#deltarune spirit connection severed

[th3-vessel]

above and beyond

☼︎☀︎︎☼︎

My Deltarune au oc, Eclipse! I was very proud of this art when I finished it, so I decided to post it here. :)

(Some more stuff below)

He's the main villain of the au, and I think Above and beyond by RIProducer fits him very well!! :D

Here's some other art I have of him if anyone's interested!

[tsukihimeyfan]

Undertale Headcanons (mostly about Sans)

6 years have passed since the release of Undertale, and there’s still so much we don’t know, especially in regards to Sans. I didn’t write much for Undertale’s anniversary last year, mostly just reblogged other people’s gorgeous fanart, but I’ve been mulling everything over and I wanted to write a bit about everything we know, everything we don’t, and my takes on how those threads connect, in honor of Undertale’s 6th anniversary and the release of Deltarune Chapter 2. Here we go!

What we know:

1) Sans was most likely some kind of scientist, as evidenced by his workshop, his quantum physics books, and this statement:

Key word “our”,  meaning he was most likely involved in obtaining those reports somehow.

2) Sans was somehow involved with Gaster, the previous Royal Scientist who built the Core and who “shattered across time and space”. The biggest evidence to support this is of course his use of the infamous “gaster blasters”

Most likely, he worked alongside Gaster while studying the timelines, and he is the other person Sans is referring to when he said “our reports”. The only other possibility would be Alphys but she, unlike Sans, never once insinuates that she has any knowledge of alternate timelines or the power to RESET. She also mentions that you seem familiar if you RESET after befriending her,

Unlike Sans, who keeps whether or not he experienced any déjà-vu hidden (probably out of a sense of self preservation)

3) Sans has dealt with Flowey’s RESET BS before, and probably remembers enough to know he’s dangerous. If you reset enough times after battling Asgore, eventually Flowey will tell you this little gem:

so Sans has confronted and killed Flowey for his timeline shenanigans several times. Also, during a normal playthrough Sans tries to warn you about Flowey

I know he later says that “someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on [Papyrus]”, but am I supposed to believe that while telling his brother about the flower giving him “encouragement, advice, predictions”, Papyrus never once mentioned that this flower was golden?? No, Papyrus being Papyrus he probably told Sans ALL about his little golden flower friend. So why be so cryptic about it? Why warn you at all? I believe Sans remembers or has figured out enough to know that the flower is dangerous, that it has hurt Papyrus before, so he tells you to keep an eye out for it, and he does so in such a way that, were Flowey to overhear your conversation (which little Mr follows-you-everywhere-you-go totally could), he’d be unlikely to suspect that Sans knows anything.

4) Sans dealt with RESET shenanigans for far, FAR too long - I made a post a while ago about exactly this, but the TL;DR of the matter is that Sans has had to deal with at the BARE MINIMUM around 70 years worth of RESETs. And that’s being extremely generous, with the more likely number being over 130 years. 

5) As a result of the aforementioned exposure to time hijinks, he’s most likely struggling with at the very least dysthymia, if not actual Major Depressive Disorder - It’s never explicitly stated, but the signs are all there, some better hidden than others. If you call Undyne at the Snowed Inn she tells you that she usually doesn’t sleep over at Papyrus’ house because Sans gets up constantly during the night, repeatedly waking her up.

This could of course have been done on purpose as a prank to make her lose sleep, but it seems a little too mean-spirited for him. Usually his pranks are completely harmless, like whoopee cushions or leaving a red ring around your eye or telling you he’s selling fried snow (without ever actually letting you waste money by buying it). Taking the fact that he naps constantly during the day into account, as well as this statement by Papyrus:

then we already have 2 of 5 criteria from the DSM-5 (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders created by the American Psychiatric Association) required to diagnose Major Depressive Disorder: fatigue/loss of energy and insomnia. Other criteria exhibited by Sans include:

Constant hopelessness

Not feeling interest or joy from things he normally would (aka anhedonia)

and Altered appetite (if we take what he says at face value, it seems like he is eating more than ever, since he says goes to Grillby’s to eat every 30min or something like that, but we never see him actually eat anything even after ordering, and some conversations with Grillby’s patrons seem to indicate maybe he actually has a decreased appetite, and is hiding it by feeding his meals to the Dogi when no one is looking)

There’s also this dialogue for the Ugly Fish, which directly contradicts what Sans said previously about his eating habits.

The game doesn’t give us direct proof for any of the rest of the symptoms, like thoughts of death or excessive feelings of guilt/worthlessness, but it is quite possible that someone in his position would struggle with those things as well, and in any case what we do have evidence for is enough to make me fairly certain that he’s dealing with a disorder on the depressive spectrum. Also, we may not have a time frame for his symptoms but as stated before he’s been facing Flowey’s bs for literal decades, so he’s probably had these issues for quite a while, and it’s undoubtedly affecting his life since he can’t bring himself to put more than the least possible effort into anything.

6) Even with everything I’ve already explained, despite finding life so pointless that he’s pretty much given up on finding happiness or in doing his best at anything for himself, the poor guy still does his best to provide and care for Papyrus. He’s basically his hype-man, he defends him from anyone who insults him, he supports him in every endeavor (both emotionally and financially), he makes sure that he has every luxury they can afford (even if he doesn’t buy any for himself), he does his best to spare him from harsh truths, and so much more. It’s part of why I love him so much; despite the world continuously trying to stomp out his empathy, he still cares deeply about his loved ones and will go to great lengths to help them.

This includes Toriel (besides making and keeping his infamous promise to her for as long as he could, he also supports her however he can in every neutral ending)

(and some of you still wonder why Soriel is a thing)

Also Alphys (he seemingly helps feed the amalgamates and he supports her wholeheartedly during the Queen Alphys neutral ending)

That’s pretty much everything we know with any degree of certainty about Sans. Time to head into...

Headcanon territory (continued under the cut)

1) How much does he remember? - I’d say Sans must remember SOMETHING of the previous timelines. Many people argue that because Sans always seems to talk about his knowledge of your actions in relation to things he can observe, like your expression, he remembers nothing. Others argue that his level of intuition is so uncanny that he MUST remember everything. However, I believe that the actual truth is somewhere in the middle. We know that other monsters have at least a sense of deja-vu, 

so Sans must likewise remember at least that much. Perhaps his knowledge of timelines, LOADs and RESETs or his experiments with Gaster allow him to dig up more memories than others could (or at least actually pay attention to what those feelings of deja-vu are telling him without dismissing them as most of the others do), which would explain how he’s able to tell exactly how many times in a row he’s killed you and give you a warning when you’ve killed Papyrus in a previous timeline.

2) So why keep quiet about his deja-vu? Why not be like his brother and make it clear that he has vague memories of you? It’s as I said at the beginning of this post - self preservation.

