#and then there'll be asgore

[capricioussun]

How do you interpret US Papyrus? I'm always curious how others interpret him because there's a good range of them!

Ooh, in general?? Hm, I guess mostly the way I try to interpret him is sort of like if you gave UT Papyrus chronic fatigue and issues tied to having to act as the judge in his world! Which, to me, basically makes him very silly, kind, sassy, but also very insecure and very lonely.

I should explain- ough this is gunna be an essay so there'll need to be a readmore soon aha, but I should explain how the whole "judge" thing usually works in my interps!

It's not an inherent thing, or some "angel given" power, there has always been an acting Royal Judge, someone the crown had appointed that they felt they could, well, trust the judgement of, who they could consult about crimes and justice and whatnot. The prior judge Fell some years ago, but since Toriel/Asgore had already left, Asgore/Toriel never appointed another, as a sort of self punishment as well as a promise they would continue with their task of collecting the human souls without the assistance (or interference) of someone else.

That was until Sans/Papyrus came along. The "judging" effect was caused by one of the many methods Gaster used to make the brothers, involving the justice soul trait. This is where the KR came from, as well as the unique ability to "see" the sins in others' souls. After discovering this unique ability, eventually the king/queen asks Sans/Papyrus to act as the new judge (as well as some other reasons that vary depending on AU).

Now, the kr and "judge" ability manifested in Stretch much later than the sanses in non-swapped AUs, which made it a much more difficult transition that only made it much harder for him to socialize with others. He basically couldn't "turn it off", which, on top of feeling incredibly guilty about the invasion of privacy, made him feel anxious and stressed out and couldn't help but put the negative thoughts front and center in his attention, making him also feel like those were the most prominent thoughts and feelings of those around him.

So like, you know how anxiety and self image issues make you feel like everyone secretly hates you or finds you annoying or etc etc etc, basically, he had "proof" that was true, and despite trying his best to ignore it, things are already hard enough for a pre-teen/teen, on top of his physical health taking such the dip it did around that time, too, he quickly became anxiety riddled, isolated, and miserable.

Before then, he was actually a lot like Rus (UT) when he was a kid! And it was hard on Blue, too, since he was practically just a teen himself, so for all of that to land on his brother as well as needing to work harder to take care of him when he had bad health flares, things were rough for a while there.

That being said, Blue did help in keeping Stretch's mental health from completely plummeting, always trying to keep his mood up, encouraging him, trying to find him friends (how he met Undyne aka Sylv!), etc etc, and the brothers grew a lot closer in that time, as Stretch had always admired Blue, and it meant a lot to him.

That was until, of course, things never got any better. His health continued to decline into older teendom/young adulthood, and there was some personal drama here and there, especially involving Sylv, and when Blue joined the guard, that was the last straw. Stretch was sick of feeling like such a burden on everyone, so even though he'd initially turned Toriel down to act as judge (knowing his brother absolutely hated that she'd even asked him in the first place), he went back to her and accepted. That was really when the distance between the brothers started, which wasn't helped by the resets starting up soon thereafter.

(Quick aside, as he got older, he did get the hang of controlling his "judging" ability, and "turning it off" is no longer an issue for him later on)

So in his efforts to become more independent, he worked a lot on his social life and how to interact with others and make himself well liked. Sure, maybe he doesn't really have any real friends, and people forget his name all the time, but he'd finally learned how to utilize his heightened intuition to get along with people, rather than weird them out.

He’s still riddled with anxiety and self worth issues, but he’s gotten incredibly good at masking, and typically comes off as very relaxed and friendly. He’s a big fan of wordplay and very mild practical jokes (like those types of gags where you put on Groucho Marx glasses and pretend to be someone else. Blue always plays along for the bit), but he has a tendency to hold people at arms length, and tries to avoid others actually getting to know him.

Very few people know he’s the judge, and he prefers it that way, he'd rather everyone underestimate him so he never disappoints. That being said, he does still make quite an effort to help those around him without their knowledge, and he’s still lowkey very interested in engineering and computer science. Him and Rus are definitely two peas in a pod when it comes to interests, they could talk about comics for hours on end, but the primary difference is that Stretch tries much harder to hide how much he cares, where as Rus will shout it from the rooftops.

