#also I know that some of the quotes from the comic aren't exact

[relaxxattack]

Hi i want to thank you for the QPR vs Moirail venn diagram. Its a rly excellent way of showing the difference. My gripe is about human romance, and how people will either 1- conflate it in a 1:1 ratio with Matesprit, or 2- claim it is “all the quadrants”. I personally feel both are false equivalency, and that the human romance is similar to both pale and red rom* and SO i was wondering if you agreed w that assessment, or if not, if you have the time to explain your thoughts on human traditional romance vs the quadrants (perhaps w another nifty graph)?

* which is why Rose’s destructive tendencies during sburb & her descent into addiction on the meteor were not addressed by kanaya, who feared palezoning herself like she did with vriska

OH MY GOD! YES!!!! why am i getting such great asks today?!

no, you're EXACTLY right. people are constantly conflating matespritship in those two ways; "all of the quadrants" being especially irritating (since Some humans occasionally argue, Occasionally in a kinky way, and i guess that means that they totally have all of kismesissitude covered?? :/).

matespritship is its very own thing. of the two interpretations above, i feel the idea that it's 1:1 to human romance is the closest to true. i mean, that's what they literally say in the comic, for gog's sake.

humans do not truly incorporate moirallegiance, kismesissitude, or auspisticism into their lives in any meaningful way. while it's possible for humans to sometimes have romances that might seem more like one of those than matespritship, they're considered abnormal or toxic-- and they often ARE, because humans do not have the same sort of biological drives or social understanding of these things that trolls do. humans do not understand the true needs and ramifications, or even the ROMANCE of moirallegiance. humans would be hard pressed to understand a kismesissitude in a 'healthy' way. i don't even need to mention how auspisticism flies over people's heads.

so, yes, humans only have the one quadrant. (and karkat vantas, i am sorry to say, is not going to "human date" anyone as the "solution to his quadrant problems". this would literally be the same as him trying to stick only to matespritship, and we all know exactly how that turned out.)

however! matespritship is not an exact 1:1 on human romance either. the direct quote from the comic is;

"[It's] the closest parallel to the human concept of romance trolls have." [x]

this is not really expanded on much in the text, honestly-- the intricacies of the social and biological traits of matespritship aren't shown enough for us to draw clear distinctions between them and human romance.

however, i think you're right that rose and kanaya are the best example we have of that-- despite them both aiming for matespritship, they have cultural misunderstanding quite often from some of rose's flirting, or even just her needs, crossing wires into a pale threshold that kanaya is weary of.

it's entirely possible that the differences between troll and human "hearts" might have made it difficult for kanaya to really connect with rose's problems and discuss them with her.

which might explain why when things go "better" for them in the retcon, they're portrayed reading a book on troll romance together:

it could be implied here that searching for a more in-depth understanding of quadrants actually helped rose with her ability to connect to kanaya-- and maybe, reading into it a little too hard here, this also could have been an opportunity for kanaya to work through her vriska-based hangups with the pale quadrant. that's entirely speculation on my part, though.

at the end of the day, we don't really KNOW enough about the details of quadrants for me to paint a clear picture of how matespritship differs from human romance. i mean, i could try, but it would certainly be more of a headcanon post than an analysis one!

[ssaanaaloves]

If you don't mind, I love to see, or learn more about the Android!Shadow/slow insanity art you just posted if there is more to share about it.

hello! thank you so much for the interest in the art, but I have to be honest that I didn't really put that much thought into it. As per a lot of my artworks, they're relatively standalone pieces that take inspiration from canonical aspects of sonic storylines, or just some things I come across that I can relate to them. So, as of now, I don't really have any specific ideas or storylines or anything for the android shadow artwork, and the main inspiration for it was the thought of "what if the real Shadow did cease to exist" - either before or after Sonic Heroes, since Rouge's concern regarding whether Shadow was the "original" in heroes was always prominent and clear. I wanted to somewhat explore/showcase how Rouge might react to the original ceasing to exist, or learning the Shadow she was accompanying was not the same one she knew. And to me, I feel that even if she does accept this fact of him being gone, there's another part of her that's still clinging on to a memory of him. She's not really the overtly emotional type, at least in the way that I read her, and she's intelligent and logical/fact driven enough to not be naive or unaccepting of Shadow's death. But, she's also just a girl (lol). Shadow had always been portrayed as the one person she, albeit unexpectedly, formed a genuine, quite complex, and sincere bond with. Whether you choose to read this as romantic or platonic, this is something that cannot be reasonably denied. There's lots of things we don't know about Rouge, her past and even a large proportion of her personality is quite mysterious and hidden behind that facade of the flirty femme fatale she is supposed to be, and any glimpse into her more sensitive/vulnerable/tender side are mostly pulled out through her interactions with Shadow. But even then she still maintains a level of coldness/distance. I'd say it's reasonable to read her as a character that has trouble fully trusting others and forming genuine bonds (supported by archie universe comics if you wish to include those even though they aren't canon - "I trust you. Yeah, that's coming from me."). But Shadow is this one person that had somehow gotten past that, and despite the fact that she won't deny his death or the fact that he's gone, a part of her cannot help but cling onto the one being that got through to her.

