#Not to undermine Clover

[the-white-soul]

*Flowey smiles cutely at the child, then looks to the mother.* Little people are the most nonjudging of humans and monsters alike. Let's take their example and start on a clean plate. Then you can judge us from there.

I'm Buttercup! And this is Papyrus, Toriel, and... *Saying Clover's name is Clover while also having the overall same look at the evil one would look suspicious and open up a whole different rabbit hole about alternat universes. We need a new name.* Uhmmm..... Clove! *Flowey snatches off Clover's hat so now he looks completely different- at least according to Flowey logic.*

Clove is a human who has traversed the underground before and faced many difficulties as well as fun experiences and friends. After being isolated for who knows how long, monsters forgot what humans were like and blindly attacked them. Clove didn't fight back. Instead, he rationalized what was really justful and decided to befriend them first. Every time, the monsters that attacked him grew soft to his kindness and came to their senses, showing monsters aren't creatures of bloodlust, but we're mislead into thinking humans were bad until proven wrong.

I think most humans suffer the same way. Since monsters and humans were separated for so long, I can only imagine there must be some misconceptions. The only way to fix that is to do what Clove did, so both races have to open their hearts. And that's why we're here today! To plead our case, make friends with you, and apologize. You don't have to forgive us for hurting anybody. To be fair, plenty more monster lives were lost in the past war, and that doesn't make the taking of human lives any better, but I'm trying to say we both wronged each other and we should take responsibility for that.

And even if that happened, that doesn't mean we can't be friends again! Doesn't being angry and going on a neverending cycle of revenge sound exhausting?

*Flowey let's go of a big breath.* (I really hope I did good with that. It's a lot more nervewracking when whatever I say isn't reversible.)

(Mom) "You don't know who I've lost. You know my child. They came years ago because they escaped, and then I saw two things. A goat and my dead child. My dear Chara. You must know what I've done to that goat. I burned the crap out of them, stabbed them, and watched them scream. They refused to fight back. I kept asking if that was what you made them feel, and he kept saying, 'I didn't do that to them.' The stubborn goat didn't want me to get the satisfaction of the reason. Now, I see him in every single one of you. One to be burned as that goat did. How do you know what it feels like?"

(Toriel) "My son died one day. Anger rose in her eyes. I believe it was on the same day as the other one."

(Kara) "CUT TO CLOVE!!!"

(Kara) "Slaps their own face Did you just insult Clover? I know they are evil, but that's the last thing we want to do now."

Tension was building faster than anyone would've ever thought

(Mom) "Clove, listen here, little buddy. I knew nothing about that child. They could've been an absolute psychopathic megalomaniac. That said, even if they were, I'd rather have them in charge than any monster. Clove, from this day forth, you are a monster. Also, you look similar to that goat that killed my oldest child. I'll say, he screamed so loud my ears bled."

Toriel started to run to the Mom, and the police gathered her up

(Toriel) "I will never forget what you did to my child."

(Mom) "Same, goat lady. See you in hell."

[bellshazes]

if i had a nickel for every painstakingly detailed backstory i concocted out of a sparse narrative but i repurposed the central absolutely defining green growing thing metaphor to be vaguely red-coded instead for inescapable character reasons and also clamp was there. i would have two fucking nickels. because everything is the same forever

[cringefailfagcat]

although i DID read a yosano pegging chuuya fic that did something to my brain so thats always in there. honestly maybe we should just get yosano in she could help

yosano would whip those boys into shape. possibly literally. she'd fix them and make them worse <3

[carlyraejepsans]

Hey, if you don’t mind the question. What’s your opinion on Undertale Yellow?

8/10 game. pretty good at being a game, not so much at being an undertale story. the gameplay itself was fun, the area/puzzle designs too, the soundtrack was untouchable it literally gave me the same rush i felt hearing sburb initiation for the first time. minor NPCs designs were fun but the primary cast was too monotonous, tbh. (all the main characters have tall gangly very detailed designs save for like, axis). its attempts at landing Undertale's humor were quite often successful, but it held back on exaggeration and caricaturing its original characters which took away that oomph from the canon game. the character writing was... lacking. which is a pity.

i love fucked up women so i was really disappointed that every single one of ceroba's actions/ideas/influences on the story were nothing but an extension of her dead husband. when you take chujin away she's just... A Good Wife and Mother. or starlo's past love interest ig. i mean both dalv and martlet's backstory were tied to her family and we never see them interact at all. but they do have an established dynamic.... with the dead husband. again. UGH. she's just really wasted as a character (she and chujin should've BOTH been scientists and she should've continued the project AGAINST his wishes after he died. she's the main cast character, she should be the driving force in the narrative, not him—even if chujin sets the plot in montion by inventing the serum first).