I'm not a big fan of the characterizations that make him a huge brat, sometimes even an outright jerk, I don't really understand them since neither Sans nor Papyrus are like that, but w/ my guy, he’s definitely a huge dork and sweetheart, who just also happens to be very sassy at times ahdjfjsksk

He also still holds on to his belief in others, like Rus. Even despite literally knowing better, he’s also been proven right too many times to lose that hope, which is why, in his fight, as opposed to UT Sans, he gets very quiet and looks miserable. He genuinely doesn't want to hurt them, but he knows he’s out of options. When he offers an out before the fight, he won't spring a surprise attack, and just offers a genuine hug. The player doesn't get a choice after accepting, they kill him, and his final words are pretty similar to Rus' about knowing they can do better, and he believes in them anyway, though he makes a comment about that sounding pretty stupid with a laugh before he collapses off screen.

WOW this got longer than I meant it to I'm sorry huge lore drop instead of just general facts ough BUT ! Idk, hopefully this gives a half decent feel for how I interpret him! I love him a lot I'm mixing him into a salad like a crouton <3

[floral-comet]

thinking about pre-frisk flowey having just reset, looking at the bed of flowers he died at again. at the past where he had a clear goal he usually just burrowed away immediately, but the only changes he discovered this time were little things that hardly mattered. it's all the same blur, the same lines, meaningless nothings. so, he just slumps there, counting petals on the ground despite knowing how many there'll be already. it's quiet in the garden, and he has some time until asgore arrives.

[outrealms-filth-factory]

Tom Nook gurgle and dumps Toriel, looks like she was too entranced by the tanooki's gut~ ( @omnipointmuses )

"Aaahh... *BUUUUAAAAARRRRP!* Mmh, Thank you ever so much for solving my conundrum over lunch, Miss Dreemur. You were divine... Honestly, I'd be more than happy to offer Asgore the same treatment should he come waddling by~" Tom chuckled to himself, fully erect under his milf-filled gut, an ever so slight amount of lard still keeping a soft jiggly shape even as Toriel dominated the most of his gut space. Seems she got so entranced she just had to be a part of it!

"Oough... still a few bits of paperwork to be done, I do hope you won't mind me using you for a table while you digest, Miss Dreemur. Mmh..." The satisfied tanuki gave his gurgling gut a gentle teasing pat and began filling out a few more forms... giving Isabelle a start when she opened up the town hall to find Tom's belly bigger than he was. -----Disposal cut!----- It wasn't uncommon for the stench of one's behind to be wafting in the air on one of these resorts, but Tom Nook was squat over a very, VERY, deep hole. After all, he'd gained so much weight from Miss Dreemur, and the rest of her had to go *somewhere*. "Oohh... OOhh... Miss Dreemur you continue to impress... Nngh... you'll certainly be helping me in more ways... Nngh... than one~" Mr. Nook felt his throbbing fat cock and stroked it idly as the reeking, thick, brown remnants of Toriel's wonderful and nutritious bulk slid from his sphincter into the hole, grunting and panting as his disposal got him off. It took the skull of the delicious goat popping free of his donut hole for him to be pushed over the hill, dumping a truly ludicrous load all over the ground and even some into the local river. While he would've prefered Isabelle or one of the other horny slobs on the island catch it with their mouth, he figured this was for Miss Dreemur. Taking up the shovel and composing himself, he would begin to fill the shallow bit of the hole with a bit of dirt, humming. "Thank you ever so much, Miss Dreemur. Rest assured if you reform, I will be more than happy to accommodate you again. And there'll be far more of *this* to be mesmerized by... Yes Yes~"

[fusulyesheep]

I had queen alphys ending brainrot and spent the last one week or so overthinking her outfit as monarch.

ANYWAY here's Alphys design as a queen! I started with the sprite so it would follow something plausible in game and not just something random. Also a sans leak bc im doing him soon

One thing that always bothered me a little is, that when designing queen Alphys most people would go for copying Asgore or Toriel clothes. I understand the logic, "if alphys is the monarch she will have the last monarchs (asgore) clothes" or "if alphys is the queen she will have the last queens (toriel) clothes" as if what they used to wear was mandatory or some code for monster royalty, maybe. But I like to think there's certain things that are tradition (like the color or the deltarune symbol) but Alphys would have her OWN clothes as queen. A little because symbolism. That's what inspired me to create this.

After cut my explanation of all the details I couldn't put in the images itself! WARNING ITS LONG AF

I knew when I started that I wanted to convey who Alphys is in this ending in specific, while keeping characteristics seen both in Asgore and Toriel clothing.

The first thing is that I didn't gave her an armor or crown. I can see Undyne in her ending copying Asgore more and using both of those, since he was like a father figure and she wants to continue his legacy and fight to free monsterkind. Alphys, I believe, would be the opposite. Although she really liked the big guy, we need to reconize that the underground is in SHAMBLES in this ending. It almost a no mercy route. Alphys understands Asgore actions didn't work, and the hope was taken from monsters once again. It was fighting that brought the underground down, killing more humans was not an option anymore. She can't combat violence with violence. That's why the royal guard is dismissed (not that there was any left). I like to headcanon that when she first became queen she couldn't use the crown because she thought it was too much for her become the next "Asgore" and keep his plan (collecting souls from the ones who fall), but she eventually understands she can do things her OWN way.