That's where the slow insanity quote came through - Rouge is not stupid or illogical, she's aware that the one she bonded with was gone, and yet she wants to cling onto a shadow of him. Someone of his exact image, and maybe even some of his memories, but someone that is fundamentally not him. It's irrational, and she knows it. But logic cannot always dictate feelings. If you take into account the definition of insanity that reads as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, This can be loosely related to a sort of flipped version of the definition - hoping that this being that is not Shadow, that is fundamentally different to the Shadow she knew, will somehow come to be him. Slow insanity. All while being aware of it. It's also why I added the dialogue, since I originally intended it to just be an artwork without any. I wanted to showcase that she was aware of the Shadow she knew being dead, and the one she's with being a "stand-in". I wanted to reaffirm that despite how cold and isolated Shadow tended to be, she'd still bonded with him deeply enough to cling to his ghost. It was a (possibly poor) attempt at showcasing the clash between her logical mind and her sensitive heart, that despite knowing your actions are irrational, you cannot help but behave in certain ways.

I think I blabbered, I'm sorry. I hope I managed to explain my thoughts behind the piece, though. Let me know if you have any other questions, I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities.

[airasilver]

@abundantlyqu33r

How the fuck are Bart and his mom born in the future if his dad and the rest of the family are in the present? I swear I read something with Bart and the League of Superheroes (it's been forever so don't quote me on this name) where it explains his origins but I can't remember. (I used to love those comics. Why can't I remember the name of the team?)

Edit: I remember Legion now but I don't know if that is actually part of the name or not.

Wait, does Barry still have Dawn and Don? Or did they recon that also? So it's only Don?

Here we go:

So it be for a fanfic I'm thinking of. An AU to be exact. A really weird one. Still in my head though so I'll probably never write it.

Under the cut because it's long and there are some things people might not like.

Shit, for some reason I think Dick named both his kids after his birth parents. So when I say John I mean Jake. I just don't feel like changing the name.

I should be sleeping since I got off of work an hour ago...soon hopefully.

Mari and John are there also. (I know they aren't technically part if DC's canon...or are they? I only know Dick had kids in an issue or two but that seems to be an Alternate Universe thing...)

Jason has a sister, I can't decide on twin or not.

Jason thought she was dead which is why Bruce and etc never knew about her.

She was either trafficked or taken with Sheila when Sheila left, both seem to work in my head.

She adopts Mari and John and has Bart.

I'm still figuring out how I want Bart to be born here.

Same with how she adopts Mari and John.

Jazmine Samira or Samira Jazmine for the name.

I have it where she isn't his sister. Either she gets with all four Robins or just three of them. Or even all four and Bernard. Or just Bernard and two of them.

I told you it's mixed-up.

I sometimes add a little sister. Tim's daughter, to the mix.

Catherine Elizabeth Mary Martha Grayson-Todd-Drake-Al Ghul-Wayne: 5 years old. Brunette hair, hazel eyes. I love the name.

Janet just doesn't sound correct in any way I think about it, as part of the name.

Don't know where Elizabeth came from. It just sounded pretty with the rest.

Dowd would be in there somewhere if I add Bernard.

Yes, everyone has everyone's last name but they go by Wayne or, if they are just found/beginning of the story, whatever parent is their biological father.

I add Lian sometimes under Star (is that her name when she's in Gotham? That I just found out about?).

If I add Lian, Jaz is related to Roy not Jason.

Lian isn't adopted by Samira but she does live with them.

Either Samira is introduced to the Bats first by a robbery or assault, attempted that is, or to Roy who is on his way to visit Jason when he runs into Jaz in either of the same situations.

I get to where they are in the batcave and introducing themselves to the others and then I'm stuck.

I now have another in my head. Willow is the name of the OC and she's Wally's sister.

She's found by Bart at a bar, she was working there.

Then taken to the Watchtower where she can't leave easily.

Or she's with Bart and taken to the Titans Tower along with Mari and John.

Either way they are found out by the League and etc.

I got to as far as Willow is taken to see Ra's if at the Watchtower.

