#utmv fandom how do we feel about them?

[neos-nero]

Insanity & Infected ramble ig?? (more so hcs and stuff)

I need everyone to know how much this duo has changed my brain chemistry as well as my life /j

Excuse my bad grammar or spelling mistakes you might see lol

(PURELY PLATONIC BTW - I don’t see them romantically together AT ALL‼️)

RAMBLE AFTER CUT!

Insanity and Infected lack empathy and are clinically insane, so you’d obviously think it’d be hard for them to even care for each other.

Yeah, you’re right lol.

It took them a while (mainly because Insanity kept jumping Infected at any given chance instead of actually talking to him) to care for each other in their own way. It’s subtle sometimes, then other times everyone is unsure if they do even care about the other’s well being.

Insanity is more prone to stay by Infected’s side instead of wondering off mid conversation. Hell, he sometimes stops himself from doing something if Infected finds it boring (if Infected finds it boring, so does Insanity?). He notices when Infected stops moving at the mention of a certain name. He doesn’t ask, since Insanity has a vague idea already. Sometimes, he’d call out his name, to see if Infected reacts. Insanity finds himself to be at his calmest when he’s with Infected. He doesn’t know why. I mean, he still does his usual, just he’s more comfortable to do so around Infected. Maybe, it’s the fact Infected doesn’t nag him, scold him, or even hold him back like countless AUs have tried. Instead, he just watches him with a small smile, joining him if he feels like it. Or maybe, it’s the times where they eat ice cream, after lighting an ice cream van on fire, that put Insanity at (somewhat) ease.

Infected found Insanity’s clinginess towards him annoying at first. But, he soon grew attached. Infected is more of a listener, more specifically, he likes to hear Insanity ramble. Sometimes, he finds himself repeating whatever Insanity has said to him, when he’s alone. At times, it might seem like Infected is bullying Insanity (not actual bullying - Infected just speaks/interacts harshly with Insanity), but this is just his way of showing some care to Insanity (poor guy doesn’t know how to show actual care because Alphatale lore - I’m lazy sorry). He often plans when they should hang out, not really where, since the both of them don’t really care. Infected doesn’t really remember when he started expecting Insanity’s visits. When he started to count down the days, the hours, the minutes, the seconds. Or when he began to talk to Insanity more, instead of just listening.

Then there are the times where they act “normal”.

Visiting peaceful AUs (when Insanity isn’t covered in blood, or holding a head), eating ice cream, sharing experiences or stories, making puns, etc.

Normally, neither would enjoy these things but, with each other it’s a whole different story.

Infected sometimes hears a thought at the back of his head when he’s having fun with Insanity.

“Is this what could’ve been, with them?”

Sometimes, he’d end up finding himself in the middle of a really loose hug, or his hand laying on Insanity’s head after the thought (head pats lol). He doesn’t know why.

Insanity does. He wouldn’t tell him though. He finds a weird comfort in this (bro is touch starved but doesn’t know that - same with Infected).

Essentially, they’ve built up a familial connection with each other. Seeing each other as family.

(More so Infected, as he views Insanity as a younger sibling, because his actual family barely interact with him outside of fighting the guy)

Anyways, thanks for coming to my ted talk about my fav duo ever.

(Here’s a drawing from my Insanity parody account on twt)

[kamari333]

A 2025 Recap of Kam's Fanfics

This took me all day to put together, for some reason XD But now I've got it and I can share it!

I hope if you read through all this, and click into a fic, you find something you like! Let me know with a comment (or two) if you do!

The very first fic I every posted on AO3 was "Resonance".

I had never actually played Undertale before, but I had watched someone else play it. I stumbled into the UTMV on complete accident, and was greatly inspired by the fanon at the time (early 2017). I decided to just.... go for it. Try writing a story where all the AUs I liked and thought were cool got to come together. I got to experiment with characterization, motivations (and the logic behind them), prose, dialogue, and of course narrative. From May 3rd 2017 (i only posted on May 5th because that's when my account activation was approved -- this was back when you needed an invitation and there was a waiting list) to June 30th, 2018, I wrote this story with no plan and (if i remember correctly) no betas.

