(I will refer to the Undertale versions by their names—Doctor Gaster, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne—and the Othertale versions by their nicknames. Shade, Color, Ivory, Sage.
Part 2 linked in the numbers.)
So this animation short is set in the past of Undertale, before Gaster and eventually Sans fall into the Core/Void and are forgotten.
Little Undyne is here because she is getting her blind eye checked by Doctor Gaster. It appears she really hates these check ups.
When Gaster asks her if it hurts, she rather grumpily says that it doesn’t—of course, this is still a younger version of Undertale Undyne, so she is attempting to hide her pain. Perhaps to appear strong and tough.
Doctor Gaster notices this immediately and is both unimpressed and frustrated—he shows a tendency to press on and push up his glasses when he is frustrated. He informs the girl that he needs her to communicate her pain in order to help her properly, and asks again.
Undyne budges just a little this time—saying it doesn’t hurt “that much.” Doctor Gaster asks her if she can see anything in that eye yet, to which the kid shakes her head no—she has monocular vision, just like Sans one day will.
It appears that Doctor Gaster is trying to find a way to restore the girl’s sight in her blind eye. It’s unclear if something injured her eye or if she was born blind, because she has a bandage over the eye for the rest of the short.
(Look at how cute!)
Unlike the full braid Ivory will eventually gain, this baby version of Undyne only has little pigtails.
Here we see Sans with a babybones Papyrus.
This tells us a few things. One, that Color/Sans and Gaster/Shade used to be coworkers in the lab before everything happened.
Two, that it appears Sans was Papyrus’ only caretaker; as he has to bring the baby into work with him, in a dangerous lab, rather than leave him at home with a caretaker or a babysitter.
We can also see that baby Papyrus still has that orange scarf that Sage will eventually still have—even when kid Sage and Ivory meet up again in the Garbage dumps after an event only described as “the explosion,” Sage still has that scarf.
Assuming this was something Sans gave Papyrus, we can also assume that it’s possibly another sign of Sans’ existence in Othertale other than a mysterious sock.
Although how Sage got his scarf if Sans wasn’t there to give it to him is a mystery—did he find it somewhere and take because he was cold living alone on the streets, or did he always have it—he just doesn’t remember how, when, or why? If it’s the latter case—does Sage ever wonder if he had a family or a caretaker.
Does he think they abandoned him?
Back to the actual short, it’s revealed that this is the very first time that Sans, Undyne and Papyrus have ever met.
Cuties.
When Sans makes a pun about “keeping an eye on ya,” Undyne is briefly confused—before she understands the pun, and lets out a soft laugh.
It’s a little dark, but I find it funny how Sans doesn’t wear his casual jacket in the lab but he does wear his lab coat and pink flippers. Hilarious.
(or maybe sans is either very reassured in the safety of the lab. or perhaps he’s being a little too careless.)
Here Sans teaches Undyne about “soul power”—the power of his soul that “allows him to create powerful attacks and call upon dangerous creatures in battle.”
His eye glows after saying this, and Undyne is enraptured. Sans seems to like taking on this teaching role—and perhaps it’s to make Undyne feel better about her eye.
However, we also learn that this power comes at a price. “The more power your soul holds, the weaker your body becomes.” This could definitely explain why Color’s body is so fragile and unstable after absorbing the six souls, and having done it so suddenly, why it busted his skull open.
Undyne and Papyrus being cuties. They’re already behaving like siblings.
When Undyne asks if she will also get these powers, because of her eye, Sans reassures her that she won’t because, “Dr.Gaster won’t make the same mistake with you. He wants to fix your blind eye after all.”
It appears that the reason Sans has his glowing eye in this version of Undertale is because of Dr. Gaster. Sans says it was a mistake on Dr. Gaster’s part, so he doesn’t seem to hold any ill will towards Gaster about it (at least right now), but he also says that Dr. Gaster wants to fix Undyne’s blind eye.
Does that imply that Gaster didn’t want to fix Sans’ eye—if something was wrong with it before—or that Sans thinks he didn’t? If something wasn’t wrong with it before, then why did he give Sans this eye at all—and why did Sans agree?
Either way. I wouldn’t be suprised if Gaster feels some responsibility for Color’s predicament—and such a responsibility in keeping him both alive, and sane. Perhaps he feels he’s the reason Color’s body can’t handle too much of his power without slowly and painfully dying.
(Note that, when nervous or uncomfortable, Sans seems to have a habit of placing a hand on the back of his skull and looking away. Can’t imagine how many times Color tried to do this, only to be starkly and sharply reminded that his skull is fucking busted open.
There are no mirrors in the Void. How did he react the first time he saw his appearance in the mirror? Color Sans with body image issues real?)