Or she's throwing up and Slade, Grant, Joey, and Rose show up.

Willow is pregnant with Bart or about to be in either situation.

My mind is everywhere on this. But yeah, it's long but here is my ideas.

I have this idea where Bart is actually related to the Bats through one of the kids. Mostly one of the Robins but not Steph. I just don't know if it would actually work....

[novaimpactgenerator-blog]

First things first: Hello! Second: May I say your recent work on a request tugged my heartstrings so much that it inspired me to think of my own request of where the Lost Light's female human (giant sized thanks to Brainstorm's idea of sizing them up), Rung, Whirl are dealing with the Fort Max hostage situation, though this time the human is trying to calm Max down, but of course Whirl is trying to make sure Max doesn’t hurt Rung or her by making jabs at him so he could hurt him instead. (1/2)

A Hostage Situation:

“Wow! This is amazing, Brainstorm!” You examined yourself in the mirror with the teal and white scientist standing next to you. You were now able to stand up to his elbow joints and looked down at the device responsible for your new found size attached to your wrist. I reminded you of a digital watch except the time was replaced with height measurements and the side rim was a dial you could turn to adjust said measurements. However, it seemed like the current setting was the tallest.

“I really have outdone myself this time, haven’t I,” he stated smugly. “It was a bit difficult to figure out to expand your body since its made of flesh and not metal. Nothing I couldn’t handle though!”

“Well, thanks. I mean it. This will make living here with you guys a lot easier.” You then began to look over the bodysuit that Brainstorm had also made. It was able to change sizes with you. It was even in your three favorite colors! But the weapon specialist did say it could turn nearly invisible so you could wear other clothes over it.

“I have to go show everyone!” You then ran out of the lab to do just that. The entire crew was completely shocked since you had managed to keep this little project a secret. What could you, you wanted it to be a surprise. In total, it took about a few hours to find everyone. Well, almost everyone. You had yet to find Rung, Whirl, and, hell, even Fortress Maximus had managed to elude you. And he wasn’t exactly what you would call subtle.

You decided that you’d start with Rung, and made your way to the most obvious option. His office.

The walk was filled with the occasional exchange of pleasantries among those you passed, but mostly silence. You finally made it. His office was located near the end of the ship to it took a while.

You had just knocked on the door when a deep voice startled you.

“Y/n!? Is that you?” You whipped around to find one of the bots you were looking for, Fortress Maximus. You immediately placed your hand over your rapidly beating heart to calm it.

“Max! Oh, you scared me.” You gave a nervous grin as you looked up to meet his optics. But something was… off. He seemed nervous and kept glancing around as if someone was going to attack him. “Is everything all right, Max? You seem-”

“What are you doing here?” He said cutting you off, but you didn’t take it personally since he looked so shaken up.

“I came to see if Rung was here. I’ve been looking for him. You too, actually.”

“Listen, you need to leave now!” Fort Max bent down and whisper-yelled at you.

“What? Why?”

But the door behind you opened before Fort Max had the chance to respond, and you turned around the face whoever opened it. It was Rung. He looked at you and was utterly shocked that he could look straight ahead and lock gazes with you.

“Brainstorm,” you said absentmindedly.

“Oh, I see. That’s very extraordinary, but I’m actually in the middle of a session right now.” Rung said gesturing to the last bot you were looking for.

The helicopter gave a little wave with his claws. “Yo. Nice upgrade, Y/n. Now I don’t have to worry about stepping on you.”

You were about to laugh when Fort Max snarled in frustration behind you. Before you could turn around to see what was wrong the barrel of a very large gun was suddenly next to your head and pointing at Rung’s terrified face.

“M-Max! What are yo-” you tried to question, but he cut you off again. This time with a real yell.

“IN! NOW!” He shoved the barrel into Rung’s cheek to emphasize that he meant business.

Both you and Rung began to slowly back into the room and you heard Fort Max close the door behind him. Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed that Whirl was crouched down and quietly making his way closer. And it seemed you weren’t the only one who noticed.

Fort Max jerked his gun to point it at the former Wrecker, who immediately threw stealth to the wind and charged at the armed bot with a battle cry. Fort Max fired a few shots at Whirl fully intent on blowing him away, but the blue chopper was nibble and dodged. “BRING IT, GLITCH!”

Whirl jumped over both you and Rung and tackled Fort Max into the door he had just closed. You two made a break for it to the furthest part of the room by the window. You wanted to help but knew you couldn’t.