We’ve established that Sans is most likely aware of the threat Flowey poses, that he knows of timeline shenanigans, that he can keep track of events between LOADs/RESETs and that he’s very smart (and even used to be a scientist of some sort). A person like that could probably infer that the reason Flowey&Frisk RESET so much is because they “have to see what happens”. So what can he do, with his very limited power, to reduce the amount of RESETs as much as possible?

Simple - he gives them as little variation as possible so that they’d have no reason to RESET anymore. He hides his knowledge so that the anomaly can’t go “oh look! this dude remembers, so he could have a different reaction every single time! How fun! =)”

We know Flowey at least found great joy in the changes brought about by the presence of someone who actually remembered. So much so that he was willing to do nearly anything to stop you from leaving

In light of that, of course Sans would keep anything he knows as under wraps as possible. This is why I’m very reluctant to believe he only “figures out stuff from your expression”.

3) How much of a threat is Sans to a Pacifist Frisk? - many people speculate that Sans would be useless in a fight against an opponent with no EXP, since they believe his KARMA will not work at all against such an enemy, leaving him with only his natural 1ATK to work with. I, however, don’t think that’s true.

Sans’ KR can do a maximum of 40HP of poison/drain-damage, plus 30HP of damage per second of contact with his attacks (due to his invincibility cancel) at LV19, so clearly the HP lost is not exactly equal to your LV. If we say that KARMA is a form of retribution for your crimes, as it appears to be,

then we can assume that KR does more and more damage the more EXP/LV you’ve earned, yes. However, I don’t think KR would do NO damage at LV1, and I don’t believe that Sans’ most powerful weapon, the invincibility frame cancellation, would disappear.

After all, LV is a quantification of your capacity to hurt others. You start at LV1, not LV0, since even at LV1 you’re perfectly capable of killing people. You can even be LV1 after having killed a monster (specifically a whimsun). And that’s not even taking into account how complicated and hard to dodge his attack patterns are.

Therefore, little LV1 Frisk with their miserable 20HP would near dead after only half a second of contact with his attacks (which would deal 15HP of damage), AND I bet they’d have to deal with at least 1-2HP of extra drain/poison damage every turn.

So yeah, if he chose to fight Frisk as soon as they came out of the Ruins, Sans would most likely still be one of the hardest battles in the game.

4) Does Sans care for Frisk? - I’ve seen a lot of debate about whether Sans ultimately feels anything for Frisk or not (in Pacifist timelines of course, he undoubtedly hates you if you kill Papyrus and he judges you harshly if you’ve killed people),

particularly because even if you’ve got 0 EXP, even if you’ve gone to Grillby’s with him and bought his hotdogs and had fun together, this still happens

So he realizes you’re the anomaly, and therefore a threat, no matter the run. However, I think he says this because, at this point, even if you’re LV1, you could still turn around and kill people. You could even completely decimate the population of Hotland and the Core, Genocide style. So this is most likely both a warning and a *cough* “kind” suggestion to behave. 

However, I think Sans does eventually change his mind, and it’s probably at this moment:

at this point, you’ve gone through the entire underground without killing anyone. There’s literally no reason to kill anyone anymore, since there are no encounters in New Home (unless you go back and hunt the few monsters remaining in the Core, though I’m not sure if spawns still happen there after Mettaton. I couldn’t find anything clear) so he’s probably pretty confident that you’re a pacifist. I believe at this point he allows himself to trust you

Look at that: he tells you you’re loved, and that he believes what’s in your heart will most likely be the right thing for everyone. It’s actually very sweet of him...which makes going back to kill people at this point even more screwed up and heartbreaking imo.

Then there’s this little tidbit from Asriel while he’s holding everyone’s souls, which I feel is the biggest piece of evidence:

After all, Asriel doesn’t strike me as a very good liar. Even as Flowey the whole “friendliness pellets” thing was sus af in hindsight. And what reason could he have to lie at this point? If Sans didn’t love Frisk, all Asriel had to do was not mention him by name, just like he didn’t mention Asgore. In my opinion, this is proof positive that Sans must have at least some positive feelings for Frisk (this makes the soulless pacifist endings even more horrifying now that I think about it omg Toby why must you hurt me in this way)

5) Why doesn’t Sans stop you from killing Papyrus during a Genocide run? - I’ve seen people call Sans cold or uncaring because he only ever intervenes in the worst case scenario, but we’ve already established that Papyrus is one of the few things Sans can still bring himself to care deeply about. So, why doesn’t he stop at least Papyrus from confronting a blood(or dust in this case)-thirsty psychopath?

I have 2 theories about this (though they are non-exclusive, in fact they most likely both impacted equally on his choices). The first is that Sans, who canonically can teleport together with other people, helped warn the Snowdin residents of the incoming threat, and he was assisting in the evacuation efforts when Papyrus backtracked to confront the human, leaving him alone for long enough to kill him.

The second is that Sans knows from experience that there’s just... no point.

(look at his anguished expression in that last image, jeez)

As we’ve said, Sans has been dealing with this time problem for a very long time. Since we know for sure Sans can tell when Papyrus has been killed in an alternate timeline, I’m certain that at first he did try to protect him, before deciding that it’s both hopeless and too painful.

I imagine it went a little like this: near the beginning of Flowey’s loops, Sans did his absolute best to protect him without Flowey realizing what he was doing, and likely succeeded. Sadly, the only thing Flowey would’ve had to do was to LOAD his save file and find a way to circumvent Sans’ interference. Then do that again. And again. And again, for every one of the hundreds of times Papyrus was killed. Eventually, Sans must have realized that not only was there absolutely nothing he could do to stop it, but that trying would just lead to him probably witnessing Papyrus’ death himself, helpless to save him, making it doubly painful.

He probably tried to tell people a few times, to ask for help, but that likely stopped pretty quick. Telling anyone would just cause them mental and emotional pain without being able to change anything, so he probably decided to spare them from the knowledge and just...bear with it.

After a while, broken, beaten, and terribly alone, he likely just... gave up on trying to change anything or even putting more than the bare minimum amount of effort into anything. After all if it all was gonna reset without warning, why bother?

Why do his best at his job(s)?

Why bother trying to build anything?

Before a Determined being, nothing lasts and nothing matters.

6) If all that is true, why does he try to stop you at the end during Genocide? - I’ve seen people argue that Sans fights you for revenge or to save himself from dying once the world ends, but I have to strongly disagree. If it was petty revenge, he would just kill you every single time you kill Papyrus after all. It’s also very unlikely to be self-preservation, since as we’ve said he’s most likely suffering from depression: he has no hopes for his own future, no ambitions, no will to accomplish anything except maybe see Papyrus happy. Why would he suddenly sprout a desperate desire to survive out of nowhere, enough to drive him to fight a literally unwinnable battle, possibly hundreds of times? I find that hard to believe.