"Resonance" is an action-adventure story. It's initial premise is to compare and contrast various AUs by pulling them all together in one place. If you've ever seen "Into the Spiderverse", it is a lot like that, but with Sans Undertale, and written before "Into the Spiderverse" was even a thing. It takes the '6 Skeletons' trope that was pioneered in the xReader subgenre of UTMV and puts it in the context of Fontcest and Sanscest (as well as other ships like Soriel, Papyrus/Chara, Frans, and Papdyne). It gives some passing exploration to heavy narrative tropes like incest, self-harm, major character death, rape, torture, the yandere, drug and alcohol abuse, and sacrifice for the greater good, making it a Dead Dove if I've ever written one.

"Resonance"'s greatest strength, I think, is its character depth. I think I put a lot of good work into fleshing out the 6 main characters throughout the story, justifying the choices I made for their deviance from canon and their purpose in the narrative. It's other strength is its emotional impact: I think, for a first try, I did fairly well with the big emotional setups.

Where "Resonance" falls a little weak, admittedly, is its narrative drive. This is the most obvious in the ending, which drags on a bit without really giving a solid conclusion. While the story serves the purpose I intended for it, the open ending lacks a concrete satisfaction that i cannot articulate. Even so, it is an ending that leaves no room for doubt about what the status quo going forward will be, and at the time of writing it, that was enough for me.

I consider "Resonance" to be my Magnum Opus, proof that I can finish what I start.

💙❤️💜💛🩵🧡

The next big work (skipping over a few smaller things) is my "Ebott is a Multiverse" series.

"Ebott is a Multiverse", or "EMV" is a series of fics which lend focus to various ships, all taking place in the same continuity (and tristate area).

The first installment in EMV is "The Last Laugh".

"The Last Laugh" is a 5 chapter story detailing key events for its focal relationship that take place over 9 months. From February to November of the 4th year since Monsters came to the Surface, we follow a Classic Sans and an Underswap Sans as they figure out how much they're in love.

This first fic was originally intended to be a sort of 'revenge', inspired by both a fic and a prompt left by another rather talented writer in the Fandom (if you're still around, hi again CrushingOnRazz!) I worked hard to build up to the climax of the fic, so that everything would fall into place for the most emotional impact. I think the ending ended up being one of the most impactful of any ending I've ever written.

That being said, I ended up feeling like it still needed more to the story, a continuation as it were, so I planned out the 'skeleton' and rough path for the direct sequel "Happily Ever Laughter".

"Happily Ever Laughter" is still ongoing, however, because before I could even start it properly, I had already been sucked into another fic in EMV.

The true monster of EMV is "Burlesque". For certain reasons, "Burlesque" has both a "Censored" and an "Uncensored" version. The Censored version has all onscreen erotica removed, with fade-to-black cuts and some references changed. At the current chapter count of 57 (still unfinished), the wordcount difference between Censored:Uncensored is 224,949:254,502 words (so ~30k).

"Burlesque" is a another ship fic, this time following the relationship events of an Underfell Sans, Dancetale Sans, and Underlust Sans, all navigating their polyamory, personal issues, trauma, and the subtle pressures of late stage capitalism in fantasy U.S.A.. Together, they overcome their self deprecation, the price of rent, invasive honey badgers, sexual harassment, and the strength of their own horny, all so they can say "I love you." The story begins in February of the 4th year of Monsters coming to the Surface, and extends into December as of Chapter 57 (a work in progress).

EMV also features two other ships as focus ships (with at least two more planned). One of those ships is Outertale Papyrus/Underfell Papyrus/Underpatch Sans, which has enough content in "The EMV Anthology" that I am already planning to transplant it into its own sidefic. The other ship is Dancetale Papyrus/Fellswap Sans, which has comparatively less screentime but is no less delightful for it.

Having had so much fun writing erotica, I ended up participating in Kinktober 2017 in October 2017. This was the beginning of an annual holiday (of sorts) for me, as I have participated in Kinktober every year since (2017-2024).