Likewise, this is also why I didn't keep the cape but gave her a jacket. Capes are used by great kings and super-heros, there's some connection to being "bigger", "stronger" and "heroic" to capes. I can't imagine Alphys seeing herself as some "queen who will save everyone". Again, she takes some time to realize that, but she knows she is just a normal monster, like everyone else, HOWEVER everyone lost friends, family, and hope, and they can't act alone. They need a leader, someone to guide them and give them strength again. YES, she is making decisions, but she is not just "saving" everyone out of nowhere. She is making the plans (WITH HELPPP) so the monsterkind can keep their heads UP. So the long ass jacket is to vaguely remember a cape, but it is Just a Normal Jacket in the end, and it is just this long because Alphys is stills Alphys and she likes to wears baggy clothes that sometimes are kind of "whatever".

The deltarune symbol is still there since I think is just some tradition between the monsterkinds monarchs (same with the shade of purple). It is something culturally and historically important to monsters and Alphys can't just get rid of it. Maybe the meaning of it would change a little, more than what was already changed, since the idea of "savior" or "destroyer" would be kind of lost between monsters. Like, the destroyer has already been to the underground they have to move on, and maybe there'll be no Angel to save them, yknow?

Last I wanna talk about is that my girl IS STRESSEDDD. Is not easy to take leadership in a situation so hopeless like this ESPECIALLY when you were used to hide away, while just... being alone. Her friends, who supported her so much and she loved... they are gone. Asgore is gone. Mettaton is gone. Undyne is GONE....

At least she has Sans tho (THEY ARE BEST FRIENDS AND ALSO WHERE ARE MY QUEEN ALPHYS ENDING SALPHYS TRUTHERS AT????)

Anyway, just to end this already, the summary of what I think are the changes Alphys (with sans) is making:

Making the underground feel more comfortable, tbh. IF there's no hope of escaping, they at least need to learn how to LIVE. and not just "live to see if they can get out one day" NO!! they will create their lives under there, EVEN IF they ave no hope and they lost so many loved ones. They have a lot more focus on making the underground safe also, with lots of new constructions and events sometimes, and the hole from where the humans fell down is monitored 24/7. If someone falls monsters follow the direction of not interacting with it and not start fighting at any circunstancies. The queen, king, and their assistence (it's napstablook, i am a sucker for them and i have Thoughts™) will take care of this.

you can wait for more info dumping from these damn guys coming from me, just wait...

[deltarune-au-domain]

What makes a Ralsei in the case of Roleswap AUs? If Ralsei doesn't exist, who would replace him categorically?

"It's up to the creator I suppose. Since there are many swap variations and no one can seem to agree on a set swap table like with Undertale, it's kinda just best to go with what would suit the story even if it means making someone new! Deltarune's main story is incomplete. For all we know, there'll be someone who is perfect to swap with Ralsei later down the line but we just don't know it yet!

Think of it like this. Toriel and Asgore are swapped in most Underswap AU variants. But what if Undertale was released in chapters? What then? We've heard of Asgore but never seen him. I'd be years before we could so who would we swap Toriel with in the meantime?

It'll take time and creativity. There's no set standard at the moment so go wild and have fun with it!"

[emihead]

just as an example, here are some of the parallels i noticed while reading:

this is very noticeable in undertale and deltarune, with toby deliberately wanting UT's sprites to be "bad", and having DR's light world use UT's assets and artstyle while the dark worlds look completely different

this reminds me a lot of undertale's whole deal

deltarune's whole "puppeteering" thing with the SOUL

this is VERY similar to the situation in undertale with monsters like Asriel thinking Frisk was Chara

this one is pretty self explanatory. deltarune has made this theme clear from the beginning. interestingly, both of these games also have alternate routes you can enter by doing something very specific (the "B Button Route" and the "Weird Route")

this section about andonuts reminds me a lot of a more extreme version of Asgore, in both UT and DR. the DR iteration feels especially inspired with toriel leaving him, asriel going to college, and the fact that he lives on his own and is super awkward with kris when they come visit. also he's gay

that's all i could personally think of but i'm sure there's more subtle ones lurking around the corner. hell there'll probably be even more that are introduced in future DR chapters. it's exciting to think about!

if you're a fan of undertale and deltarune (or toby fox's work in general) i seriously recommend reading Earthbound Halloween Hack's "THE MAKING OF" . not only does it illuminate so many parallels the hack has to undertale and deltarune (like, genuinely, it surprised me as someone who knew a lot about the hack already) but it's just such an interesting read because it reveals the real process behind so many of the elements in the hack. i know EBHH has its weird/corny moments but i genuinely love it so much more after reading THE MAKING OF.

if you're not sure where to find it, it's in this zip alongside the hack itself: https://archive.org/details/radiationhalloweenhack

[maxladcomics]

UF Toriel finally makes an appearance in my comics!