I'm not a huge asgore fan—not that i dislike him, he's just not a character i care about all that much—so congrats to this game for making me say "he would NOT fucking say that". the "fuck the royals" subplot thing was really unnecessary. actually, that was a bit of a recurring thing in the game. suddenly introducing these Huge Social Dilemmas like labor exploitation, anti-monarchic sentiments, misogyny (bro who on earth "needs to take a wife" this is Undertale) everyone realizing that clover is a child, over exaggerating the violence at stake... while also attempting to maintain Undertale's careless, bouncy treatment of the situation. that's... not how things work. undertale is able to maintain its light tone BECAUSE it doesn't let you take those topics seriously, they're not meant to be. the fairytale-like king, the battles, the child protagonist, they're all set dressings for the REAL story and REAL power imbalance it wants to highlight: that between player and game characters. everything is in function of that. you take that layer of separation and make everyone aware that theyre violently attacking and killing a literal child... that's not. a good thing dude. if it's not gonna impact the tone of the story, why acknowledge it in the first place? it's just unnecessary

anyway flowey neutral run was really, really fun. his dialogue writing all throughout the game was very solid and i had a blast having him around. however, they shouldn't have tried to anticipate his character development. this game is a prequel, you can't do that without undermining his arc in the canon events. pacifist should've had him doubling down on his frustration from the neutral ending. i do all this work for you keeping you alive and you make the same mistake i did sacrifice yourself for them??? are you BRAINDEAD???? what I'm saying is he basically should've thrown the biggest tantrum of his LIFE. oh and in the NM run he should've been terrified when he lost control of the SAVE file. this is the first time it's ever happened to him and now he's gonna die for good. he wouldn't have gloated like he did.

if you want to hear more criticism along the lines of what i said then this post by the fantastic @andreabandrea covers a lot of what i also felt during the game. i know this might sound like a lot of negativity, but the fact remains that UTY was an absolutely phenomenal work of fan creativity the likes of which we have never seen before in the fandom. considering the quality and polish, i thought it only fair to approach it as the piece of art it is and give it my genuine thoughts on the matter.

overall, still a really fun way to spend the afternoon with a pal. so. thumbs up

[rustedleopard]

With all that being said, I will admit to being a bit shameless and liking the idea of Clover coming back to life post UT Pacifist Ending. I know, I'm sorry, I know it's cliche, please hold your tomatoes. I'm aware that having the character that sacrificed themself come back can end up sorta undermining their death and having Clover stay dead post UT-Pacifist is a valid outcome that deserves more recognition/exploration and I just talked about Kanako not being special so I'm kind of a massive hypocrite for wanting Clover back and blah blah blah. I get it!

BUT! I am also a massive softie at heart and got attached to the doomed by the narrative kid 🥺

(I do feel like Clover getting revived should be something that's exclusive to fanworks though. I don't want a canon confirmation that "Nah, they're not dead for realsies, they just took a five-minute dirt nap." Because having it be canon does feel like it undermines their death. This is all just self-indulgence over here)

[gwainchain]

My take on Starlo's portrayal in the Genocide Route.

Disclaimer:

These ideas are my own interpretation of the characters, not because they’re better, but primarily what I would’ve loved to see in the story of Undertale Yellow.

These interpretations and ideas of mine are completely wild and may not fit the story the UTY team was trying to tell.

I have the benefit of the doubt of a given year to think about these ideas for a certain part of the genocide route to think of these ideas. I have no right to say they could’ve done this when I have no idea what was going on with the UTY team as they had over 7 years to create this fangame, completely undermining the team's effort and that’s not what I’m here to do.

Starlo’s portion of the UTY’s genocide route always stuck out to me. Don’t get me wrong, seeing it for the first time made me genuinely sad, and the moment was amazing. Seeing Starlo turn to dust and Ceroba charging at Clover really hyped me up. The emotion and care in this cutscene were phenomenal. I wouldn’t change this for anything else and I don’t want it to. However, there is just something I would prefer that was shown in the fangame.

Background:

As we know, Starlo is a false sheriff. He has no authority and is just a simple farmer roleplaying to cheer Monsterkind up from the inevitable reality that they might be stuck in the Underground forever. Many people have pointed this out to me when the scene of Starlo shooting Clover with a BB gun is the main reason why he couldn’t go through with it. But to me… I was confused. I understand people’s point completely. The only thing I didn’t get is WHY Starlo was doing this if this was the case. Starlo, the monster who saw Ceroba for who she really is, knows that she lost both her husband and daughter, and is suffering from depression… was willing to throw his life away knowing he wasn’t going to win against Clover? And not just Ceroba, his family, his friends! Maybe there’s some context I’m missing. Maybe it was pride or fear, or maybe it was just ego. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Would he really do that to the people he loves and cares for? 

