of situation) has the option to either say that Gaster is right, that the world is beautiful, and let him go, or "Call him out on his bullshit." (Yes, that was the exact wording in my dream. XD ) I'm not sure what would've happened from choosing the former (probably abandons the route and lets things continue as normal), but choosing the latter offends Gaster, and he hangs up immediately. And, somehow, this brings Spamton back to lucidity a little, where he's more in control of himself and genuinely starts to see Kris as a friend, and he stops selling trash and instead stocks a few healing items and useful bits of junk he finds in the Trash Pile.

Which turns out to be a good thing, because Gaster then finds someone else to corrupt.

Now, this wasn't actually a part of the dream, but something contributed by the two people I mentioned up there: At some point you can find a key to the back room of Sweet Cap'n Cakes' junk shop, sorta like the back room of the Skelebros' house in Undertale. Inside you find that someone's actually been gardening, or trying to anyway, with a bunch of pots strewn around and everything wilted. Specifically, you can check around to get the following:

“* It's what looks like a small, wilted rose in a vase.”

“* It looks like someone was trying to transplant a lemon tree sapling, but it wilted.”

So, back to the dream, to find out why this is relevant. Things proceed relatively normal from there, until you get to the basement of Queen's mansion, where instead of Spamton NEO as the chapter's secret boss...you find Sweet. And something is clearly very wrong right off the bat; first off, he's wrapped in those vines that are all over the place down there, which are even plugged into him like wires (not THOSE wires, that's a different angsty Sweet AU, but like...regular speaker cables, except vines.) He's got a few garden pots with him, trying desperately to grow flowers, specifically GOLDEN flowers, but it's obviously not quite working out, since you know, you're kind of in a computer world with no real soil or even sunlight. And, when you speak to him, he immediately starts rambling about how someone told him all about the nature they don't have in the artificial Cyber World, and how he wants to see it so badly. Eventually he just starts listing off different genus and species of trees and plants, specifically poisonous / dangerous ones, and this slowly works its way into a rant on the cycle of decay, and how "Everything rots!", and he then battles you, to perpetuate that cycle!

Now, at this point, remember, Kris is alone down there in the basement. So, of all people, who comes to round out your party but Cap'n and K_K! There's even a few lines (though I didn't remember them when I woke up ;-; ) that indicate K_K was also targeted by Gaster, and he tried to speak to them too, but it didn't quite stick. But, the two of them are ready to defend you from Sweet, and, hopefully, get him back!

...And then I woke up before the battle started. *facepalm* But, I thought a little more about the battle and the aftermath later, and took it to the server for input, so I'll go ahead and throw all that here too!

-So, the battle arena is pretty much the same as the first SCC battle, with the two speakers on either side that the attacks mostly come from, though they're covered in vines just like Sweet. And at the top, instead of all three of them as stick figures dancing around, it's just Sweet, and he's standing there, completely still, maybe with a couple of his flowerpots with him.

-All of his attacks are synced up to the music, again like the first SCC battle. However, they're MUCH harder, and come a lot faster since the music will obviously be a remix of their fight theme (maybe with a ton more bass, since it's Sweet's solo theme!) And as a bonus, if you try to Fight, while Kris' attack bar looks normal Cap'n's and K_K's will be longer, and have the "sweet spot" in a place where it'll be on the beat as well!

-Sweet's attacks are mostly blasts from those speakers again, though in much more complicated patterns. He can also cause the vines to whip out from them, either to hit you or even split the box so that you don't have as much room to maneuver.

-He can also summon those bomb walls from the Spamton NEO / Mettaton fight, causing you to go into Yellow Soul mode to shoot your way through them. However, unlike Spamton's, they drop down onto you from the top of the box.

-His ultimate attack, the "Bass Drop", is where he summons his turntable and floats above you, dropping more of those bullets from the overworld action sequences! They fall in a more or less set pattern, with the player needing to find the right spots on the screen to avoid them.

-In order to Spare him, you need to snap all of his vines, just like with Spamton NEO's wires! To do this, you need to order K_K to either throw Kris (1 attempt), or both Kris and Cap'n (2 attempts). There's a LOT of those vines, though, so even if your aiming skills are good it's gonna take a while.

-Another thing you can do with Cap'n and K_K, courtesy of @dungeonraided, is have them play music along with Sweet, which throws him off a little and also makes the borders of the battle box flash green and blue, in order to illustrate the beat of the music and give a visual indicator for Sweet's attacks, making them easier to anticipate.

-If you choose to defeat Sweet by Fighting, Cap'n and K_K will reluctantly do it, at first giving comments about how they don't want to hurt their bandmate, but then eventually they'll accept that he's too far gone and it needs to be done.

After the battle, regardless of which method you use, Sweet is...pretty much toast. He falls over like Spamton NEO, and his speaker falls open, revealing he'd been trying to grow flowers inside of himself as well, and these DID manage to bloom. But, Cap'n and K_K will point out that he's destroyed, and take him back to the shop to clean him out and repair him, but not before quickly making you an item out of some of his parts! (Don't worry, they'll find more.) If you defeat him pacifist-style, you get the item Stereo Heart (named by @twitchyglitchy! ), which is a shield-ish thing that Kris can equip. If equipped after you get back out of the basement, maybe Ralsei will comment that it looks like it's surrounded by flowers, and Susie will ask "Does anyone else hear some kind of sad song?" If you defeat him violently, Kris will receive the Sound Blaster weapon, which when equipped one of your party members will note that they hear an odd buzzing sound coming from it.

When you make it back to Castle Town, Sweet is fixed! But, he's very clearly no longer himself -- something is missing (which you may or may not have equipped), and he's now more forgetful and cautious, but also has a new lease on life, appreciating small things (and his homies!) a lot more. Of course, Cap'n and K_K are now MUCH more protective of him, and shoot down any requests to go take a walk and see some nature...

(And as one final kicker, if you took this route, you can also see a few rose bushes and lemon trees behind their shop, in a little garden. ;v; )

#i love how we all just collectively dumped all our angsty aus onto sweet XD #between this and wired sweet au and beatdown au...#deltarune #sweet cap'n cakes #deltarune sweet #undertale #sweet #gaster #spamton #i seriously don't know where the idea of sweet being a gardener came from but i'm totally headcanoning it now #green thumb au

351 notes · View notes

sir-bacon-d-esq · 3 years ago

Text

Total crack theory incoming again. You have been warned.

What if Noelle’s mom is a human?

Okay.

OKAY.

I already hear the groans and the sighs and the “lol drugs must be fun”s out there. Just.

Okay. Humor me. Have a little jaunt with me through the crack. Buckle in, people, it’s gonna be a long ride:

In the first 2 chapters, we’ve seen only hints and snippets. She’s the mayor, she’s a harsh mother, Rudy is very much in love, as a politician she’s uncharismatic but gets things done and runs unopposed, and she doesn’t seem to show her face much around town.

Now, about Hometown. We’ve only been assuming so far, based on context clues, that it’s a monster-only town except for Kris... but unless I missed something, there’s no explicit narration or exposition that states outright that this is the case. Toby Fox is trying to go for worldbuilding that is more natural than that, but this approach allows certain details to be... open for interpretation.

Humans are not common here, that’s obvious. But what about the rest of the world outside of Hometown? We know basically nothing about it, nothing about where Kris actually came from or what their life was like before the Dreemurrs.

It could be a monster-only world with very few humans, or it could be a lot more evenly mixed. For the sake of this crack, let’s assume option 2. Hometown is this segregated, out-in-the-sticks monster community, but not totally isolated.

If a well-to-do monster couple can adopt a human child and raise them here, surely an adult human could move in if they wanted? Like, say, if this human fell in love with a local who’s great friends with the Dreemurrs?

But what about Noelle and her sister Dess? Easy, maybe Rudy had a previous lover and they conceived two children, but something happened after Noelle’s birth. Maybe the mother died, or simply left. And then Rudy, suddenly a single dad, finds love again in a human woman who came to town, and she chooses to embrace her new and unexpected monster family.

Maybe she saw opportunity here. A chance for a better life than what she had among her own kind. And indeed, she is now mayor - relatively embraced by monster-kind despite her humanity. It’s a gamble that seems to have paid off

Dess took time to get used to so much change so fast, but for her baby sister’s sake she accepted it. Noelle was too young to remember her birth mother, so Rudy’s wife is, for all intents and purposes, her mom, and that’s totally normal to her. Even if her strict mother scared her sometimes... maybe Kris isn’t the only reason Noelle was afraid of humans under the bed.

Speaking of Kris, the parallels this would create between them and Noelle are pretty clear. A monster and a human from unconventional families - maybe that’s why they connected so well, despite Kris and their trickster ways.

Imagine what it would be like for Kris. Imagine growing up in a town full of monsters, except there is, in fact, another human like them who lives here... and that one other human, their friend’s mom, is a stern, cold, distant politician. A far cry from their own monster mother: soft, approachable, kind... even if that kindness no longer exits for her eggs-husband.

It’s no wonder Kris can’t stand to look at other humans, even if it’s just pictures in a book.

Now, for the sake of Deltarune’s larger narrative, what would be the point of Noelle’s mom being human? Or for any other human character to be in the story, for that matter?

There’s a pattern of strained relationships between Kris’ classmates and their respective parents. Catti’s family are preppy socialites while she’s the quiet goth; Kris’ parents are divorced and their brother is gone; Noelle’s mother is harsh, her father is ill, and her sister is gone; Susie’s implied to be in a broken home, if not entirely homeless.

Hometown is a worm cake: pretty and desirable on the outside, messy and textured on the inside. Like in real life, there is kindness and decency and community, but there’s a lot of baggage and trauma and tragedy that nobody really wants to address. It would be too painful, too inconvenient.

Noelle’s mom being human would add a further dimension to Hometown - showing us that it’s not some simple “monster town”, but a place with a history and a place in the wider world beyond its forest. Like everything else that’s complicated, nobody wants to acknowledge it, so nobody says it out loud. A human mayor of a monster town...how could there not be tension there?

