#and ms Macaulay if you are reading this then I hope you’re happy knowing that I’m stuck writing essays for all eternity because of you

[singing-robot]

i was thinking about papyrus today (as one does) and remembered that one scene in the beginning of snowdin where sans asks you to play along papyrus’ puzzles because “he’s been kind of down lately”. and i thought what if deltarune papyrus is inside his house because he’s like at the same point of the timeline and he’s not feeling great? but seeing a human in this universe won’t cheer him up as much

Boy howdy do I love writing essays about discussing Papyrus, which is made possible by viewers like you. Thank you! 

Long post ahead, if you don’t want to read all of it, then feel free to look at this diagram, instead! 

I am very excited to meet Papyrus all over again, and wrote a lot about the differences in their worlds to compare them and say that, basically, I agree with you.

In UNDERTALE, Papyrus spends a lot of time in his house, as he states himself when leading you there on the Papyrus date. But there’s also evidence of him having quite a few projects outside. He has several traps set up in the woods, and at least one snow sculpture, and realistically painted a rock to look like a wooden bridge. And that’s only in the areas we can see!! 

In the long run, though, most of those are meaningless (or fun!) tasks he assigned to himself. The majority of traps for humans could easily be walked around or through. He might even have known that. His super-mega-huge trap of death on the bridge? A human hasn’t fallen in decades, he has no reason to take such extreme (and… kind of impractical?) precautions. (Or does he..? Another theory for another day.) I think those traps are more like excuses to not get bored in the dull little town of Snowdin; and if a human gets stuck in one, awesome!!! It’ll only help him. 

Before we fell down, though, I think Papyrus not only became focused on his lack of friends, but also ran out of stuff to do. His computer was left open on a social media site, which he presumably was scrolling through before he came out to meet Sans in the beginning. Spending a lot of time online, especially on a single social media site, can make you feel pretty bad, especially if that becomes your main “activity” of the day (many of us have done this or may be doing it now). If he’s done everything he can think of, perfected all of his plans, and then got into a routine of making sure they stay that way, every day, with few new things… it’s not super great for your person. At least he can hang out with the few friends that he does have, right? Those guys are fun. 

I do think Papyrus in deltarune isn’t feeling great, but more so because he starts off with nothing to do. Human-catching traps aren’t necessary. The town is already colorful and beautiful. There’s not a ridiculously long stone slab to realistically paint as wood. The opportunity to drive a car and feel the wind and sun is already available to him. He’s new to town, so he doesn’t have any friends, and didn’t go to a costume party. Undyne doesn’t know the science teacher, much less the new residents. Flowey doesn’t exist. Doggo is nowhere in sight (… actually, none of the dogs are?). The annoying dog is presumably creating a video game in the library’s computer room, undisturbed. 

Everyone in Hometown is happy, friends with each other, knows the Dreemurrs, and is so snug and suffocatingly waving-in-the-yard friendly that the concept of trying to make my own place in the community when I can’t even say I work in my family’s new grocery store is terrifying. There’s no way I could fit in, and if I stay inside and avoid everyone for too long, then it’s a never-ending cycle of being too late to join them. Heck, even Catti, the super edgy rebellion teen, has friends and works in the diner. 

I mean, going off of my home, Hometown as a whole probably shuts down at 10 PM; unless it’s a midsummer Friday night, then it shuts down at 11:30. It’s not like there’s a variety of activities to do there. We might think the place is quirky and cute and fun to live in because the cop yells at pedestrians and blocks traffic (how funny!), or because a mascot has war chants (he seems fun!), or even because there’s a park where a nameless squid… person… thing… lives (it’s our friend Onion-San!!!). But imagine being there every day, with little variety outside of Mr. Holiday getting sick, Bratty saying Catti got fur in her coffee, or the star kid athlete moving to college. 

To me, there is very little appeal to the prospect of living in Hometown (if it were real, that is—but you guys know what I mean). And I… don’t really want do anything? Like, at all? (Collateral damage from growing up here, I’m sure, but still.) But I think I went off on a tangent. My end point is, if Papyrus got bored in Snowdin, despite his friends and increasingly meaningless and time-consuming tasks he could come up with, in a fantasy world where monsters didn’t have a choice in making the best of it, imagine how boring it’d be to live in Hometown, where their imaginations have the same limits and restrictions as our real-life society does. I can’t go out in the woods and construct deadly traps that everyone knows to avoid because I can and will be fined with endangerment, intent to harm, trespassing, etc. 

This could also go into a whole other thing about why deltarune is so different and why Kris is the only human (and monster prejudices seem to exist against humans?), but I’m not sure seeing Kris would cheer him up, either. Oh, are we going to hang out with him to be his friend?! That would be really cool, if it weren’t for the fact that Sans all but forces us to go. At least in UNDERTALE, the arrival of a human has the potential to rocket him through the ranks. In Deltarune, the human is already there and doesn’t mean a thing. 

So. Yeah. I’m sure Papyrus is pretty miserable in deltarune, and he doesn’t have many ways to fix that problem. This also gives me a neat drawing idea, don’t let me forget. 

Also!!! If you’re interested in seeing more deltarune-specific content, I have another side-blog at @singing-ralsei

[its-mmmm-me-blog]

#did you intend to cause this whole essay you tricky anon#thanks for giving me another opportunity to go off again ehehe#undertale#deltarune#papyrus#singing robopinions#also - disclaimer again - these opinions are impermanent and fun rambles#and ms Macaulay if you are reading this then I hope you’re happy knowing that I’m stuck writing essays for all eternity because of you#you’d give me a C for this I’m sure#bc of a lack of additional provided context and bc I didn’t proofread it#robot answers

i was thinking about papyrus today (as one does) and remembered that one scene in the beginning of snowdin where sans asks you to play along papyrus’ puzzles because “he’s been kind of down lately”. and i thought what if deltarune papyrus is inside his house because he’s like at the same point of the timeline and he’s not feeling great? but seeing a human in this universe won’t cheer him up as much

Boy howdy do I love writing essays about discussing Papyrus, which is made possible by viewers like you. Thank you! 

Long post ahead, if you don’t want to read all of it, then feel free to look at this diagram, instead! 

I am very excited to meet Papyrus all over again, and wrote a lot about the differences in their worlds to compare them and say that, basically, I agree with you.

Okumaya devam et