My complete Kinktober Archive is currently in a series. In it, I get to explore different relationship dynamics, ships, kinks, and possible story elements. I alpha-test a lot of stuff that sometimes gets refined and filtered into more serious fics. Included in (but certainly not limited to) my experiments are: Doggo/Burgerpants, Vegetoid/Reader, RottenCherryBerry (which has become a Kinktober tradition), Mafiafell/Outertale Sanscest, the closest thing to Bad Sans Poly I will ever tag, and Stretch/Nightmare (which will be mentioned again later). The series currently has over 500,000 words of kinkplay in it, with a Table of Contents at the beginning of every fic so you can find the exact tags for every chapter quickly.

I also began an xReader in November of 2017. "Welcome To The Underground" started as an experiment to see if I could write 50,000 words in a month (in an event known as NaNoWriMo). I ended up meeting the 50k goal by the end of the month, but the story was still not completed to my satisfaction. I would continue to chip at this fic until 2020, when I finished it at just over 102,000 words.

"Welcome To The Underground" is an Isekai xReader Songfic where you, the Reader character, are a young adult (in your 20s) who is dropped into Undertale's Underground. In it, you resign yourself to the fate of every other fallen human who isn't Frisk (re: to die), and only make the effort necessary to make your remaining time as worthwhile and comfortable as possible. Throughout the story, you make friends, sing songs, get hurt, get back up again, and discover that you can do things you didn't think you could do, even if it sucks to do them.

I think this story was something I needed, a sort of symbolic rite of passage into adulthood for me (since at the time of writing, I was strugging with my identity as an adult, and lacked the confidence I needed to take control of many aspects of my life that I should have already). It certainly wasn't a solution to all my problems, but I think writing this story was the start of some kind of personal growth which I have worked hard to cultivate since. Whether it has any similar meaning to my readers, I don't think I'll ever know, but hopefully a little bit of that 'just-keep-going' vibe gets rubbed off on you guys if you come on this journey with me.

One of my favorite parts of writing this story was picking the songs. About halfway through I also started writing Parody lyrics to some of them, adjusting words here and there to fit better with what the Reader character needed. The most satisfying of all parodies, however, was the true, complete parody I wrote of a Weird Al song. I am still very proud of "Sans Pick Up Your Fucking Sock" (the song).

I became a big fan of Nilchance's "ain't this the life" series, which is about the relationship between a classic Sans and the incestuous Underfell skelebros. It's a fantastic read if you're a fan of Kustard and Kedgeup and Fellcest. I mention this, because I ended up starting not one, but two fanworks that spin off from ATTL.

The first ATTL spinoff I wrote is "Ain't this a Lamia". In it, the Undefell bros find a lamia in their livingroom, and gay shit ensues.

I dunno why, i just thought that the poly would be even cuter if they had a horny snake with trauma and sass. I adore Slinky very much and hope he gets everything he wants <3

The second ATTL spinoff I wrote is "Ain't this more than Lust" In it, Red and Sans discover an Underlust Sans confidently selling himself for lunchmoney in a back alley, and gay shit tries to ensue but gets tripped up by trauma and sincerity (as of now -- I hope to add another installment to increase the percentage of gay).

I'm actually really excited to develop this story more, because i love the way these characters foil each other. ATTL Red just FITS next to an Underlust guy and it fills my heart with fluffies.

Both of these are the start of a series of the same names. The fics in them have an accumulated wordcount of ~30k each.

Kinktober 2019, Day 12, (Oct 12th 2019) is the inciting moment of my "Dr33mtal3" AU. (which is loosely, loosely inspired by, but is decidedly not Dreamtale). It's the first bit of writing where I tried to take my own idea and give it some life. Although technically i wouldn't start work in earnest until April 2020, when the first designs were made. That's why I consider April 7th to be Dr33mtal3's Birthday.

[Post 1] [Post 2] [Post 3] (These are all very ugly art compared to what I can do now lol)

After getting the designs started, i went into the fics!

The "Dr33mtal3" fic series on AO3 has substantially more multiverse content than content focusing on the isolated AU at this time, but isolated AU content is being worked on.