There’s... more, but now I’m getting into territory where I’m theorizing about other things and how I’d try tying all these theories together, and at that point I’m just drafting an outline for a fanfic... and I’m already insane enough >>’‘‘‘‘‘‘‘

#deltarune #deltarune theory #noelle holiday #rudy holiday #kris #crack theory #I am sorry not sorry for polluting the Deltarune tumblr waters

41 notes · View notes

everysongineverykey · 3 years ago

Text

I'M DONE. HERE. TAKE THESE CHAPTER 2 THOUGHTS AND RUN, BABY.

so i'll try to go in order here. uhhhh... there's a LOT i have to say. first: toriel giggling sprite my beloved

on that note, ALL THE NEW SUSIE SPRITES MY BELOVEDS

NOELLE YOU'RE SO GAY. I THINK THIS IS PROBABLY JUST BECAUSE I TOLD HER TO IN CHAPTER ONE BUT SHE GAVE SUSIE THE LUNCHBOX FULL OF CHALK!! I LOVE ITTTT

ralsei's, uh... kinda sus. the whole "recruiting" thing REALLY sketches me out. and he looks kinda... smug, all the time, like he knows what's going on.

LANCER JOINED! ROUXLS JOINED EVEN THOUGH NO ONE WANTED THAT! STARWALKER JOINED, TO EVERYONE'S JOY!

LIBRARY PORTALLLL

so before i entered the city there was that pre-city area? that looked very much like the city? except it had different music? and i thought they'd cut welcome to the city and i was SEVERELY disappointed. but then they didn't! just something i wanted to mention

NOELLE!!

throughout this game i went from despising berdly to feeling bad for him to not really liking him again, but not hating him as much as before. he'd better stay the fuck away from susie though

the queen is the best villain. she's the kind you love to hate! she's literally so funny AND her boss battle is actually tough (rip to the king but he just. wasn't a formidable enemy at all lol)

THE GANG CHARLIE BROWN DANCING TO WIN A FIGHT! SUSIE GAINING THE POWER TO ACT THROUGH SHEER FORCE OF WILL! SUSIE FORCING RALSEI TO LEARN TO ACT EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN'T WANT TO! THAT ENTIRE BATTLE WAS AMAZING! THE "BATTLE WON" END DANCING SEQUENCE! GOING INSANE GOING INSANE

the puzzles in this chapter were genuinely really impressive! i especially loved the word search puzzles and the ice-ee undertale word search reference💙

that being said. the mouse puzzles were SO fucking infuriating. i caused poor noelle a LOT of grief with those and i feel bad.

SPEAKING OF NOELLE!! the scene where she and kris are walking through the puzzle, the one that spells "december", and she's talking about when they were kids, how she loved sneaking out? beautiful. the cinnamon tography <3 also i guessed dess's full name was december a while ago and while i guess it was obvious, it's nice to have that confirmed!

also, i love that susie and ralsei are real friends in this chapter! he taught her a healing spell!!

ugh. fucking berdly. so smug and pretentious. i love queen's desire to be as far away from him as possible though

i also like his backstory. it gives his behavior, even if it's still annoying, at least some context. i get the feeling of feeling like if you're not smart, people will forget about you, and that's scary.

ALSO ALSO. GAMER BERDLY. LITERALLY EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT IS PERFECT. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GAMER!" "i only play mobile games, berdly." "NOOOOOO!" like i ADORE that

anyways. time for me to talk about the only thing that matters in this world: suselle. i mean, did the gays win in this chapter or DID THE GAYS WIN IN THIS CHAPTER?? THEY RODE A HEART-COVERED FERRIS WHEEL AND HAD A HEARTFELT, TENSION-FILLED CONVERSATION!

"did you ever wonder why the real susie never picked on you? well, maybe it's because... when you were both new to class, you lent her one of your pencils, like... maybe a dumb one with candy canes on it or something, and... even though it didn't actually taste like candy, she... remembered your smile." okay god thanks toby it's not like i needed my heart or anything

SERIOUSLY. TOBY "i'm gonna give the gays everything they want" FOX IS BACK WITH ANOTHER BANGER LADS

QUEEN'S BOSS BATTLE! ACTUALLY TOUGH, UNLIKE KING'S! AND GIGA QUEEN! I'M GOING INSANE THAT WAS SO SICK AND SO HARD

the way my heart BROKE when lancer turned to stone good god thank GOD our boy's okay

AND ROUXLS KAARD IN HIS PIRATE DUCK!! WITH HIS LITTLE HAT! DEMANDING THE QUEEN MAKE HIM BUTLER SUPREMETH! I LOVE HIM MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF

also!! kris and ralsei's little moment on the swan boat💙 i wasn't a kralsei shipper before but uh... that may be starting to change

it's hard because ralsei's still suspicious but at the same time i love him and want him to be happy. i don't know how to feel

also, if darkners outside of their dark worlds turn to stone after a while, why didn't ralsei? that's, uhhh... VERY sus. very weird. mr fox i need ANSWERS

WE FINALLY HAVE A WAY TO SAVE AFTER WE'VE FINISHED MOST OF THE EPILOGUE LADS. REJOICE!!

seriously the thing that peeved me about ch1 was that the last save point was on the battle stage and if i wanted to play the epilogue again, i had to. do that entire battle all over. BUT NOW THAT'S BEEN FIXED!!

UNDYNE AND ALPHYS HAVE MET UNDYNE AND ALPHYS HAVE MET THIS IS NOT A DRILL UNDYNE GAVE HER A BOX OF CANDIES EVERYBODY SHUT UP THEY'RE IN LOVE ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD

ALSO! NEAR THE BEGINNING! I FORGOT TO MENTION THE LITTLE WHITE DOG DOING DONUTS IN A TOY RACE CAR AND BACKING UP TRAFFIC! THANK YOU LITTLE WHITE DOG!

on that note: "looks like a car. this one has a man in it. he waves at you happily." AND THEN THE MAN'S GONE??? HEY TOBY???

ALSO. THE SEGMENT WHERE THE ANNOYING DOG HELPS US FIND THE KEY THROUGH THE POWER OF WANTON DESTRUCTION. THE BEST PLOT DEVICE!

TORIEL TEACHING SUSIE TO MAKE PIE STOP ITTTTT

and yes yes i KNOW kris slashed toriel's tires. that was extremely troubling. but THEY MADE PIE TOGETHER!!

"leave the chalk alone, kris" TORIEL!!

sans and toriel making egg puns and asgore running in and going "don't forget me, your eggs-husband!" is the FUNNIEST sitcom moment type thing ever. GOD.

on the other hand sans let me meet your brother god dammit i'll kill you

METTATONNNNNNN

RUDY... "who got you these flowers?" "is it weird for a married man to get flowers?" "so your wife did?" "oh, no! kris's dad did!" "...not even gonna try to understand this..." TOBY STOP ITTTT YOU'RE GIVING THE ASGORUDY SHIPPERS FALSE HOPE. YOU KNOW YOU'RE JUST GONNA KILL RUDY. YOU'RE JUST RUBBING SALT IN THE WOUND!

NUBERT! MY MAN!

seeing kris repeatedly they-themmed by multiple characters makes me so happy <3 poor kid... "college summer vacation when" "you opened the door with your eyes closed. you saw nothing" kris....

KRIS...

fucking. BLACK FOG STORM IN THE LIVING ROOM KRIS STOP IT. HOW'RE THEY GONNA REVEAL THIS WAS INNOCENT? THE KNIFE IN CHAPTER ONE WAS EASY BUT HOW WILL THEY EXPLAIN THIS

the staticy tv appearing in the dark and a toothy smile slowly fading into view in the center and lingering there ominously for far too long >>>>>>> every hollywood horror movie ever god. GOD

snowy and monster kid checking out the red door. implying there's something in there. something that kris knows about. knowing we won't get any more deltarune content for 5+ years does NOT fill me with determination

also. gaster's symbolic theme being mus_smile. and the final image in the game being a smile. god. gaster's COMING lads.

onionsan hears a song at night... a familiar song... memory, perhaps? or maybe a certain... four-note arpeggio that's hidden in a sound test room in undertale? who knows? guess we'll just have to wait for chapters 3/4/5.

this concludes my ramblings for now, but don't get it twisted- this is FAR from the last post i'll make about ch2. this whole chapter was absolutely amazing! brilliant! showstopping!! i'm genuinely soooo super impressed and excited for the chapter 3/4/5 bundle!!!

#deltarune spoilers #dr spoilers #deltarune chapter 2 #deltarune chapter 2 spoilers #dr chapter 2 spoilers #trying to get as many spoiler tags as possible!

64 notes · View notes

olderthannetfic · 4 years ago

Note

hi hi history-non again, sorry I know it's a very

ahem wide and girthy ahem

ask, and i'm sorry for not narrowing it down farther my brain is smooth as butter and the dart board, so to speak, is. big. i feel like im throwing my dart in the ocean of 'what i don't know' and trying to spear a fish who might speak to me like the queer elder i never ha d ;lkasjd;flkas damn you small conservative town ANYWAYS

i guess okay maybe do you have any favourite figureheads? whats your fave pieces of lgbtqa+ media (like books or shows?)

thanks again and sorry for.

uh.

big.

Lolololol. Yes.... it’s so... big...

In the 90s, the writers of nonfiction who I found really inspirational were Susie Bright and Kate Bornstein. My Gender Workbook was a classic. I gather there’s a new edition.

I was a massive, massive nerd, so my actual favorite queer book as a 14-year-old is one that will be a bit... uh... much if you’re not feeling very intellectual. It’s Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History. This thing is a massive doorstop of a book that collects academic journal articles on third gender roles from various cultures. I was obsessed with this thing. Again, it’s academic journal articles, not popular nonfiction, so expect that level of impenetrable prose.

I was also a giant weeb, so I read a bunch of books on the history of gay sex in Japan. It’s pretty interesting how much people assume the “m/m sex = sin” shit was worldwide and how much it just was not.

In terms of fiction, I’ve always struggled to find f/f media I relate to. I really like the tv adaptations of Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet. Lots of fucked up problematicness and gorgeous visuals. Gotta love the lady with the strap-on and the gold body paint!

For other queer media, I was a big fan of Velvet Goldmine and of Pedro Almodóvar’s older films, which are full of every problematic kink you can think of. They also have a lot of het I like, like the lady being coerced into sex (that she enjoys) by the drag queen who impersonates her famous mother she has a lot of mommy issues about... except said drag queen is really an undercover police officer. Just... whut. (All the “straight” stuff in Almodóvar’s films is also bugfuck nuts and often kind of queer.)

I really, really, really loved Crash. Not the shitty one that won an oscar: the car crash perverts one full of weird UST. There’s a ton of straight sex in this too, along with every gender combo and a laundry list of upsetting kinks. It’s just every kind of weird perv thing. (”Weird art film full of sex and problematicness” is pretty much the defining feature of movies I liked as a teen. I loved Kissed, that het necrophilia movie too.)