Also there was going to be a scene where the Alphyses exchange numbers but I cut it out.

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Monofell belongs to @pc-doodle and the au blog is @monofell-au

[dyggot]

I know we're all excited to see the tv world in chapter 3, but what other dark worlds do you think we'll see in deltarune?

[zarla-s]

I was rereading some of the Handplates comics, and I was wondering: canonically speaking, did the player reset after sans’ boss fight? It seems like the player does a pacifist run after genocide, but doesn’t completing genocide make it impossible to have a true pacifist ending? I was just a little confused. Thanks!

They did indeed do the full murder run! The soulless ending in Handplates is interpreted in a more meta, symbolic way though.

You can think of the player still being “present” during the pacifist ending (the shadowZar hanging around Frisk and that Frisk’s SOUL is missing) as basically the equivalent of Radic showing up in the Pacifist ending with the pie. The player is there in a sense - Frisk is not. So, soulless. It’s not the most literal interpretation of the ending of course, but it does fall in line with my personal interpretation of it (that the person you sell your soul to at the end of the murder run is yourself, or rather, your completionist side that can’t let these characters go out of a twisted kind of love for them). Technically the game is over at that point so there literally shouldn’t be a player anymore, but the lines around the definition of “player” are deliberately blurry in Handplates for reasons that should become more apparent later.

For clarity's sake, the player timeline in Handplates goes like...

Pacifist run

True reset (everything is wiped - there's no evidence anywhere that this ever happened except the player's reaction to Sans asking if they're a good person and the player talking about what made them do a murder run when they decide to reset to find Gaster. Some dialogue with Flowey also alludes to it, unintentionally on Flowey’s part)

Murder run

Reset

A whole bunch of Neutral runs (essentially getting every possible ending, thus Sans’s new set of deja-vu memories)

Pacifist run

Reset to right before fighting Asgore

Finds Gaster (where we are currently)

Hopefully that makes things a bit clearer, haha. The difficult thing is that the Handplates story is told from the perspective of the characters in Undertale, and there are things going on outside the game that they have no way of ever knowing or really understanding. It's hard to get that across... but there'll be more about it later.

What about the computer? Things get a bit fiddly here. The timeline that the brothers saw (and Gaster subsequently recorded) was the murder run, since the first pacifist run essentially never happened by the game’s reckoning. Since the murder run basically destroyed all reality (as well as had lasting consequences beyond that ending), their vision wasn’t able to go past that point to see the human reset it again, so from their perspective the murder run was just where everything ended. This is why when they go check the computer later when the human starts their neutrals, the results of it haven’t changed! The data fed into the computer was from the murder run timeline, and since neither of them have been scraped for more data since Gaster existed, the data is out of date.

[index]

[faislittlewhiteraven]

(No idea how one responds to tags but)

Yes. Definitely... A Choice (love that wording).

And yeah the absolutely gorgeously animated hug scene does a really great job pushing the sheer 'screwed up'ness of the situation behind. If I hadn't been so utterly hyped about the story buildup prior to that I probably would've let it slide on sheer 'damn they really made that scene pretty tho' vibes, but then again... Thinks about another very pretty game I recently played with a similarly suddenly off kilter and 'happy framed' ending and tries not to set something on fire XD

Also, how can you hide such marvelous ideas in the tags? <3 <3 <3

I am making this my go to 'actually real canon' ending for all my fanfics now and you cannot stop me! >D

Seriously though, I will actually be doing that. This is a perfect way to have them still have the fantastic scene and all those gooey warm feels while still paying off all the tragedy build up that may or may not have been intentional and lets Asgore's canon flaws truly shine as they were intended, rather than sweeping them under the rug <3