To delve into more of the isolated AU, I started taking Character Asks on the "Dr33mtal3" AU Blog in April 2022. Doing these asks really helps with improving my art. I have so much fun with them! I especially love when I get asks for other characters, like MadMewMew and Burgerpants !! But I do still also love the asks for the skelebros!

As for the Multiverse content, you will find plenty, both on the blog and on AO3!

Some of my finest work can actually be found in the 'Anthology' fics, specifically "An Anthology of Nightmares", which turned out to be of the gothic horror genre, and "An Anthology of Dreams", which was written with the intention of cerebral horror. They're both a little lovecraftian too, if you squint, although I was aiming for something else.

In An Anthology of Nightmares, you see what it's like to get picked up by Nightmare from many different peoples' point of view. You also see some of Nightmare's Castle, and what living there is like.

In An Anthology of Dreams, you follow along viewing Dream's life from the point of view of those around him. You start with the PoV of a Science!Sans (Sci), and eventually see Dream from several thoughtful angles!

You can also find my 3-Longpost long super-essay about Dream's house in these fics here on tumblr!

[Dream's House Post 1] [Dream's House Post 2] [Dream's House Post 3]

These desolate and unsettling anthologies are, however, only backstory for the Romance I am cultivating in what I plan as the main fic of this series: "Poignance". Although this story is only 14 chapters and 30k words in at this time (clearly unfinished), you can still follow an Underswap Papyrus into what will eventually be the slow burn epic romance he doesn't see coming.

This list is not comprehensive: there are numerous oneshots as well as unfinished works which have been pushed down my list of priorities. A few I want to make brief mention of because I like them:

"The Body Snatchers" Where an Underlust Sans starts a queerplatonic relationship with Fresh.

"A Night of Guns and Feathers" A thinkpiece about a relationship between a Mafiatale Sans (specifically the one detailed by my friend Catsitta, whom is called 'Karma') and D3!Nightmare.

"My Best Wingman" An Underlust fic I wrote for the To The Bone zine. Focuses on the brotherly relationship between Sans and Papyrus.

"Site Skin Ideas for UTMV Readers" A meta-fic to help make AU Disambiguating Freeform Tags easier to read and identify in the UTMV fandom.

"Bitty Magnitism" On of the fics I wrote when I was on a Bittybones kick, writing for the EMV spinoff series "EMV Bittybones Event" . Its about a Fellswap Sans going to a Bittybones adoption center, and the consequences that ensue.

Thanks for reading this far! I hope you found something you like!

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Yo man, I like reading your posts and your thoughts. It inspires me.

There were a few questions that I asked anonymously, but reading everything you wrote, and thanks to you, I changed my attitude towards Killer as a character (to be honest, I hated him before, as well as his duo with Color). And also, like one anon person, I love Delta.

How do you do it, inspire and change opinions about characters?

I become obsessed about them and learn everything I can and then yap about it on the internet. /hj

Also a lot of killers story requires even a base level understanding in psychology and abuse and trauma, I feel. Especially things like prolonged intense coercion, and dissociative disorders, paired with severe CPTSD. And I love psychology so he quickly became a favorite of mine.

A lot of my fixation towards killer actually came from the fact that—no one could seem to understand or agree on things about killer’s canon story (which in large part is because a lot of killer’s canon was unfortunately deleted, including an entire ask blog.)

So i went looking myself, found what i could, shared it around everywhere i could reach—and then started doing research and analysis, and sharing those too.

But also from what I can see, the UTMV fandom back then was all really young—focusing more on black and white, “good” and “bad” morality. Creepypasta-esque. Instead of acknowledging Something New for the tragedy and psychological horror it is.

It was never as simple as “sans goes crazy and kills everyone” or “evil Chara possesses sans to kill everyone” or “sans gets bored and kills for fun.” It was all deliberate, pointed towards a goal—and sans completely lost himself until he became something so completely foreign and unrecognizable. which was all intentional.

and another thing I love about killer is that he’s definitely not a “perfect victim.” He was a victim sure, and he was made and taught to be this way, but it doesn’t change the fact that this victim has victims and he’s still an awful, shitty person. there are completely valid reasons to despise that bitch, and everyone is well within their rights to do so (Delta and Delta lovers deserve to punch killer and humble him ong) even as he attempts to work on himself and actually process his trauma that had been going for an unknown amount of time.