Stage Beauty is probably my favorite film for bi vibes. It’s this meditation on identity as the English stage was changing over from having men play women to having actual actresses. It ends in f/m, but it’s definitely a very queer film.

If you want slice of life stuff, I guess you could try Dykes to Watch Out For (the comic that’s the source of the bechdel test) or the Tales of the City novel series. These will both give you a sense of what was going on in certain queer communities in the late 20thC. If you want something relatively fluffy, Maurice is a historical costume drama with a happy ending. I found it awfully slow as a college student, but it does have naked Rupert Graves (Lestrade from Sherlock), so...

----

See, this is hard to answer because I came of age and did all of my reading of that kind a long time ago. I pretty quickly moved on to fangirl media, which I have always liked a lot better than other arguably queer stuff. Back in the 90s, that meant Japanese stuff and fic. Later, I had access to more flavors of by-fujoshi-for-fujoshi media.

So my actual favorite m/m books are a bunch of “m/m romance” (i.e. American BL being sold as ebooks on amazon). If you want live action TV and fandomy vibes, you’re better off with Trapped (hot cop/mobster action!) or one of those Thai series about schoolboys or something than stuff made by cis gay men in the US.

I also came of age in an era when “queer” media was very Cis Gay Men And Sometimes Cis Lesbians with an occasional nod to bi people existing... maybe. Kate Bornstein and a few others were raising the profile of MtF transsexuals (the term in use at the time) who wanted surgery or even, gasp, maybe didn’t want bottom surgery in some cases. Anything about FtMs or nb/agender/etc. identities was practically invisible. I saw the term ‘genderqueer’ around a bit, but it was mostly in contexts that were very tryhard and unappealing to me.

(You haven’t given any details, but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you’re like much of tumblr and the flavors of queerness you relate to aren’t so much the Cis Gay Men Only culture that makes up quite a bit of queer history and older queer media.)

I can tell you what I liked as a teen, but not everybody is into fucked up art films that may not have happy endings. I can try to rec things about queer culture in the 90s, but I probably don’t have great recs for way earlier or later than that... unless it’s so much earlier that I’ve researched it while writing fic of some historical canon or other. A lot of how I learned about queer culture myself was from magazines or from reading soc.bi on usenet or just from living through the 90s--not typically from books that are easy to unearth and just hand to someone now.

I tend to just not like anything in the contemporary romance or slice of life genres, regardless of gender and orientation, so while I’ve watched/read a bit more queer stuff like this, especially in the past when I had less access to queer media, it’s not a space I’m great at reccing in. And that’s unfortunate because a lot of that type of art gives you a better sense of what other queer people were like in other eras and/or it’s a safer rec than some bananas crazy BDSM film.

I was, and am, very kinky (though pretty lazy in terms of actual practice), so a lot of my reading and media interest was bound up in that also. Obviously, I was quite interested in the drawings of Tom of Finland or the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe, but are you going to be into photos of some guy shoving a whip handle in his ass? I love the movie Cruising... it’s about serial killers and leather and homophobia and is every bit as potentially traumatizing as that sounds.

I feel you on the problem of finding queer elders. There isn’t really an obvious way to go about this.

#queer history #queer media #Anonymous

32 notes · View notes

mrfandomgage · 3 years ago

Text

Susie: Hey Queen, I have a question

Queen: I'd be delighted to answer, but I'm-

Susie: How do I deal with nearly everyone loving me?

Queen, playing cards with Lancer: ... this can wait my boy. Ok now what are you talking about?

Susie: So. Other than Noelle, which is obvious. I think Kris has a thing for me from... a few observations I had. Then Berdly tried having me kiss him [I tried ignoring that...]. Finally, Ralsei has been getting a bit... he's been trying to learn more and more from me, like my habits. Lancer is my bestie, he's just the best

Lancer: Thank you, Susie

Queen, thinking: You want a Harem?

Susie, embarrassed: Look, I don't think you're using that word right, I'm pretty sure that means something else

Queen, laughing: I know, it's the closest I could come up with

Queen: ok, but besides joking, who do you like?

Susie, embarrased: there's something to like about all of them. Except Berdly. Kris, I thought Kris was just a creepy weirdo that rarely speaks cause Kris is just plotting to freak everyone out. Kris is actually pretty cool, it's like Kris sees through people and understands what they're like just by a glance, and makes them happy, and put to it, Kris isn't a slouch in a fight. Kris is fast, strong [not stronger than me], smart...

Queen: Kris did lead you in the fight against me, I do have to say, it was well coordinated at the least.

Susie: Noelle is sweet, maybe a bit too scared and curious. Honestly I did enjoy that she wanted to walk with me, and I loved talking with her.

Queen: She was much stronger than she was willing to let herself be too. I feel bad for what happened to her, I still want to help her, but oh well!

Susie: Ralsei is a nerd, a shorty, four eyed, trying to explain everything.

Queen: ... are you going to get to the good about him?

Susie: What? That was the good. He's smart, cute, and excited to teach others. He's especially fun to mess with, and he's pretty good at making cake. I mean, yeah, him trying to explain everything can be annoying sometimes, but his teaching gave me the ability to heal people [I still prefer to hit people, but healing is still cool].

Queen: What's wrong with Berdly again?

Susie: remember the negatives I gave Kris?

Queen: yes?

Susie: It's that, but loud instead of quiet

Queen: Thought so.

Susie: and Lancer is Lancer, he's my friend so I don't count it as him viewing me romantically

Lancer: Can I view you romantically?

Susie: No

Lancer: Oh thank goodness, I like being your friend.

Susie: me too buddy.

Queen: So, what will you do?

Susie: I don't know. I like all of them, but I don't know how to feel all about them entirely. It's nice to know they like me at the very least

Queen: To answer your question, you should figure out how you feel towards everyone, to make sure you don't end up conflicting your emotions getting into certain relationships you can't maintain.

Susie: What?

Queen: Maintaining a healthy relationship you need to understand yourself just as well as the person you're interacting with, and to work with said person, you don't need an intense, deep understanding, but you do need to know how you feel at least

Susie: I thought you weren't good with people?

Queen: I'm pulling it from the internet

Susie: but the-

Queen: I'm obviously using data

Susie: but-

Queen: have you ever downloaded something over data?

Susie: ...

Queen: thought so

#deltarune #susie deltarune #susie #lancer #lancer deltarune #deltarune queen #queen #deltarune chapter 2

6 notes · View notes

marie-lamb-b · 5 years ago

Link

You can’t really enjoy a date when you know someone’s waiting for you at home.

Alright. I had a spark of inspiration (I wrote this quite fast, in less than a day…), and… this came out.

And although I can’t say I ship them as an OTP of mine, at this point actually I think I’m more like a multishipper with this fandom (everyone fits with almost everyone in certain ways…)

Also, I’d like to specially blame this to @adobe-outdesign and @insane-control-room, why? No idea, I just see their post and works and mostly they sparked that spark that sparked on me (???)

*Tumblr version under the cut*

It was pass 1 in the morning, and the door creaked slowly, letting the lights of the hallway glow a bit in the rather dark apartment. You could say if someone has arrived home so late it was just because they had fun. Not like he cared really.

“So, how was your date?” Sammy asked from the sole lightened corner in the room, sitting next to the windowsill and bathed in moonlight coming from the window.

Wally seized any movements as he tried to process the idea of the man still awake at such late hours only to give him a little scare-. Why had he to be so dramatic?

“Eh– Y’know!” He started nervously. “Quite a dame, really pretty! He heh…”

He started to take off his jacket as he kept his stare fixed in the musician, warily. All the while the man didn’t give him more than a crooked brow and an unamused look, expecting more. But against anything expected, the humble janitor only stayed there, bouncing nervously in his toes and with arms straight down and tight against his own body, still looking at the musician with a wobbling smile.

“…”

“…And?” Sammy asked finally.

“Ah– ‘and’ what?” High pitched voice betraying his already crumbling stance.

“Where’s the catch?” He insisted.

“Catch? Psh… There’s no ‘catch’. I mean, what’s a ‘catch’, anyways? I don’ even know the meanin’ of that. Anyways, it doesn’t matter, I’m outta here, bed is callin’ mah name–”

“Wally–”

“IT WAS AWFUL!” He finally broke, plumping into the man’s chest and crying way too overdramatically, much for the musician’s likeness, whose response was a disgusted grimace and an awkward pat in his head. “I mean– I mean… She spent the night fidgetin’ with her nails, to later I find she was pushin’ back and cuttin’ her cuticles! And, and then… Her Hair! Gosh, if it weren’t her nails was her stupid hair! She spent the rest of the time trimmin’ it and brushin’ it with her fingers! And don’ make me start with her voice!”

It was obvious he wanted to be asked about her voice. “What had her voice?” Sammy asked monotonously.

“IT SOUNDED LIKE A SQUEAKIN’ TOY!” He wailed, absolutely not squeaking himself. “Oh, geez… and ya know what’s the worst part of it all?”

“No, but obviously you’re gonna tell me.” It didn’t matter if the janitor actually heard that.

“She actually liked the date. She liked me!” He whined out loud, clearly disgusted.

“…I don’t see the problem with that.”

Wally stopped his mourning– way too quickly– to shot a really stern glare to the man for once.

“…Ya kiddin’, right?” He stood up in a jolt, letting the moonlight show all his features clearly. “I mean, look at me!”

Sammy took his couple of seconds to look at the young man carefully from head to toes, not showing any sign different to his common unamused and apparently uninterested face.

“Yeah, I look at you.” He answered, too literal for the likeness of the janitor, and he was well aware.

“No! You–… I mean… C’mon, Sammy. Ya even know too well why I am just a janitor!”

“Because is a lousy job and no one would give you the time of the day even if their lives depend on it? And hopefully not, as you do such mediocre job that everyone complains” He ended murmuring.

“Exactly! Wait– except the part of the complains; no one can complain to such a cute face like mine.” Wally bragged.

“I complain all the time.” Sammy clarified, narrowing his eyes to his companion.

“Aw, but I know ya don’ mean it.” He tried to soothe playfully.

“I mean it. All the time.”

“But Sammy, If I get my job done by yer office so well and fast, we wouldn’t spend so much time together!” Wally approached his cheeky face to Sammy. And the musician, with a huff, rolled his eyes in attempts to fight a smirk creeping in his face and pushed Wally away– hopefully, he didn’t notice.