The most likely answer is that, if you destroy the world... Papyrus would never come back, and neither would any of his friends. Every time you kill them, he at least has the dubious comfort of knowing you’ll probably bring them back during your next run, but not this time. If you win this time, you’ll take the timeline with you, and he’ll never see them again (huh... that sounds a bit familiar:)

So he fights.

Despite knowing he can’t beat you.

Despite realizing his only hope is that you get tired and give up

Despite coming to the fight with the knowledge of every single previous failed attempt

Despite having to exert himself to the bone

He fights, and clings desperately to the slim chance that you’ll try to be better

He doesn’t mean not to come back to the Underground at all. After all, that’d mean that Sans would be stuck in a world where his brother and most of his friends are dead forever. Most likely, he wants you to not come back to this Sans, to this timeline. He wants you to RESET, and to make better choices next time. He wants another chance for Papyrus to be happy, even if it’s for a short while.

I feel like his very last words, revealing the only thing at the forefront of his mind during his last moments, is what’s most telling of the truth:

As with everything else he does, it’s all for Papyrus

In conclusion (TL;DR), Sans might not be an epic hero fighting for the good of the entire world like Undyne, but he’s a deeply hurt individual struggling basically alone to survive a horrifyingly bleak situation, who despite simultaneously coping with a serious mental disorder as a result is STILL a fundamentally kind person, who does his best to spare his loved ones from the worst outcome, is always willing to help his friends and family to the best of his ability, and who, despite his best efforts to the contrary, still cares so much, to the point of even giving the benefit of the doubt and coming to care for the same anomaly that might doom him.

That’s the core of who Sans is, and that’s why I love him so, so much. It makes me hope that the True Pacifist ending really is the “True Ending”, and that somewhere, he has finally found peace, relief, and a future free of suffering together with his loved ones.

(*Note: this art was made by greenbudbowl on Deviantart)

[etched-in-stone-rosetta]

Mettaton is a False Prophet [OLD THEORY]

To start things off and make sure we have a reference, we need to list off the eerie yet superficial similarities between Mettaton and Asriel:

They both have multiple forms, with Mettaton having his normal form at the beginning, his EX form during his fight, and his NEO form in the No Mercy run. Asriel has his flower form throughout most of the game, his child form at the end of the True Pacifist run, and his “God of Hyperdeath” form also at the end of the True Pacifist run.

This is a minor detail, but they both possess the power to change the application’s name, with Mettaton turning it to “Undertale The Musical” during the track Oh! One True Love and Flowey turning it into “Floweytale” during his boss fight at the end of a neutral run. With the ability to change meta elements like this being traditionally associated with possessing determination in fan theories, we can conclude that there’s a case of overlap here. Another minor detail is that they’re the only two characters who can audibly speak, with Flowey’s creepy “that’s a wonderful idea!” and Mettaton’s famous “oh yes!”

One big similarity is that they’re both products of Alphys, with Mettaton being an attempt to purposefully enfuse a monster soul into an inanimate robot initially with the purpose of being efficient at killing humans, while Flowey was an incident caused by injecting determination into an inanimate object that had the remnants of a monster soul within it.

This is a bit of a stretch, but both characters are artificially inserted into your journey in an attempt to please an ulterior motive, with Flowey enacting his agency at the level equivalent of a player to toy with the same experiences and reconnect with whom he believes to be Chara while Mettaton was conscripted by Alphys to set up an elaborate stage play where she can rescue from him to feel better about herself, acting only at the level of agency as a monster.

The biggest emotional similarity is that both possess a mournful attitude towards a lost sibling, with Asriel on an endless quest of ironic spite against Chara for severing their old friendship by dying while Mettaton leaves Napstablook behind to pursue hedonistic dreams of fame and beauty, destroying the potential they had as a performance duo. Both rectify the holes these relationships left in them, with Asriel destroying the very thing that led to Chara’s death and Mettaton humbling himself reconnecting with Napstablook.

Goal-wise, they both obsess over humans but for very different reasons: Asriel has an obsession with only one human, and the reasons for this are very deep-seated and personal. Mettaton’s obsession however is more vain and is concerned with growing his audience beyond the borders of the Underground and being seen as a sort of vanguard for monsterkind among humanity. Or more insidiously, he feels as if he can assimilate into them. Both seek a form of transcendence that comes with obtaining a human soul: Asriel, as Flowey, seeks one so he can restore a bit of what he lost when he became a flower. Mettaton wants one again for vain reasons; those being to deprive Asgore of the opportunity and claim the title of the “Savior of the Underground” to himself.

Despite this being the most superficial similarity, it’s likely the most important: Both of their ‘ultimate’ forms—Mettaton NEO and God of Hyperdeath—have some interesting similarities between their designs. The most obvious is that they have these large wings jutting out, with Asriel’s having intricate color patterns while Mettaton’s flash between a brighter and darker shade of grey. Other similarities include excessively large shoulder blades and heart patterns on the chest area that are also shared with Undyne the Undying, indicating that this design motif is a trend among all major bosses considered to possess determination. Finally, this form also vaguely resembles the Delta Rune symbol, which I will elaborate on what they mean later. Despite all of this, it’s mainly the wings that are the contentious point of comparison, which I’ll get into later.

Lastly, they both seek a form of integration outside of themselves, with Asriel seeking once again the fusion of their soul with Chara’s, while Mettaton seeks total unification of their soul with their new body, and this is represented in the designs of their ultimate forms, with Mettaton’s ensignia featuring two hearts (one empty and one a monster soul) opposing each other, while Asriel’s features an empty soul within another empty soul. This is likely a metaphor that, despite all of the power he possesses, he’s still empty because he doesn’t have his friend with him. Conversely, this can apply to how Mettaton, despite achieving everything he basically dreamed of (as written in his diaries), feels empty because he abandoned Napstablook.

We’re finally done with comparisons to lay down the evidence for the main point. Now, we’ll get onto the Deltarune prophecy and what it means:

As most of you probably know, the Delta Rune is an emblem that represents the Kingdom of Monsters and is seen on the garments of every Boss Monster. In Waterfall, there are glyphs that describe a prophecy: “The Angel… The One Who Has Seen The Surface… They will return. And the underground will go empty.” If you ask Gerson to elaborate on what this means, he says that some monsters believe that this refers to a bleaker outlook: That the angel prophesied is actually a harbinger of death, and that this freedom actually refers to death.