You watched in horror as your two friends battled it out, and once Fort Max snapped out of his daze it was almost immediately over. What started as a fight turned into a beating for the smaller of the two, but he refused to fall even after his frame was wrecked to hell. Whirl was still struggling when the red-eyed Autobot ripped off his guns and wrapped his entire servo around his helm but went limp when the larger smashed the side of his helm into the wall.

“Whirl!” You cupped your mouth as you feared the worst. You were only slightly relieved when the ex-Wrecker groaned in pain, but Fort Max crushed that relief when he threw him to the middle of the room, beaten and broken and leaking energon. You couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. You knew Cybertronians could survive a lot more than a human, but you didn’t know how much.

The huge grounder then stomped his way over to the two of you and you began to shiver in fear. You slammed your eyes shut when he started reaching out but instantly reopened them when you heard Rung cry out. He had him by the neck as the therapist tried to get away from his assailant.

“No!” You quickly grabbed the large black digits around Rung’s neck and tried to pry them off, but it didn’t deter him in the slightest. Fort Max pulled Rung closer and used his other hand to push you off. You could tell he didn’t put any real force behind his push but it was still able to knock you to the ground as he turned away.

“Max please!”

“Quiet, Y/n.” Max walked past Whirl and sat Rung down on the lounging chair. He then pulled a long reinforced cable from the subspace in his shoulder and began to tie down Rung.

“You don’t need to do this!”

“Yes. I do.”

“Why!?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Then help me understand!… Please.” You made your way to Whirl to check on him. “Why are you doing this?”

“I said. Be. Quiet!” Fort Max then ripped a piece of pipe from the ceiling and speared it through Whirl’s abdomen as he attempted to get up. You couldn’t stop the shriek of terror as energon spattered across your face and body.

Whirl cried out in agony as Fort Max twisted the jagged metal through his delicate circuitry. You pounded your fists against the kibble around his shin while you pleaded and begged for him to quit harming the blue chopper.

Whirl groaned before he rebooted his vox, “Listen, Max. In the hope that this can still have a happy ending- and speaking as someone who appreciates the challenges of adjusting to postwar life- I just wanna say that there’s still time to do the decent thing and kill yourself.”

“W-Whirl, please stop. Don’t push him to hurt you mo-” You whispered to the injured Cybertronian, who only cut you off in return.

“Come on! Blow yourself away! Let’s see a spark-spasm up close!”

“Max! Please don’t listen to him! You can still fix thi-” Whirl interrupted you again.

“Fix this!? Don’t make me laugh! Unless he’s got some kind of time machine hidden under all that armor, I think the frag not! He can’t even fix himself, let alone this mess!” Whirl’s outburst made a growl escape Fort Max’s derma and he looked as though he were about to strike him before a look of realization spread across his faceplates.

“Clever. Trying to get me to lose my cool so you can get the chance to overpower me.”

Rung finally decided to speak up, “Actually, I think you might be crediting him with too much-”

“Seriously, all of this is a bit pathetic, isn’t it? Even for an epic, epic failure like you. I mean not only did you practically beg the Decepticons to take G9 off your hands, but you curled up into a ball the moment Overlor-” KUNCH

Fort Max smashed the barrel of his gun against Whirl’s face denting and crushing the metal around his optic.

“STOP!” You yelled, catching the grounder’s attention. However, it seemed that Fort Max shifting his attention away from Whirl only caused to the ex-Wrecker to vex his assailant more.

“Wow. If I’d known that was the best you’ve got, I would have said something genuinely offensive.” KUNCH “Ugh!”

“PLEASE, STOP IT!!!” You threw yourself at Fort Max’s stabilizer again and slammed your fists weakly against him while tears streamed down your face.

“Anything else?”

You thanked whatever self-preservation instincts Whirl had when he didn’t reply. You then glanced over to Rung to see him looking up. You followed his field of vision to see a small camera blinking in the corner. You slowly got up and stepped closer to Fort Max.

“Max. Please just listen to me. Whatever you’re doing this for, I’m sure there��s another way. You can stop this now and explain yourself and I’m sure everything will be okay.” You tried to sooth the metal giant by gently placing your hand over the servo that wasn’t holding a cannon at Whirl.

“You wanna know why I’m doing this, Y/n? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY!?” You flinched away when he leaned down to shout in your face, which seemed to make him calm down enough to lower his voice. “Fine… I’ll tell you why…”

Fortress Maximus then proceeded to tell all of you about Garrus 9, about Overlord, and about what he and his crew went through. All the torture and death. You finally understood.

“Oh, Max. You said you didn’t remember. Why didn’t you tell anyone the truth?” You stroked his servo while you looked up at him.