“Work time doesn’t count. I already told you.”

“Then what other time do we have, Sammy?” The way his playful demeanor changed so abruptly actually caught the man’s attention. “C’mon Sammy. It’s already too weird that a man like you took in a guy like me to their home!” He plumped once again, but this time taking seat next to the musician, slouched and allowing the moonlight to hide his features in the shadows as it only bathed his back. “We… we can’t go and have dates like… like normal people. We can’t hold hands as we walk along. Heck, we even can’t go to work on the same freakin’ hours! And now…!” He jerked a little, enough to allow the man next to him to see his somber face, all constricted in sheer frustration. “Now I have to go and date ladies that I certainly don’ like, and all to avoid any rumors that could surge with all of this!”

Sammy saw him, and honestly he hated to see him so frustrated and emotionally exhausted. He’s supposed to be the happy-go-lucky between them and Sammy was the moody grouchy one; he wasn’t good at cheering up like the janitor was! But he had to try… at least for him…

“Well, it seems like you’re doing a really good job in it. I haven’t heard anything weird about me at least. Susie would’ve told me already.” …Gosh, he was so bad at this…

“Really, Susie?” Wally responded deadpanned. “I am the first one that gets to know whatever rumor runs around the studio. And if Susie haven’t told ya anythin’, it was because she was the one askin’ me for somethin’ curious or dirty about you now that I live at yer place.” Sammy wasn’t a man too expressive far from moody and angry, but Wally always had his ways to notice the man’s real impressions; just a little jerk or a twitch from his face was enough for him to read his emotions like a book. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. And that’s why I’m doin’ this. So those gossipmongers stop their chatterin’.”

“…I didn’t know you were so worried about what others think of you.” Maybe his tone was as plain as usual, but for Wally was too clear the hurt hidden in his words.

“Me?! Oh, for God’s sake. I don’ give a penny what them think of me. Sammy, I’m worried about you.”

Again, a little twitch that Wally easily recognized, even if his words tried to not reflect it.

“M– maybe you should calm down a little, as you normally do. I don’t really care.”

“For real, Sammy?” The musician just shrugged, but the janitor gave an honest huff of pure exasperation. “Then what do ya think woulda happen if them rumors keep going?” Another shrug. Another stern glare. “What if them gossipmongers go to Joey? What’ll happen with yer career?” A flick of his eyes; doubt. “Look, I don’ care what them think’a me. They could fire me, I don’ mind. There’s tons of reasons to fire me! But you…” He straightened his stance, fully watching the man next to him with creased brows and lovely compassionated eyes.

“Sammy, I really don’ care ‘bout me. I could be on the streets, spittin’ on some shoes to give ‘em some shine for a penny. Heck, I didn’ even finish school! I got nothin’ to loose! But unlike me, Sammy… ya had to climb with claws and teeth to get were ya are. How many can say that ‘bout their life? ‘Bout their dreams?”

“More than I’d care to count, actually.”

Wally released a giggle as he stretched his hand, reaching for Sammy’s and lacing their fingers, letting the man to rub his hand with his thumb.

“Well, I’m not on that count, for sure. But even though, I don’ wanna see ya loosin’ all ya have worked for just by mah fault.”

“Wally, it’d never be your fault. Don’t say that–!”

“It’ll be if them find out!” He cut off his companion, although a wave of shame quickly invaded him and made him to release his hand. “Just… Look, I’ll keep with this datin’ thing, and then none’ll suspect anymore. With one of us datin’ dames, then no one’ll be talkin’ ‘bout… us… and ya’ll have no worries if them go with Joey or Susie or any other.”

As he concluded his sentence, he swiftly made his way up and out of the spot next to the music man, or at least tried. As soon as simply stood up, a tender hand stopped his withdrawal, enlacing its fingers with his owns. He gave a glance, only to notice the reduced demeanor his partner held, not even daring to rise his stare.

“…Sammy, I, ah–…”

“When you said out loud that you finally got a date with this ‘swell dame from the coffee shop’– as you described…” He sighed. “Not gonna lie, I thought you got bored of me of something; that you wanted try something… ‘new’. It… honestly made me upset…” He released in a whisper. And Wally slowly returned to sit on his spot next to him. “Worst part was when you came and asked me some advice on what to wear and what could you get for her in the middle of the break room…” he trailed off, but he didn’t need to say anything else. He was already a quite reserved man, and being so open, even with Wally, made him feel vulnerable; and Wally felt overwhelmed.

Shame, regret, hurt, sadness; a bunch of emotions started to pile upon the janitor’s chest. And feeling the menacing sting of tears in the corner of his eyes, he freed his hand from the musician’s, only to quickly change to a tight hug, using his hands now to rub by his hair and back in a soothing manner.

“Am… am sorry, Sammy. I just… saw how all those rumors started to run and I had to think fast. I thought of tellin’ ya, but also thought that they’d suspect even more and that it woulda help ya to keep yer moody grouchy façade. But y’know, in the end I’m not the most smarterest.” He finished with an attempt of a laugh, but felt hollow with all those tears rolling down his face.

“Heh, and you can properly use the word ‘façade’?” He smirked a bit, although genuinely. “You are the most smarterest.” And that reassuring made the janitor authentically giggle a bit.

“Ha! I made ya say–”

“DON’T.” He growled, more in character. And Wally shut his mouth.

They stayed there for a while; tears long since dried and any remorse steadily fading. And as Wally kept caressing his hair, Sammy started to sink into the janitor’s essence, burying his face on his neck, and so starting to stamp tender kisses from his shoulders and crawling up to his face. Ticklish as he was, Wally recoiled a tad when he climbed upon his neck. And as closer he got to his face, the Janitor slowly turned his towards the musician, until both their lips met and pressed against each other’s. Still bathed in the moonlight as their only witness.

“I’m sorry, Wally.” Sammy said once they parted, sight staring down. “Even if you’re a real pain in the studio and just… a moron– most of the time, I should’ve trusted you, and not jump into conclusions without even asking you what’s the matter.”

“Heh. And apology from you, who woulda told!” He cheered, regaining his playful demeanor little by little. “Maybe that mean I didn’ screwed all this time fer once.”

“Don’t push your luck.” He retorted, and obtaining that goofy innocence-pleading smile so proper of the young janitor. Gosh, what a lovely goof. “Better we head up to bed. It’s already past 2 and we gotta go to work in the morning. You before me.” He motioned to stand up, offering his hand to Wally so he could stand up too, and keeping it held as they moved towards their room.

“Yer right. But I guess I should warn ya: is quite probably that I’ll lose mah keys by yer office durin’ the day.”

“Please don’t do it. I have to finish like 15 songs for Drew.”

“But what if is an accident?”

“I’ll leave them hanging from the knob. Outside.”

“Aw… And what if we meet by Norman’s both later?”

“Don’t involve Norman. He already has a lot in his plate.”

“But, Sammy, I need my dose of annoyed grunts comin’ from ya at work. Even more since that date!” Wally whined, but sleep-deprived Sammy didn’t allow much.

“Boohoo.”

“But–”

“I said boohoo.”

“Aw, yer not fun.”

“Fun, eh? Then why not enjoy another sweet date with this ‘swell dame’?” Sarcasm dripped each word, but something in his eyes glinted with malice. “Actually, why don’t you ask her if she has a friend that would want to date me?”

“…Yer smiling. Why are ya smiling? Is these a kind of vengeance?” As the man’s smile widened a notorious tad, Wally felt safer listening to his instincts.

“Eh, we’ll see. It’ll all depend on if things work.”

They reached their bed, ready to sleep and leave any trace of suspiciousness aside– except for the ones Wally himself has started to build. Gosh, this man could be dangerous if he wanted; a ‘hopeless romantic’ for the ones outside his personal life; but a romantic nonetheless, as Wally knew far too well.

Oh, boy. What did he get himself into?

#BATIM #Bendy and the Ink Machine #BATDR #Bendy and the Dark Revival #Sammy Lawrence #Wally Franks #Sammy/Wally #Sammy & Wally #LGTB+ Fic #I must warn you #20th century was a dark age for minorities in almost every single way #I did a thing!#I wrote a thing!#Lamb's work #Lamb's inspired #Sammy/Wally AU #Ink Shape AU

14 notes · View notes

venus-is-in-bloom · 6 years ago

Text

[deltarune spoilers] on Susie

okay i'm gonna do my best to stay objective here and not biased towards my favourite character in the game, but there's a couple of observations i really wanna make about Susie, and i'll do my best to format them well.

i. despite appearances, Susie is not a habitual bully.

of course, this doesn't really change the fact that she slammed Kris into a locker or beat up a bunch of people in the dark world. but there's quite a bit of evidence that she usually doesn't hurt the kids around her.

the main thing is some very pointed dialogue with Monster Kid in the final walkaround. they tell you how bad Susie is, but for some reason, the worst example they can think of is when she was kind of quiet and then accidentally kicked a ball into Undyne's car. by the sound of it, Undyne wasn't even mad. it seems like, if Susie usually threatens to eat people's faces off and make them do her homework... somehow the news hasn't gotten around? none of the other kids seem to have any idea about anything Susie might have done wrong, either. i think that's why Kris gets angry on her behalf—they recognise that, at least in one respect, Susie is like them: a social outcast, and mocked for being one.

of course, bullies—including school bullies—are not usually insecure, "troubled", isolated kids lashing out, as the rhetoric often goes, but are more likely to be socially skilled and very experienced, often manipulating and exploiting the people around them. (here's one source that covers a variety of factors, and has links to more.) given this, it's surprising that Susie falls so much into the former category, and it's part of why i feel she doesn't quite fit the label of "bully", used in its strictest sense.

again, we can't forget that she's done a lot to mistreat the people around her. but apart from how she treated Kris at the start, she shows neither experience nor interest in taking advantage of anyone. she self-isolates, refuses to cooperate with people, and never does anything except to drive the people around her away. almost as soon as she meets Lancer, though, her tune changes.

ii. Susie is badly in need of support, physically and emotionally.

this seems kind of obvious, and about the middle of the game Susie pretty much says it, but let's get into it anyway!

it's when Susie meets Lancer that we see the first signs of sentimentality in her. Lancer is younger than her, talkative, naïve, and friendly—but unlike Ralsei, he looks up to her. and when he thanks her, she has absolutely no clue how to react.

this ties into an earlier point—it would have been easy for a different person to take that praise in stride, and to use Lancer's high opinion to get favours and money (he's a prince after all!) while giving nothing back to him but the coolness of getting to be the friend of some one with such an evil laugh. in fact, you'd expect that kind of behaviour from some one who threatens people into doing group projects for them, right?

but Susie takes to Lancer like a cat to a keyboard in use. she's always around him, she does whatever he does, and she never puts him down, abandons him, or blames him for their failures. she owns all their projects despite them being apparently as different as night and day. they get along because they both genuinely like and want to be liked by each other. it's a beautiful friendship, even when they're kind of trying to beat up Kris and Ralsei?

anyway.

i feel there's strong evidence that all this is because Lancer is the first person in a long, long time to show Susie any positive attention. (bear in mind that—while Ralsei is genuinely a sweet and good person—all he's done at that point is try and cajole her into not defending herself!) that's why it gets through her armour so easily when he praises her, and when she thinks he's betrayed her. that's why she jumps to join his side, and that's why at every juncture after that she thinks of his wants and needs first. that bond is instrumental in getting Lancer to help the three of them, but it's also instrumental in getting Susie to come around to Lancer's unfailing positivity, and to compromise with the more hopeful outlook that Ralsei has.

as a bit of a side note, there's some indication that Susie isn't doing so well physically either. her clothes in the light world are ragged, her pants have holes, and while it's possible that that's a fashion statement, she also mentions that she "hasn't had anything for breakfast but chalk"—she's eating it because she's hungry. what's her home situation? who knows?

iii. Susie's cruel and violent actions are a defence mechanism.

this again feels really obvious, but it's interesting how it ties into certain ideas about self-defence and fighting in the original Undertale.

