#floweys a very interesting character especially in his relation to toriel sans frisk and chara and the au ONLY focus on his relationship

[charafansmile]

Asriel could easily be like the god of familial love, of hopes and dreams, partnerships (friendships, companionship, puppy love if you must) and children/youth and then when he's flowey he could be the god of betrayal and spite, ala nemesis and eris. Still rooted in the ideas of love but twisted into what happens when love turns sour. Still a god of youth but also a god of lost time. Actually making him a minor god of time would also really work to tie into his character. Him being Pandora and the box at the same time would be interesting.

Transcript: ooh are we talking about reapertale? okay time to bring flowey into it because i was actually thinking about him recently—

first off, unrelated tangent, i think they did chara pretty decently? like, they used to be kind, but they were betrayed by monsterkind, etc etc. i like that, it honestly brings up what i think is a tragically unexplored part of their character. they hate monsterkind in some way for being so nice, and i think that’s why we can drive them to support genocide so quickly. i do think they shouldn’t have been evil right off the bat, of course, but hey! they’re a mythological figure. that stuff happens a lot in mythology, and more importantly it works in tangent to undertale.

flowey, though. god. amnesia does not suit him. they stripped him of character and expected him to still be flowey. it’s illogical. really reflects the early fandom’s perception of flowey and asriel as entirely different people. like being a flower makes you want to kill people or something. smh.

sorry i turned the topic to flowey but like. does he have to be the embodiment of despair. him being obsessed with chara is in-character i guess but he does it in such an out-of-character way. honestly that’s a big problem with every au! they make him a sweet little guy without actually addressing the roots of his canon problems. i mean, that or they make him the living embodiment of evil. they gave him the chara treatment, seriously.

he has so many layers though. it’s hard to fit him into one category. personally i’d make him some kind of pandora’s box thing. like an embodiment of the world’s pestilences where he used to be a closed box. helps highlight that he didn’t change, the box was always there, dying just opened it.

that might not make any sense. but man i’m tired of people making flowey chara’s lapdog. when in genocide he clearly sees himself as a partner in crime, at least until the end. (and then he defies them and ruins the whole killing humanity thing. so.) and don’t even get me started on pacifist. he tries to kill you repeatedly because he thinks you’re chara.

flowey is driven by (platonic!!) love. but it’s not the soft love you see on greeting cards or tv. it’s angry love. aggressive love. he’d do anything for the person he loves. even kill them.

honestly, maybe flowey would work better as a god of love. (yes i headcanon him as aroace but still.) “asriel” is soft, caring love. hugs and kisses and warm blankets and all that. “flowey” is the kind of love that slaps you in the face to get you up in the morning. he’s possessive, angry, passionate.

WHOO this got long.

[undertale-data]

To whoever answers this ask, which undertale character is your favorite? Mine is papyrus and napstablook (I think both are pretty great)

* Since we are not receiving more answers in the survey, we felt comfortable to share this.

Ficus Licker: my favorite character is Alphys! Her neurotic personality is really fun to play with. She has such interesting connections to the rest of the cast (mysterious friendship with Sans, creation of Flowey, only adult who knows Chara's backstory, only one besides Frisk who knows Mettaton's backstory, etc.). As royal scientist, she can be used to push the limits of magic and science when making lore headcanons. She's got a super complex backstory and I just think she's really neat!!

Vessel #1: It's a really tough choice, but I will say both Undyne and Toriel. Undyne because she fights not only for herself, but for all of monsterkind. She never forgives the player if they have killed anyone, no matter who they are. And she's also fun, strong and determined. Meanwhile, I like Toriel because she's very complex. She's a grieving mother, a leader, someone who's lived in isolation for a long time, and a goofy person too. Her story is very interesting to me and some aspects of her feel relatable to me, especially since the pandemic started.

Vessel #2: Mettaton holds an extra special place in my heart. He’s supposed to be an artificial killing machine when we first meet him, yet he is instantly likable and entertaining. Even as he is attacking the player or making questionable decisions, his unabashed confidence is so charming, and it makes all of his scenes so lively. Also, his friendship with Alphys and the way he clearly cares about his cousins but is scared of showing it tugs at my heartstrings.

[noaltbruh]

BUCCI GANG AND HOW THEY WOULD PLAY UNDERTALE

Since I got my friend into the UT fandom, and the brainrot for this game is slowly coming back, I've figured that I'd fuse my favourite franchises and make this post, enjoy!

GIORNO:

-This may surprise you, but Giorno would almost do a Blind Pacifist run

-While at first, he was planning on taking out whoever got in his way, he changed his mind in the moment he saw Toriel

-After she taught him how to resolve the various conflicts peacefully, he decided not to fight, but to show MERCY to every monster

-He finds the multiplicity of choices a very interesting mechanism, especially since he's not much of a gamer, and he's pleasantly surprised to see such an innovative game

-While most of the times he would completely avoid the FIGHT button, if a monster got on his nerves a little too much, he may attack it until it doesn't want to fight anymore

-He takes the time to interact with everything and everyone, he wants to enjoy the game at its fullest

-He was so freaking lucky to meet Gaster on his first run

-Actually brought the piece of snowman with him

-He's part of the "Chara defense squad", and finds them strangely...relatable

-He was just about to do a full Pacifist route, but he couldn't bring himself to SPARE Flowey, and killed him

-"I won't let you hurt her"

-Ultimately, he regretted it, and reset his save file

-After doing a TRUE Pacifist, he left the game, leaving the monsters alone and giving them an happy ending

-Only knows about the Genocide through gameplays

-Favourite character: Toriel, but also likes Chara quite a lot

-Favourite OST: Memories, followed by home, Undertale, Megalo strikes back and Star (he doesn't care if they actually don't play in the game)

-What SOUL would he have: DETERMINATION

BRUNO:

-My man wouldn't hurt a fly if he had the chance to, off to the Pacifist route he goes

-Similar to Giorno, he finds Toriel a very comforting character, but he feels bad for pretty much every monster he meets. He thinks it's unfair for them to be forced to stay in the UNDERGROUND, and wants to find a way to destroy the barrier at any cost

-He's never played a videogame before, but he gets the hand of it quite quickly, even though he still ends up dying a couple of times.

-He would also be the kind of player to interact with EVERYTHING, paying close attention to whatever the passing monster has to say

-Sometimes, he likes to take a break, lay down and listen to the OST of the place he's exploring

-The most challenging enemies for him were Undyne and Asgore. It took him a while to realize that the only way to spare her was to run away, and he just really didn't want to hurt Goat papa

-He lets the bird carrying him to the other side, even if he doesn't actually need to move around. He just wants the little guy to feel appreciated

-Veeeery reluctantly, he decided to SPARE Flowey, it would have been a waste to kill somebody now, after everything that he had done so far

-He almost cried at the Pacifist ending

-He refuses to even acknowledge what happened in the Genocide route

-Favourite characters: Toriel and Asgore

-Favourite OST: Fallen down, but he also likes Heartache, Home and Waterfall

-What SOUL would he have: KINDNESS

MISTA:

-Mista's first run would be a Neutral. It's not that he enjoys killing the monsters, he's mostly just too lazy to think of a way to spare them

-If it's obvious, however, he'll just casually show the enemy MERCY, there's no need to take out absolutely everyone

-The only one who he genuinely looked for a way to spare was Papyrus. Honestly, he couldn't bring himself to just hurt him 'cause he had the chance to. Besides...He was afraid of what Sans would have done

-Speaking of him, he finds his jokes HILARIOUS, and he will use them in real life conversations if he gets the chance to

-He basically wasted all his money fighting Undyne

-He didn't buy the spider donut in the RUINS, and was forced to farm gold for 3 entire freaking days and buy one directly from Muffet

-After finishing the neutral route, he decided to go back and try the others. His next route was a Genocide

-He was about to shoot his computer AND himself while fighting Sans, but he eventually managed to beat him. Of course, after swearing at 3 A. M., drinking 10 cans of Sprite, listening to Megalovania on loop and threatening to throw Narancia out of the window because he interrupted him while he was playing

-His favourite moment during the Pacifist was cooking with Undyne

-He immediately questioned his life choices when he finished the route and saw Chara taking over Frisk's body. Closed the game and never opened it again

-Favourite characters: Papyrus, Sans and Undyne. He refuses to choose an absolute favorite

-Favourite OSTs: Megalovania and Song that might play when you fight Sans. He also likes Bonetroulse and Spear of justice

-What SOUL would he have: BRAVERY

NARANCIA:

-Narancia playing this game would be a total mess. Ironic, considering he's the one in the gang that likes video games the most

-Despite Toriel's guidance, at first, he would FIGHT every monster that got in his way, following the simple "It's an rpg, the more I kill, the better it is" logic

-When he saw the "but nobody came" screen, however, he freaked the hell out and immediately reset

-After that mini heart attack, he went on a full Pacifist route. However, sometimes, he would snap and accidentally kill a monster. He lost count of how many times he had to reload the file

-He also really likes Toriel (she's just very popular among the Bucci gang). The reason for it...Is not a very happy one, like in Giorno's case

-He genuinely tried to stay with her, he didn't want to leave Goat mom

-He's the one who gets emotionally invested in the game the most, he even forgets it's a game at times and just erase the surrounding world from his head

-He LOVES to voice the characters while he plays, it makes the story feel way more alive for him. He makes a very good Papyrus impression

-Speaking of which, his favourite parts of the game were the interactions between Sans and Papyrus.