Proposition:

I’ve seen people propose the idea of a genocide fight for Starlo, but I don’t think that’s likely. I want to respect the UTY team’s idea of giving that right to Ceroba. So, I’m proposing an alternative. Instead of Starlo doing this with no stakes, let’s add stakes to this situation. Let’s assume that once Clover reaches the Wild East, the cutscene starts with Starlo telling his posse to help the rest of the townsfolks escape as he is left behind to deal with Clover. We are given insight that not everyone has evacuated this location, and Starlo is forced to confront Clover face to face. Knowing Starlo, he’s going to do what he does best: distract people, and in this scenario, distract Clover long enough for the people he cares about to escape their wrath with the “Dual” minigame. This way, it gives a reason for Starlo to stay behind. I say this because the point here isn’t Starlo winning or losing, but giving people time to avoid confrontation and suffer a terrible fate, even if it means giving up his own life. Maybe this is what the UTY team was implying when Ceroba came back to the Wild East, telling Starlo that everyone had evacuated

and things would play out as normal, and Ceroba fights Clover.

Of course, this situation doesn’t solve the point that Starlo could’ve just shot Clover. And of course, Undertale Yellow felt more story-driven than character-focused, and when characters were given time to be… characters, some were given more characterization than others. I just want to put more of the spotlight onto Starlo as many people were frustrated at his portrayal in the genocide route, me included. This idea may be too much or too out of character, and I can see why people may disagree with my points.

I simply wanted Starlo to be a hero in his own way, but still capture who he is deep down.

[itsclydebitches]

CLYDE. I was thinking about the RWBY vs Ace Ops fight again because it's one my least favourite moments in the entire show and I realised that Qrow/Clover/Robyn weren't part of the conversation prior, nor were they ever acknowledged. Nothing of the effect that "Hey, maybe we should wait for Qrow/Robyn/Clover's opinion on this plan before moving onwards, considering their experience and leadership skills?" before being shut down that time is of the essence and they can't wait for them. It just feels illogical to have the Ace Ops leader, Mantle's primary representative and the leader of the Happy Huntresses and one of James' closest allies be completely absence from one the most impactful turning points of the Volume. It feels they were either purposely left out arbitrarily for the sake of two poorly conceived fights or the writers just forgot...which wouldn't be the first time. This show is very...frustrating to say the least.

YEAH. The other day I was thinking about RWBY and ludonarrative dissonance in video games. Specifically, the number of action/adventure games I've played that have a, "OMG COMPLETE THIS MISSION IMMEDIATELY TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE SOMEONE IS GONNA DIE!!" narrative paired with a "Look at all these fun side quests populating the map, you should totally spend a month of in-game time leisurely exploring them" gameplay. RWBY feels similar to me (minus the interactive elements, obviously). The narrative continually pushes the urgency of the situation, but what the characters do don't align with that. Waiting in the mansion is the classic, go-to example of this, but it's also seen in questions like, "If the group is so concerned with the safety of the Relic why don't they.... put it in the vault?" and "If Qrow needs to speak to Ironwood so badly, why doesn't he just... go to Ironwood in handcuffs rather than starting a fight that, unforeseen airship crash or not, is gonna SUPER delay him getting there." Importantly, these moments go beyond the characters simply making impulsive, fallible, human decisions. It always feels like the writers haven't thought through the situation, or are so focused on one (badly chosen) outcome that they'll ignore all logic to get there.

So, same idea with this fight. I completely understand Ironwood's position because there is a clear line of logic here. Salem is about to attack, the group has consistently lied/undermined him, ergo he is removing a potential threat by locking them up until this battle/escape is complete. No one has to agree with him, but I think the reasoning makes sense both in general and for his specific character. (Which is also one of the reasons why I think some fans are willing to hear consider his side: his writing, however messy in other places, is leagues beyond the group's, particularly in the first half of the Atlas arc.) The girls though? They're all over the place. They don't want secrets but they're going to keep them from Ironwood. But they're also going to spill them all to Robyn, someone they don't know and shouldn't trust. They want to save everyone but have no idea how and can't/won't troubleshoot an answer. They're determined to unite the people but are simultaneously determined to solve their problems with a fight. They start said fight and then Ruby immediately tries to talk her way out of it again. And, as you say, they ignore that unity/experience/help available to them by not looping the others in because, supposedly, there's just no time... but then we have long scenes where they just sit around the mansion, tearfully bemoaning the fact that they don't know what to do and getting angry that no one has magically shown up to help.