Susie fights people. she fights them until their hp runs out—in Deltarune, this means until they run away, and that's a crucial difference from Undertale, where you could absolutely kill people without giving them a chance to flee.

Susie threatens people, turns down their help, turns down their kindnesses and insults anything they offer her. (until Lancer, that is.)

and she basically never seems to want anything in doing this, except to get other people to leave her alone. even what she did to Kris makes sense in this light—she immediately assumes that they're going to tell on her, and given the attitudes of some of the other kids, that's maybe not unreasonable. she threatens them until she's convinced herself that they wo'n't, and as a final note, she makes sure they wo'n't have any reason to talk to her or ask her for anything. it's still a nasty thing to do! but it makes sense.

when the two of them fall into the dark world, Susie goes on a bit of a rampage, fighting off anyone in her way—soldiers, that is. even if they're unwilling soldiers, they still fight, they still try to kill her for being a lightener—and she fights back, until they give up and run away.

she thinks she can threaten Lancer into doing the same, since he's the leader of the forces trying to kill them, and she gets the surprise of her life.

(shame on her for devouring that cake so messily, though. i know she was starving, and it recovers hp, but she could at least have apologised afterwards...)

she doesn't just fight when it works—during the first k. crown battle, no matter how much it heals, she keeps on attacking. no matter how much she's hurt, she keeps on attacking. afterwards, she refuses to believe that she was in the wrong—it's not just that it's worked so far, it's also that she needs it to always work, to always have worked... until she's finally opened up enough to trust, to acknowledge, that there might be another way.

* ♥ *

in summary! i believe that Susie at the start of Deltarune is genuinely a mean and unpleasant high school kid—mistrustful and misanthropic and vulnerable, inclined to hurt the people around her so that they wo'n't hurt her first. but from the start, she's also able to change. she has kindness and compassion and love inside her, carefully protected and never used. from the beginning, she's not the kind of person who wants to take advantage of others. she's afraid, angry, bitter, and badly in need of a friend. i love her.

#things venus said #undertale #deltarune #undertale spoilers

297 notes · View notes

agentravensong · 6 years ago

Text

Why Frisk, Chara, & Kris Being Non-Binary Is More Than Just a Headcanon

An UnderTale/DeltaRune Analysis

Since DeltaRune came out, I’ve been sucked right back into the Undertale fandom. Unfortunately, while I’ve seen tons of great fanart and interesting theories relating to the game, it seems the introduction of a third playable human character who isn’t explicitly male or female has also somewhat re-sparked the debate about whether the genders of Frisk, Chara, and now Kris are up to the player’s interpretation.

On one side, you have people saying to just respect everyone’s headcanons about these characters, down to deciding their pronouns. On the other, you have people saying the three characters being non-binary is part of their thematic purpose in the games, on top of being positive canon representation for a rarely recognized group.

I fall into the latter camp, and this post will explain why. (WARNING: long and text-heavy post)

NOTE: This post was written in late 2018. Since then, I have made an updated version with additional points in Google Docs, which I then used as the script for a YouTube video. As such, this post should be considered an incomplete, though still sound, version of my argument. If you have the time, rather than continuing to read this post, please click the above link(s) to read the Google Doc and/or watch the video for a full understanding of the topic.

If you find yourself repeatedly coming back to this post for whatever reason, remember that my ask box is always open! I’d be more than happy to clarify my position :D

A quick definition to start us off: if a person is “non-binary”, it means that a person doesn’t see their gender as being exclusively male or female. Many non-binary people prefer to be referred to by the pronouns “they/them/theirs” instead of “he/him/his” or “she/her/hers”, since “they” is already a gender neutral pronoun.

Also, just in case someone doesn’t understand this, a person’s gender identity is not necessarily related to who they are romantically or sexually interested in.

This post will be split into six sections of unequal length, with the focus progressing from literally interpreting the text to Toby’s intentions and the outside impact of having these characters be non-binary.

1. The basics: All 3 characters are referred to exclusively by gender-neutral pronouns in the games.

Let’s go character by character, shall we?

FRISK

It’s admittedly hard to find examples for this, since most of the time people are talking about Frisk in-game, they’ll be talking directly to them in second person. However, while looking through screenshots provided by the UnderTale Text Project, I found these:

Thank you, Alphys!

EDIT: Hey look, a more obvious example I somehow forgot about!

CHARA

All of the following quotes come from the character Chara was supposedly closest to in the entire Underground, Asriel. As you read, think about this: if Chara’s preferred pronouns were anything other than they/them, why would Asriel not use their correct pronouns here?

“Chara hated humanity. Why they did, they never talked about it. But they felt very strongly about that.”

“When Chara and I combined our souls together, the control over our body was actually split between us. They were the one who picked up their own empty body. And then, when we got to the village, they were the one who wanted... to use our full power.”

I’ve seen some people take Flowey’s mentions of Toriel in his New Home Genocide monologue to be confirmation that Chara goes by “she/her”, since he doesn’t refer to Toriel by name... even though Chara wouldn’t have been awake at that time, and when Flowey DOES talk about Chara in this monologue, it’s in second person, since he believes YOU are his old best friend. This misconception isn’t common, especially these days, but I figured it was worth addressing.

KRIS

Out of the three humans, I think Kris is the one who people are most likely to associate with a specific gender based on their name. But despite the theory videos and such you may have seen where people referred to Kris as “he”, this is not reflected anywhere in-game.

(Got these screenshots of DeltaRune’s code from this tumblr post)

The lines in the first photo are what Susie says when she’s trying to break Kris and Ralsei out of prison, and you have the option to suggest to her which way to go. The second example. according to Kris’ page on the DeltaRune fandom wiki, is said by Ralsei earlier in the game, if you do not run to complete the clock puzzle to open the door right after reuniting with Susie. Unlike the first example, it is clear in this case that Kris is the only one being referred to.

I remember seeing someone somewhere argue that Susie and Ralsei don’t know Kris well enough to know their “proper” pronouns. When it comes to Ralsei, I can see that argument... but did you notice that he knows both Kris and Susie’s names without asking? It seems he knows more than he lets on... and while Susie certainly wasn’t friends with Kris before this, the fact that they’re in the same class is enough for me to think she would have heard Kris be referred to by their preferred pronouns at least in passing by this point.

And that’s it. Frisk, Chara, and Kris are never referred to by other pronouns... with, admittedly, one exception:

Why does Chara use “it” for themself here? If I had to guess, it’s likely a combination of them being a ghost of their former self without a soul of their own (Flowey’s shown us how much your personality and sense of self is tied to having a SOUL) and the corruption from the Genocide run (remember that gaining LOVE affects a person’s mentality). They see themself as a demon, no longer a person. Whether that’s literally true to any extent or just how they feel after everything they’ve been through doesn’t really matter, I just wanted to cover this point before anyone else could bring it up. It’s not like it makes them not non-binary or anything.

To be clear, not all non-binary people go exclusively by they/them pronouns. Some prefer to go by masculine or feminine pronouns for their own reasons; some go by “neo-pronouns”, ones invented specifically for those who identify as non-binary; and some people go by more than one set of pronouns. However, in the case of Frisk, Chara, and Kris specifically, the fact that they only go by they/them pronouns makes them non-binary, and using any other pronouns for them would be incorrect (even if you have them go by they/them AND he/him or she/her).

Really, that should be enough to prove that the three humans being non-binary is canon. After all, you never have any of the other major characters in Undertale or DeltaRune explicitly state “I’m a girl” or “I’m a boy”. We know their genders because of the pronouns everyone refers to them by. Sure you’ll see gender-bends of those characters, but no one ever claims that those are on the same level of validity when it comes to canon as the actual canon.

But I know that isn’t enough for the people who came into this post disagreeing with the premise, so let’s actually get to countering some of their arguments, shall we? The main argument, of course, is that the humans’ are all meant for the Player to at least partially craft identifies for, including deciding which pronouns they use. But first...

2. Small Fish First: Other characters who are obviously not meant to be self-inserts use gender neutral pronouns.

...I want to cover the easier to counter idea that they/them pronouns are meant to just be, for lack of a better term, “placeholders”; the pronouns you use when you don’t know a person’s gender, rather than being valid permanent pronouns on their own.

If this were true in the case of Undertale and DeltaRune, you’d expect the humans to be the only ones referred to by these pronouns. They’re the ones whose identities are left ambiguous so the Player can project onto them, right?

But that couldn’t be father from the truth. In fact, the majority of the monsters you encounter in both games are referred to with gender-neutral pronouns (they/them and/or it), if any pronouns at all.

Now one might say, “But none of those monsters are really meant to be individual characters.” I get why you’d think that. But you’re forgetting at least one person...

Yup, Napstablook, despite what many fans have assumed from what I’ve seen, does not go by he/him pronouns, but they/them. And it’s not just in the narration either. Undyne does too in certain phone calls with Papyrus. ...Then again, she barely knows Napsta, and we see in DeltaRune that she defaults to they/them when talking about people whose gender she doesn’t know (specifically in that game, Alphys).