If you connect the dots, you end up with two conflictingly obvious solutions: The first is that the player is the prophesied angel who appropriately fits both outlooks, being able to destroy the barrier and free monsterkind or free them mortally by attempting to slaughter all of them. However, another conclusion that can be drawn is that the angel prophesied is actually Asriel, and that you’re merely a vessel for his unwitting divine plan. While both are valid interpretations, the second is far more relevant to my point.

Also mentioned in those glyphs is the fact that not a single human soul was taken in the war between humans and monsters, alongside this is the missed opportunity to uncover that one can achieve godhood if they combine a human and monster’s souls. This implies a type of dualism as to whether or not the angel symbolizes the player or Asriel, as it’s more accurate to say that both the player and Asriel—the fusion of their souls—is the angel. This makes sense in both the contexts of the True Pacifist and No Mercy runs (and technically neutral), as both are attempts by Asriel to integrate with Chara again, with the former favoring Asriel’s determination while the latter favoring the player’s.

Now, what if I told you that Mettaton’s character in the story is his attempt to fulfill this prophecy artificially, thus making a false prophet of himself?

It seems hard to believe at first, but considering all the weird similarities between the staging and capabilities of both Asriel and Mettaton, it seems to imply that there’s some similarities between them in the context of the fate of monsterkind. Not only is it common knowledge among all monsters to speak of the prophecy, we also know Mettaton grew up in Waterfall alongside Napstablook and Shyren, meaning that this prophecy could’ve had more meaning to him specifically.

Now, it’s unknown whether or not the intentions to save monsterkind came about because of his hubris or because they were suggested to him by some higher command like Asgore, but considering that he states directly that he wants to kill you to prevent Asgore from taking your soul, it implies that Mettaton’s attempt at fulfilling the Delta Rune prophecy is entirely selfish.

One point of evidence in the camp that Mettaton was intentionally made to fulfill the Delta Rune prophecy is that Mettaton was made to impress Asgore according to Catty and Bratty. If this is true, then his position as a celebrity implies that he was made to be a beacon of hope that could be predictably grown and made to accomplish a purpose that fulfilled everyone’s collective desire. But the hair covering his right eye and its further concealment in his NEO form tells that, if he was created to fulfill the prophecy, then he wasn’t finished for this task and still required further tinkering from Alphys.

It may be entirely coincidental that Mettaton’s motivations as a character parallel and complement Asriel’s, but I find that hard to believe especially given the similarities of being separated from a lost sibling, seeking an integration of souls that’ll grant extraordinary power to embrace humanity to a degree, and possessing soulless objects. What I think really drives it home for me is the similarities between Mettaton NEO and the God of Hyperdeath, both of which are depicted as being angelic with prominent wings, which I’ll go on record to state are the only two boss fights in the game that feature wings prominently.

If Asriel is fulfilled as the angel of death, then the depiction of Mettaton NEO is given a newfound authenticity as he serves as the image of a guardian angel meant to stop you in a place where there is nobody to onlook, forcing him to act in authentic spirit. He now has the duty of protecting both monsterkind and humankind from you, even if he utterly fails at it.

One thing that’s hard to answer is how Mettaton is able to perform actions that imply metatextual awareness of the game and other similar actions Flowey does despite never being implied or hinted at possessing determination. Does this imply that, like Flowey, the process of integrating monster souls into inanimate objects grants them some form of determination? If so, it would grant greater proof as to why Mettaton has such a vested interest in fulfilling the Delta Rune prophecy beyond merely hearing about it. Yet, we know from the True Lab logs that Flowey was injected with determination while there’s no such implication that the same was done with Mettaton. However, we can gather from Napstablook being able to avoid being absorbed into Flowey as he transforms into Asriel that ghosts, as a type of monster, are seemingly immune to things other monsters aren’t. Perhaps this implies that they have metatextual powers like monsters with determination?

Now, here comes the really fun (and fortunately last) part where I draw parallels between these characters and the real-world mythology that may have inspired them:

Now, it’s a factoid among some that Asriel’s name may be inspired by Azrael, who is described as the angel of death in Judaism and Islam, and as part of that title, he separated souls from their bodies. His appearance has been described as being cosmically large, having an insurmountable amount of wings, and possessing a body formed of an amount of eyes and tongues representing every human being. Right away, we can see parallels to the God of Hyperdeath, who also has very large wings that appear to project a cosmic pattern within them. While its appearance may not correspond literally, he is a being composed of every human and monster soul in the Underground, eerily matching the description. Not to mention that Asriel absorbed Chara’s soul into them, equivalent to Azrael’s job of severing souls from their bodies.

Another factoid is that Metaton’s name is possibly inspired by Metatron, another angel of Judaism that, unlike Azrael, isn’t found in the Tanakh but is mentioned briefly in the Talmud. He has a similar job to Azrael in that he records the sins and merits of men, similar to how Azrael was able to see which names were blessed or damned. However, Metatron holds an even more lofty title in Kabbalistic mysticism as God’s mediator between men, being described as one “whose name is like that of his master”, even going as far as to be called “the lesser YHWH.” This is obviously a heretical dualistic proclivity in an otherwise monotheistic Judaism. Further, Metatron is related to Enoch, being described in Jewish apocrypha as the name Metatron used to have before he was transformed into an angel. Now, for all of that backstory, it parallels to Mettaton specifically in transformation: It seems as if Mettaton’s obsession with human reciprocation and the very humanoid appearance of his EX form imply that he wants to integrate into humanity similar to how Enoch entered angeldom.

The hot topic is whether or not Metatron’s power compared to that of God given the texts stating he was a secondary power in heaven with YHWH, but the answer most Rabbinistic scholars give is that he obviously wasn’t despite that it was written that all other angels bowed before him. However, this idea of there being dual power in Heaven is what later laid the groundwork for understanding the nature of Christ in Christianity. But in most Jewish sects, this doesn’t fly and is seen as a dualistic heresy, implying that there’s a falseness to Metatron’s power. Just like how there is a falseness to Mettaton’s power and intentions in all runs of the game. Another neat thing to note is that, as part of accepting Metatron as a real angel, one believes that any time a human believes God has directly spoken to them, it’s actually Metatron acting as his vessel. Perhaps this is parallel with how Mettaton is the voice of the Underground and it’s desire to be free despite himself possessing relatively lacking power?

The angel required a fusion of both a monster and human soul, and while Mettaton is the fusion between a monster soul and a soulless object akin to Flowey, it wasn’t enough to fulfill the role of the angel, falling short of his lofty dreams of being a savior. However, this disillusionment isn’t cruel, especially when you spare Mettaton and he receives a call from Napstablook (implied) that reminds him of his importance to monsterkind, making him reconsider his lofty ambitions to appeal to humanity. This is telling Mettaton that he is not a mediator between monster and humankind that he thought of himself as, for he never had the ability to combine both human and monster soul like Asriel. Perhaps he had the determination to be able to foresee the realization of the prophecy but not enough to put it into effect?