(which still fascinates me. there is a period of time in Chara and killer’s partnership that we are unlikely to ever see. we have no clue just how long they were together. killer himself probably isn’t sure—maybe they were always together.)

and color is an interesting piece of psychology too. I completely understand why he inspires hope in killer—hope that change is possible, that safety is possible, that something better out there can exist. that not everyone with power seeks to harm and control, that not everything is control or be controlled or kill or be killed, that some things do matter. that what he wants matters. that someone out there still cares about him, and unlike papyrus or the rest of the underground—is willing to fight for him, too.

(of course, papyrus was willing to die if it made sans happy. but he was never willing to fight to make sans happy, as far as killer can see.)

color has really lost everything and everyone in his attempts to save them. he fought and fought and fought—until as a last ditch effort, he makes a desperate choice. and it works, but it dooms him. only, it didn’t actually work, because the feeling of the Genocide route is coming back—and it’s happening again.

We can see this same exact thing with killer, too. Nightmare replaces Killers when they are killed or no longer useful. Color can see right through Killer—he knows he doesn’t actually want this life. He just doesn’t know anything different anymore.

And so Color spends so long trying to get Killer to admit to what he actually wants—and when he does, when Killer finally just admits he wants his old life back—his brother, his family, he wants to be Sans again. Color doesn’t tell him it’s likely impossible—instead he offers to help.

And when Killer asks Color to save him, Color takes to it loyally. It’s not hard to imagine that Color tried and failed to help save and protect many, many, many Killers.

And yet with each devastating failure, he keeps getting up and going and persevering. Because he has to, because it’s the right thing to do, because Killer asked him to, because Killer needs help, because he cares so much about Killer, because Color can’t leave him alone or forget about him the way he was forgotten. No one else is going to care enough to reach out and try with Killer—and Killer isn’t likely to trust anyone else who tries.

Even Color has to work hard to earn and maintain Killer’s trust. A single slip up could send Killer recoiling and snapping at any hand that attempts to touch him. So despite how desperately Color wants to save him, keep him safe, take care of him—he knows he needs to go at Killer’s pace.

He needs to be patient, and he needs to be consistent, and he needs to be open and as honest as possible—even if it’s hard, and he needs to be careful around Killer, too.

He can’t allow his emotions to drive him completely, to make him blind to Killer’s violence and apathy and manipulation and controlling behaviors—not only because for his own well being, but because Killer would definitely lose any respect he has for him if he thinks Color can’t see him for what he is. He can’t allow Killer to think that he is weak—someone easily trusting, or naive, or easily led and used and taken advantage of.

He has to maintain a balance between that, and just being himself—practicing what he preaches, because killer will notice; he is watching. Color’s goal isn’t to fix him, that’s something killer has to want for himself, he’s just here because he wants to help and Killer asked for the help he needs—even if Killer’s SOUL Stages make him have conflicting viewpoints and desires, if any at all. He has to show up for Killer consistently, show he isn’t trying to use or control him, and be true to himself.

Of course, the journey to actually getting there would likely be a struggle for them both, but they’re both determined enough to try, I think.

Anyway rant over. So that’s basically what I do; get curious, go digging and researching and get obsessed and then make my thoughts and interpretations everyone else’s problem.

{ @ferociousperson }

[buubonita]

You probably already talked about him like, A LOT, but i like to hear anything about epic sans, the sad guy has a lot of potencial

Qin! Haiii!! Dw I never get tired of talking about Epic, and tumblr is the only place that seems to listen to me.

I'm not going to get tired of saying this but I'm a little fed up with how the fandom literally decided to take Epic as a meme character and not give credit to the little but at least consistent work behind the character.

Can I say that Yugo also didn't help the character by using him for constant shitposts?? I can say it, they are partly to blame too, sorry not sorry.