....Hmm though I suppose they could do two hugs... One all pretty in front of the pink tree when Clover presents the idea that they WILL try to reason with Asgore, and another more scared and brief one right before the throne room where Clover hands their hat and gun to Martlet and Starlow respectively for 'safe keeping' that, as they enter has Ceraba looking away and trying not to cry because she knows how this is actually going to end 💔 And epilogue Flowey is pretty much entirely the same but now he knows for certain Clover's useless for his 'Hurt Asgore enough' schemes so like, his going 'Meh, there'll be other humans and you've earned this friend' feels perhaps just a touch more earned' but like, Flowey's writing is honestly near perfect the whole game anyway so it doesn't really matter XD (Probably don't have to depict the fight itself, just a cut to black/the raft funeral months later past that point but like. Damn. Need graphics of that playing out I swear XDDD)

Anyway, my rambling aside thank you for the wonderful feedback and ideas (it be so nice to know I am not just imagining how much of A Choice that one scene was despite all the feels) and... Yeah. Thank you <3

Undertale Yellow: An amazing fangame with one glaring thing I hate about it (that I need to rant about or else I'm going to go insane).

As the title says, Undertale Yellow was a game I really enjoyed playing. Lots of fun dialogue and designs, utterly fantastic art and animation (holy hell that Flowey fight! <3 <3 <3), great music and feels, etc. Seriously it deserves a ton of praise, not only as a fully completed fangame that took years of development, but as genuinely amazing prequel to one of my favorite games of all time.

...Unfortunately. Much as I truly enjoyed playing through the majority of the game, when I finished the True Pacifist route I was intensely unhappy with how that went and while the credits scenes and funeral for Cover helped ease some of the worst of it, I cannot help but wonder who the flipping f$%& in the development team thought presenting Clover's suicide as the 'just and happy' ending that all the friend characters accept with barely any argument was a good idea?!

Now to clarify: I went into Undertale Yellow knowing that Clover was going to die and that there were good odds their death was going to be self sacrificial or involve suicide. Undertale Yellow is a prequel to Undertale after all and children being murdered and/or sacrificing themselves for the greater good of lovable monster kind is an established part of the setting.

I came in knowing this game was bound to end tragically. I was excited to see how this game would pull that inevitable tragedy off while exploring the Yellow soul's theme of Justice and staying true to Undertale's established canon.

And all the way right up to the end of the True Pacifist ending I truly thought they'd nailed it: The constant pressure of the monsters suffering and being trapped in the Underground despite their sweet and earnest natures, Dalv's clear issues regarding a human, Starlow's unintentional reinforcement of the 'one sacrifice for the greater good' idea with his trolley problem reenactment, the repeated back to back betrayals from characters who should be friends (the Feisty Five, Starlow, Ceraba) hurting Clover instead, the dull realization in universe for Clover that all their efforts to find the missing human children were all for nothing...

It was fantastic. There was a real sense of looming dread for me, seeing all those moments and just knowing in my gut that after the desperate struggle with the agonized and grieving Ceraba, ranting about how monster kind is doomed as it stands, that Clover would start thinking of sacrificing their life for monster kind, especially when their 'sense of Justice' at the start of the game had them willingly jump into a gaping pit they couldn't have possibly have known the height of, for the sake of mission they (according to Flowey) easily abandon when offered a loving home instead. (aka implying not so great things about how much they value their own life)

So. With all that 'hyped for tragedy' in mind, there I am at the True Pacifist ending. I've just spared Ceraba, the friends are all arguing as to how to keep Clover (and possibly any future humans who fall) safe and Clover begins to go into something of a zone out, thinking about all the things they've heard and seen over the course of their adventure.

This is it! I think to myself as I watch it play out. This is where Clover, after everything they've been through, makes the tragic yet understandable mistake of running away from their friends and confronting Asgore just as Flowey kept encouraging them to! Not to fight and bring Asgore to justice but to try talking him down and when they fail that, offering up their life to help and 'save' their friends even as the narrative will (matching Undertale) will make it clear that this is a mistake and only hurts everyone involved, just like every suicide and child murder in Undertale hurts everyone involved until Frisk is able to end the cycle of pain by rejecting the Kill or be Killed premise and setting the monsters free! Wow, I can't believe it, they set it up so well, what a perfect way to tie into Undertale's greater narrative via tragic prequel, I love this eeeeee!

Except of course that's not what happens.

My first hint something is off is when the quotes Clover's 'remembering' in their little bubble start being way too positive for the set up (also there's nothing from the trolley problem section). The second is when the music shifts from quiet to holy and then outright happy.