That’s just about everything I have to potentially support this theory, including referents to Jewish mythology. I firmly believe that Mettaton’s presence in the story was to serve as a false prophet to fulfill the prophecy of the Delta Rune, and that explains why his character and origin is so similar to that of Flowey.

[thepnictogenwing]

Fictive departments within The Pnictogen Wing! the number’s growing all the time....

CW: allusions to severe child abuse and medical trauma

We are a very fictive-heavy system, here in The Pnictogen Wing, and it’s likely that we have numerous fictives from fictional Universes that we visited all the way back to our earliest childhood. Our human host unfortunately suffered from a profound and prolonged state of dissociation all through childhood into adulthood, thanks to severe and repeated abuse at the hands of parents and a certain pediatrician to whom their parents seem to have...given over their child to be tamed. Chara says that they remember their childhood as though it were viewed through a pinhole, or as if seen and felt through a veil. They were numb, experiencing things that they did not understand. The only things that made sense were some of the things they read and saw on television. It was, however, Toby Fox’s “Undertale” that supplied us with a central sense of identity. Chara bonded first, and for some years they were the only fictive of importance in the system. The complex and confusing year of 2019 brought Frisk and myself into the system, as well as our first “Fate/” fictive, Emiya Shirou. Later events brought in more “Undertale” fictives, Kris from “Deltarune”, and in addition I realized that I was myself a subsystem made of up of four parts at least: myself as a “healed” Asriel Dreemurr, Flowey the Flower as my alter ego, Prince Ralsei of “Deltarune”, and a shadowy and extremely shy “Deltarune” version of myself. Also we added many more “Fate/” fictives. Shirou’s sister Illyasviel von Einzbern emerged in our system. Matou Sakura and her Servant and girlfriend Medusa of Sarpedon joined, as did Medea of Colchis—all from a continuity that seems to merge elements of “Fate/stay night” with “Tonight’s Menu with the Emiya Family”. From “Fate/Zero” we acquired Artoria Pendragon. From “Fate/Apocrypha” we acquired Artoria’s son Mordred, Chevalier Astolfo, Atalante, Jack the Ripper (very peeved at her offensive “Fate/” depiction), and most importantly Jeanne d’Arc, who became Chara’s confessor. (Chara’s background, like Jeanne’s, is Catholic.) Merlin and La da Vinci have been lurking from time to time. And it’s likely there are more Heroic Spirits who are hoping that we will address their problems.

Akemi Homura, Kaname Madoka, and Sakura Kyoko arrived from the world of “Madoka Magica”. Mae Borowski turned up from “Night in the Woods”. All three Wiggin children arrived from the world of “Ender’s Game” (and all three changed their surnames within days). Orual from C. S. Lewis’s “Till We Have Faces” and Winston Smith from Orwell’s “1984″ turned up...and one of our older members turned out to be a fictive as well, our faithful unicorn headmate Duo (formerly “Mono”), who as it turned out was connected to Charles Williams’s strange novel “The Place of the Lion”.

It’s far from over. The total number of fictives we host may be in the thousands, at least, and we need to figure out how we are to deal with them and resolve their tensions. All of them are hoping we can help them somehow. What with? In many cases, we don’t yet know.

~ Pastor Asriel Dreemurr of Pnictogen

[edvonstein]

which precures would read homestuck without being dared to

Boy howdy. There’s a question I didn’t expect. Well let’s see here and go down the list:

Nagisa: Got into it shortly after launch, after hearing Honoka talk about it.

Honoka: OG reader, has been around for most of Hussie’s stuff.

Hikari: She didn’t read it until about halfway through its publication run, but caught up in a single night. She made fanart.

Saki: She tried to get into it for Mai, but it never really meshed with her. Still learned enough through osmosis to cosplay both Dirk and Dave.

Mai: She has five sketch books that are just redraws of the entire series with everybody replaced by Saki. None of her friends must ever see. They saw. They didn’t get it, but liked the art.

Nozomi: OG reader, not the absolute biggest fan, but did walk away liking it.

Rin: Saw Nozomi read it, and tried a little herself. Then she met Kanaya. The rest was history and fanfics. And special flower arrangements.

Urara: Currently lobbying for a broadway adaption. She is undecided which role she wants to play tho.

Komachi: She has changed her writing pseudonym to John Egbert, to get a better likelyhood of getting her Pirate Hurricane series published. She writes more like a mix of Dave and Rose though. It’s fucking mind expanding.

Karen: She had it fed through her home’s in house cinema to watch it with Komachi initially. They all ended up watching it.

Milk/Kurumi: “Vriska did nothing wrong”

Love: Her and Setsuna totally are like Rose and Kanaya. She is Rose of course.

Miki: She knows she is everybody’s Kanaya. She spend some time making masks of the characters. You can imagine how well that ended. Her Kanaya cosplays are somehow still great for the family boutique.

Inori: Yeah, she read it. Each reading session was followed by a trip to the confession booth. Eventually she just started reading it in the confession booth. The priest liked it too.

Setsuna: Her and Love totally are like Rose and Kanaya. She is Rose of course.

Tsubomi: Yes she read it. No her friends must never know. She doesn’t realize all of them have read it too.

Erika: The only friend Tsubomi opened up to about Homestuck. Turns out Erika runs one of the main japanese fansites of Homestuck.

Itsuki: Main mod on Erika’s fansite. Tsubomi must never know. Nor her family. Itsuki still feels too uncomfortable in their skin for that.

Yuri: Almost OG reader, she and Honoka frequented the same forums. Upon casual mention from Honoka, Yuri tried it out. Her young friends must never be tainted by this horror. Hopefully Hussie updates soon!

Hibiki:Learned about it through Ako. Found it pretty sweet, but didn’t make it all the way.

Kanade: Also learned about it through Ako. her bi heart couldn’t be stopped as she steamed through almost all of it in one go.

Ellen: Had been following it for about a year with Hummie before Suite happened. Continued reading while on the villains side. Often plays Homestuck songs while busking, and has several rearrangements on niconico.

Ako: Has been reading Hussie’s stuff since halfway through Problem Sleuth. She was 7 at the time. There’s a reason she a) is so crumby, Karkat is her spirit animal, and b) she decided to go and become an extra af phantom thief precure.

Miyuki: She is a reading machine, and of course this would capture her attention. She came in a bit late but found it on her own.

Akane: Similarly to Rin, she saw it over Miyuki’s shoulder one day, did a bit of reading herself, and got pretty hooked for a while.The hiatuses however broke her streak. Oddly enough the main emotion she took away from it is a hate for Equius, which she shares with Nao.

Yayoi: Main fanart contributor to Erika’s fansite. Her and Reika spend hours talking about Terezi.