-He lost his s**t when he arrived at the Temmie village. He stayed there FOR HOURS farming money. Heck, he even bought the Temmie armor

-He refused to open the game for two days after Flowey stole the SOULS

-He wanted to ask someone to play the TRUE lab with him, but he refused to admit that he was scared

-While he's not the kind of player who stops by to read every dialogue, he makes an exception for Snowdin. He really likes that area of the game!

-While he would never admit it, he cried three times during the Pacifist route. The first time when he left Toriel, the second when he heard Chara and Asriel's story, and the third when he finished it

-His favourite fight in the game is the one against Asriel. He kept on repeating the "Don't you have anything better to do" dialogue for 20 minutes, before giving up to the idea that there was really no way to save him

-After giving the monster an happy ending, he was overwhelmed by his own curiosity, and decided to try the Genocide route...Boy did it go wrong

-You thought he cried a lot during the Pacifist? He became a freaking fountain during the Genocide. Every single time he killed a Boss, he cried, with no exception

-He spent days trying to defeat Sans, until he was given the option to SPARE him, and so he did

-...The others could hear him yelling from the other floor after what happened next

-He got tired of Sans' bulls**ts, reset and did a Pacifist again

-He watched a gameplay to know what happened in the Genocide ending. Chara's jumpscare still haunts him

-Narancia gets really involved in the stuff made by the fandom, especially fan made songs and comics

-He listens to "To the bone" religiously, it's part of his routine

-He tried and failed to figure out how AUs work

-Favourite character: Papyrus, followed by Toriel and Asriel. He used to like Sans a lot too...But now he gets Vietnam flashbacks every time he thinks about him

-Favourite OSTs: Bonetroulse, Hopes and dreams and Snowdin. He can't choose between them

-What SOUL would he have: INTEGRITY

FUGO:

-Fugo would categorically refuse to reset on his first run. What it's done, it's done, and he has to take responsibilities for his choices

-He would do a Neutral, killing whoever he encounters, but without specifically looking for the monsters just so that he can kill them

-That doesn't mean, however, that he dislikes to play with the timeline. It's quite the opposite, to be honest

-Fugo enjoys messing around with the save files A LITTLE too much, dude basically became an hacker playing this game

-In his attempt to make a Pacifist run, he fu**ed up and accidentally got the Hacker ending

-"...THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT WHEN I SAID I WANTED EVERY ENDING"

-He toned it down a little after that, but he still managed to modify the FUN value enough to meet Gaster and his followers

-He's also the only one who unlocked Sans' room. He doesn't trust him, but he finds him an interesting character

-Neither the Pacifist or Genocide endings particularly picked his interest, even though he did punch the walls a couple of times fighting Sans

-He likes to try the different Neutral endings, he doesn't do all of them, just the ones he thinks that would affect the monsters the most

-The only character he got attached to emotionally was Alphys, he can see himself a lot in her

-He's very interested in the various theories that surround this game, and he's waiting for Deltarune to come out, he just wants to know more about Gaster

-Favourite character: Alphys, but Gaster is a close second

-Favourite OST: Darker, darker, yet darker, followed by Here we are, Waterfall and Premonition

What SOUL would he have: faded BRAVERY

ABBACCHIO:

-MERCY? Is that a food? Yeah uhm...No, that doesn't exist with Abbacchio, nothing but Genocide for him

-It's already a surprise someone convinced him to play this game. He'll play in his own way, and that means killing literally everyone, not simply the ones he encounters, but even looking for them just to earn more Exp

-He was...Weirdly satisfied when he saw the "But nobody came" screen, and he was lucky enough to find every monster almost immediately

-He hadn't found a single character that he liked until he reached Undyne. Her sense of justice reminded him of his old self, which wasn't exactly pleasant at first, but at least he felt something

-He was finally happy to see a monster actually trying to stop what he was doing, and killing her was the only thing in the game that made him slightly sad

-He's still offended for not having the chance to kill monster kid, he couldn't stand that child

-He skipped through pretty much every dialogue in the game, not that there are many people to interact with during the Genocide...

-He'd eat a piece of the snowman right in front of him just to spite him, then take the rest and leave

-He didn't care about whatever Flowey was trying to tell him about his past. That's also because without knowing he's Asriel, most of what he says doesn't really make sense

-In the moment Sans dodged his attack, he realized that he had screwed up REALLY bad. After dying against him a couple of times, he considered resetting, but he wouldn't have let "the lazy skelefu**" have it his way

-He let out a huge "YES" and a sigh of relief when he finally managed to hit him, it took him around a week

-However, little did he know, that the worst still had to come. When he noticed that he wasn't the one who had just killed Asgore and Flowey, he freaked out a little, and Chara staring directly at him made him feel a small shiver down his spine

-Still, he decided to decline their offer to destroy everything, not because he regretted what he had done, he just wanted his revenge on the child for scaring him

-He closed the game after the jumpscare, and never questioned what the hell he had been through

-Favourite character: Undyne

-Favourite OSTs: But nobody came and Battle against a true hero, he also likes The fallen child

-What SOUL would he have: very very faded JUSTICE

TRISH:

-Trish got into this game just because of its music, she kept on hearing it everywhere and wanted to understand where it came from

-She was kinda scared at first, videogames aren't exactly her forte, and her encounter with Flowey didn't help

-She slowly got used to the dynamics of the game, even though she died at least three times in every area, exept for the RUINS. (She only got a game over two times there)

-She doesn't have the heart to hurt anybody, she thinks the monsters (well...Most of them, at least) are adorable! Shyren is her favourite minor enemy, and when she saw the "Taking piano lessons again" text, her heart melted a little

-She refused to take off the faded ribbon until she found she tutu, but she never sold either of them

-She loves flirting with literally ANYONE. You can? Well then...You must!

-Her favourite area is Hotland, including the Core too. She loves the whole "artificial" theme of the place, and she had a lot of fun reading Alphys's posts!

-She would pretend to be an actual part of Mettaton's programmes, but only when she was 100% sure nobody could hear her

-Needless to say, the boss fight against him was one of the funniest parts of the story for her

-Another thing she absolutely adored were the dates with Papyrus and Alphys, especially the latter. After everything that had happened, it was a nice opportunity to relax for a bit

-Similar to Narancia, Trish gets really involved emotionally in playing the game, and she had to take a little break from it before facing Asgore

-The ending genuinely made her cry, but it was the only time she shed a tear through it

-She doesn't care about trying the Genocide, she's worked hard to give the monsters an happy ending, and she wasn't going to throw it away

-She's in love with the Undertale Musical by Man on the Internet, she knows pretty much every song by memory

-Favourite character: Mettaton, but she honestly really likes all of them

-Favourite OST: Death by glamour, followed by Metal crusher, Power of NEO, and Another medium

-What SOUL would she have: INTEGRITY

Yes, I know that Narancia's part is longer, but it's just so funny to write about this baby, bear with me please 😌

[chivesyo]

Character “Dynamics” in Storytelling

When we talk about stories or media, certain elements are pretty well understood generally, e.g. “plot”, “setting”, “theme”, and “characters.” One that I haven’t heard talked about, at least explicitly, is what I tend to call “character dynamics.” Although it’s obviously related to the concept of “characters,” I think there’s some interesting stuff that comes up when you consider it specifically.

I’ll use an example to show what I mean. Here is a list of main characters* from the series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Aang

Katara

Sokka

Toph

Appa

Momo

Zuko

Iroh

Azula

(* Certain characters I could include omitted for lack of space)

When you list them like this, you get a one-dimensional structure that covers every individual character. Another way you could list them is something like this:

This is essentially a multiplication table. Each row and column represents a single character, and the intersection between a row and a column represents a dynamic between two characters. (The black boxes represent where a character intersects with themself, and the gray boxes represent duplicate intersections, e.g. Appa+Momo = Momo+Appa.)

I have found while considering this that in many ways these dynamics actually function kind of as *characters* themselves, and how they are used can have a big impact on the effectiveness of a story. I want to talk a bit about three specific aspects of this: density, diversity, and development.

Density of Dynamics

The “multiplication table” concept suggests the idea of “filling in” the squares that form at intersections. There are a bunch of ways a story can “fill in” a dynamic, but here are a few that are the most obvious/familiar:

Direct character interaction: dialogue, fights/battles, etc.

Indirect interaction: one character thinking or talking about another when they aren’t present

World building: two characters have some connection through their position in the setting (e.g. CEO/cashier, president/citizen)

Third-party observation: the dynamic between two characters is described by another character or the two characters are compared to each other by another

If you are familiar with ATLA and take your time to go through each of the dynamics shown above, you will find that almost all of them are “filled in” to some extent - even if it’s just through a very brief scene, e.g. Appa growling at Azula. Therefore, I would say that the dynamics in this series (at least for the main characters) are very “dense.” This is not the case for all stories. As examples of series with “sparse” dynamics I tend to think of a) Pokemon and b) the Avengers movies. 

In Pokemon, gym leaders and the like tend to make up a good chunk of the “major” characters (if not “main” characters). Most of the time, they never interact with each other or otherwise get their dynamics filled in, especially in older entries in the series. Obviously, Pokemon is hugely popular, so having dense dynamics seems to not be required to be “good” or at least successful. However, I think it’s worth noting that pieces of Pokemon media that are more highly praised for their stories (e.g. the Pokemon Black and Pokemon White games and the Pokemon Adventures manga) tend to beef up the role gym leaders play and give them interactions with each other.

