#so yeah. even if you ascribe to uty's blue soul interpretation. maybe chill

[eilarae]

Toby really shouldn’t had the blue soul’s tutu be referred as dusty because it lead to people thinking that they were awful and murderous even though they were literally a kid stuck in a place with monsters that need them dead to have their soul

i mean first of all, based on the words used in other translations, the intended description was just like. worn. aged and dirty. and like i see where the confusion comes from, but i don't think toby really foresaw people taking every instance of the word dusty and interpreting it to mean. literally covered in monster remains.

but that being said (essay incoming),

even if the kid DID hurt monsters, the double standard some folks are exhibiting, like the individual in my last post about this (which i assume is what prompted this ask) is crazy. not that it was OKAY to kill monsters, because of course it wasn't and isn't. but uh... humans are also living and feeling beings? idk i just feel like i see far more people willing to justify folks like undyne, asgore, and ceroba for their murderous actions (yes. im counting their extremely deliberate attempted murders as murderous actions) than i do people defending blue soul kid who was almost certainly ACTUALLY A CHILD and definitely scared out of their mind from being attacked at every turn.

there's obviously quite a bit of nuance here, what with humans and monsters being separate and demonizing one another for actual millennia. the thing is, these characters with murderous intentions towards humans are very clearly products of their environment. and guess what? so is a kid that falls into a world where everyone outside the safety of the ruins not only wants them dead, but proactively seeks to make it happen. frankly, i think having a kid who killed monster(s) during their time in the underground just adds to the worldbuilding and realism.

all this to say, i don't really think it's toby's fault that some fans like to cherry pick characters' actions, condemning some while shouting from the rooftops that others should not be criticized for the same deeds because they were grieving.

they're all messy and they're all Extremely well written and realistic for the world they are in. none of these things happened in a vacuum, and it's really strange to take one person's actions out of all context and not another's.

(sorry for the essay anon ik i divulged from your point but thanks for giving me an opportunity to yap about this <3)