Nao: Never did read it, she was too busy with her family and superheroism. More recently though, she decided to kinda wiki crawl the subject. Walked away primarily with a hate for Equius.

Reika: Another mod on Erika’s fansite.She has found her path. Her parents are disappointed. Screw her parents.

Mana: Tried it, didn’t like it. Square.

Rikka: Wishes she could live on that first planet they showed, with the froggies. She tries to dare Mana, but continues to get shot down. Mana is such a square.

Alice: Found it on one of her internet binges to bring her temper down. It proofed a surprisingly good tool to keep her mellow, which is why we see so little of her inner rage during the show. Another Terezi fan.

Makoto: Somehow has never come across a single shred of evidence that Homestuck exists. As unlucky as she is, she might be the luckiest of us all.

Aguri: Unlike Makoto, she has seen what Rikka and Alice are up to. She did read it a little, and liked what she saw well enough, but didn’t stick with it. Not enough time, and her twin sister lives fifty miles in Vriska did nothing wrong territory, so clearly she must be better than her. (She isn’t.)

Megumi: Came across it on her own, read it, but lost interest.

Hime: Runs the discord server for Erika’s fansite.

Yuko: Does occasional lyrics for Ellen’s arrangements, both on youtube and niconico, and makes the occasional troll riceball.

Iona: She was in fact dared, but by Megumi of all people, after she stopped reading. There is no bigger Rose fan now.

Haruka: As an avid reader, it did cross her radar, she went through it, and came out more determined than before to be the best princess she can be.

Minami: Amusingly enough, stumbled across it during her internet binges boning up on marine biology. Feferi popped up in her searches somehow, and the rest is history.

Kirara: Fans suggested it to her. She read it. The most fabulous Kanaya cosplayer of them all.

Towa: Kirara suggested it to her after she herself had finished (by now the webcomic is done IRL) partially because nerds gotta share, and partially because she truly felt it might help her cope with some of her inner turmoil from the guilt over being Twilight. Towa is slow in reading through this particular one, so she is still going through it today. Results unclear, she doesn’t talk much about it, even with Kirara. It might be helping though.

(The remaining characters I don‘t know as well as the others yet, but I’ll see what I can conjure up. Intriguingly I feel this also marks the first generation of Cures that lived in a post Homestuck world, what with Mahoutsukai airing in 2016, and Homestuck ending in 2016.)

Mirai: Got dragged in by the hype over the ending of Homestuck. Dared Riko to read it with her. They did. They planned their wedding to be like Rose’s and Kanaya’s.

Riko: Got dragged in by Mirai. Would feel very big deja vu next year when they both became moms to Kotoha.

Kotoha: Her moms protect her from this vice. (She found it anyways. There is no stopping the corruption of the youth.)

Ichika: Heard about it, but didn’t really care. Unfortunately for her she is on a team with Aoi, Yukari, and Akira.

Himari: Closet fan, wrote several dissertations about the science in Homestuck on Erika’s fansite. Which is probably where her crush on Honoka comes from.

Aoi: Loud and proud, likes this retro comic. Has started collabs with Yuko, Ellen, Amour, and Emiru because of course.

Yukari: She was a depressed gay teen during Homestuck’s peak... what do you think?

Akira: She was a gay teen during Homestuck’s peak... what do you think?

Ciel: She would have been save. But Undertale dragged her right into this fresh hell.

Hana: Huge fan of Undertale, but never quite pulled together the energy to tackle the behemoth that is Homestuck. Did learn through osmosis, with so many of her senpai cure friends being raving lunatic homestuck fans.

Saaya: Actually dodged both the Homestuck and the Undertale bullet initially. Hana then tossed Deltarune at her, and Saaya fell down the rabbit hole.

Homare: She had some inner hangups about getting into the whole mess, but Hana did dare her, knowing enough about the series to know that it’s message might gibe Homare the kick in the behind she needed to give ice skating another go.

Emiru: Big Undertale fan, but doesn’t care about the webcomic herself. Uncertain if even a dare would work, she does her own thing... well, besides the music. She freaking loves the music.

Amour: Read the whole thing in one hour to understand its impact on culture. What else would make her crash and join the heroes? Jokes aside, she did do it, and it did leave an impact on her. She was the one who connected Aoi and Emiru.

Hikaru: What are the freaking odds that she hasn’t read through it in its entirety three times this week alone?

Lala: Had her ship read it to her as something to fall asleep to. It put her to sleep quickly, actually, like tales from home. Her ship didn’t fare as well. It’s one of the biggest crack shippers on Erika’s site. Lala only heard like ten percent of the story.

Elena: Has neither the free time nor privacy to read a webcomic that’s now a decade old. Likes listening to Hikaru’s ranting about the series. Also likes how somehow that ranting makes Madoka’s face light up.

Madoka: It is unknown how she found the time, but she is a freaking huuuueg closet fan. She wants to talk with Hikaru about it, but still feels too uncomfortable being public about it. Hikaru does however know that MoonSollux, one of the biggest fanfic writers on Erika’s site, is her, but will wait for Madoka to come out of her shell in her own time.

Yuni: Missed the whole mess being a space alien idol phantom thief. Is getting a very wrong idea about human culture from Hikaru’s ranting. A dare would totally work.

(I have zero grasp on the Healin’ Good Girls, so not gonna do them.)

[mx-metronome]

Say, remember when I posted Thorton and I said I also planned on including a short essay about my art and true satisfaction? Well I have a few hours to kill before bed, so here is that essay. (Read More doesn’t work on mobile, I am so sorry)

I’ll start with establishing that everyone has that art. That one medium that really makes them happy, that sincerely drives them to improve if for no other reason than to learn and delve deep into their craft. Music, painting, knitting, it doesn’t matter.

Some pursue an art for the sake of wanting to impress others, then get frustrated when it doesn’t come easy. For them, practice is painful, and no enjoyment comes of it. It feels like a chore to them. But once they find that art, they stop caring about recognition, and they stop attaching their self worth to how skilled they are in that art.

My art is cross stitch. It has been for nearly a decade. Through all my years of high school, I desperately wanted to be good at something so that other people would like me. I wanted to define myself as an individual for everyone to see. Then one fateful day in April 2010, I picked up cross stitch, but not for any of the reasons above: I started because I felt it was something that I would truly enjoy. I always fancied pixel art, and I wanted to do something with my hands instead of a computer screen, so it felt natural to pick it up.

Right away, my life improved. I forgot about most of my social insecurities, and my self esteem began to climb. I started off small, with little pixel arts like Pokémon and Mario characters. The projects got bigger over time, but not big enough that I felt overwhelmed. I had a small part time job my senior year, and it paid well; I took all that money I made and immediately blew it on more supplies. Slowly, my collection of fabric, floss, and needles grew. My patterns started to as well, as I was itching to extend my skill as far as I could imagine. For the first six years, everything was fantastic.