The Avengers movies are kind of an interesting case. To me it seems like they started out with fairly dense character dynamics, but over time as they added more and more characters the dynamic density didn’t keep pace. I suspect this contributed somewhat to the difference in tone between successive Avengers movies. The first had relatively few characters and took time to fill in their dynamics at least some (both in the movie itself and ones that came before), and it also has a much more “fun” tone, there’s much more of an emphasis on comedy. The big change that correlates with it, though, is the difference in fandom activity. The first Avengers movie as far as I can tell seemed to be the one that really invigorated the MCU fandom which, although it’s still somewhat active, was pretty much out of its heyday by “Infinity War” as far as I could tell.

It seems to me that dynamic density is strongly related to the amount of fandom activity around a piece of media. What supports this in my opinion is that many of the biggest fandoms are or have been around series that are notably very dense in terms of character dynamics (although obviously there are exceptions, so I’m not completely confident):

Homestuck (which I’ve never read/seen): there are lots of characters who, from what I can tell, have many developed dynamics. In fact, if I’m understanding correctly there is an in-universe system that codifies different types of relationships between characters (i.e. character dynamics).

Undertale: if you go through the main characters (Frisk, Flowey, Toriel, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, Asgore, Chara) like we did above for ATLA you will find that the dynamics are arguably even more dense.

Hetalia: there are a lot of characters and much of the source material is dedicated to exploring the relationships between them. In addition, since the characters are based on real-world countries with, like, histories and cultures and everything, even if a dynamic isn’t addressed directly in “canon,” fans still have access to a sort of “implied” dynamic.

The reason for this probably comes down to the fact that there’s an obvious link between dynamics and “shipping” (i.e. entertaining yourself by interpreting two characters as being/wanting to be in a relationship), which is by far the primary fandom activity.

Diversity of Dynamics

Going back to Avatar: The Last Airbender, along with its character dynamics being notably dense, they are also notably diverse. If you were to label each of the dynamics listed in the last section with a couple words each you would get a big variety: “friends,” “enemies,” “enemies but one of them wants to be friends,” “siblings (friendly rivalry),” “siblings (not-so-friendly rivalry)”, “childhood crush”, “adoptive parent”, “pet and owner”, “teacher and student”, etc. This dynamic diversity effectively serves two functions: a) making characters more relatable and b) reinforcing the story’s themes.

To me it seems like the dynamics a character is involved in play a huge role in making that character relatable to the audience. Again using ATLA as an example, no one who watches the show shares the same actual experiences of the characters - it takes place in a completely different universe where human beings have fantastical powers and society is very different than our own. It’s difficult for us to relate to Aang, for example, as a person who has the ability to fly and grew up in a highly spiritual, nomadic, collectivist society. However, we can relate to Aang as someone who has a crush on one of his friends, or someone who is mourning a parental figure, or someone who has a very close bond with his pet because it was with him through a difficult experience.

Having a wide variety of dynamics in a series “widens the net” in terms of how many people are going to be able to find the characters relatable, and I think this is especially true when the characters don’t look like them. On the other hand, if the dynamics that are important to a person are absent from a piece of media, they’ll likely not relate to it as well. Despite this, it seems like character dynamics are often neglected when we talk about “representation” in media, which is a shame because I think careful use of dynamics can help to both improve the verisimilitude of a character to the people it is representing and improve the “effectiveness” of the representation in terms of its impact on other groups of people in the audience.

The character Toph from ATLA is often cited as a good example of representation for people with disabilities. Part of the reason for this I think is that her blindness doesn’t play a big role in the plot (in that it could be pretty easily removed with minimal rewriting, and in fact it was absent early in the series development) but does tend to play a big role in her character’s dynamics with others. For example, here are some of her most prominent dynamics:

Parents - Her blindness is their stated reason for being overly controlling and protective of her throughout her childhood despite her wishes - a situation some viewers could probably relate to even if they aren’t blind.

Aang - He pursues her as his earthbending teacher because of the adaptations she developed to accommodate her blindness, believing “mainstream” teachers lack the knowledge she gained through the experience. I.e. it shows a dynamic where her unique traits are treated as valuable, as a contrast to the dynamic with her parents.

Sokka - Interactions with Sokka are some of the only times when Toph seems comfortable/willing to express vulnerability. He’s the character we most often see “guiding” her when she’s in a situation where she can’t use her earthbending to “see.” 

Appa - Since she has to be in contact with the ground in order to “see,” riding on Appa is an uncomfortable experience for her, the opposite of most other characters. Therefore her relationship with Appa is somewhat unique. Obviously it’s still positive but we never see her being quite as affectionate with him as the other characters tend to be. This serves as a source of drama when Appa is stolen under her “watch.”

I think this is effective for two reasons. One, it helps to illustrate the balance between “disability (or whatever trait) has a big impact on a person’s everyday life, particularly their relationships with other people” and “disability doesn’t/shouldn’t define a person’s place in the world/society.” Two, it builds empathy in the audience because they can relate to the dynamics and see how things like disability do and do not impact them.

One last thing to say about representation: I think it’s worth noting that the Bechdel test (and its derivatives), which acts as sort of a “test” of the representation of women in a piece of media, requires 1) two named female characters who 2) talk to each other about something other than men/a man. I.e. it’s really a test for the presence of a dynamic.

The second function diverse character dynamics in a story can serve is to reinforce the story’s themes. The character Toph’s dynamics can provide some more examples to illustrate this:

Katara - To Toph, Katara seems to represent a reflection of her “prim and proper” upbringing, including all the experiences of being underestimated and bound to strict expectations. To Katara, Toph seems to represent a reflection of her tough childhood in the Southern Water Tribe, including all the experiences of being underestimated and being unfairly loaded with labor and other responsibilities. This dynamic serves as an illustration of how what can appear to be huge differences on the surface can hide profound similarities.

Zuko - Toph is the only one who wasn’t present during the first season when he was acting as the primary antagonist, so her dynamic with him during his redemption arc serves as a contrast to his dynamic with the other characters. 

Iroh - Toph and Iroh interact fairly briefly, but it’s interesting because Iroh is the only character in the show that really acts as a “mentor” to Toph. More importantly, Toph’s meeting with Iroh seems to represent the first time she has felt truly seen and respected (she had joined “Team Avatar” by that point, but her time with them up to that point was pretty full of conflict). 

You can see in many examples that dynamics are often intended to create some kind of contrast. Much like characters can be “foils” for each other (where the similarities between them serve to highlight the differences), character dynamics I think can also be foils. This tactic is used heavily in ATLA, but I think the most obvious example is the contrast between the Sokka+Katara dynamic and the Zuko+Azula dynamic. They’re very similar “on paper” (a 16 year old older brother and 14 year old younger sister; both have lost their mother; both have the younger sibling as a significantly more skilled bender; both belong to the “royal family” (or equivalent) of their society, etc.). However, the stark differences in how these dynamics play out in the show makes us think about what is different between them. Why/how did one family bring up kids that want to kill each other while the other brought up kids that are willing to die for each other? This focuses our attention and kind of “primes” us for receiving the show’s themes and moral messages, which are intended to answer those kinds of questions.

Often the “similarity” between two dynamics that contrast with each other is simply the fact that the same character is involved in both of them. We saw this in some of the examples of Toph’s dynamics: her dynamic with Aang contrasts with her dynamic with her parents and reinforces to the audience the message of the importance of not judging or underestimating people based on their surface-level appearance.

So, there is value in a piece of media in having both a wide variety of diverse dynamics, as well as dynamics that are (or at least appear) similar but with subtle differences that support the story’s theme.

Development of Dynamics

Another way that dynamics are similar to characters themselves is that they can change and develop over the course of a story. The concepts of “character development” and “dynamic development” are obviously very closely related. When a character changes all of their dynamics will likely change as well, but it’s also possible for changes in a dynamic to force changes in one or both characters involved.

In the first case, dynamic development serves as an extremely effective way of illustrating or reinforcing character development. In fact, I’m almost tempted to say that dynamic development is necessary to show character development, but there’s probably counterexamples that I could find if I wanted to spend more time or knew more about, like, literature. This is so common that it’s difficult to come up with anything to really say about it. Zuko’s entire arc in ATLA is pretty much this on a huge scale. For a smaller-scale study, you can look at Sokka and Suki in the “Warriors of Kyoshi” episode: Sokka learns not to be a sexist jerk, and their dynamic develops from antagonistic to romantic.

On the other hand, I think there is some interesting stuff to say when we consider the other case - dynamic development driving character development. Often this ends up looking like a kind of chain: character A develops, so the A+B character dynamic develops, so character B develops. We can look at the Sokka+Suki dynamic again. Their dynamic deepening after Sokka’s development causes Suki to change - he inspires her to abandon the isolationist ideals we saw on Kyoshi Island in the “Warriors of Kyoshi” episode and leave to join the war effort and support refugees.

This sort of “chaining” has the effect of upping the stakes/payoff of the first character’s development. Sokka learning not to be sexist doesn’t just mean he becomes a better person (and gets a girlfriend), Suki becomes a better person too (and because of that our protagonists have an additional ally later in the series).

So, in summary, it can be very effective to have dynamic development that either reflects or drives character development (or both). To illustrate this further, I’ll return to the subject of shipping, because I feel like “romantic” dynamics are the ones that most often fail (although that could just be my personal experience, I'm ace as hell).