“Because, Y/n, I’m Fortress Maximus. I couldn’t just-”

“No one, and I mean no one, would have held it against you. What you went through wasn’t your fault and would affect even the strongest of bots. It’s okay to be mad. It’s okay to be scared. You have a right to be. And you have a right to want answers. But not like this.” You gestured to the other two bots in the room. “Not by hurting others.” You put your hand on top of the cannon and Max allowed you to slowly push it to point at the ground and away from Whirl, while his guilty optics stared into your gentle eyes. “Like how you were.”

Just as Fort Max’s grip was loosening to drop the weapon he snapped out of his trance. “No. It’s too late to go back now.”

Both you and Rung saw the darkness that took over his optics. “No, dON’T!” Rung tried to reason with him, but he ignored his therapist and grabbed you by the arm and flung you across the room.

Your scream was cut off when your spine collided with the wall next to Rung, who screamed your name. Your ears were ringing, so you felt more than heard the pounding of pede steps getting closer to you. You did, however, manage to make out the sound of Whirl yelling curses at the Autobot who threw you.

“YOU FRAGGER!!! YOU KNOW WHAT!?! SHE’S SO WRONG!!! ANYONE that could be beaten into submission by OVERLORD is nothing but a WEAK, SAD EXCUSE FOR A PATHETIC WASTE OF SPACE!!!”

By Primus, if Fort Max wasn’t pissed off already he sure was now. Your vision came back just in time to see the enraged look on Fort Max’s faceplates and you knew that was the last straw. Max whipped around and stomped back up to Whirl. He pointed the cannon directly at Whirl’s face and the barrel began to light up as it prepared to be fired.

“That’s ENOUGH out of you!” Fort Max moved his digit over the trigger, and in a burst of adrenaline, you lept to your feet and tackled the gun.

When Fort Max saw you, his optics widened in horror and he tried to let go of the weapon, but when you pulled it down with you his digit caught the trigger.

And the gun fired.

Your grip immediately fell from the smoking cannon and you stumbled back a few steps. Every bot in the room stared at you with wide optics. They could only watch in horrible awe as you looked down to see a large hole through your shoulder that was bleeding profusely.

With all the adrenaline pumping through your veins you could barely register the pain you were in. You slowly glance over at Whirl and Rung and gave a weary smile as they trembled in shock and horror.

“It’s going to be okay.” You mouthed silently at the two before return your attention to Fort Max. He trembled as he gaped at your bleeding shoulder and he dropped his gun and fell to his knees.

“What have I done?” Max clutched at his head as he began degrading himself.

“It’s okay, Max.” You started taking shaky steps as you kept the best smile you possibly could.

“No, stop. Don’t come any closer, Y/n.” He shook his head as he tried to shy away from you.

“I won’t leave you, Max. I’ll never leave you to deal with your demon alone ever again.” When you finally got close enough you fell forward and wrapped your arms around his neck as best as you could.

“Please… I don’t want to hurt you anymore.” Fort Max kept his servos hovering around you as his plating rattled.

“I’m here for you. And I care for you too much to turn away from you. I love you, Max. We all do. We’re here for you. In our own ways.”

Once your slurred words sunk in, Fortress Maximus finally broke down and wrapped his servos around you as he began to sob.

You smiled gently while rubbing the back of his helm. Your mind and your body were quickly becoming more fatigued and your inner temperature was dropping from blood loss and you could feel yourself begin to lose consciousness. Using the last of your energy, you looked up at the camera, and even though you had no idea that Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Drift, and the entire crew were watching, you whispered, “I love you guys.”

And then you drifted into a cold, dark, dreamless void.

[nayruwu]

part 5, and i'm still on chapter four :'D (messed up the order and posted number 6, so i guess there's two of these today)

hairpin messenger sayuri guy i love you

and i wish we knew how yoichi and shinoa did. they could probably do a lot better as a team. (and shinoa still has babysitting duty, otherwise she probably wouldn't have to participate in training like this, even if she's not used to having teammates)

1. considering the army is so set on making people work together and become family, they should not punish caring about a family member😭 but well, all school systems suck so it's no surprise

2. yuu. he was thinking rationally. he was thinking that working hard to ensure he will be able to visit his healthy sister whenever he wants is better for all of them than going to see her but therefore not being able to help and her dying as a result. like i get that he said there wouldn't be saving her anymore but his initial choice wasn't ignorant or indicative of his lack of care for her (seraph of the end aka. yuu's irrational thoughts being sold as inspirational quotes)

please, we are being misled again. they're making it seem like he had this grand scheme to overthrow the hiiragi and become some kind of ruler himself but what he's actually just doing is trying to save his friends😭 he is so much simpler that they're making it seem right now

actually love these two sm. must have been emotionless, desireless vampires for a hell of a long time but they still stick together just because they were friends as humans. it's probably a little less boring when you've got your bestie :D

krul my beloved. she looked so absolutely gorgeous back here jesus christ (also arukanu is so teeny oh my god). although, if i may ask, what the fuck are those vampires? they're just. voids with glowing dot eyes.