The two are conveniently interrupted by Dr. Gaster, who has prepped another experiment, and who ask Undyne if she will be willing to perform this new experiment—to which Undyne happily consents to.
(Dr. Gaster seems to be showing a lot of respect for his patients emotions, boundaries, and time. So either Sans consented to whatever situation led to that eye comment, or there was some miscommunication—and Dr. Gaster has learned from his mistakes.)
There is something in Wing Dings here I cannot translate.
But Dr. Gaster says that nothing is working with Undyne’s eye, and Undyne wakes up from being put under to the sound of Gaster and Sans arguing about it.
Gaster says that he is “sick and tired of all his experiments turning out to be failures.” This could just be referring to Undyne, as it seems the two have been trying to work on fixing her eye for a while now, but it could also potentially involve whatever mistake he did to Sans.
Gaster says he needs space, that he can’t think here—“not with all of you around.” A mirror to what seems to have become of Shade and Color in the Void.
Sans is concerned, calls him “Doc.” He calls out for Gaster to wait, to let him come with him—but Gaster ignores him and leaves, Sans doesn’t follow.
(I am getting a feeling this has happened before. And Sans is worried about leaving Gaster alone.)
Undyne asks where Gaster went, to which Sans shrugs. She says he hopes he comes back soon, that the lab is spooky where he’s not here. So even when grumpy and not wanting to be there, Undyne still finds comfort in Gaster’s presence. A sharp contrast to their interactions in the Void.
Also, Sans sits on chairs weird. Point and laugh. What a queer.
Yay! It worked. (Unfortunately for Undyne, she will lose her sight again in only a few moments.)
I haven't had much of a chance to draw in a while, with everything going on in my life (I made a post about Where I've Been), but I finally found some motivation to bust out my cheapy little drawing tablet and sketch up a few ideas. I plan to get a two-in-one laptop once I'm employed, but that might be a couple of months. I hope you enjoy these sketches in the meantime. Keep an eye out on my writing projects, as I'm inching ever closer to some new updates.
Have you seen JaruJaruJ's theory "Blood, Souls, and Sans?" It's basically his take on the otherworld Sans theory, and he shares a lot of the same opinions like you, for example Sans and Papyrus not actually being the same brothers from the same universe, and instead each being from a different one. If you have, what is your opinion on it?
yyyeah i did watch it. i think the man should start writing fanfiction, he obviously has a knack for angst. but he's very self referential in his own theories, and the deductions he makes and builds on are... not exactly supported by evidence. or cohesive character analysis. or tone.
Recently had a silly Handplates dream where Papyrus was trying to snoop around Gaster and Alphys’ lab, but didn’t know who Alphys was and so was trying to pass it off as his own lab lol (Patreon)
“What do you mean working for 3 days straight and only eating Noodle Cups isn't healthy?????”
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Speedpaint
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A reminder to all content creators to take a break from creativity. Try out new hobbies or go for a walk! Even reading a book will help avoid and help with burnouts, and I say this from personal experience :/
If you have a Gaster (Someone who tends to isolate or overwork themselves) then try inviting them to hang out or take them for lunch! Checking up on friends can go a long way for a person.
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Note on Q&A for the Pocket Crew: Sorry for not answering your Asks! I will get to them eventually but like I said its good to take a break from hobbies once in a while or try out other things. I've been wanting to draw more Font Trio and color palletes.
I typically only upload stuff whenever I feel like it and if I finish it. Sooo i might disappear from my social platforms for like a couple of months or two, I've been absent on my YT Channel for like a year now 💀
Anyways! That's all I want to say. God bless & stay safe 😙✌️
Welcome the members of The Shadow! There are two skeletons per picture to show off each AU they are from. If you want to know the AUs in this story, you can always check the tags! It should be a little more obvious for each set of brothers!
These fellow men are the pirates for The Shadow! That is if we exclude Sea. That lass isn't going to be a part of the crew for a while. She'll need to lose that tail before she even attempts to be on the ship, after all. Ah, that reminds me! The Captain is our youngest of the crew, Mau. Before Mau, Spear was the captain... only reason why he isn't anymore? He retired to be a cook with his brother.
The reason why Pluto is tired... well, he's up all night. Even if he's a bit lazy, he takes being the watchman very seriously. It helps that Jupiter, the boatswain, gets on his butt every now and then. Oh, that reminds me! Thank you @yeosin-n for letting me use the name Cadet for this story. He's our sailing master!
Scarlet is the quartermaster, while both Rex and Crimson are gunners. Technically Rex is the one Crimson answers to... but Crimson is way more passionate about his job. The surgeon (well, it's more accurate to call him a healer) is Mercury. Anyone else that's wasn't mentioned is just a normal member of the pirate crew.