At the end of ATLA, Aang and Katara enter an “official” romantic relationship. Although it was built up to an extent throughout the series, it doesn’t come across to me as especially compelling. I think this is because although the show acts like their dynamic has been developing, it hasn’t really shown it. Aang has a crush on Katara from literally the first moment he sees her, and by the third episode Katara is telling him “we’re your family now.” They start out as the most important people to each other and end the series as the most important people to each other. In fact, some of Aang’s character development centers around ensuring this dynamic stays the same. Near the end of season two, he is told that he needs to “let go” of Katara in order to fulfill his spiritual destiny, but he refuses. This causes a lot of problems for the protagonists this season, and I think is meant to serve as a kind of build up to Aang’s conflict at the end of the series about whether or not to kill Ozai.

So, this is an important character moment for Aang, and it’s directly related to the dynamic between him and Katara. But that dynamic doesn’t really change outside of like a half of one episode. They just continue being good friends who may-or-may-not end up dating until halfway through season three when they have their first real kiss. It makes it seem like all the stuff Aang went through wasn’t really all that important, so we kind of forget about it and don’t make connections with future events that would build up a theme. I tend to think that this is part of the reason the resolution of the series feels kind of empty to some people.

So many romantic relationships in media are just so boring and flat and uninspiring, and this is especially true with straight romances. This is often because the relationship is just kind of “tacked on” because it’s *supposed to be there* but it doesn’t have anything to do with the development of either character.

Conclusion

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that character dynamics are as important to a story as things like plot, setting, and characters themselves. When you realize this and decide to pay attention to it, it can really deepen your enjoyment and understanding of media. I’m very curious if this concept is already talked about and I just don’t know what it’s called.  If not, I also think that maybe creators could use this element more effectively if it was talked about explicitly.

[skeletorific]

Underfell and Swapfell Meta (aka the longest fucking post)

*You hear a distant sound of knuckles cracking. There is a shuffle, like someone sitting down and then a sound of rapid typing.

Let’s begin.

So. To start broadly:

What does it mean to “Fell” a timeline?

The original Underfell began as a simple concept: an alternative universe where “kill or be killed” was not simply Flowey’s bleak outlook, but the law of the land.

What I’m interested in dissecting here is how that law is enforced in both Fell and Swapfell, and how the societies these different enforcements styles influence the characters that populate it.

I’m going to start off with a similar origin story for the “kill or be killed” law, referring to characters by their roles rather than their names to avoid Asgore/Toriel, Frisk/Chara, etc confusion.

Essentially, both Fell and Swapfell already had worlds that were naturally more inclined to certain levels of brutality and violence, but these took a decided turn for the worst when the First Human and the Royal Heir made an attempt to break the barrier and were slaughtered by the humans living at the foot of Ebott. In a fit of grief and anger the Ruler Goat declared not only all-out war on humanity, but that until they were free of the barrier, the weak would be winnowed out of their society to ensure that when they Barrier collapsed humanity would be facing the strongest fighting force monsterkind could muster. This is the world that the Pacifist Child will eventually fall into.

This is where the timelines diverge.

I’ll start with Fell, for.....

reasons.

Asgore, regardless of universe, is inclined to make impulsive decisions, especially when under emotional duress. His Fell counterpart is no different in this. In his grief and anger he enacted the harshest forms of martial law, promising to his subjects that unless they were prepared to fight for their lives, they would not be allowed to keep them. Monsters as a society have a strong sense of communal emotion. They felt his anger as their own, and in the end, enough of them were incensed enough against humans that they were ready to follow his lead even down this darkest of paths. The few dissenting voices were soon too busy fighting off the others to rebel, and eventually were either wiped out or had adjusted to the new world order.

The first few years were pure anarchy. Monsters barely stirred outside their door, expecting to be preyed upon at any moment. Certain, more friendly and trusting subsets of monsters, like Whimsuns and Vulkins, were completely wiped out. Others, like Tems and Froggits, had their numbers severely reduced and were forced to become far more brutal. It was during this period that Toriel decided she had had enough and left for the Ruins. At first, she tried to create a safe space for monsters to retreat to, but the violence found its way into the Ruins until she eventually sealed herself off. She is disillusioned and cold, and can in fact be one of the most frightening characters in the Underground if you get on her bad side.

The anarchy wasn’t sustainable. Even if you are the biggest and the strongest monster in the area, you eventually get tired of looking over your shoulder for attackers hoping to get lucky. Anarchy transformed into Kratocracy, rule of the strong.  Eventual pockets of relative order started to form around the Underground. As mentioned, Toriel held sway over the Ruins, and though she cared little what her subjects did amongst themselves, she made certain she and any of her children would be able to walk freely.

In Snowdin, Grillby was the major power player. His bar was a strictly no-weapons zone: customers feeling unsafe was bad for business. The fireman became landlord/ defacto mayor (of sorts) over the area. He was strong enough to protect clients that paid his rent (excessive though it was), and eventually, troublemakers were either killed off or contented themselves with picking off the occasional straggler in the forest. Disappearances are not looked into but a tenuous order is kept. When the skeleton brothers moved in for a while it looked like there might be a bit of turf war between Edge and Fellby. However, Red saw to it that an uneasy truce was negotiated between them. Red ensures the Grillby’s shadier activities are ignored while Edge uses his influence over the local chapter of the Royal Guard to punish troublemakers.

Despite housing the Captain of the Royal Guard, Waterfall is a pretty much the Wild West. Tem Village and Gerson’s shop are perhaps the only areas where you can afford to sleep for a few minutes and even then its like as not your wallet will be taken in the process. Undyne has too much on her plate to be concerned with being on the clock at her own house. The area is home to some of the Underground’s most brutal and aggressive monsters, as well as a hilariously out of place snail ranch, run by the one being in the Underground who literally cannot be killed. Napstablook is not a good-tempered ghost, however, and lingering near his farm is not recommended.

The Lab is Alphys’ small kingdom, and in addition to the Amalgamates that serve as her guard dogs (brutal and twisted reminders of what she can do to monsters that cross her), she also has the Captain of the Royal Guard on a hook, and Undyne will send extra protection to her for whatever reason.

Hotland is deceptively peaceful. Muffet and Mettaton duke it out in a resource batter but open warfare is ultimately detrimental to both of them. It scares off the customers. Don’t let your guard down, though. This town is not a fist to a face, but a knife in the back. Not to mention the graphic stories of what Muffet will do to you if you don’t have money for safe passage.

The road to New Home is....surprisingly unguarded. Perhaps a silent challenge from Asgore to test his mettle. Or maybe the rumors are true. The king regrets his decision and silently prays he’ll be deposed. Angry and embittered by his countless losses, and remorseful for what he’s done to the world he once swore to protect.

Ultimately Underfell is not a society with any kind of consistent ruling class. The citizens of Snowdin are more beholden to Grillby and the brothers than whatever the royals are saying. All you need to gain and keep power is to be both strong and wary. There will always be challengers,  but the battle is in many ways honest. Schemers are few and far between.

The Underground also places a supreme amount of emphasis on the militarization of its citizens. Though the purpose has been muddied there is still a strong belief that the reason they are still doing this is to make sure humans will be facing off against the strongest fighting force imaginable. Strength, however toxic, is valuable. Brawn is also prized over brain. While a certain amount of cunning is always welcome academic types are regarded as highly suspect. Its hard to communicate to people perpetually in danger of being killed off that yes, your equations are definitely helping. Alphys’ predecessor was thrown into his own Core for not producing results in a timely manner, and she is forever paranoid of meeting the same fate. This is also why Red is even more reticent than his Tale counterpart about his background as a scientist. Ultimately its safer for him to be perceived as a thug than an engineer.

However, the primary theme of Undertale rings true through all the AUs.  There is something at the core of these people that is good. Though they can be lead by bullies and tyrants, they have a lot of respect for courage and determination. This is how a Pacifist Human can win them over. The willingness to continue to overcome obstacles while sticking to your principles is a rare trait, but one that they find fundamentally compelling. Everyone is beginning to grow weary of the war, of the loss. Suddenly the possibility of laying down their swords doesn’t seem nearly as distasteful as it once might have.

Swapfell is a very different story.

Now, buckle up kids, Toriel dissertation time.

The canon on Toriel is very....nebulous at best. Honestly this probably stems in part from the fact that most aus are built from a single character up, and this character is more often than not a Sans or a Papyrus. Its also probably a result of Toriel not being a particularly popular character for lengthy character dissertations and examination in the way Alphys or Papyrus is. Most people tend to leave it at goat mom, so the shuffle of Toriel through aus tends to be very.....flexible.

This isn’t to shit on any particular version of Toriel. We’re all making this shit up as we go along with aus and people are free to like what they like and make what they make. However, for me, what I prefer to do with aus is boil an Undertale character down to an essential flaw and an essential strength and try to preserve that across aus. For Sans, its resignation and perceptiveness. For Papyrus, its lack of self confidence and loyalty.

For Toriel, the two things I tend to preserve for her is this. Her essential flaw is stubborness, especially as relates to her stringent ethics. What she prioritizes may shift a bit. I think the Swap generally leads her to prioritize the freedom of her people over the lives of individual humans. But what is unchanging is her unwavering dedication to them. Regardless of who she has to cut out of her life, she will dedicate her all to those ethics. And her greatest strength is her maternal nature: she has a strong desire to bring out the best in people she cares about, and will tend to nurture them whether they like it or not.

Now, a Fell version would twist this a bit. No matter how I looked at it I couldn’t see any version of Toriel making the impulse choice to enact kill or be killed. No matter how brutal the world that’s quite a leap to make, and I never see Toriel as a person inclined to rashness.