And third is when Clover snaps out of it and point blank tells their friends they choose to die. Now, I'm getting a little confused and wary at this but alright, this is a pretty long sequence already but I guess we get to have one final hope moment before Clover somehow gets away from their friends to die (maybe Flowey if not Asgore?)-

-and then I am left absolutely flabbergasted as the friends who just spent the last huge chunk of the game trying to protect Clover/getting talked out of killing them because 'its not right' end up agreeing with Clover's decision after a pitiful amount of arguing against it (where the utterly stupid 'there's no other option' reasoning is used as the primary reasoning despite all the other options being very clearly stated just moments ago), before the woman who's entire massive trauma arc that is centered around her accidentally killing her own child out of blind faith for 'the greater good', proceeds to assist Clover with their suicide (who she clearly views as a surrogate child despite her best attempts not to) while the other characters meekly say goodbye, give hugs and leave all while bittersweet but mostly sweet 'great job honey, this sucks but we're proud of you' music plays (also Flowey says stuff but like, its Flowey so frankly he could say anything and it'd be fine. He's not the issue here).

...Wow.

What a screwed up way for that to end. Like, I clearly get the 'idea' that Clover is meant to be noble and good and such but like, really? A fan game of Undertale (where one of the main ending messages was 'Don't kill and don't be killed', where a child's suicidal attempts to free monster kind lead to every major tragedy in the game, and where suicide was repeatedly shown to only make things worse through Asgore and Alphys in numerous neutral endings) is the game that decides having its protagonist's pointless self sacrifice should be honored and treated as a good ending by the narrative?????

How did none of the otherwise clearly brilliant people working on this miss the very bad, no good implications of Clover's friends being talked into letting them kill themselves and having the narrative frame it as anything but the worst end?????

I have many, many questions. And concerns. And...

Look, I do get it. Undertale Yellow is still a fangame. There are going to be weird notes in the tone due to different writers and such, and I should just be happy that the game was finished it at all, and accept that this god awful scene is probably just the result of its creators really, really wanting their beloved characters to go out as kindly (and beautifully drawn/animated) as possible with all the hugs and feels of canon Undertale without taking into account how much the very different context might warp the tone and the characterizations of everyone in the entire scene.

But like. God damn. There is something very off putting about not letting brave kind Martlet refuse to take this as an answer and then finding she actually can't stop it happening (and no her saying that after like two sentences from 'Ceraba who's judgement about the human sucks' doesn't count). About Starlow not recognising he and his posse might've had something to do with why Clover is thinking this. About Ceraba not on some level going 'IF THIS IS YOUR CHOICE THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ME USE YOU TO SAVE KANAKO?!' Edit: Also a totally waste of prequel opportunity not to let Asgore visibly make the worst choices we canonly know he made on screen. Yes, he gets to stab Clover in the Flawed!Pacist route but Clover's trying to shoot him in that one; the fact we don't get to see him stab a 'far too willing to die for their friends and not defending themselves' Clover as the friend trio can do nothing to stop it from happening feels like such a cop out I swear XD

I'm all for 'Clover dies willingly' at the end of the True Pacifist but they way they did it was just... Really ugh in a way I'm finding tricky to word and I'm honestly shocked I haven't seen more people point it out (though admittedly that might be because I haven't really looked around much). ...So yeah. I know its too late to change said ending but really kinda hoping at some point one of the Undertale Yellow team realizes this might be an issue and thinks to add a content warning in the game's opening or something because it could really use one of those. Also that for any future projects they do, they happen to do a little more research into how to avoid accidentally glorify suicide as opposed to having it as a tragedy because damn they did not manage that here whatsoever.

---

ANYWAY, with all that rant finally out of my head some other stuff about Undertale Yellow I be feeling strongly:

Flowey's boss battle and the lead up to it is incredible and without a doubt makes the neutral route the most amazing well crafted route in the game. 10/10 may have already mentioned this in the massive rant above but if so gonna repeat it anyway because it's just that damn good.

Genocide route being a deconstruction of the 'disproportionate revenge is justice' 90s Anti Hero is very cool theme wise but the lack of the lack of stuff like notes in shops saying 'please don't kill my family' and monsters with less screen time getting more fleshed out drags it down a little, as does Clover not actually choking on dust or getting attacked by the human souls or something at the very end. Really do love the Martlet battle flashback moments and Axel's horrifically timed confession scene though.

The general uselessness of the ACT menu in big 'endurance' fights as well as the lack of 'alternative sparing ACTS' makes fights a lot less fun than they could be and I found myself a lot less willing to use them in general as a result despite them being my favorite thing about Undertale. Did still adore what fun stuff was in them though so I think it's just a case of them being a tad too out of focus compared to the bullet hell gameplay (which I'm not that good at) for my tastes.