I can EASILY picture a better-if-not-perfect scenario where the girls' decisions in that fight actually follow their proclaimed intentions AND the not-actually-very-critical timeline they have (because remember, even after all this Salem just sits there for an extended time.) What if Ruby ordered the team to let themselves get arrested and then we got a cool break out of jail scene? (I mean... Ruby blasts through Ironwood's steel doors that are meant to keep people in + they sneak into Atlas HQ. Clearly this would not have been difficult for them.) What if they ran into Qrow and Robyn while in their cells? Or what if they escaped, realized they needed their uncle, and started a help Mantle/find Qrow dual mission? What if instead of broadcasting a horrifying and near incomprehensible message to the whole world, they spoke to all their allies in Atlas about the plan they'd come up with, calling them together? Maybe coded so Cinder wouldn't understand. Maybe bluntly honest like a gauntlet throw-down: we know you're here, but we're ready for you this time.

Instead Ruby forgets she exists...

There are just SO many things you can do with that fight/the aftermath that don't completely undermine the themes, the tension, the proclaimed desires, and the narrative expectations. If there has to be a battle of ally vs. ally when Salem is on her way and half our villains are roaming the streets (god I can't emphasize that enough), why is everyone with the wrong person? Why isn't Robyn fighting the Ace Ops, her political enemy long before the girls showed up? Why isn't Qrow fighting Ironwood, the guy he (stupidly) blames for Clover's death? Why isn't Clover with his team? Why isn't Ruby facing Salem? Why the hell would you have Qrow team up with Tyrian?

As a side note, I've seen a resurgence of discussion about Ruby's breakdown in Volume 9 and everything above re-emphasizes for me just how much she HAS demanded this power and responsibility. "Hey, maybe we should wait for Qrow/Robyn/Clover's opinion on this plan before moving onwards, considering their experience and leadership skills?" is one of MANY considerations when weighing the question of whether Ruby has truly been burdened with the unwanted expectations of others... because they've never been unwanted and she has never down a thing to lessen that burden. She doesn't wait. She doesn't ask. She doesn't lean on others' experience and leadership. And this goes all the way back to Ruby responding, "Yes, I want to attend Beacon and take on all the responsibilities of that despite not being old enough," but there is also a LOT in the Atlas arc - right before her Volume 9 breakdown, literal hours in-world - where Ruby stood her ground and said, "No, we're doing this my way and my team, whether they've disagreed with this decision, or suggested this course of action in the first place, will ultimately follow me because I am the leader." She told Qrow to stand down and let her continue fighting Cordovin. She made the decision to lie to Ironwood and talked the others out of coming clean. She made the call to attack the Ace Ops instead of submitting to arrest. Using the Relic and dropping Atlas was a group suggestion, but Ruby sanctioned it. Based on literally 8 Volumes of content, if anyone HAD said no to her Ruby would not have listened to them. That is an overt, consistent characterization of hers.

And then Volume 9 expects me to feel bad because she's going, "Everyone expects me to take the lead"??? Like sure, in a very general, "That's indeed stressful no matter who's at the helm" sense, but Ruby has spent years at this point loudly yelling, "I'M THE PERSON YOU SHOULD LOOK TO AND I'LL FIX IT. IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY PLAN I'LL FIGHT YOU :)" Not roping Qrow and the others in is a part of all that. Not overtly on screen - we don't have a scene where Ruby goes, "We don't need to talk to them" - but the story doesn't think their input is important. We get the closeup on her smiling face when she thinks of using the Relic and then the others just inform Winter of what is happening when she happens to call. Major decisions in RWBY have often been collaborative when it comes to suggestions, but the final call is always Ruby. Whether we're talking about "This is my fight too!" when Qrow warns her to stay back, or using the Lamp's question when Ozpin is begging her not to, or shrugging off Yang's concern that she lied to Ironwood, or telling the whole damn world about Salem when numerous people with more experience than her have said, "That's a terrible idea" for generations, Ruby forcibly takes the lead and will not back down no matter who is asking that of her, or how they're asking. In fact, I'd say that is the most OVERT and CONSISTENT way in which she displays agency in this show (which, ugh).