So rather than a royal edict, I believe kill or be killed was less the law of the land, and more an ethos that slipped in. Swapfell Toriel is a gifted manipulator. Her maternal nature and her known attachments to everyone Underground meant she would be trusted. So when she began her work, it never occurred to anyone to distrust her.

Toriel’s resentment didn’t only fester towards humankind (though that certainly was a part of it). In a way she came to resent the world around her. How they were all chasing a dream that many of them would likely never see the end of. They grew and overtime came to forget her children as they looked towards the stars and prayed to be rejoined to them. As much as she wished the children had never gone, at least they had gotten up to do something. At least they had acted. Would any of these monsters have the courage to?

So Toriel did what any good mother would do when she saw her child sitting listless. She gave them a little push.

Rivalries were exacerbated by her playing back and forth between them. She encouraged Gaster, then Alphys to employ harsher tactics on lower criminals, arguing that consistent parasites would hurt the Underground more and more in the long run. At the same time, she pulled them back from larger conspiracies unless it was too big to ignore, creating an environment that proliferated backstabbing and theft. Her favor was never guaranteed with any of them, and she changed her minds on decisions that her courtiers feared that her mind had been taken in her grief, which earned her the moniker “The Mad Queen”. If she’s crazy, though, its like a fox.

Kill or be killed did become the law of the land, in practice if not indeed. The understanding was that anything goes, as long as you’re not stupid enough to caught. However, rather than kratocracy (rule of the strong), swapfell is more oligarchy (rule of a few). Those who already had previous access to resources and enough ruthlessness to survive quickly rose to the top.

Grillby and Napstaton continually battle for supremacy over Hotland and are the primary resource providers for the entire region. Their employees have the highest mortality rate of the entire Underground, but the pay is also unspeakably good. And given that both of them charge heavy protection fees to anyone unlucky enough to live in that area, many are willing to weather the risks.

Undyne runs her own roost in the lab but it largely content to remain unbothered by the outside world. There are rumors of her kidnapping monsters that get too close and....modifying them, but she’d argue that she’s doing them a favor by making them stronger.

Alphys’ extreme anxiety is more understandable than ever. Her job as Captain of the Royal Guard has rapidly transformed from keeper of justice to keeper of power. She has to keep those in Toriel’s favor happy, even if they’re intentions are unjust. This has lowered popular opinion of her quite a bit, and many regard her as merely a lapdog with a hammer. It gnaws at her, as she still has a profound loyalty to her people, and when she can she’ll often try to get around her orders, but in general she tends to lock herself away to hide from the shame.

Muffet is not quite the powerhouse in Snowdin as Fellby is in his version, given that she prefers to keep to herself. Still, her bar is a well known front for most of the dirty deeds done in the region. She’ll keep your secrets, for a price, and has her fingers in the pies of pretty much everything going on Underground. She’s not as cold-blooded as she’d like to appear. Ultimately if you’re down on your luck she simply sends you on your way and doesn’t bother with you. But never, EVER, cut her out of a deal. Her pet is a hungry beast.

The bros I’ve gone into lengthy detail elsewhere, so I won’t deal with it much here, but they work in alliance with Muffet and try to keep their fingers on the pulse of the town.

Asgore left Toriel once he began to understand that her newfound hobby of pitting their people against each other wasn’t going to change. He had no larger goal in mind. His mind and heart were tired, and he simply wanted to spend his days in peace, nurturing his flowers and speaking to no one as he lived with his grief. However, the monsters of the Ruins have grown wicked with their years of isolation, and he is forced to resort to brutal techniques to stay alive. His trident is never far from him, and as we all know, daffodils can be highly toxic when pushed down one’s throat. Always keep an eye on his tea.

The Swapfell monsters are hands down the hardest to redeem out of the main four aus, but like Fell they have their softer points. In a world predicated on relationships most of them are naturally inclined to quite a bit of loyalty. Friendship is a risky business, but almost all of them have a person they would sacrifice anything for without question. For the bros its each other. For Alphys, Undyne. For Grillby, Fuku. You see how it goes. Getting in good with one will ensure that the other is more likely to go easier on you. They also have an inherent respect for craftiness. Where Underfell monsters will mock and despise you for dodging attacks and running away, Swapfell monsters have an appreciation for a tactical retreat and may even praise you for avoiding getting a scratch on you the entire battle. Ultimately, they’re all tired of this long dark period, and would welcome the opportunity for peace, for no longer looking over their shoulder. The Human only has to convince them to admit that to themselves.

[underquail]

..... Would you be pissed if I asked you to answer every single one?

Nope! Here we go! This is gonna be a long post, so asks are under the read more

1. Who’s your favourite character from UT?

Mettaton! I’ve cosplayed him like...3 times (and won like $50 from a costume contest eyyy). Undyne is a close second.

2. Who’s your least favourite character from UT?

Uhhhhh.....doIhaveone if I had to pick I guess Jerry??

3. Your opinion about UT fandon:

All fandoms have their......issues. I don’t heavily interact with fandoms but the other cosplayers I’ve met at cons were pretty cool

4. What’s your favourite quote?

“Despite everything, it’s still you.” I’ve cross stitched it and it was on my college graduation cap.

5. What’s your favourite soundtrack?

I really love how Hopes and Dreams ties a few of the other themes into it

6. Pacifist, neutral or genocide?

Oh geez...playing the pacifist route makes me feel warm inside, but...I admit I’ve done about fifteen genocide runs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7. Why did you decide to play UT?

Long story short, I was having an anxiety problem and I needed a distraction. I started playing and fell in love. Since then it’s been my go to for panic attack prevention.

8. Favourite battle?

The Mettaton battle is lots of fun. I do enjoy fighting Sans, though...I’m actually better at fighting him than Undyne the Undying

9. Favourite scene?

Cooking with Undyne

10. Your first letter to Mettaton was:

Don’t remember; think I mentioned legs

11. Your reaction when you saw Omega Flowey for the first time:

fuck

12. Your headcanon about Frisk’s gender:

dfab, agender

13. Which UT character reminds you of yourself?

Alphys, no question

14. Which UT character reminds you of your best friend?

My two best friends remind of Sans and Papyrus a lil :)

15. Would you smooch a ghost?

Heck yeah

16. Which UT character would be your best friend? Why?

idk, maybe Alphs

17. Do you remember your first killed character? Who was that?

Probably a froggit

18. Did you do sth in game you regret?

naahhh. It’s just a game.

19. Which ending was your first? 

TECHNICALLY it was the hard mode end at the end of the ruins--I knew Frisk’s name from tumblr and named the fallen child that first. I then proceeded to grind since it was hard to survive. Then I reset and got the no-kill neautral ending before the pacifist end.

20. Your favourite land in UT and why: (Snowdin, Waterfall or Hotland)

Waterfall is so pretty

21. Your favourite place in UT and why: (Undyne’s house for example)

Home makes me feel fuzzy

22. Your headcanon about River person’s gender:

Irrelevant. It’s the dog on a stool under there. next.

23. Your headcanon about one of the UT characters:

Post-pacifist Alphys, with Metta’s endorsement, goes on to work more on robotics, specializing in prosthetic limbs

24. Butterscouch or cinnamon pie?

why not both?

25. Your opinion/headcanon about six human souls:

Patience lived with Toriel for at least a few months. The last of them fell a long time before Frisk did--long enough that most monsters Frisk encounters hadn’t been born/were very young when 6 fell, since many monsters don’t recognize Frisk as human.

26. With who would you go on a date?

Platonic date with Papyrus

27. Marry, fuck, kiss and kill:

Marry Undyne, fuck Mettaton, kiss Alphys......do I have to kill someone??

28. Do you wanna have a bad time?

bring it fucker

29. Your favourite UT au:

Underswap, but like...where they still retain their personalities in their new positions if you get me. e.g. Scientist Undyne isn’t a nervous wreck (meaning she’s not just Alphys) and takes an...explosive position to being a scientist

30. Your least favourite UT au:

Ehhh.....maybe Underlust? It’s kinda just over-sexualized for the sake of sexualization ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

31. Would you want to fall into underground?

Nah.

32. Describe or draw your undersona:

Don’t have one

33. One reason why you love UT:

As I’ve said before it helps with my anxiety

34. One reasom why you hate UT:

I hate the cringy perception people have of it when they haven’t even tried it

35. If you could choose one type of food from UT, what would it be?

Spaghet’s my favorite food

36. Your favourite amalgamate:

dog

37. Your headcanon about Gaster: who do you think Gaster is to Sans and Papyrus? (Father, brother, uncle etc)

I think IF he’s related he’s probably a father figure

38. Your opinion about bad puns:

I was the bane of my high school band for puns. love em

39. Do you draw fanarts from UT? If yes, then what do you like the most to draw?

If you’re reading this you probably already know I do (but I work 6 days a week so I haven’t drawn in a long time....). I like drawing Undyne a lot

40. Which of human souls fits you the most?

kindness

41. What would be the first thing you would to show to Sans, Papyrus or the rest of characters in human world? Why?

maybe a wide open park

42. Which song reminds you of UT or one of the UT characters? Why?

I thought Big Freeze by Muse fit UT enough to do a whole video for it

43. Your opinion on underloid:

Pretty cool! I have a whole playlist of it on soundcloud

44. Do you forgive Asgore for what he’s done?

yeah

45. Did you pay for Tem’s college?

heck ye

46. Have you seen any youtube letsplay of UT?

I saw Steam Train play it

47. Do you listen to any fanmade songs? If so, then which are your favourite?

not really, beyond Underloid

48. What are your favourite theories?

None come to mine rn

49. Who is your favourite enemy? (Not including boss monsters)

Shyren

50. Do you have any headcanons about Chara’s past? (Why they hate humanity, why did they fell to the underground etc)

Hmmm...well, I have a few, and none of them are pleasant. Abusive parents, misgendering, and so on pushed them to run away in hopes of never returning

51. Who is your favourite dog?

Lesser Dog. him long

52. What was your reaction to true lab?

...ah

53. Your fabourite voice acting:

I like the voice they gave Paps on Steam Train

54. At the end of pacifist run did you stay with your friends or did you come back to your family?

I always stay with Toriel

55. Who is older - Sans or Papyrus?

Sans

56. Your OTP(s):

I actually like Mettalphys a lot. And Alphyne. And Mettalphyne...