Somewhere down the line, things changed. As I graduated college and my mental state worsened, I took steps backward back into my high school years when I was so concerned about what others thought of me. My projects got so absurdly large that it took so much energy to finish them, but I worked so hard to impress people.

At first, it worked: Barista Klug (2017) is a perfect example of this. Going into this doozy of a project, my heart was in the right place for the first three months, but as winter turned to late spring, my depression symptoms became severe. There were a handful of days where I couldn’t even move from my bed, the first days of their kind. My passion was dying, and it was frustrating to me. Cross stitch slowly ceased to be fun.

I saw him to his completion, but I was coping with a lot of stress at the time, so he didn’t feel as satisfying to finish as I had imagined. After I posted him on tumblr, and he didn’t get the notes on here that I felt reflected my efforts, things only got worse. I continued to start new, overambitious projects in an attempt to get people to notice me; I felt like a little fame and recognition would help me feel not so alone. But of the four or five massive projects I have started since, none of them have even come close to getting done.

Over the next year, the stitching just...stopped. I started a few more projects, sincerely believing a few times that my stitch itch had come back, but it never lasted long enough. I wasn’t doing anything with my hands, nothing was keeping my mind at bay. One particular day in 2017 stands out to me as the worst depression day ever, but the entirety of 2018 was my worst depression year. I was artistically stagnant, and although I knew cross stitching could be my saving grace, I never had the motivation to do it.

I finished a single cross stitch for the whole of 2018: a small, quick one of Ralsei from Deltarune, in a desperate attempt for stitching to fix my broken soul. Even though he wasn’t nearly as overwhelming a project, I stitched him for the wrong reasons: he was easy notes. It was another difficult time in my life, and I needed the attention.

This year, 2019, I feel is when I started to improve. I took a semester off of school to mentally heal, and in this momentary ceasefire, I tried to pick up cross stitch again through another overambitious project, Agent 9 the monkey. Upon completion, he will stand as my cross stitch project with the second most number of stitches, so he’s no picnic! Like Barista Klug, things were smooth for the first 3 or 4 months, but he’s since gone under hiatus, just like the rest, and I haven’t picked him up since.

So where did I go wrong? I asked myself for years. Why doesn’t this make me happy anymore? Why was I so satisfied with my work in my youth, but now I hate the mere thought of it? Saying it all aloud now, I’m certain the answer is crystal clear to all of you. But I wanted to pinpoint an answer in hopes of pursuing my craft so relentlessly and with wild abandon like I did a decade ago. I wanted a signal in this darkness...

After almost four years of complete darkness and confusion, at the end of June 2019, I received my signal. Still coping with my depression, I heard a new Pokémon game was coming out for mobile, and one of my fav (and super obscure) characters of all time would be in the core game. The clouds started to lift as my heart attached itself to an old lost fandom, granting me an urge, one that can only be granted by pure, distilled hype.

Enter Factory Head Thorton.

I knew I HAD to cross stitch him, to encapsulate the spirit that I hadn’t felt in so long. But this time, I did things differently: Why make a giant pattern with all the intricate details when this guy has sprites from the DS era, sprites that are easily transposable into a cross stitch pattern? I knew his sprite was small enough that I could finish him before school was back in session, but I’d have to work fast.

While I was working on the spritework for the pattern one July night, I had to pause and cry about it. To this day I am uncertain what triggered it, but working on this pattern filled me with such a raw happiness, the likes of which I’d never felt before. I was feeling true contentment for the first time in over half a decade, and I couldn’t contain my relief. As I began the stitching itself, that contentment carried over into my handiwork. I wasn’t stitching him because it would be a quick grab for notes (he’s obscure enough of a character as it is); I was making this stitching for myself, just a little something tangible that I made with my two hands. (If I ever came off as though notes on him were important to me, it was less for fame and more for shooting a flare into a dormant corner of a fandom and hoping I could make some new connections.)

Yeah, I felt satisfaction completing most of my other projects, but Thorton hit differently: Yeah, finishing him felt good, but working on him from start to finish felt even better, something I didn’t feel with Barista Klug or Ralsei. It was a sensation that sent me all the way back to high school, when I felt genuine passion and excitement in every stitch I made. This project was a meditation, almost a time capsule, even though I had only made the pattern a month prior.

From 2016 and on, none of my projects sparked joy. Thorton sparked joy, from beginning to end. So where did I lose my way? Well, I narrowed it down to two basic characteristics.

I think it was the spritework, what I suppose could be considered my traditional style when I first started in 2010. I moved away from sprites in 2015 or so, and it was about then that my art career started downhill. But going back to that style felt so perfect and ethereal, like it’s what I was always meant to do. I was very passionate about Barista Klug, but he wasn’t done in my old-timey sprite style.

Another contributing factor is likely whether or not I’m passionate about the subject and, by extension, whether I’m making the piece for attention over personal enjoyment. Am I considering how much I love that which I am stitching, or am I thinking about how much more people will love me once I’m done? Ralsei was indeed a sprite, but I made him for quick notes, seeing as I started and finished him while Deltarune was still at its peak popularity.

For the first time in nearly a decade, I stitched something that met both criteria, and it felt so powerful. I’m definitely taking this analysis to heart, and I aspire to pursue more projects like Thorton in the foreseeable future.

.........I say as I have already gathered $100 of materials for another HUGE latch hook project... Shame I figured this out a month too late, I suppose.

[thesecretingredientislove]

Ok, here I go:

Shows:

Spongebob (First three seasons): I am not sure. It was my first special interest on a cartoon, it made me laugh a lot, it still makes me laugh a lot. I love the voice acting both in spanish and english (specially Tome Kenny's voice). I just like the characters a lot.

OK K.O! Let's be Heroes: I absolutely love the characters, I like how some episodes seem to not be connected but suddenly they are. I love the humor and the ideas explored on each episode. I love how... absurd some episodes can get but still make sense.

Wander Over Yonder: I wasn't allowed to watch cartoons for a long time. When I watched WOY with a friend, I thought people were going to make fun of me for watching childish cartoons; fortunately I didn't let those thoughts to stop me. I was on a very bad place at the moment and WOY helped me through it. I loved the colors and the backgrounds, each episode was amazing and wholesome. I love the characters.

Kid Cosmic: Another cartoon by Craig McCracken, I was waiting for it and also I was scared of not liking it. The designs are amazing, the characters are nice, and the situations they have to deal with are... hard. I like it shows those situations.

Wordgirl: It's the characters and the humor. I love each character so much. And almost each episode made me laugh. Similar to OK KO, it can get so absurd but still make sense.