[smile-files]

sorry for the nickelposting, but...

the circumstances of title tbd were perfect for nickel to actually be a great leader:

there was no baggage between him and his team: with them, he had no friendship, no animosity, no problems, no opinions, no nothing (notably, balloon was NOT on the team)

his team eagerly and happily agreed to let him lead*

because of the above two, he could maturely deal with their practical and emotional problems without his ego getting in the way

all of this, then, ends up being completely undermined... near the end of the episode, nickel thinks about how happy he is for everything to go right. he was a good leader! but then he remembers the luck clover bestowed upon him the previous episode, and starts to believe it was that luck which a) made his team agree to follow his leadership and b) made them all successful for the duration of the challenge.

truly, nickel's hidden potential as a genuinely good person and good leader* was revealed by the optimal circumstances, but he thinks that none of it was him; he thinks he just got lucky, that any potential or change or anything he showed wasn't real. and that really, really upsets him. if anything, this is more evidence that he wants to change and be a good person, but is afraid of not being able to...

*for nickel's teammates to accept his leadership suggests that they saw potential in him themselves! if clover's luck is really at play here, i think the only thing it really did was open their minds to the possibility of nickel becoming better...

[stuffyflowers]

re: "give me a character" ask thing

can we get your breakdown on martlet :0

- how I feel about this character

I LOVE MARKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Um I’ll keep this part short since I’ll prob ramble on the other ones but yea. She is so awesome she is so me (if I was cooler) I love her martlet the markeps the martk yeah yeah yeah

- all the people I ship romantically with this character

there aren’t really any mart ships I feel strongly abt,,, but I do enjoy martlet/moray when it occasionally shows up in fanworks ig. Voice of reason x voice of reason <3

-non romantic otp

HER N CLOVER NO CONTEST. She cares about them so much it makes me ILL. Even if clover kills dozens of monsters, she still wants to see the goodness in them, believe they can change and have a violence free childhood in spite of what she has been told about humanity all her life (even if clovers actions appear to reaffirm what chujin told her. even when hating humanity and doing her job would be the easier option). She stays by their side when no one else will in the flawed pacifist ending, she’s the one who organises their memorial in the true pacifist ending,,,, SHE MAKES THEM VISIBLY SMILE WHEN SHE FISTBUMPS THEM,,,,, augh

- unpopular opinion

I never know what 2 put for these questions bc unless it’s a universally divisive character, the opinions that are considered ‘unpopular’ really just depend on what corner of th fanbase ur in. I guess a constant I see w martlet is ppl just undervaluing her role in the story and ESP her relationship w clover. I really do think mart is clovers favourite person and their bond is at the heart of the game, particularly evident by each routes ending focusing on her confrontation w them on the rooftop. Martlet and clover stopping ceroba together, martlet wanting to adopt clover and lead them away from violence, martlet being the final stand against clover and, as she observes, being the only monster they needed to find a deeper justification to kill (bc everything about her appeals so heavily to who clover is deep down). It’s why I kinda roll my eyes at the popularity of final boss/zenith starlo stuff, it feels like ppl just want martlets role pasted onto him despite that undermining his character arc what who said that

- one thing I wish happened with this character

I wish we got to see inside her house!!!! It would be so cosy in there esp with that unused peaceful home track playing. I need to know how she lives. I also wish we got to see more interactions w her and star and especially ceroba before the final battle in pacifist. I find it so funny that one of cerobas battle texts implies martlet is her friend when basically their only interaction prior was ceroba breaking her out of jail only to immediately abuse her trust to take clover away from her. I’ve said it so many times and I’ll say it again the martlet and ceroba dynamic has sooooo much potential!!!! They’re both strongly associated w justice but while martlet demonstrates this value alongside her kindness and reason, ceroba tries to achieve her idea of justice through manipulation, cruelty and tunnelvisioned plans. Do you get me!!!!!!!

[docgold13]

Profiles in Villainy

Tim Scam

A former top operative of the World Organization Of Human Protection (or WOOHP), Tim Scam left the agency because he felt it did not fully appreciate his genius and vision.  Since then, Scam has endeavored on multiple schemes to undermine WOOHP and get rich in the process.  A master of crafting diabolical weapons, Scam has devised such machinations as a hypnotizing sunscreen and a heat ray capable of evaporating the world’s oceans (useful!).  

As devious and calculating as he is intelligent and charming, Scam’s various plots have put him into recurrent conflict with the young WOOHP spies, Sam, Clover and Alex.  Following early defeats at the hands of the Totally Spies agents, Scam would go on to become an operative of LAMOS (or the League Aiming to Menace and Overthrow Spies).  

Despite his being a complete scoundrel, Samantha has maintained something of a crush on him.  This has been a matter that the unscrupulous villain has used to his advantage (creep!).

Actors Michael Gough and Robert Tinkler provided the voice for Tim Scam.  The duplicitous cad first appeared in the second episode of Totally Spies, airing on November 4th, 2001.

[moddedmoor]

Pokemon can mega evolve on their own volition? I thought it was forced by the trainer!