57. Your NOTP(s):

I’ve just never really liked Pap/yton. Or any incest ships, or Frisk + any non-children (Fr/ans etc)

58. Your BROTP(s): 

Undyne and Papyrus

59. Your favourite puzzle:

I like the bridge puzzle where you go to the sign and it tells you that you failed

60. Which battle was the hardest for you?

Undyne the Undying. Harder than Sans for me

61. Did you still hate Flowey after you discovered his true indentity?

Nah. Doesn’t excuse what he’s done but I like him more as a character

62. The saddest moment:

Neutral route, killing just Mettaton: Undyne’s grief over Alphys’ death

63. Which ending is your favourite?

Besides pacifist, King Mettaton

64. How old do you think Frisk is?

8 or 9

65. Any post pacifist run headcanons?

My bbs are happy

66. Your favourite NPC:

I love Tem, especially having met the real Temmie Chang (she’s awesome)

67. Humans or monsters?

monsters

68. The funniest situation:

“I’M UNDYNE AND I’M SMOOCHING UP A STORM!!!!”

69. Skeletonfucker, robotfucker, goatfucker or kinkshaming?

r o b o t f u c k e r

70. When playing for the first time how many candies did you take?

All 4

71. Did you kill or spare Flowey at the end of the game?

Spare, though I’ve killed him sometimes

72. If you had to be one of the main characters, which would you choose?

Undyne

73. If you had to kill one of the main characters which would you choose?

Well, you have to kill Asgore in every run so....yeet

74. Which character(s) would you like to cosplay?

I mentioned I’ve done Metta a few times. It’s be fun to do a casual MTT, but I’m also interested in full-armor Undyne

75. Your favourite Burgerpants’ quote?

“I’m nineteen years old and I’ve already wasted my entire life.”

[saveloadreset]

Hi ! So, huh (first post ever on tumblr, YAY !), and I have a bunch of - completely useless - questions, like, 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 maybe… 14… it seems… ? Some other people seem to have already mentionned some of these questions. Others are mine (especially the dumb ones). So here are some :

Save Note:

I’m gonna be putting my responses in like this, and also putting all the questions and answers under the cut, here!

1) Tapes in the True Lab : it is quite clear that the first three tapes were just a game. But, what about the two others ? Why were they recorded ? Especially the fact that every recording is on a different tape.

Save Note:

It’s hard to say … Though I suppose it’s equally important to just realize that, the biggest reason these tapes and laid down like this is because Toby needed to show this to us.

Perhaps there was a morbid wish to reserve their child on film in the last moments they had together. Perhaps Chara wanted to record it for posterity. Or perhaps there’s no good explanation, and this was just the best possible way to display what Toby wanted to show us.

2) Flowey did absorb six souls. Wasn’t he traumatized enough about having absorbing Chara’s soul ? Something must have let him believe that, this time, he would have been in control, right ?

Save Note:

It’s hard to say and we may never really know the answer. Perhaps there is a difference between absorbing a SOUL you wish to dominate and absorbing a SOUL that you want to hang out with you.

On the other hand … Perhaps absorbing the SOULs was the only thing that Asriel could do. He wanted godlike power, to reassume his form and unmake the world. Whether he would be stable or not, or totally in control or not … Maybe that was just never the important part.

Perhaps his desire to become whole was more important to him than anything else.

3) If the 2)’s answer is what I – kind of – think, then, I’m pretty unsure about why the fallen child lost control. Could it be because Asriel didn’t force them to stop ? Perhaps did he use… a softer way…

Save Note

Impossible to say! Perhaps Asriel was still mostly in control of his body with a power to ‘seize control,’ and simply allowed Chara to move it as they wished, being best friends and all. Or perhaps it’s easier to send control of the body into confusion than ‘take control.’ Perhaps Asriel won in a battle of wills. Or perhaps Chara didn’t fight back that hard, and was instead disheartened because the Asriel who said he believed in him turned away.

Unless we hear more about it–and unless Chara tells us I don’t think we will–this is all we have.

4) Still related to 2), about Flowey and the six souls… What happened ?

Save Note

Let’s remember not to judge Flowey too harshly for thinking this would work. Because remember … It did work. It worked. For a while.

Their powers belonged to him, and they were subservient to his cruel and terrible will. It was only when Frisk ‘woke them up’ that they began to rebel, and even that took a while.

And remember: Omega Flowey is playing with you. He sees himself as being in a position of ABSOLUTE power. Because he HAS absolute power. If he wanted to kill Frisk, he could. He DOES. Hundreds and thousands of times. The SAVE file has been wrested from Frisks’ control, and now belongs to Omega Flowey! He may not be the god of this world, but he’s so close there’s no difference!

If Omega Flowey had thought obtaining Frisks’ SOUL was more important than toying, or maybe ‘playing’ with them–depending on whether you really believe Flowey’s end goal was to kill them–Flowey could have simply killed Frisk, taken their SOUL, become god and unmade the world. He could do that. He choose a roundabout way which ultimately allowed Frisk tos top him.

I kind of believe that Frisks’ SOUL wasn’t even that important to Flowey in the end. I think the LAST thing he wants to do is destroy a playmate who’s has, finally, been able to play with him across different timelines.

5) Alphys’ chronology about determination experiments and the previous royal scientist, Doctor W.D. Gaster. Someone (camilaart tumblr) already talked about this strange chronology with Shyren’s sister, and despite this, Alphys states that she was the one who extracted determination. Unless, finally, it wasn’t such a long time that the previous scientist disappeared, if you take resets in account (and in that case, he was pretty old, to have seen the first golden flower bloom in a garden, just before the queen left)… Does that mean the three guys are not affected by resets ? Or does that mean Gaster’s situation looks like what the Goner Kid described ?

Save Notes

I’ve written about this actually, I think, at length. If this is the same theory that I think you’re referencing, then I disagree with it at a base level.

tl;dr: The determination progression in the notes is actually entirely an alphys production. I’ve responded to camilaa’s Gaster/Alphys theories before. But to condense it down: we know that there was a long gap between Gaster’s tenure as royal scientist and Alphys’. And since Alphys earned her prestige by working on an unrelated project, she was not involved at all with the Lab or any experiments about it beforehand!

The entries we can read in the lab are ALL penned by Alphys’ hand. We know very little about Gaster and his experiments–I personally believe the results of their research may have converged on similar points, but that even if both somehow discovered DETERMINATION, they must have done so without realizing the other had done it.

Whatever Gaster got up to, I’d suggest that’s a thoroughly pre-alphys time, and that we’e never heard anything explicitly about it in-game except from the Gaster Followers.

6) Suzy, by herself. How is she related to Gaster and Sans ? She lives in New Home, and this was where Sans and Papyrus have lived before moving to Snowdin. But then ? I think you’ve already dealt with this subject (Frisk, Chara, Asriel, Papyrus, Sans, Undyne, Alphys, Toriel, Asgore, Blooky, Mettaton, everyone actually… still much mysteries ! Guess everyone has such a DEEP HISTORY !)

Save Note

Hang on. Let’s take some time to sketch this out. Where are sans and PAPYRUS from?

But no seriously let’s think about this. Do we know where they came from? We don’t, actually. The bunny shopkeeper says they just ‘showed up one day and asserted themselves.’ Could that mean they immigrated from the city? I mean, it’s entirely possible!

But let’s remember, that sans is really sore about not being able to go ‘back,’ worrying that even if you could, it wouldn’t be ‘worth it.’ And this place he wants to go back too, is it the surface? Nah, actually, it’s not. Because we hear him talk about how ‘I gave up on getting back long ago. And going to the surface doesn’t appeal either.’

And he can just walk back to the city, right? It’s overcrowded, but he can visit. He can see them again. So. What’s up? Where’s sans (and likely PAPYRUS) from? The city? Or … Is there something stranger that we don’t know about, yet?

As far as Suzy, I tried to condense everything we knew about her into a post once. I haven’t felt a need to amend it since. It’s not much, but it’s interesting.

7) undertale tumblr already talked about Shyren’s lower body… Why ? I mean, I’ve already seen it in the theory mentionned in 5), but still…

Save Notes

I know the literal answer, though I’m not sure what the significance of Shyren’s lower body is in the larger theme of Undertale lore and what it implies as so far as secrets, if in deed there are secrets to be gleaned from it.

See, Shyren’s lower body doesn’t dissolve when Shyren is killed. This suggests to us that the lower body isn’t part of Shyren! Because it’s not! That ‘lower body’ is actually Shyren’s agent, an entirely different monster who appears to have a lot of similarities to Aaron, at least in body shape. We can find ‘agent’ in the list of monsters in datamining, here.