Pacifist route could've really used some more optional hangouts and/or letters from the main friends. As is, the peak 'hang out' part of the game for me was the nap room I spent maybe two minutes in, and Dalv especially could've benefitted a ton from a bit more presence (I got more interaction from Mo and the rabbit who's tongue was stuck to a pole and I'm not happy about that? If nothing else not getting to see the inside of Martlet's house or help Dalv build his new home feel like lost opportunities).

Personal pet peeve and nothing too serious but not a fan of Asgore not getting the kill on Clover outside of Flawed Pacifist. Makes sense on most routes (glares at T!Pacifist again) given the way the plot is set up and all but given Toby Fox has repeatedly stated Asgore killed all the humans who fell post Chara it just drives me nuts XD (As does the poor Blue Soul getting treated as a killer/evil but like, I can see where people are coming on that one and Undertale Yellow uses that to amp up Chujin's nightmare fuel vibes fantastically so I shall reluctantly congratulate that theory's use there and steel myself for the inevitable 'wait you're using Undertale Yellow lore but Axis didn't kill Integrity?' questions that will be posted on my 'will eventually be posted' Undertale fanfics XDDDD)

Love all the main cast, especially Martlet, and I am way too hyped for the day Undertale Yellow and its main cast get their own fandom tags on AO3.

...Kanako's death was incredibly stupid and avoidable but like, that's kind of what I like about it? I really also wanna know which Amalgamite she became (I'm thinking probably the one that tucks Frisk in to sleep and pats them on the head because of her and Ceraba's little 'going to sleep' game but like, I could see a very heart wrenching case for her being part of So Cold as well).

Anyone reading this who somehow hasn't played Undertale Yellow should really stop reading this and go play the game. It's free, its (one major thematic issue I have moral objections to aside) pretty decently written, and hey, more Undertale stuff to have fun making fanworks with <3

Goddamn has Undertale Yellow kicked my drive to write Undertale fanfic into overload XD Thank you Undertale Yellow team for helping me get all fired up again and sorry about all the grr but dang it, it needed to be said and now that it's out of my system I can throw myself into finding ways to incorporate your settings and characters into fanworks of my own (admittedly the AU elements might make things kinda tricky -Asgore having to kill EVERY human child even more so- but that nifty little detail of early Royal Guard Martlet having and being willing to abuse her access to the Hotland Lab allows me so many ways to have Chujin be a well meaning awful person and I am living for it!) <3 <3 <3

[invertedfate]

You seemed to imply that Chara has developed a crush on Frisk. Does Frisk reciprocate, or is this a spoiler question?

Frisk is about as subtle as an explosion amplified by surround sound and a megaphone and bass boosted. :P So yeah, I can see it being a mutual sorta thing. That being said... romance arcs aren't really a big focus of Inverted Fate, and especially with Charisk a) being initially unplanned, and b) such a divisive pair in the fandom due to the fact that a lotta folks see 'em as family and c) pretty much accidental subtext that I got too gosh darn attached to, and then my brain went 'brrr, this is a wholesome thing for you now.' The curse of hyperfixations manifesting on their own. ._.; Like I said, tho, they don't have a sibling bond in IF, and especially since Frisk isn't being adopted by Asgore, that hopefully makes for less awkward overlap. And I don't like Charisk in any fanworks that do have them as fam- it's pretty much just here where it got me going "dangit, this is so sweet." Tho I may go in and edit a few earlier chapters to make the transition from Frisk's impulsive "you can be dad plz?" to "...y'know, I really don't know him that well, and in hindsight I kinda got ahead of myself" a bit smoother. Chapter 10's remaster reworded some things already, but I really do wanna do what I can to make sure that the gradual realization doesn't come outta nowhere. I figure the more consistently I can have Frisk start to consider this, the fewer crossed wires there'll be, y'know? Funnily, this direction has been on my mind for years- Asgore not being endgame guardian for Frisk, as the more I worked on Inverted Fate, the more I realized how little time they actually spent with each other and how much stronger Frisk's bonds were with Papyrus, Mettaton, and Sans. That and I started to just get more interested in other outcomes with Frisk as I realized people really slept on places to go and got frustrated with how people acted like it wasn't a valid direction for fanworks/headcanons. I gotta do some other re-edits still at some point for things folks had pointed out to me a while back, and the Sans date desperately needs some dialogue tweaks to make it less uncomfortable. It was always just meant to be an elaborate shitpost, but some of Papyrus' lines are just... not great in terms of how he handled it? So I'll 100% be addressing it when I can.

(As always, if there is anything specific you think might be worth touching up in the remasters- e.g. accidentally hurtful implications or undertones- I'm always happy to look into and tweak within reason.)