It's not forced, it never was forced unless you're a fucking idiot. It's all about positive bonds and trust. If you're going against those core principles, something will go wrong. It's because of the bonds Nourrice and Clover have with me that they're able to even mega evolve. Of course also the stones, but they're moreso a device used to translate that energy into the process. Sure, in certain situations I can be the one to initiate the evolution, but I don't do it without knowing the pokemon at hand can handle it. And, and Pokemon are intelligent, they can trigger the phenomena themselves when the situation calls for it. It's absolutely fantastic, pokemon are absolutely fantastic! And you undermine them to something that has to be forced to do something that requires trust? People like you are the reason the world is stained.

[the-white-soul]

Dear frisk:

IM writing this letter, to remind you as I am a asexual myself, that a asexual does not feel sexual love or attraction, and they still feel romantic love and attraction, hence being attracted to flowey does not cuase any problems, nor undermined what you identify as

Enjoy this

knowledge

Dear Clover,

I have more questions for you than I have answers. How did you know about this? Flowey made a deal. The last thing he is is not loyal. Especially after I told him I'm attracted to him. I guess that doesn't matter. You know so I will continue into what I really wanted to say. Love is...

STRANGE

DIFFICULT

IMPOSSIBLE

EVERYTHING

NOTHING

Pick your choice and that's what love is. The difference between Platonic love, Romantic love, and Sexual love...

How could I ever know?

I'm honestly surprised you or anyone figured this shit out.

I know what I feel is a desire beyond a friend. But sexually?

Is it possible to feel that way about a flower?

Is it wrong to feel that way about a flower?

I want, when you have the time, to talk to me on one.

I need to know,

EVERYTHING

I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

F. Dremmurr

[pararennial-archived]

The air is leaden with the scent of decay. The fumes only grow stronger the further she treads upon slick and blackened vegetation, past half-eaten creatures consumed by rot that supersedes the actual time it takes for decomposition. This land was desecrated by some incomprehensible force beyond what Roxanne could imagine, and frankly, she is rightfully apprehensive about following the path of destruction further, out of fear of what she will inevitably have to face.

Before deigning to take another step, her hand instantly finds its way to her earpiece to call for backup. Amidst the static crackle of waves stretching across the land, Roxanne still keeps her ears trained through the deafening silence of the once-thriving woods. Part of her hopes that she will at least hear a breath being taken, but there is a chance that she might also find something lurking nearby.

While awaiting somebody to pick up, she catches wind of something panting, heaving breaths beneath strained ribs. A soft frown crosses her features when she pushes aside caution for a moment to follow the sound. Whatever is in the air is pulling the godling towards its source like some magnetic north, is certainly making the ichor in her veins sing and run hot.

The recognition of this reaction nearly prompts her to stop until she suddenly finds a growing patch of moss and clovers. Just at the toe of her boot, the thin carpet of green starts to stretch around her, trying to valiantly reclaim what was lost. The promising sight is enough to spur her forward again, albeit with light steps as to not undermine the work of whatever forest guardian / deity / spirit might be out there.

In the end, she doesn't take long to find the creature lying on its side, gasping for air. Surrounding it, a thickening blanket of blooming red and white clovers. The snow-white fur is enough to inform Roxanne of its celestial nature, along with its carmine-red markings adorning its body. But those details are rendered mundane in comparison to the molten hot ichor slipping out of the wolf's flesh from grievous wounds. This is enough to reignite the onslaught of gold threatening to overtake red ⏤ a recognition of divinity on this mortal plane. Regardless, there are urgent matters to attend to.

Roxanne keeps her movements slow and steady, inching a little closer to the wounded she-wolf.

❝Hey,❞ she murmured softly, approaching as she would with any other animal ( mortal or immortal ), ❝You're not gonna die here.❞

This she felt sure of.

@ama-tcra-su

[xivu-arath]

spider + milky way for omen, speak no evil and clover for rykorya!!

(ask meme)

omen-5

milky way was already answered!

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

omen generally feels detached from fear, which is interesting since xe is, in fact, afraid of several things! I think xe fears responsibility for others the most? because then xe will take it seriously, and uphold that as best as xe can, and inevitably, xe thinks xe will fail and be utterly devastated by it. omen's reason for existing is already such a huge anchor that anything else feels like both a distraction, and an extra weight that will slowly crush xem

this is the reason xe doesn't even have pets, and is very careful to not have any wildlife begin depending on xyr presence. the chance of dooming them after a final death one day really scares xem

on a much smaller note, xe is scared of any deals where money actually is a factor. the glimmer economy is weird and confusing and omen prefers to barter if possible

rkorya

🙊 SPEAK-NO-EVIL - what is something your oc will refuse to stay quiet about?