I'm fine if people do stupid things with the character but it gets to a point where it's irritating to see for me personally. Sometimes I feel like he's a grumpy old woman for having these ideas. When I met him and said that I liked him I remember well that an online user called me stupid for liking such a dumb character and I felt really bad for a while and I didn't want to know about Epic until I found out that Epic is another character misunderstood on a large scale by the fandom and has the bad fortune of being hated by his creator.

Anyway, to the point. I love Epic, he makes up the trinity of my favorite UTMV characters, I love his design and the tragedy of his situation. I like villains more than heroes in general, but Epic has a particular charm, I wouldn't call him a hero because the poor guy wasn't meant to save anyone, he was conceived as a tool and died as such without too many contemplations, but he tried, he died trying and that is absolutely admirable considering ALL the shit he's been through for 20 years! I don't know, he inspires me to keep going, even if his canon isn't that deep and the au he comes from is a very basic story that takes elements from anime and manga.

It's funny how different Epic is from other favorite characters I have, but that makes him even more special to me.

And I love the idea that the fandom adopts him and gives him details that enrich his character because as I said, I love him so much! <3 and he deserves better.

To wrap things up because I don't want to overwhelm you, some headcanons of my boy to share.

* Epic has taken care of Chara and Asriel, they are his nephews and he keeps a picture of them in his trench coat (often showing it to others like the proud uncle he is).

* I don't want to think of him as a creep, he's a 45 year old man for fucks sake. But eh, he definitely watches that kind of shitty H content sometimes.

* The people closest to Epic I would say are Mettaton, Papyrus and Asgore (who is supposed to be his best friend but the fandom prefers Cross haha)

* I see him as the guy who would make a cookie review blog. I also like that he does reviews of any media and a lot of ironic consumption ("Getting Drunk on Undernovela Part 157"")

* Epic's eye has lost strength over the years (particularly after Gester's death) so his regeneration process is much slower than before. His body can be completely destroyed but the eye will remain intact.

Maybe one day, the eye will stop working and give Epic his mortality back.

* Epic keeps Cross' bandana from their first meeting together (in my one shot We Must Die In Spring something like this was supposed to happen.

Cross: I like your bandana.

Epic: Thanks. I used to be a royal guard.

But it didn't quite fit ahsuahs

Also Perfect Encounter, the epictale and xtale animated crossover, is supposed to be canon for this One Shot but Perfect Encounter hasn't come out yet so I had to fill in the gap with my imagination.

God i love Cross and Epic friendship so much)

And that's all for now... thanks for asking Qin 🩷🌸

[onlyplatonicirl]

It’s so funny watching all of these people, usually in text posts or YouTube videos, complain about the “multiverse problem” in popular media, usually in reference to DCU and MCU, as a result of their recent storylines. And then we’re sitting here, in a fandom that is literally ABOUT the multiverse. I wonder what those critics would say about the UT multiverse and what its problems are (in terms of storytelling or science, not social issues). I personally think we, as the UTMV community, do pretty good in both storytelling and science. But I do see a large… difference (?) in how popular media handles the multiverse and multiverse stories compared to UTMV, which is literally made by random individuals who don’t know each other and is then built on the back of cooperation and communication.

I think one of the biggest differences between utmv and something like an MCU or another franchise with a canon established multiverse is just that:

MCU has a canon multiverse with established stories and a singular interpretation. UTMV doesn’t.

There are very few, if less, actual “canon” interactions between characters in the utmv. Seeing as there’s no source material to go off of and no actual established timeline, and each character exists in a void where it “canonically” hasn’t met the others (most of the time at least) it basically leaves all of the actual plot, character interactions, any sort of shipping, and any sort of laws and story completely at the mercy of every single individual and none of them are “wrong”.

UTMV is the taking of several different concepts, all created by different people, and then creating character relationships based on what they feel like they want to do. For example, bad sans poly is a thing. Some people write them as a family instead. Some people write them as a strict business type deal where they all hate each other. There is no wrong interpretation because a correct one doesn’t exist. There is no “canon” bad sans relationship unless the creators of the characters themselves explicitly write a solid plot. Which they probably aren’t lol.