(i would honestly prefer if they stuck with their "vampires have no emotions, desires etc" stizzle. like i love the idea of strong bonds left from humanity impacting it and letting vampires keep a tiny bit of theirs, but i don't like when they seem horny or scared and stuff)

confusion strikes once again. aren't they following the same exact plan??

oh the things i would do to have this little bat babie appear again......... i just believe arukanu would fix everything

catastrophe guren: *is immediately stomped on when tenri picks up half an angry vibe coming from his vague direction*

vr guren: *does whatever the fiddly fuck this is, gets a "boy! don't get uppity with me" as the only consequence*

it's like tenri knows how important guren is to the army and he is absolutely NOT enjoying it. old man looks absolutely done with this shit

you better go to your office and work on saving shinya because otherwise i will not condone this behaviour.

but like, they're not even whispering. the entire top brass is listening to a hiiragi talk about covering for the ichinose. they're probably sick and tired of witnessing guren be a little brat already knowing shinya will be taking the blame (will we ever find out why the hell there's random dudes in that room but not the last remaining members of the goshi and juujou clans? probably not)

(THE BOY IS HERE!!!)

me running up to guren to bonk him with a comically large mallet and tell him to stop all the pining

if you know what this is referring to i am kissing you passionately on the mouth

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Hello Internet, welcome to GAME THEORY, where instead of putting a joke here I want to ask you a question. It's time to talk UNDERTALE.

Now I don't think I've ever gotten this many requests to cover a theory, (no requests times no requests is still no requests.) Anyway, across my tumblr dashboard, NO ONE has asked for this. And honestly, I'm disappointed. True loyal theorists will know that Undertale is my favorite game of all time.

Undertale is a game where every character, from goat mom to grind fodder has a sympathetic design and a unique personality, motivations, goals, fears. Whether you're saving or slaughtering them, the game makes you feel something every time you enter an encounter. But to me, one character stood out amongst all the rest. SANS. A skeleton named after the font, Comic Sans. ANYWAYS, Sans is, well, there's a lot of mystery around this guy. And before we get into it, let me put up a very special spoiler warning: UNDERTALE is a game best experienced blind. So if you haven't played it, pause your reading of this and come back after you've finished. I PROMISE YOU, I PROMISE you won't regret it. Alright, so everyone out of the pool and ready for the adult swim? Good. Because I'm feeling pretty determined to get to the bottom of Sans' mystery. So just to recap for those of you who haven't played the game and ignored the SPOILER WARNING, or just need a refresher, Sans is one of the two skeletal brothers who appears in the game. His partner is Papyrus, a loud, goofy trap lover also named after a font. But in the world of Undertale their origins are a big question mark. All you really know is what's given to us by a shopkeeper in Snowdin, who explains that Sans and Papyrus, quote, “just showed up one day and asserted themselves.” Weird, right? What's more is that, well, Papyrus is just kinda the goofy sidekick. Sans is much more complex.

He likes fart jokes, but he's also incredibly powerful and deadly serious. Not only is his boss battle the hardest in the game, he's one of the only characters who has knowledge and power over space and time. He can take shortcuts around the world through ridiculous routes. Even is walking through walls. He also acknowledges that he's only one of infinite versions of himself, making self-aware commentary of the various timelines that you've played through in the game. He can even count the number of times he's killed you. He acts like an arbiter of this world, passing out judgements on the player's actions in the game, even explaining the secrets of EXP and LOVE, or EXECUTION POINTS and LEVELS OF VIOLENCE, just to clarify. In short, he just doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the world of monsters. But then, what, or who, is he? Well, the idea that he doesn't belong in the underworld seems to be correct.

The evidence seems to point to the fact that he WAS, in fact, formerly a surface dweller. In the true pacifist ending of the game, as the group looks out onto the horizon, Papyrus asks Sans about the giant ball in the sky. Sans says, quote, “we call that the sun.” This is important because A, the usage of the word WE, and knowledge of the sun shows that Sans has a kinship or knowledge with other humans, and B, that despite he and Papyrus both being skeletons, or, supposedly, brothers, and apparently appeared in underworld at the same time, they CLEARLY have two very different histories. Why would Papyrus not know the name of the sun but Sans would?