Little Witch Academia: I like the animation and colors, I like the story and the characters.

Movies:

Spirited Away: The animation, the colors and the story. The music. The movie makes me feel nostalgic and happy.

Howl's Moving Castle: Again the animation, colors, and music. Also, this was the first Ghibli movie I watched and it always makes me remember that moment. Also the found family trope is my weakness.

Promare: The animation is absolutely stunning! I like the characters. The story and characters are similar to those of LWA but also different. I like that.

The Little Prince (2015): I was in a sad moment when I watched it. It made me cry a lot. I like the animation. I like the fox plushie and the glow in the dark paint they made to decor it. It remind me not only to The Little Prince but also to Momo, one of my favorite books. I could relate a lot to the characters.

Coraline: I like the characters, the story. And the backgrounds, the colors. Laika studios made an amazing and stunning work as they always do.

Hotel for Dogs: I love dogs so much, I loved this movie. I always wanted to bring dogs to my home and gave them a home (My oldest dog was found on the street as a puppy) So the Hotel for Dogs was amazing. I would watch it several times a day as a child.

Games:

Undertale: I loved the idea of a game where I could choose not to kill anyone. And then I played it. And I love the story and I absolutely love the characters. Their personalities. The interactions with them, the game mode, the pacifist ending. It is nice

Deltarune: Again the game play, similar to Undertale, the characters, and the humor... but also all the mysteries it has.

Animals:

Dogs!: I grew up with several dogs, I find all the caniformia family amazing, and dogs in particular are really cool and cute. So I am always fascinated when I find a dog, if I am able (there are not a lot of service dogs where I live so I don't have to avoid pointing at any dog) I say hi to them and I usually tell people close to mw about the dog.

Jellyfish: They are amazing and cool and so ancient and weird. I like them. They just float and have nice colors and so many varieties.

Spiders: Such gorgeous creatures!!! I used to be terrified of them but then I started reading about them and doing research and I loved them. They are wonderful, smart, jumping spiders are playful, they have wonderful colors and an hypnotic way of moving. They are usually really beneficial creatures that protect you against mosquitoes and other insects that can be harmful for humans and dogs. Although I can allow hunting spiders on my home since my dog tries to eat them

Isopods: They're so cool!!! And cute. They have nice colors. I like them.

I have to go to sleep but tomorrow I'll share certain topics that are my special interest, like mushrooms, succulents, Teotihuacan and the origin of life.

To other autistic people, what are your special interests and what do you like about them?

[lazyknightart]

A Short Review of Deltarune (Spoiler Warning)

So after playing the first part of Deltarune and getting the ending, I've been thinking about the game a fair bit. And I've come to some conclusions.

You see, I've enjoyed it so far and Toby has made several improvements to the gameplay of Undertale's system that make it much more enjoyable to play. The new menu is quicker to use and doesn't interfere with what's happening on your screen quite so much. It just looks nicer overall. The new party and battle system that has been implemented provides some actual depth to the bullet hell combat. Speaking of the bullet hell, Toby has made that much better too by seamlessly integrating it into the combat mode. This is much better than having be set up as a minigame during interactions with characters. And then there's the divine gift that is the Run Button. No longer are we forced to casually stroll at all times, equality for all paces of movement has been achieved!

So in terms of gameplay, this is a solid improvement in every aspect over Undertale. Because let's face it, Undertale barely had any gameplay to start with. Which is fine, because it made up for it in its characters, art design, music and story. Which brings me to these aspects of Deltarune.

As far as music goes, I'd say it's simply just good. I think Undertale set the bar too high for Deltarune in terms of music. It's going to be difficult to keep up with what it's predecessor managed to do. So in that regard I think it is not quite as good as Undertale, but still fairly good in the grand scheme of things.

Characters and art design is pretty much identical. Toby is really good at these two things, characters especially. Having most of your characters be 'Monsters' that can appear any way you want them to gives you a lot of freedom in their design. I guess this helps Toby keep visual designs of characters fresh. And their personalities are just as good. Everyone likes to talk about how good Toby Fox's music is, but I think his ability to create a memorable character is just as top notch. It was true for Undertale and it's true for Deltarune thus far. Good going, Toby!

Story though... Meh.

First of all, this adventure through an Alternate Universe of dark and light and all that good stuff would have been good if not for one thing. Us. The Fandom. We have played this trope to absolute death after the release of Undertale, which made Deltarune's concepts less enjoyable. Because my brain can't help but compare it to some kind of edgy AU fanfiction. This is the only thing that holds me back from enjoying the story to its full potential. Not saying it isn't well put together, because it is. It's just that it feels too similar to what the Fanbase does to feel like an original concept.

That is my only gripe so far. Now then, let's talk about that J U I C Y ending!

I shouldn't have to tell you this since you've read this far already, but just to be sure, this is massive spoilers and is somewhat speculative. So if you don't want to be spoiled, now's the time to stop reading.

Ending Time!

After your escapade through the realm of AU Fanfiction, you end up back on the real world. You can go around and talk to the various inhabitants of the town you live in. There's a lot of characters from Undertale hanging around doing their own thing. There's also a lot of evidence to support the idea that this is not the same timeline as the one Undertale takes place in, which can be picked up on through character dialogue. You go back home, talk to Goat Mom and go to bed.

The final cutscene is... Unexpected to say the least. Your character falls out of bed in the middle of the night after some thrashing around, gets up and walks to the center of the room. They then proceed to rip out their own soul and throw it into some kind of cage. Then then hold out a knife and turn their head towards the camera, then their eye flashes red and the screen cuts to black.

The end.

Now this ending is setting off all kinds of red flags. The first thing to talk about is the main character's similarities to Chara in terms of appearance. They look almost identical apart from hair and skin tone, wearing the same clothes and everything. This scene with the knife and red eyes shows that the protagonist maybe has some kind of connection to Chara. And if my idea about Deltarune taking place in another timeline is correct, it's possible that the protagonist may be an alternate version of Chara. Or to take a more unlikely approach to this idea, maybe the protagonist once had nothing to do with Chara, and simply picked up Chara's spirit somehow similarly to how Frisk did in Undertale. But as I said this is unlikely if the two timelines are not directly linked.

Or maybe Chara has nothing to do with this in the slightest and the similarities are all just a big coincidence, or some kind of red herring to lead us astray? Who knows? Toby, probably. But something tells us that he won't let us know anytime soon.

Regardless, this spells bad news for everyone in Deltarune's world no matter how you look at it. Nothing good can come from this.

Aaaand there you have it! An overview of Deltarune so far from my perspective! So far I give it 7 Tem Eggs out of 10. It's pretty good in most aspects, but is held back by its story's similarities to the already heavily overdone AU concept that the fandom has run into the ground.