What does that imply? Heck if I know! But that’s what’s up with Shyren’s lower body. Perhaps it says something about the way that we sometimes perceive two characters as one character, when our perspective is a little messed up, or something about not forgetting the little details on monsters, or how even people who don’t talk can still be characters.

Or maybe it’s just a little detail that Toby thought would be fun to share with us.

8) How many dogs are there ??? Sorry, I mean : seriously, isn’t Chara a bit colorblind ? I mean, the cylinder in Undyne’s house appears blue, right…? And there was a patch colorblind-friendly, so…

Save Note

I’m confused by the question. The colorblind change was to make the blue attacks more distinct from the white attacks, so that colorblind people could see them more clearly. I don’t think there’s any other meaning than creating accessibility for more players.

9) Chara described how they came back at the very beginning, with a power (determination, probably). Asriel emits the hypothesis that his call has waken them up. What I want to know is that why Chara is able to see Flowey on a black screen, at the end of neutral/pacifist run ? Especially neutral ? Plus, we never hear their voice, even in their memories. Does that mean that everything we see is from their perspective ?

Save Note

We also don’t hear Frisk’s voice. And, one thing to remember is that there is a popular theory that most, if not all flavor text is actually just Chara talking to our Frisky business.

But that’s not your main question. What’s the significance of the black screen? Well, we actually see that kind of perspective all the time! PAPYRUS’ date, the powow near the end of pacifist, every single fight that we have … the black screen, most of the time, simply says ‘we are in a first person perspective right now.’ 

I don’t think there’s any more importance to that; that we are simply looking at Flowey in the way that we might look at him from a first person perspective.

10) About the save powers : there are 10 files in the datas. Ten ? But I thought there were eight children and Flowey ? Do you have an explanation ?

Save Note

Could you give me more context for this question?

11) If we take the fact that Chara may have had save powers in account, why Chara didn’t reset ? Perhaps they couldn’t ?

Save Note

You have my thoughts. I think they were prevented, or simply lost the determination to keep going.

12) And also, what happens with GAME OVER ? A soul that shatters ? I thought monsters were supposed to take it ? Or perhaps it doesn’t shatter, but it’s quite unclear for me actually.

Save Note

It’s hard to say whether the SOUL shattering is just the depiction of death that Toby chose to go with, or whether it’s literally what happens. If so it implies something interesting about the nature of Frisks’ SOUL, or perhaps LOADing. Perhaps Frisks’ SOUL is unusually weak, or doesn’t hold together well. PErhaps that’s what happens when someone loads! Or perhaps the SOUL shattering is just the most useful depiction we have for death, and we’re all thinking about this way too much.

Unless I hear otherwise, I’m going to assume it’s a stylistic choice that Toby made in the beginning, and didn’t feel like changing. I won’t be surprised if it turns out to mean something, but if it’s just how things turned out … I won’t be disappointed. 

13) Where did Chara get that power of destroying the whole world in, like, 2 seconds ? I mean, knowing the definition of LV and EXP. I don’t know why, but perhaps have they much control since the very beginning. Also, wonder it it is Chara’s soul in the machine in True Lab(radory).

Save Note

We don’t know!

Which is weird, I know, but … We have no reason to believe that Chara has the power to destroy the world at the end of that. I don’t THINK we absorbed any monster SOULs, so I don’t think that we have become the kind of creature which can absorb the other six human SOULs … And wouldn’t that be depicted?

It’s weird, because it implies that there is something about the cosmic layout of the world which we just don’t know about. An angle and power that we have no context for … Was it LOVE that let them kill the world? How? Because we know how LOVE makes monsters more fragile, but we have no reason to believe that the world cares how much you want it dead.

Is there something special about Frisk? Something special about Chara? Something we just don’t see? It has to be one of those three things, but we can’t know more about it yet. We just don’t have the tools!

As for the machine, whether Chara’s SOUL is in there or not, it’s certainly no coincidence that it has that big smile and red heart on it. There’s something of Chara involved in that. I don’t know if it’s their SOUL, or their DT, or their power … But I believe this isn’t the first time they’ve been in the True Lab.

Call it a hunch.

14) Why is Chara’s speech so different from the flavor texts, in Japanese and in English ? Like, almost no contractions (more than Toriel though), or almost no agressivity ?

Save Note

It’s a very different kind of talk. I think that’s most of what’s happening. The speech is meant to sound threatening, disjointed, and disconnected from the rest of the experience.

You could argue that this simply means that Chara has never talked to us. But Chara has clearly talked to us through the narration, through ‘it’s me,’ and ‘my bed’ and ‘my drawing’ before. So I don’t think it’s potent enough to dismiss narrachara at all.

And finally… WOULD YOU SMOOCH A GHOST ?  %  =)  (have some ghost’s faces !) I’ve added this question because I’m a dirty liar ! (sorry)

Save Note

HECK YEAH!

Thanks for reading ! (or at least reading the last line…?). And sorry for this.

[simonsoys]

What kind of music do u hc the undertale characters listen to?

I feel like it’s hard to say since I think anyone can like any kind of music. I know I’ve been surprised by a lot of people’s tastes.

But I’ll give it a shot!

Frisk

Neutral, generally likes everything. [Insert your own musical preferences here]

Toriel

Maybe owns a radio?? On the surface someone gets her an mp3 player and she only put like 20 songs on it. 11 of them are the Frozen soundtrack.

Historically likes gentle songs. Likes contemporary classical music. Guitars. Cellos. Piano.

Since arriving on the surface, likes girl power pop music. Stuff like Roar and Fight Song and Mr. Know-It-All. Alphys and Frisk help her use the iTunes.

(A part of me also feels like she might have a passing interest in pop-country music? Summer nights and trucks and daisy dukes SOUND nostalgic and relatable, even though she’s never experienced those things.)

Sans

Classic rock and experimental stuff from the 70s. Out of everyone I feel like he’s the most likely to have a secret bitchin’ record collection. –I say records, but I also think he’s the sort of person who keeps a cassette walkman in his pocket on sentry duty. Between both bros, this is the format most frequently picked out of the dump. 

Appreciates jazz too, but not for any reason related to the trombone. He literally only learned how to play the three notes required to do WOMP WOMP WAAAA and nothing else.

Also found a Dr. Demento mixtape once and has cherished it forever.

Papyrus

80s and 90s hip hop? He tries really hard to rap along with the words. He’s gotten very good at enunciating! Had a brief period of his youth where he wanted to be a professional rapper spitting sick rhymes, probably.

Also Janet Jackson for some reason?? And similar pop ladies from that era. I want you to visualize Pap singing and dancing along to Paula Abdul.

Has not learned how you can get the tape back in a cassette. He thinks Sans has a special device for fixing them in his workshop. Technically he does, it’s called a pencil.

MK

Metal. All kinds of metal. #1 Underground headbanging champ, 201X.

Undyne

Piano! Has a surprising softer side that is appreciative of the classical arts. Actually does some in depth music theory studies.

Also likes the high energy theme songs from Alphys’ anime and wants one for herself.

She prefers her music live. It’s better when it’s fresh.

Alphys upgraded her phone to hold music too now! She’s secretly an analog purist, but appreciates the gesture! Alphys claims the difference between a digital file and a live performance is negligible. In relationships though we have to overlook some of our partners’ flaws.

Napstablook

Likes to take in lots of different stuff. Appreciates virtuosity. Not committed to any one genre.

They love electronic music the most though, and it’s what they write the most of themselves. Also likes to do remixes. They’ll remix their own songs, or other people’s. They’d love to collaborate more, if they weren’t so shy…

Despite sharing a dedication to music with Undyne, they’re like, polar opposites on the digital v. analog debate. Blooky thinks digital is the way of the future. Has a Soundcloud account and wants their music to be free to the widest audience possible.

Downloads a lot of illegal music. Like, has terabytes of the stuff on hard drives in their house. You feel your sins crawling at 56kbps.

Alphys

Weeaboo trash. Her music collection looks roughly the same as mine did in 2007.

Also follows KPop religiously. Knows every band member’s name. Knows the all labels they work under. Oh, so like Gangnam Style, asks Undyne. Alphys sucks on her teeth and says sure. In relationships we have to overlook some of our partners’ flaws.

Tends to like upbeat pop stuff more than anything else. She just likes catchy music and fun dance routines.

Listens to everything digital. Any CDs are ripped immediately.

MTT

Lots of showtunes. Likes songs that require over-singing and belting out long notes. Fascinated by Broadway and performance art, but feels like humans don’t push it far enough.

Feels like disco was the right direction for music to go in, and he doesn’t understand why it was abandoned. 

Dislikes the aimless electronica that Blooky creates (not that he’d ever say it), and likes music better when it’s got a bumping beat and fun vocals.

Actually shares Alphys’ love of Asian pop groups. He’s all about style and presentation, and baby, they’ve got it!

Is in a constant state of borrowing other people’s music. Doesn’t really have a personal library– he just points at the nearest person and is like “find me something I can dance to!” …That usually works, actually.

Failing that, he’s more of an internet radio kind of guy. Since becoming famous on the surface, fans have been making fan playlists for him and his show. He tries to listen to all of them and leave a personal comment and like. Eventually it gets to be too much to handle, but he still always has a fanmix on in the background when he’s doing other things.

Asgore

Would actually prefer some peace and quiet, tbh.

He’s never really gotten into the newer music (newer meaning, created in the last 1000 years). He misses the chants people had in the Dark Ages. They just don’t make them like they used to.

All the same, he likes to attend concerts. Especially chorus concerts. He probably cries when the voices are really great. He never misses a single kids’ concert at Toriel’s school.