But that isn’t my last example. One of the few people who was ever close to Napsta was Mettaton (before he became a celebrity). And what does Mettaton say after Blooky calls in to his final show?

What this proves is that Toby recognizes they/them pronouns as valid for an individual in his work, which I hope makes buying that he purposefully made all three humans canonically non-binary easier for skeptics to swallow (we’ll get back to whether he DID purposefully do that later).

But I’ll acknowledge that there IS a difference between the three humans and the other characters in the games who use they/them, due to their relationship with you as the Player. So with that tangent out of the way, time to diffuse the “everyone can have their own headcanons about the kids’ genders” argument.

3. Thematic Context: All 3 humans have moments of asserting their agency, and part of the game’s subtext is how they each relate to the Player, rather than them all being blank slates.

Again, we’ll go character by character.

FRISK

This section is, admittedly, the one with the least evidence compared to the rest. But here’s what we have, and it’s pretty obvious:

After this moment, as was shown earlier, the other monsters know Frisk’s name and will refer to Frisk in the third person with they/them pronouns. Now, consider this: If Frisk used other pronouns, wouldn’t they have corrected the monsters here? Sure Frisk don’t talk without being prompting much throughout most of the game, but considering how they just shared their name, something equally as personal as their pronouns, I don’t think it would feel too out of place here.

Alternatively, if Frisk’s gender was up to the Player’s interpretation, the Player could have been given a prompt to correct the other characters with the “proper” pronouns for Frisk. You could argue it would be pointless this late into the game, but couldn’t that logic apply to the reveal of Frisk’s name as well? In this case, the lack of such a moment speaks more to me than having such a moment would.

Now, I totally get why people would project onto Frisk up to this point in the narrative, including assigning them different pronouns. It wouldn’t be a plot twist otherwise. Even their design seems to lend to that, with the unrealistic bright yellow skin Legos and emojis have to make them more race-neutral, and their emotionless, unchanging facial expression (though it’s worth considering that most of the other character’s overworld sprites don’t change expression much either; I’m pretty sure Alphys’ overworld sprite keeps her dopey smile even when she’s talking about the depths of her depression and failure at the end of the True Lab section). And this actually works to UnderTale’s benefit through most of the game, making the connections you forge with the monsters feel more personal.

The significance of this moment is that it asks the Player to be willing to change their perspective. Throughout the True Pacifist run, you help Frisk to change the mindsets of the characters you come across; this is most obvious with Undyne, who has been raised to see all humans as the enemy, but comes to admit that at least “some humans are OK, I guess” after befriending you. Along the way, you learn that there’s more to these monsters than first impressions may suggest (again, Undyne being a great example). Now, the game is asking you to look deeper one more time, and presenting you with the challenge you’ve posed to all the other major characters: are you willing to recognize Frisk’s autonomy; to understand there is more to this person than you first saw?

EDIT: Hey, remember that screenshot from earlier where Flowey asks you to “let Frisk live their life”? He’s literally asking you to let Frisk be free and truly themself, rather than resetting and taking control of them again. So there’s some more food for thought.

CHARA

While you are the one who names Chara (the reason for which will be considered in the fourth section of this post), consider these points:

1. If the purpose of Chara’s entire character was meant to be just a reflection of you as the Player, then why give them a “true name” at all?

2. Chara’s backstory is integral to the setup of UnderTale’s plot, and provides a good amount of hints at their original personality, easily making them less of a “blank slate” for the Player to project onto than Frisk.

3. Chara makes a clear distinction between the Player and themself in their monologues at the end of the Genocide route. In case you forgot, here are some reminders.

First meeting:

“Your power awakened me from death.”

“My ‘human soul’, my ‘Determination’; they were not mine, but YOURS.”

“With your guidance, I realized the purpose of my reincarnation.”

“Together, we eradicated the enemy and became strong.”

If you agree to ERASE the world: “You are a great partner.”

In the abyss:

“Interesting. You want to go back.”

“You want to go back to the world you destroyed.”

“It was you who pushed everything to its edge. It was you who lead the world to its destruction.”

“But you cannot accept that. You think you are above consequences.”

“Perhaps, we can reach a compromise. You still have something I want.”

“Then, it is agreed. You will give me your SOUL.”

Second meeting:

“You and I are not the same, are we?”

“This SOUL resonates with a strange feeling... You are wracked with a perverted sentimentality. ...I cannot understand these feelings any longer.”

“I feel obligated to suggest: should you choose to create this world once more, another path would be better suited.”

To say there is no connection between Chara and the Player would be unfair. I mean, if they hated humans their whole life, why do they end up taking out that rage on the monsters, the ones who were actually kind to them, in the Genocide run? Like Chara says themself, you guide them, teaching them definitively that “in this world, it’s kill or be killed”; and the influence you have on them is much more obvious if you subscribe to the Narrator Chara theory (but that’s a whole other can of worms).

Like with Frisk, Chara presents the Player a challenge, but in a more subtle way: can you recognize that YOU are at fault, rather than blaming your actions on a damaged kid who learns from your example and never got the chance to grow beyond their mistakes? And part of meeting that challenge is recognizing that Chara is, or at least used to be, their own whole person.

KRIS

Now we get to the really fun part. DeltaRune as a whole seems to be delving even deeper and more explicitly into the relationship between the playable character as an unwilling vessel and the actual Player than Undertale did. Outside of the prevalent message that “Your choices don’t matter” (which I’m guessing will end up more like the “kill or be killed” of this game rather than DR’s intended final moral), the main evidence towards this is how the game starts.

1. A red soul appears on screen when the unknown speaker (presumably Gaster) asks you if they’ve successfully connected with you. The soul is what you control throughout this sequence. The implication? The SOUL in this game is a manifestation of you as the Player. In fact, considering some of the Chara quotes I mentioned earlier, this could be true of UnderTale as well.

2. You spend time making a vessel, only for it to be discarded, because “No one can choose who they are in this world.” This lack of choice is actually foreshadowed when you choose which legs you prefer, since all but the last choice are the same. The game is pointing out right away how superficial these choices are.

3. The speakers says “Your name is...” and Toriel seemingly finishes the statement by calling out “KRIS!”

The message of points 2 and 3 combined is pretty obvious to me: we don’t get an empty vessel to put ourself and our ideas into in DeltaRune. Kris is NOT an empty vessel; they have an already established backstory and personality, which we get multiple hints at (mostly when going around town at the end of the demo).

The fact that you have to go through this creation process on every new file, even after beating the game, suggests it’s more than just a framing device, but directly tied to the game’s narrative and/or themes in some way. So, let’s keep this scene in mind as we look at Kris’ defining moment at the end of Chapter 1.

In the middle of the night, Kris is wrestling with themself in bed until they fall out. Their walk is very stilted and jerkish, reminiscent of a zombie, or someone possessed.

Kris opens and closes their hand a few times before digging into their body and pulling out their soul, their eyes blank. (Notice how this doesn’t seem to actually leave a hole in their chest or anything? Almost as if the soul was never a part of them in the first place...)

They go to the wagon and harshly YEET the soul into the cage (the flavor text for which mentions it has already seen a few crashes... has something like this happened to Kris before?).

Kris walks back to the middle of the room, as if to purposefully stand in the center of the DeltaRune symbol on the floor, then pulls out a knife from seemingly nowhere, and turns to the camera with a red glow in their eyes.

Now, I totally get why most people will immediately assume that Kris has been possessed by a post-Genocide Chara here. I’m pretty sure the visual similarities between this scene and the one that plays if you choose to stay with Toriel in a soulless pacifist run in UT are intentional.

But remember how we mentioned the red SOUL, at least in DeltaRune, is a manifestation of the Player? This is actually reinforced in this scene, because you’re able to move the SOUL back and forth within the cage.

We’ve been controlling Kris via that SOUL the whole way through the game, and now? Kris is done with us. THIS is their prime moment of agency in Chapter 1 - reclaiming ownership of their own body - and I doubt that it will be their last.

There’s a ton of other stuff I could mention about Kris, like how:

* they had their own save file, which you overwrite at the first save point

* multiple NPCs in the town will comment on Kris seeming more talkative or looking off today, because YOU’RE making them interact with people

* Kris’ ability to play the piano is worse than normal with you controlling them, according to the hospital receptionist

* the narration says Kris feels bitter if you throw away the one possession in their inventory, the Ball of Junk (”bitter” isn’t the emotion one would feel if they did this of their own free will)

or all the hints at Kris’ true personality as an introverted, codependent prankster. But that could be a post in itself. My point is that, if Frisk and Chara’s individualism from the Player was subtle in UnderTale, this is pretty straightforward, if you know where to look.

And if these three humans are all their own characters, then shouldn’t we consider what seemingly little we DO know for sure about them as canon? We all take their names to be canon, so why not their pronouns?

That’s the bulk of the argument done. But when discussing canon, there is one thing that always has to be considered:

4. Can We Know The Creator (Toby Fox)’s Intentions?

Well, not really.

Some may bring up the one tweet where Toby suggested to name the fallen human (Chara) “your own name” as evidence that you ARE meant to project yourself into these characters.

However, I think you could just as easily argue that doing this ADDS to the impact of when Frisk, the character you physically control, confirms themself to be their own person with their own name, rather than a mold for you to pour yourself into.

And though Chara does make it clear that they themself as a character are separate from you, the whole Genocide ending monologue does hit harder when the person reprimanding you for their sins, who describes themself as “the feeling you get when your stats increase”, shares your name.

While putting this post together, I came across this interview Toby did about Undertale back in September 2015, and took particular note of this section:

While this technically doesn’t confirm or deny anything either way, how hard would it have been for Toby to say, “Well the protagonist is meant to have their gender be up to the player’s interpretation”? I doubt he would have gotten more backlash for that then he would have for definitively saying that Frisk is MEANT to be non-binary (though I doubt that would have stopped people from making them male or female anyway).

Then again, the article does start with the interviewer saying this:

“I told Toby Fox to skip questions he didn’t find interesting, and boy did he take me at my word.”

So maybe he just didn’t have anything worthwhile to mention.

I can’t say with certainty that Frisk and Chara’s genders were never meant to be up to the Player’s choice, even after what I mentioned in section 2 (and I doubt Toby would want to make a statement on it at this point). Same with Kris, for now.