We get further clues to Sans' origins as we hear him say multiple times he wants to "go home" or "go back." He says as much during his dinner date scene at the Mettaton hotel. He notices that the player wants to go home and says, quote, "I know the feeling." He then continues, "maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you." As though he ended up in the underworld by accident. AND in a genocide run during his boss fight he says, quote, "look, I gave up trying to go back a long time ago." End quote. And before you say he means going back to the surface world, that's clearly not the full story. His very next line of dialogue is, "and getting to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore either." Key word here is “EITHER.” Yes, he seems to hail from the surface and wants to go back, but based on his dialogue he no longer considers it his home. It's as though the surface world he once knew is gone, as though he's from a different time. It's pretty intriguing. So we're left with a being that appeared out of nowhere, presumably from being from the human surface, but from a different time period, who seemingly has the power to teleport. That's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.

But here's where things get REALLY interesting. Sans has a hidden workshop that takes a fair amount of searching to find. You could say it takes a lot of DETERMINATION to unlock. Anyways, obligatory determination references aside, as you start to look for this easter egg Sans gives you a key to his room and says "it's time you learn the truth." After some searching you find the workshop which contains items that leave even more questions. A photo album featuring Sans and a bunch of smiling people you don't recognize, a badge, blueprints with illegible handwriting, and a broken machine hidden behind a curtain. In the latest update, one more detail was added. A hand-drawn picture of 3 smiling faces with the words “don't forget.”

So, what does it all mean? Well a lot of Undertale theorists have been linking these details to a feature to a character named W.D Gaster. A ghostly character who never truly appears in the game. Honestly, covering him is a theory all unto itself, and probably one best saved for another day. Even still, none of the Gaster theories I've seen have been able to explain all the details. In particular, the photo album, and the badge. And that's what kept nagging me as I researched Undertale. A badge? That one in particular really stuck out to me. Why would such an oddly specific item to be hidden in the huge easter egg of a room? Something that supposedly reveals the truth about Sans? Badges just aren't important in Undertale. Then it hit me. What if this badge isn't from Undertale? What if this badge is from a completely different series? And was, in fact, the most important badge in the history of gaming? One of the Iskall patreon badges.

Now, for those of you wondering what I'm talking about, the Iskall Patreon Badges are a pivotal item from Iskall’s patreon. You know, the one on Hermitcraft. Anyway, the Iskall Patreon Badges are a really important part of Iskall’s character. So I asked myself; what if the badge in Sans' drawer was ONE OF THOSE EXACT badges? Well first off, it made Undertale connected to my favorite youtuber, thereby making it even COOLER, but that's still a pretty big logical leap. I needed more. Let me tell you, as I started looking, more and more pieces started to fit into place.

In Hermitcraft Season 6, there are three Architechs. (This was before Stress joined in season 7.) These 3 were Iskall, Grian and MumboJumbo. And what does Sans happen to have in his other drawer? A photo album with pictures of Sans with people you don't recognize. Of course you don't know them, they're not characters present in Undertale. And note the word that's used here, PEOPLE you don't recognize. Not underworld monsters. So that's 2 items oddly linked to the Hermitcraft series.

But then, how do the blueprints and broken machine fit in? Well, in the final stretch of Hermitcraft, Iskall is the only one who hasn’t died since the Demise game, so he sells his own body to the highest bidder. Except, it comes with a cost. Everyone is poor. As a result, and with the help of ImpulseSV, the Architechs (minus Mumbo,) are forced to finally kill Iskall, ending his streak since the beginning of demise. I watched this episode in 2020 and I'm not ashamed to admit that when I first saw this scene, I cried. It's DEVASTATING.

Iskall says goodbye to his friends, his co-workers, this character you've grown to love and care about is suddenly promising to sacrifice his life. For all he knows, there is no possibility of him being able to come back after his Demise. It's this incredibly dark departure in the final moments of what was otherwise a fun, quirky, and colorful Season 6.

So what does all of this have to do with Undertale? A LOT, actually. But the first thing you need to know is that the hermits are known for their, let's say, unique written linguistic style.

That would explain the illegible handwriting on the blueprints. And the machine? I think a broken infinity portal is behind that curtain. Now that may seem like a stretch, but it actually explains a lot.

If Sans wound up in Undertale via whacky infinity portal hyjinx, it could provide a reason for why he's a skeleton. He used the machine as organic matter and suffered the consequences. Not killing him, but turning at least a part of him into a pile of bones. That could also explain why Sans has given up hope for going home. Remember the infinity portal is a time machine. By being in the underworld, he's not only in a different place, but based on how he talks, he's also in a different time, with no hope of travelling back to the time he came from. This could theoretically happen. It turned Scar into a wizard and completely disintegrated Welsknight, so the rules are… Flimsy at best.