Undyne found a nature sounds disc when they were still Underground and gave it to him. It makes him sad, but he cherishes it and has thoroughly worn it out. He liked to share it with other people when they asked him what the surface was like. It is the only recorded album he owns.

Asriel

Liked upbeat songs that were popular at the time. He was a wiggly kid that danced to everything (really badly). He looked like a goof, but he never realized that about himself and had a lot of fun.

As Flowey, he claims to hate everything. And it’s true that music doesn’t move him the same way it did. Sources say they saw a flower bobbing to the beat in the crowd during MTT’s fight with the human though.

Since coming to the surface, it’s become a dream of his to crowd surf at least once in his life.

Chara

Likes sad songs. Likes to listen and stare at the ceiling and think about life. Asriel doesn’t understand how listening to something that makes you feel bad… could make you feel good?

They find it calming and it brings them to another place. It’s nice to just… detach for awhile.

[simonsoys]

So what movie genres do you think the UT cast likes? I can imagine Alphys and Sans nerding out and nitpicking sci-fi movies together for one thing heh.

Ooh! Good question! Asks like these are my favorite haha!

I’m actually going to broaden this to TV shows too. Maybe like, what their Netflix history is.

Frisk

Loves Pokemon. Has watched every single episode in sequential order. (Toriel insists on knowing what Frisk is watching, so she’s had to sit through all of it too. She’s mostly confused by what the point of all this is, and is going to barf if she hears “Gooomygoomygoomy” one more time, but admits she quite likes Brock.) Also watches a lot of Pokemon-like shows.

Occasionally watches Sesame Street, even though it’s below their age range. It’s hard to find monster-positive shows.

As for movies, its pretty much anything animated or based on a kids’ book and nothing else right now. Everything must have a happy ending.

But even more than watching Pokemon shows, they’re into Youtube Let’s Plays. They like Minecraft videos, especially Stampy. (Undyne thinks the concept of watching other people play video games is ridiculous and yells at Frisk to go outside.)

Ambivalent about Frozen. Liked Olaf but that’s about it.

Favorite movies: Matilda; The Little Prince.

Toriel

Likes PBS Masterpiece Classics, like Downton Abbey and Indian Summer. 

Probably likes Benedict Cumberbatch.

A sucker for soppy British movies.

Loves The Walking Dead more than you’d expect. Carol is her favorite.

Likes the variety of crafting shows that humans make and put on TV and YouTube. Has thought about making and uploading some of her own.

Gets overly invested into some of Frisk’s kid movies. Bought Frozen on DVD for Frisk. Honestly. For Frisk. 

Favorite movie: Philomena

Sans

Into Sci-Fi movies a lot, even though he knows the science is bogus. He and Pap both like Star Wars, it’s got a lot of non-humans who are good guys! (A head canon I ACTUALLY had previous to this ask– the two of them have seen the first Star Wars, but it’s the only one that’s fallen into the Underground and circulated. They don’t know about Vader’s relation to Luke or what a Yoda is. The monsters are possibly the only fans on the planet who haven’t been spoiled on the ending of the OT yet. Some kind human souls learn about this and set up a screening of it in a theater, so that monsters have a chance to see it properly before having it ruined for them. It’s beautiful.)

He also has a large appetite for 90s high school romcoms? Like 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless. It’s light and funny.

Not as big on TV shows. Likes to have the experience done and over with in one sitting.

Falls asleep without fail during Frisk’s movies.

Except for Frozen, which Toriel’s watched so many times, he managed to stay awake once for it. He thought it was kinda stupid through 2/3rds of it, but the final act got him. SIBLING LOVE is relevant to his interests and now he kind of digs the movie.

Favorite movie: The Fifth Element.

Papyrus

Watches The Bachelor religiously.

Watches Dancing with the Stars religiously.

Still watches anything MTT comes out with. 

Not a binge watcher. He likes shows that are on live.

Likes to watch random YouTubers’ Vlog channels, and no one’s totally sure why. It’s so weird… watching them daily, they feel like friends that haven’t met you yet. 

Animated shows are for children. …But Power Rangers is cool.

Sees every superhero blockbuster that comes out in the theater. 

Doesn’t typically watch anyone else’s shows or movies. If it’s not something he likes, he doesn’t have time for it.

Forced to sit through Frozen at least once. Whined about Elsa’s amateurish ice magic technique and poor casting form throughout the ordeal. 

Favorite movie: Star Wars.

MK

Probably watches PG-13 movies eVEN THoUGH THEY’RE NOT YET 13??? Scandalooz!

Is more of a Digimon kid. Arguments have been had.

Also likes superhero movies a lot, and Godzilla movies.

Watches a lot of Ninja Warrior/American Ninja Warrior, and has decided they’re going to take the challenge someday.

Hates Frozen, 0/10,literally the worse movie ever.

Favorite movie: Any Godzilla movie where he’s a good guy.

Undyne

Is disappointed to learn that anime isn’t real. But that’s okay because soon afterwards she discovers Jackie Chan movies and that’s even cooler?? Martial arts are her new jam.

Likes the idea of Ninja Warrior shows, but just feels like there’s a significant lack of real danger. Needs more fire and deadly pits.

Likes watching YouTube videos of people playing musical instruments in really crazy and incredible ways.

Sometimes likes more artsy films? Like with music, she’s not all action all the time.

Still watches anime with Alphys, even though she’s learned the truth.

Frozen had fighting! And magical transformations! And a gripping love story! It’s practically an anime! (Though not the best one she’s ever seen.)

Favorite movie: Hero

Alphys

Continues to be anime trash. Probably likes most of the gay sports anime the best.  Also cute romances like Ore Monogatari!

Watches MST3K with Sans sometimes. They also found this old show where people build RC robots with sawblades on them and fight each other and they LOVE it. They’re considering organizing their own tournament at some point.

Not as into sci-fi movies– but is very into complaining about sci-fi movies. Likes to write long blog posts about why they’re bad/inaccurate.

Likes Dr. Who, despite the above statement.

Really likes cheesy romances. Watches a lot of K/J/C-Dramas.

Total weekly intake of movies and shows in hours is obscene and embarrassing to repeat.

Has blogged about Frozen’s clunky narrative and weak execution of its core themes, but has to admit the characters are lovable and has drawn at least one fanart of it. Has the unpopular ship of Elsa/Hans and just won’t let that shit go.

Favorite movie: Mew Mew Kissy Cutie: Super Lovely The Movie: Extra Doki Extended Cut Edition

Blooky

YouTubing music videos all day.

Watches concert recordings.

Watches MTT’s show every day.

Downloaded the Frozen soundtrack off the internet, but has never watched the movie and genuinely has no idea what it’s about.

Forgets they own a TV 90% of the time.

Favorite movie: ?? Doesn’t really have one. …Sorry…

MTT

Competition shows are great, but he gets frustrated by how long and drawn out human reality tv is. Between each commercial break it should be wall to wall excitement! That’s his philosophy anyway.

Is actually consuming as much film as possible now that he’s on the surface, from a variety of genres. Where Napstablook and Undyne are passionate about music, MTT sleeps and breathes film studies.

Watches the news a lot too?? Probably the best informed monster besides Asgore. He has a news program of his own, and filters a lot of the world’s current events through to monsterkind. He has to always be in the know! …It also helps for making funny, topical statements. His 1.5 million viewers love topical statements!

He’s actually a really effective reporter. There’s no region too dangerous for him, he’ll report from anywhere. War zones. Active volcanoes. Maybe even space? All while doing it in a stunning blazer and perfect hair.

He’s busy a lot, so doesn’t actually have time to watch too many things.

Frozen is exactly the kind of movie he’d make, except that Elsa’s sparkly dress did not have enough screen time. For that matter, more characters needed sparkly clothes. Someone bedazzle that reindeer, stat. 

Favorite movie: Grease; Moulin Rouge

Asgore

New to movies and TV, but is slowly getting into them. There are so many violent movies and shows out there! So he mostly lets other people recommend things to him. A member of Oprah’s Book Club. He watches the movie versions of the books he’s read.

He likes stories about peoples’ lives. Watches Dr. Phil every afternoon. Recently he’s been touched by the stories of My 600 Lb Life and Teen Mom.

Is the only sports fan in the bunch. Prefers being there in person to watching on TV, but that’s not always feasible. Paints his face, even when he’s watching from home.

Frozen was a good movie and he enjoyed it quite a lot. Thank you, Undyne.

Favorite movie: Tuesdays With Morrie; Fried Green Tomatoes

Flowey

Loves YouTube Poops and he doesn’t know why.

Hates sad movies. Hates any movie that makes any attempt to make him feel things. Up is a dumb movie.

Doesn’t really care about TV or movies, but likes to watch with other people and chatter over it to ruin their experience. He really just wants to be the center of attention.

Probably pretends to like Adam Sandler movies, but doesn’t actually like Adam Sandler movies.

Likes America’s Funniest Home Videos, especially the ones where people fall off water skis.

Frozen is disgusting and would’ve been better if everyone turned into ice and died. The end.

Favorite movie: Anyone else’s favorite, so he can ruin it for them.

Chara

Doesn’t have much experience with TV or movies outside of what Frisk consumes.

Secretly has the same crappy taste in anime and K-Dramas as Alphys, but is stuck with Frisk’s over-indulgence in YouTube and Pokemon.

Sibling estrangement and isolation is a theme too close to home. Spends too much time drawing parallels between themselves and the rest of the cast, to the characters in Frozen.

Favorite movie: Frozen