However, if the rest of DeltaRune ends up going in the direction I suggested in the previous section, I honestly would not be surprised if there’s a moment where Kris confirms they are nonbinary, as a show of agency and individualism akin to Frisk telling Asriel their real name. I wouldn’t really call it a “theory”, and it’s hard to speculate what the other chapters of the game will at all be like based on what relatively little we have... but I wouldn’t have mentioned it here if I didn’t think it had any validity.

5. Why Does This Matter?

Outside of the previously mentioned stuff relating to the games’ themes/messages about choice, agency, and individualism, there’s one big reason: representation.

How many games can you think of where there are any explicitly non-binary characters? How many where that character is a major one, who doesn’t get treated as particularity different from the others just on the basis of the pronouns they use? And how many of those games are even close to the popularity of Undertale in its hayday? Even expanding these questions to media other than just video games won’t net many more results.

For people who are striving for representation, seeing posts like “Just let people have their headcanons :)” can come across as the OP not understanding how much that representation means. Even worse, coming back to the point I made in section 2 of this post, it could be seen as the OP denying that being non-binary is just as real and concrete as being male or female (a problem which more mainstream representation of non-binary people would help solve!).

But don’t just take it from me. After all, as a binary cis girl myself (”cis” meaning not trans), I can’t speak generally for all the trans and non-binary Undertale and Deltarune fans out there. So allow me to link some posts which provide their perspectives:

This first post is from before DeltaRune was released, and mainly focuses on Frisk, but goes in-depth on the topic (and the OP provided me some feedback on my post, so if they see this, thanks!)

I came across this post just while scrolling through the DeltaRune tag about why this stuff matters to non-binary fans.

This post is specifically about how using they/them pronouns for the kids is preferable whether or not it’s literally canon.

Here’s another post from the same person covering some common counter-arguments.

And if the other posts are too long for you to bother reading after going through mine, this one sums up the point in one sentence.

I know some people flinch at the mere mention of the word “representation”. I know that some will argue you shouldn’t need to see representation of a group you belong to in a piece of media in order to be able to relate to the characters and/or feel validated yourself - because I’ve seen people make this argument. But, I mean, I certainly find it easier to relate to characters that I share traits with; that’s just how humans work. It’s probably the main reason why people assign different genders to Frisk, Chara, and Kris in the first place! Besides, who does it hurt to include more diverse characters?

Oh right, there’s the idea that “forcing” creators to include representation is bad for creativity or whatever. Well good thing that’s not what this is about! As far as I know, no one is telling Toby he has to ADD new characters to fulfill a quota; the characters in question (Frisk, Chara, & Kris) already exist in his work. The point of this post is to show that the three of them were MEANT to be non-binary from the start (assuming I provided enough proof to convince you), so people won’t continue to erase that representation. By making them binary cis boys or girls, you’re only taking away from the original text (and giving people more to “complain” about).

Honestly, what does one even have to gain story-wise from assigning different genders to the human kids? I can’t remember a time I saw where making them strictly boys or girls added anything to their characterization or opened up different story possibilities (I’m sure you could could up with a theoretical example, but compared to the endless fanworks that DON’T do that, they hardly make a dent). Speaking beyond just Frisk, Chara, and Kris, characters being non-binary shouldn't affect how you ship them. You can give such characters more overtly masculine or feminine designs/appearances, but still have them be non-binary and go by they/them pronouns (most people don’t naturally look androgynous after all). In a work with voice acting, casting someone with a more masculine or feminine voice to play a non-binary character shouldn’t stop you from portraying the character as non-binary either - just refer to them with the right pronouns!

And if people who find your work continuously misgender your non-binary characters or ask what their “real” gender is, don’t let them get to you. You don’t need to respond to every such comment, but when you DO respond, clearly state that these characters are non-binary, politely correct the people who refer to those characters by the wrong pronouns, and, if worst comes to worst, block the people who won’t respect that. Before you (using “you” for the rest of this paragraph to refer specifically to my fellow binary cis peeps) can even think to argue “that sounds like too much work” or “it’s not worth the potential controversy”, remember that non-binary people in real life have to deal with this crap far more often than we do, and for them, it’s personal. If they can handle it, why can’t you?

Yes, Frisk, Chara, and Kris are fictional characters, not real people. But more representation of non-binary people in media helps others learn to understand and respect them, both in fiction and in real life. Honestly, it’s beyond time for people to accept that “they/them” aren’t “placeholder pronouns”, and the genders of people who use them aren’t up for others to judge. It’s just who they are, and really, how hard is that to respect?

If nothing else will convince you, think of it this way: if you’re not in the group being affected by a discussion like this, and you don’t care about the people in that group, keeping yourself out of the conversation saves everyone time and energy, without hurting anyone.

6. Conclusion

So, to briefly summarize this essay-length post’s main points:

1. Frisk, Chara, and Kris all go solely by “they/them” in their respective games, so having them go by any other pronouns is technically diverting from canon to the same extent that gender-bending any other character would be, NOT a valid interpretation of the original text.

2. There are other individual characters in these two games, such as Napstablook, who are referred to by they/them pronouns, even by those who were close to them.

3. The three humans are all shown to be more than just blank slates for the Player to project themself onto, making the stuff which IS definitively said about them (specifically, their names and pronouns) canon parts of their characterization unless directly proven otherwise.

4. We can’t assume Toby’s intentions, but even if he didn’t initially make Frisk, Chara, and Kris gender neutral for the sake of giving non-binary people representation, many people have taken it as that. Thus, seeing others say that the humans’ genders are up for interpretation is interpreted as those people not respecting non-binary identities as valid on their own.

The one other point I can think people might bring up would be the idea that kids as young as Chara or Frisk wouldn’t identify as non-binary because they wouldn’t understand the concept. To that argument, I’d suggest looking up videos about people who realized they were transgender as kids. In general, if there are concepts in this post you didn’t quite get or agree with, research is your friend!

Speaking of which, as this post I came across in the DeltaRune tag yesterday pointed out, fun fact: “non-binary” is an umbrella term that still leaves some slight room for personal interpretation when it comes to the humans’ genders! To use myself as an example, I personally headcanon Chara as firmly agender, Kris as a a demi-boy (someone who only partially sees themself as male), and Frisk as genderfluid (meaning that their sense of gender regularly changes). However, despite the nuances in their gender identities, I only have them go by they/them pronouns, their canon ones, in my fanworks. Doing otherwise not only goes against canon, but can be considered misgendering, and thus should be avoided.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t make up ANYTHING about what Chara, Frisk, and Kris are like either. People have plenty of headcanons about the backstories and other quirks of characters like Sans, Undyne, Mettaton - basically the whole cast of both games - and there’s nothing stopping you from doing that for the human kids. I certainly have my own ideas of what Chara and Frisk’s lives were like before they fell into the Underground. The difference is that those are speculating on things not outright said in canon. But Frisk, Chara, and Kris going by they/them pronouns IS canon, and should be respected as such.

At the end of the day, neither I nor anyone else (not even Toby) can outright stop people from having their opinions about these fictional characters. But since I had some free time this weekend, I figured I could take a stand for something I care about relating to a fandom I’ve emerged myself in for the past few years. My main hope in making this post is that you’ll understand why certain people disagree with the seemingly righteous stance of “It’s all up to interpretation, just let people do what they want!”. And if you knew nothing about non-binary identities before, hopefully this was educational for you!

If you have any remaining questions or suggestions relating to this post, feel free to reblog with your feedback or send me an ask. Until then, this is Agent Raven, signing off.

#deltarune #delta rune #undertale #frisk #chara #kris

230 notes · View notes

helipackjack · 6 years ago

Note

jack, raimundo and uuuuuu idk pearl from steven universe

send me a character and i’ll list:

Jack Spicer

favorite thing about them

The genuine good he has been shown to have despite simultaneously being a jerk.

In terms of writing, how his self-esteem issues are strikingly accurate to real life.

least favorite thing about them

His whinning I guess, although it has taught me to see and fix my own whinning problem

In terms of writing, how his potential as a character was thrown away and he became complete comic relief

favorite line

"I show up at all the battles that I'm certain to lose." and "It's good to have enemies you can count on in times like this."

brOTP

Jack and Omi, there is just so much about their enemy/sibling/friends relationship, and how Omi always sees the good that Jack denies to have, and how Jack seems to have a soft spot for Omi too. And they have quite a few parallels.

OTP

I actually don't romantically ship him with anyone

nOTP

Any Jack/adult ship for obvious reasons, but aside from those, I guess none

random headcanon

I have a ton, but I'll put one I haven't written about yet. Jack's robots won't intentionally try to do lethal damage unless Jack gives them a special command (annihilatify), because Jack once got his foot shot by a robot and it only destroyed his shoe and burned his foot a little, and a lethal gun would do way more damage, but in the season 1 finale, his robots destroyed a rock monster with relative ease while the monks couldn't do much damage at all, while the monks usually defeat Jack's robots with ease, so things wouldn't add up unless the weapons Jack uses on people were non lethal alternatives. Jack could actually kill off the monks with relative ease, but he doesn't want to, he just doesn't seem like that kind of person to me, so all his usually lethal weapons operate under a safety protocol.

unpopular opinion

Idk what really counts as an unpopular opinion. I guess it's that I headcanon him as an albino.

song i associate with them

I don't have any vocal songs, except for maybe this one song I'm planning on using for a really angsty post-series AU animatic, but I won't spoil.

Instrumental tracks include "Vs Susie" from Deltarune and the fanmade Undertale-themed track "Fear", basically anything that sounds kinda edgy

favorite picture of them

This icon made by jxckspxcer, the blush was added, but it's so cute

I'll do the other characters later

#xiaolin showdown #jack spicer #xs #evil boy genius #crystal dragon alchemist #lindendragon #asks #ask #answer #send me a character

21 notes · View notes

sorio99 · 6 years ago

Text

Deltarune Chapter 1: The Official Undertale AU

At 6:00 AM PST, on Halloween 2018, the official Undertale twitter account released what is essentially a demo for the next game by Toby Fox, deltarune. Between the baffling intro, the odd relationship with the original Undertale, and the implied involvement of a certain missing doctor, everything about this game was shrouded in mystery.

And I loved it.

(Spoilers and Review below the cut)

Part 1: The Story

At first glance, most people assumed this mysterious new game would be a sequel (or possibly prequel) to Undertale. After all, it involves a number of shared characters, the titular rune was prominently featured in Undertale, and even the name “Delta rune” is an anagram for “Undertale”.

However, the relationship between the two is much stranger, and the plots are largely unconnected.