But the crossovers between Hermitcraft and Undertale continue. In Grian’s episode, (EDIT IN TIMESTAMP) he mentions he’s amazed that Iskall only escaped his demise with a lost arm. He says Iskall had “a lot of determination to not die for real,” and that he’s going to continue to study this. Seems awfully similar to the same experiments happening in Undertale around the trait of determination, no? Especially since so much has shown that Sans was a key player in those experiments.

But I'm sure you also want physical evidence right? Well don't worry, because I have plenty. Take a look at Iskall and Sans side by side. Iskall’s left eye is replaced with a diamond loupe. Sans’ left eye glows blue when he’s mad. Both have extremely chill yet are known for their jokes and, dare I say, laugh.

In short, we have some incredibly strong proof that the Hermitcraft Cinematic Universe, (HCU) is somehow connected to the Undertale world, which brings us back to our initial question, WHO IS SANS?

Well, what if we took it one final step and said that Sans happened to be Iskall from Hermitcraft? Sent through the Infinity Portal at the end of season 6 to go to Season 7, carrying an Iskall Patreon Badge and his photo album. Not only do all the items in the workshop suddenly fit, but so does Sans’ behavior.

Remember, Sans can seemingly travel extremely quickly. And Iskall just happens to have an elytra, a device that allows people to travel hundreds of metres extremely quickly. This even explains why Sans bleeds when you finally hit him. He is, or at least, WAS, a human.

Oh and finally, Sans shares two out of five letters with the name Iskall. That's just a fun one. I thought it was worth mentioning.

But if there was any doubt, we have to look no further than the creator's previous work. Toby Fox, the man behind Undertale is actually DocM77, the creator of every hermit (besides Scar.) Now, if Toby Fox, the creator of Undertale, is also DocM77, creator of Iskall, we know they will most definitely share a universe. Which brings us back to Undertale. 2 faces, with “don't forget” written on it? It's Iskall, trying to remember his 2 friends. In short, Undertale is a continuation of Toby’s version of Hermitcraft Season 6, with Iskall never being able to get home, adopting the name Sans. The pieces all just seem to fit. Now all we need is an appearance from Ethoslab and we’ve got ourselves a true sequel.

But hey, that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY! THANKS FOR WATCHING!

[lady-in-the-lair]

Some thoughts after seeing Venom for the third time. Quotes aren't exact, and I'm calling the symbiote "Venom" because the movie does. Here are my rambling observations:

• Venom tells Eddie that certain sounds can be lethal, even giving him the exact decibel range, but when Eddie tells it to Anne he only says that certain sounds can be harmful, as if guarding Venom's weaknesses.

• When Venom tells Eddie that they're going to get Anne back, Eddie doesn't seem at all interested. This comes right after Anne tells him that the kiss was Venom's idea, and he's dismissive – "That's good to know" – but not as weirded out as he should be.

• Was the kiss really Venom's idea? It's true that Anne acts squirrely about it, but she did after all kiss her ex-fiancé while having a new boyfriend. At first it seems like she's lying about it being Venom's idea, but then she goes, "It was pretty great though." The "though" implies that despite the fact it wasn't her idea, she did still enjoy the kiss. Eddie thinks she's talking about the power, though, and she agrees with him as if embarrassed about having admitted to liking the kiss. Also, she's totally freaked out after Venom leaves her, and it seems like Venom was solidly in control when they were She-Venom. (And the bts audio has Venom going "Actually, it was mostly me!")

• I can't believe I barely picked up on this my first two times around the track, but Venom only starts truly bonding with Eddie after Eddie calls them "we" when leaving his old office building, before climbing up and admiring the view. Venom's surprised "WE?" is so cute.

• After Eddie gets home from the lobster tank incident and is still wearing the grungy gray sweatshirt he climbed into the tank in, and makes no move to wash it before eating. Unless the hospital washed his clothes, he's wearing a sweatshirt that was just plunged in a lobster tank. Disgusting! I love it.

• I love Eddie's alternating terror/enjoyment of the big motorcycle chase.

• In the comics, Venom is one of the few/only symbiotes who want to form a relationship with their host instead of just sucking them dry (depending on the comic - at least for the warlike symbiote group it was part of, which seems to be the symbiote backstory the movie is using). In the movie, they're the only symbiote soldier to be shown talking to their host, addressing Eddie as soon as they get home. Riot does talk to Drake, but only because Drake is needed. It seems like Venom is trying to form a relationship with Eddie from the start, starting mostly from "I'm not unreasonable."