mistreatment of subordinates and those you are responsible for, which does not mesh well with the sith empire's... empiring. rkorya's view of power chains it directly to duty - if the strong deserve to rule, then those beneath them should be owed their protection and support. callous and cruel treatment is a betrayal and a misuse of that power. it doesn't exactly make her popular among her peers, since her rank allows her to actually intervene in these matters

🍀 CLOVER - do they believe in luck? are they lucky?

luck is kind of complicated when you're a force-user, I think! rkorya doesn't really believe in it, in no small part because good and bad luck and things Just Happening really undermine the whole meritocratic ideology much of her identity is based on. she's not really lucky in... games of chance, or even the Bad Feelings many other people get

things do seem to go her way quite often in battle, though. she almost always knows where to step or where an attack will be coming from...

[millennialdemon]

I’ve seen a few episodes of Anima Yell now, and there are times that I wonder if it isn’t meant to be a parody of the moe club anime that it is. There are moments so cliched, so rushed, and so frequently undermined or played up to the max level of unnecessary melodrama in these first few episodes that I almost find it a little clever.

In episode one we have a stoic girl named Arima who has sworn off cheerleading due to Sports Trauma TM. When our pestering protagonist Kohane asks her to join cheer club, she turns away from her dramatically and says: “Cheer is in my past.” Then we get a comedy scene right after this where she is shown to be completely oblivious to how obvious it is in everything she does that she still loves cheerleading. Kohane herself is the bubbly, perpetually altruistic moe protagonist of moe protagonists who declares that her purpose in life is to help others, even to the point of hurting herself. She is to moe club anime what Asta from Black Clover is to mainstream shounen, which is to say all of the tropes dialed up to 100. By the end of episode one she has convinced Arima to resume cheerleading… by endangering herself and jumping out of a tree to prove how serious she is about conquering her fear of heights and pursuing cheer with her. The scene is completely ridiculous and flips again and again between taking itself way too seriously and being a dumb moe comedy.

It strikes a curious balance of being completely generic in its wholesomeness and leaning so far into the tropes that it seems to be making fun of itself at times. The admittance that I clock most of it as a joke, though, is also an admittance that it is impossible to take seriously thus far. And sure, it’s as light-hearted as anime comes, that isn’t really a flaw -- I’m just saying that if Anima Yell tries to tug on my heart strings later, it will probably be hard won. If it was trying to in earnest with everything going on with Arima in episode 1, it completely failed.

And I say club anime because as much as I would like for Anima Yell to be a sports anime, I just don’t believe it will get there. This isn’t to say cheerleading isn’t a sport, it definitely is, just that this anime is not what I would call a sports anime, because no one is aiming to go into any sort of competition and I am fairly certain the entire show is going to be about getting club members and learning the absolute basics. It functions much more like your average CGDCT club anime so far, like Asteroid in Love or Hinako Note. If they cheerlead more than once at an actual sporting event this season, I will be happy to be wrong.

(Another unfortunate thing about Anima Yell is that while watching it, all I can think about is how much I would rather be watching an actual cheerleading anime where we follow a cheerleading squad that enters competitive tournaments a la Bring It On. But I digress. I know that this is not that type of anime. But Cheerleading!Hanebado would be so good!)

I would say that overall I am enjoying Anima Yell for what it is, though. In the two episodes I have watched, it did make me laugh with its bluntness at times, and I do think it is quite cute. I like the long-suffering Uki and the awkwardly straight forward Arima. I like that the comedy is usually punchy and well-timed, I like that gags aren’t repeated too often. I like hobby anime that actually go into the hobbies more than not at all (Hinako Note, I will literally never forgive you) and I hope we don’t lose out on seeing the girls train and learn for the sake of too much CGDCT antics.

5/10 so far for being a mostly banal moe club anime with way too young looking designs, but I think it could shape up into something fun.

[helloijustreadyourpost]

I think Flowey was extremely well utilized in both the routes that aren't pacifist, exhibiting both agency and strong opinions about the rest of the cast (specifically, "You don't need them, you just need me"--he views them as his competition). He may not be providing much value as a metaphor for the audience, but he's definitely pulling his weight as a character and eventual antagonist.

It's just unfortunate that pacifist is considered the "default correct" ending for Undertale content, and the pacifist ending in UTY is a mess. The boss fight is good, it just... doesn't make sense as an ending to this story. I think both the pacifist and neutral routes kinda shot themselves in the foot because they wanted to stay canon compliant--neutral by undermining its stakes, and pacifist by undermining its message. (That's why I felt like the geno ending was the most powerful--it just did what it needed to do to wrap up this story in the most dramatic way possible, canon be damned.)