After creating an avatar and having the game unceremoniously throw it in the garbage, you play as Kris (that lovely person up there), the human child of Asgore and Toriel, and younger sibling to Asriel Dreemurr. Right off the bat, about a million questions are raised, especially since later conversations indicate Kris has at least been living with the Dreemurrs’ since they were too young to know their species, but we’ll come back to that.

Toriel drives you to school, though still get there late, and Alphys (who is your teacher here) puts you in a group with Susie, the only student to show up after you, to work together on a group project. However, when she realizes she doesn’t have any chalk, she sends the two of you to go get some from the school’s broom closet. You catch Susie eating chalk, she threatens to eat your face but doesn’t, and you head off to the broom closet.

Then things get weird.

After that, it sort of follows a plot line similar to the original: you fall into another world, there’s a bunch of monsters you can either fight or spare, and you just have to keep going up and to the left to fulfill a prophecy & get to the exit, all while dealing with ambiguously evil characters who are more silly than dangerous. It is, however, a bit shorter, with only about ten unique enemies and only three areas in the whole game. But hey, it is technically just the first chapter, so what do you expect.

Of course, what really makes an Undertale is the characters. Since you’re in a different world for most of the game, the returning characters from Undertale don’t have much of a presence outside the very beginning and very end. Instead, we focus on a handful of new characters, all of whom are pretty well-rounded and developed, with the exception of Kris, our silent, somewhat-ambiguously-gendered protagonist. Susie, in particular, goes through a pretty nice character arc, going from someone who’d casually threaten to rip your face off and eat it, to an actual antagonist at one point, before eventually working her way back to being a good guy and someone you can actually be friends with! It’s definitely the strongest arc in the game so far.

There’s also Lancer!

He’s a villain.

And not a skeleton.

Just trust me on this.

Part 2: Presentation

Just to get it out of the way, the music is fantastic. Of course it is. It’s an Undertale spinoff and, more importantly, it’s made by Toby “Radiation” “I could shit out a better soundtrack than most of you will ever even imagine” Fox.

I will however say that I prefer Deltarune’s sound design in general to Undertale, though. Don’t get me wrong, Undertale still has the better OST (for now at least), but Deltarune’s sound effects JUST beat it out in my books. In particular, I felt like the text sounds for most of the characters was, on average, less annoying than in Undertale. Again, don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Undertale’s voices, but some of them could get a little ear-grating, especially for characters who talked a LOT throughout the game. Here, with the exception of one returning character (where the irritation was kind of the joke anyways), all of them work really well. There’s even a tiny bit of voice acting from a couple of the more important characters! So, big thumbs up there.

More pressingly, however, are the visuals. In case it wasn’t obvious from the above screenshots (aside from that second one of Lancer, maybe), the graphics have gotten a MAJOR glow up since the last game. Temmie Chang, aka “Most Precious Meme”, is still the main Artist for the game, and Undertale is by no means a bad looking game. However, in general, the games’ art went from “Beautiful and sometimes even breathtaking” to consistently “HOLY SHIT MY EYES ARE NOT EQUIPPED TO COPE WITH SUCH SHEER BRILLIANCE!!!”

You think I’m exaggerating, but I legit dropped my jaw at a lot of this game’s visuals. I mean, just look at this one End-game animation!

I think this one short scene has more detail and frame than Asgore’s overworld sprite got in the entirety of Undertale.

On the slight downside, however, we no longer get the full-body monochromatic battle sprites from Undertale, as enemies appear in battle almost identically to how they appear in the world. Still, with this much more detail in overworld sprites, it’s not even a slight loss.

Speaking of battle...

Part 3: Gameplay

Yep, the gameplay has gotten a major overhaul over the past three years. First, as the screenshot should make obvious, you have a team now! Yep, in addition to Kris, you can get up to three additional party members over the course of your adventure, including Susie!

In general, what you can do in battles with Kris is mostly the same; you can Fight by hitting the button at the right time, Act in certain ways to make the enemies not want to fight you, use an Item really quick, or Spare an enemy who you don’t want to kill. You also have the option to defend, which will lessen the damage you take if you get hit during the obligatory bullet-hell attacks your enemies dish out.

Where things get really interesting, though, is the team mechanics. You see, every character is different, and everyone but Kris can use magic (although some of Kris’s ACT commands kinda seem like magic?). However, only Kris can directly ACT, with other party members only being able to preform certain set spells. So, instead, Kris can command the other party members to perform actions, or Kris can ACT while the others defend, use items, or attack. If you use a Team ACT, the other party member(s) involved won’t be able to do anything else that turn, but said Team ACTs are usually more powerful or potent as a result. The whole thing can set up for actually strategic choices in battle: In Undertale, since most enemies only had one or two ways to spare them, the most strategy you could use on a Pacifist play through was “Which enemy should I deal with first?” Here, you have to figure how you’re going to handle each encounter. Do you have Kris ACT first, then have another party member spare that monster in the same turn? Or do you act WITH that party member, and next turn be able to spare at least two monsters?

In addition to the battle system being reworked, there were a number of smaller, quality of life changes:

You now have three item categories: Items (your standard consumables), Gear (your armor and weapons), and Key Items (your cellphone and a couple other important things).

You can sell at pretty much every shop in the “Dark” world, which makes sense, since you’re mostly selling food, armor, and weapons-things people in this world would need to survive.

Each character in your party uses a different kind of weapon, but all of them use the same armor, and you can give them all two pieces of armor each, so you can stack defense and get extra boosts!

Choices are mostly presented in a cross pattern, so you just have to pick a direction and confirm to choose that option.

THERE IS NOW A RUN BUTTON AND IN THE OPTIONS YOU CAN CHANGE SO YOU AUTO-RUN AND THE RUN BUTTON IS JUST A WALK BUTTON!

And speaking of which, YOU CAN ACCESS THE MENU FROM WITHIN THE MAIN GAME! THANK YOU!

You can also have up to three save files at once, although I’ve heard each file has some minor differences in flavor-text across the game, so be on the look-out for that.

Overall, I feel like I honestly prefer the game play to Undertale. In fact, with the exception of the story (which is mostly underdeveloped because, again, this is basically just a very long demo), I honestly prefer most of Deltarune to Undertale. While it isn’t technically a sequel, per se, it does do what any good sequel should do: use the original as a starting point and just improve almost everything. It’s almost like the Bioshock Infinite to Undertale’s Bioshock, if that makes sense.

(Would that make System Shock 2 Homestuck? Am I over thinking this?)

Now, with the actual review out of the way, we can get to the main event.

Part 4: Co̞͞n̤̠͎̙̥̗n̸̰̜̳͚͓͇͍e̸͈͉̳̺c̭̮̬̖̭̗̳͠t͍͓͘i̖̺͙͇̟̫o̢̰̜̦n͈̮̼͈͎͖̦s͈͝ ̹̙̦͈̯̜A̡̟̥ņ̥͙̗d̛͙̤̦͈̹̪͚ ̺T͍̞h̡̜̝̟̬e͏̱̹̲ͅ ͕̯̰͍̜͇͍D͝oc̜t̸̺̱̯͙̠o̷̱r͈̟̣̤̯

As I mentioned before, this game isn’t technically a sequel to Undertale. None of the events of Undertale seem to have occurred in this universe, including (seemingly) things from before the game even began. This becomes especially apparent after you leave the “Dark” world and can explore town, talking to various people. Character relationships are almost universally reset, there is no mention of the “Underground”, and considering Asriel is still alive and in college, it’s safe to say there is no Flowey in this world. It could almost be passed off as a complete alternate continuity, or even a reboot, if it weren’t for a few...

oddities.

Yep, among the returning characters, Sans makes an appearance, having apparently just moved into town and never having met you before. Despite having apparently met Toriel the night before in the grocery store, and having a business relationship with your teacher, Alphys. Plus, there's the fact that what used to be Grillby’s and the Bone Brother’s house both look WAY too close to there original versions (no other building looks that similar), the fact that of ALL the returning characters, only Sans looks the exact same (no redesign, visible aging, or even new clothing), and the fact that some of Kris’s dialogue choices seem to reference things that haven’t happened in this universe, and other characters notice them acting...different.

Plus, you know, there’s Chapter 1′s ending.

Yeah.

(Plus, as you might have noticed at the top of this part, there’s a monster who is the only one in either game who looks similar to this Gaster Follower)

All of this seems to point to something much more sinister going on. And, for those who haven’t seen it, the tweets leading up to the demo’s release might just explain why.

Now, we aren’t quite sure who this is supposed to be, but judging by their vocabulary and how they type, it’s a pretty safe assumption we’re being chatted to by our favorite former royal scientist. And, sure enough, most people are assuming that this entity is at least some version of Dr. W. D. Gaster. Why is he doing this? What does it all mean? Why was the Delta Rune even slightly relevant to the plot of this chapter aside from there being three prophesied heroes?

Well, I suppose only time will tell.

Until then...

L̴͙̖̠̕è̘̝͚̯̩̘ͅt͔͎͖̝͎̼͘͢ ̷͎̮͘ù̴̹̘̮̰̙̮̮̘͝s̵̷̫̠͎̯͙̥͟ͅ ͍͍̤̟͇͕̺ͅh̨̼̼͕̠ą̶̛̦̫̼v̺͞e̸͎̭̱͍̭͞͠ ͖̩̳͕͔͚͚̝̱s̘̭̩͜͟ơ҉̥͖̯͟m̞̠͈e̷͔͖̭ͅ ́҉̤͔͎̫̣̥̱͚̲ḿ̶̩̼̙̪̻̝̥͟o̗͇̩͇̠͍͟r̡͖͇̤̗͔͈̕͠e̶̝̠͔͈̭̟ ̷̫̬̺̮͔̣F̢̗̘̟̯͈̜͖͕͈͞Ų̴͍̜͚̘̠̞͈͇̀N҉̡̣̺̝̩̘͓ͅ.̷̩̹͓̯͝

S̛̪̦͉͎̙̀h̴͇͈͡á̤̣̫̬l̷̬̤͓͈͟ͅl͚͚̙̦̙̣̱̺ ̳̗̩͍̱̤̦͈̣w̡͔é͔̝̹̻̜͎̞͝?͜҉̣̣̥̫͎͎ͅ

#undertale #deltarune #delta rune #deltarune spoilers #delta rune spoilers #tagged both ways because i'm not sure which is the correct formatting #and no I will NOT stop doing this. ever

8 notes · View notes