[moonster-underswap]

What's the whole deal with Frisk being a mage

And blind, for that matter

Mages still exist in underswap, even until present day. Frisk happened to be a born mage, a dark mage to be specific. It's not actually bad thing despite having a "dark" character in it. It just means it helps with balance between dark and light. Without dark, there'll be too much light and that is definitely not a good thing. The same can be said if there's too much dark. One day, Frisk noticed that they had magical ability. However... they didn't know how to use them properly, so an accident occurred that led to them losing their eyes and their ability to see. The damage was irreversible, not even a healing magic could recover their eyes. Note that there are certain spells that are permanent and you should seriously consider everything before you use them. Much later after that accident, they fell into the subterranean and met Master Gerson Boom. He brought them back to New Hope palace to see the former emperor, Asgore, and the empress, Toriel. They decided to take care of the Frisk and raised them as their own child. Note that this is before Asriel existed. More than often, Frisk toured through the subterranean with Master Gerson and his student, a child-figure even, Rex (Monster Kid). They even got taught by Master Gerson to do magic stuff and what their purpose is as a dark mage. As they entered adolescence, they became Master Frisk, the only human guardian in the subterranean and the angel of hope. They were believed to be the one who would restore the WARPEDSUN balance. Sadly, a dark mage wasn't not enough, they needed a light mage too. That's why Chara existed. On the other hand, they might never be able to see things again, but they can feel exactly what's happening and will take action for that matter.

[tartrazeen]

I wonder if Deltrarune Chapter 3 is going to have Toriel as our companion.

I wonder if we, as the player, are going to hate her.

I wonder if she'll interrupt our fights or automatically run from them to protect us.

I wonder if she'll aggro everybody in every area.

I wonder if she'll stop us to have us re-explain every rule.

I wonder if there'll be an annoying minigame to convince her to take any action.

I wonder if she'll actively go through the way, or walk very, very slowly.

I wonder if she'll refuse to take any action because she isn't going to be bossed around by her child.

I wonder if she'll use all of our items, or use our best ones, or prevent us from using items so we can save them for later.

I wonder if she'll refuse to specialize as one 'class', and start learning things that aren't strictly fire magic.

I wonder if she's secretly so good at giving instructions as a teacher that she'll disagree with every choice we make, and no matter what we say, her choice would've been the right one - to the point that doing anything other than what she explicitly recommends/insists/orders will make our game tediously more difficult.

I wonder if she'll be such an easy mode companion, completely overpowered.

I wonder if she'll prevent us from talking to strangers.

I wonder if her Snowgrave/Genocide route will be about emotionally breaking her.

Maybe we run away and threaten to keep running away until she listens.

Maybe we have to refuse to help her in fights until she takes enough damage or faints before we step in.

Maybe we intentionally make Kris faint so that Toriel is forced to act violently.

Maybe we prey on her fear of losing her child so much that she agrees to "become stronger" and "play the game properly".

Like how Noelle eventually stops whining and just kills those enemies already, just solves the stupid puzzle, just gets the stupid ring, maybe we use the power of LOVE to make Toriel do what we want. Which is for the best! We're the player and our choices matter, and we don't need her getting in the way of that.

And like how Noelle faces Berdly, maybe we face Asgore in the ultimate, fatal custody battle.

:D Neat!

I love that the focus of Undertale was about how players interact with NPCs and the world, but Deltrarune is about how players interact with their party.

How else is the game supposed to happen if we don't move our guys forward and pick options, right? Our party should be grateful that we're giving them smart strategies and gear.

Like how are we supposed to beat the game if we don't grind faceless enemies and level up, right? Beat the boss, win the game.

[missholoska]

I heard that SansTori day is a thing just a few days after I started finally working on that Soriel lyric comic again, so I figured rather than rush to draw some big thing for it I could give an update on that with some more panels ouo/

The reason why this is taking so long is basically, panel 5 (2nd image here) originally turned out just so Not Good and I didn’t know how to fix it, plus I had a bunch of other things to draw in the meantime, and until recently it was honestly making me hate the other 4 panels I’d already done, ahah. But I finally went back to it, redrew Sans and the background, and suddenly I not only like everything again but my motivation to keep working on it is back, so hopefully a few more months and this’ll get done eventually!

Also: the flowers in panel 5 (purple hyacinths and forget-me-nots) are a tiny reference to All These Broken Pieces, which in an incredibly short amount of time became my favourite Soriel fic, and panel 8 (3rd image, I skipped ahead 2 panels because I just really really wanted to draw this one already) is the continuation to Soriel Week Year 2 Day 5 I promised back in August (♡´▽`)