And while I didn't think of it myself, you're totally right that Flowey should've thrown a tantrum at Clover's sacrifice. Especially since he throws a tantrum in the neutral route. This doesn't even need to change his decision! It could've just gone from "I'll respect their decision" to "I'm so disgusted I'm not even going to try again with this useless human". I think they only did this because they were grasping for any way to make the sacrifice look like it was "worth it", and having Flowey badmouth them as the very last thing that happens might have undermined it.

UTY!Flowey, "lore" and how to criticize a fan prequel without being an insufferable pedantic, a guide by Biscia.

(for my muskless fellows, here's a transcript of my thread on Undertale Yellow that I posted on Twitter. enjoy!)

There's this really frustrating attitude in fan spaces i like to call "lorepilling" where people are substantially more concerned with encyclopedic knowledge of details & minutiae (so called "lore") in place of full-text thematic/narrative analysis as if the two are mutually interchangeable.

It's especially common in large franchises and story heavy videogames, and it's like... Are You Treating This Piece Of Art Like A Trivia Battle Or Are You Treating It Like A Story

This is coming from a person who is also deeply autistic about UTDR trivia btw, I'm just saying that when it comes to transformative *stories*, depending on the impact it has on character, themes, and narrative structure... lore is expendable.

Ultimately this is why most of the UTY criticism i see (on twitter specifically) falls flat. What does it matter if "lore" means Flowey couldn't chronologically be there when the justice human fell, as long as the game narratively justified his presence in the story in a compelling way?

The real criticism, in the end, is that it didn't.

He's a plot central, main cast character from the canon returning in a cast of mostly OCs and what does he have to show for it? An admittedly sick boss battle in 1/3 endings, sure but... not much else. He has no significant "presence" in the story, no tie, interaction, or even just... an opinion on the rest of the cast. Which is a huge miss when Flowey's meta role is to be Thee completionist player mirror. He's the OG lorepilled UT fan! He's an opinionated little shit!

This isn't to say that UTY *didn't* engage w/ his metanarrative. When me and @a-town-called-hometown first started playing the game (we were both skeptical of Flowey's inclusion), he immediately said "It would be really cool if they made it so this has been going on for a while and Clover has no idea". Which is precisely what the game did in the neutral ending, and what I will openly say was the most well written & well executed part of this game's story...

...a part we almost didn't see, because the pacifist ending disappointed us so much we lost all will to replay.

To put it in the words of my friend Mel @clowwwnbytes, there's a deafening hollowness to UTY Flowey's motivations & core principles where his guilt towards Chara—and resulting black and white thinking—should be. You're telling me Mr Kill-or-be-killed, "sacrificing yourself to do the right thing is stupid", would stand there after 1000s of failed attempts to make Clover survive, look on as they make the same mistake Asriel he did, and fondly call them friend? Cue the guitar, roll the credits?

He would lose it. Oh my god he would lose his goddamn mind, he would throw the nastiest temper tantrum in the world. Are you serious? How dare you. How DARE you. All this effort, all my patience, and you just let yourself DIE for a few worthless idiots? I should've let you ROT!

*clears throat* sorry got a bit too into character. as i was saying.

I can understand a UT prequel wanting to distance itself from the canon Chara storyline in order to form its own identity, but then turning around and choosing Insane About Chara The Character™ for a sidekick is... far from optimal. In the end, Flowey comes across as underutilized and inconsistent, with a whole lot of wasted potential.

This is an issue I have with UTY's character writing (original AND returning) and story structure as a whole. Lots of inconsistent character arcs, tonal dissonance, overuse of situational sadness... it's an amateurish work, after all, and you can feel it. There's no shame in that.

(Though, there ARE some issues that i take more seriously with its writing, especially when it comes to its two main female characters—Ceroba's lack of narrative agency and depth borders on misogynistic writing imo. But that's a topic for another day)

Over all, UTY was an incredible piece of collaborative transformative work, with gorgeous art and a genuinely incredible OST, which... would have benefited from more experienced writers. But hey, you can only ever learn by trying!

For all it could've been a better story, it certainly did not fail to entertain: both when my friend was playing it, and after in our many discussions of its writing, its faults and how it could've been improved (royal scientist!ceroba character fix you will always be famous. to ME!)

I'm sure this project served as an incredible source of experience for the developers: as individual creators AND as a team. I look forward to their future projects!

but also if i have to see another person say UTY is better than Undertale i might turn into The Jonker.

end of the essay! really couldn't stand any of the pedantic ""criticism"" I'd seen of this fangame so far, so i had to say my piece as someone more versed in analysis. happy to elaborate on anything in the replies or in my inbox!