That’s what makes this fandom so interesting. With so little canon information it leaves the artist to literally go nuts with how they want to fill in the rest of the gaps. No right answers and no wrong ones. You just have fun and make something YOU like. I’m a prime example of that LMAO

[eriscary]

Hewo!! I rlly love your sans, Tear!! He's such a creative and inspirational character! Just curious, what were some of your inspirations, when designing him?

-vibrates in excitement- I will use this chance to yap A LOT about Tear's overall creation, story and visuals. I'm sorry for this essay…

______

I returned to the Undertale fandom super recently. It’s 8-9 years after the game was released I think. I started to joke with a friend how I will make an OC only now. 3 days later it was not a joke anymore and Tear came to be.

I think what influenced the story I created is the fact that I adore isekai, reincarnation and reliving same life kind of stories. I love the feeling of being able to experience what being a specific character is like, be it through my own eyes or another character's. Because a lot of people enjoy superpowers, want to feel cool, want to become important in something/story, want to see characters deal with this type of confusion etc.... Yes, I read Sans variant reincarnation/isekai stories too. I thought, who wouldn't be interested into experiencing an exciting life (minus the stress and trauma that comes with it, but that makes it a fun read).

In the moment of me joking about creating an OC, I was trying to come up with funny scenarios that would make me laugh from how absolutely ridiculous it is. It was only to have a few laughs with a friend. Revisiting the utmv fandom, it is pretty clear it's legit ruled by Sanses and barely anything else. Somehow the idea of using my favorite character, Napstablook, just clicked with my reincarnation/isekai addiction. A character that, just like all the people consuming the same content I liked, wishes to experience what they consider exciting. That is, the life all these Sanses have. They only ever saw Sanses be 'special'. I hoped it would make Tear relatable. That Tear would be a character which is entertaining to follow, because we know what the multiverse is like as viewers, but they do not. Someone who could be cheered on because of it (just like in the game wow -cough cough- sorry). And then the idea with ripping Error's plushies hit me. I was so overly entertained by it, that it was basically the point where the whole thing stopped being a joke.

After I had the basis of the story to work with, I moved to designing their look. I pulled up a picture of every. single. popular. sans. variant. that I could remember from utmv early days. I wanted Tear to be able to legit fit in so well among them, because their wish was to be like them, blend with them in such a way. To be a Sans, a cool traveler to meet many others, be loved etc etc. For this plan, the design had to have not too much detail or too little. Most utmv designs aren't that complex. Napstablook only has a few visually distinctive features, so I tried to keep them in mind. Those being their line between the eyes and the sheet waves/frills at the end of their body. So the only initial plan was... sketch a normal sans, slap the usual shorts and shirt that all these OC variants barely change and figure it out from there. A lot of mainstream characters still wore a kind of a hoodie/jacket, so a hoodie was a must for me. I added the waves at the bottom of it, to resemble Napstablook's body, and that forehead line in the form of stitches. It still didn't feel enough. I wanted it to be extremely obvious who they are visually at first glance, with 0 prior knowledge (Napstablook Sans variant). Headphones were my biggest cherry on the top, because I don't think it gets more clear than that if I shape them to look like Blooky themselves. I later on decided I want some design references to Blooky crying too. So I added a scarf, made it drop it's ends approximately in the center of the character, as well as made the edges rounded slightly. All so it would resemble -drum rolls- a tear. Very, very subtly. The tear heart in the back was also a not so subtle tribute to it too. Because Blooky is fully paper white, Tear had to be mostly in the same colors. I admit I wanted to make their purples blue instead (to match their house colors) but I'm a sucker for the purple color and there is an inside joke with another friend how everything I ever design has some sort of purple tint to it. It's something I stopped fighting long ago and just embraced it as my little art quirk. At this point I adopt it on purpose if I catch myself doing it subconsciously. So my blue became purple instead. This was all inspired by OG Blooky and no one specific directly.

Once the design was already settled, I actually did end up taking inspiration from Dust Sans. This is the only character I directly took inspo from. I loved the idea of dramatic shadows being cast by his hood and it was perfect for what I have in store. So I expanded my ref sheet with such a drawing. I wanted the usual Tear to have a completely different vibe visually from the one that could be fought. I wanted to kill some of Tear's overall softness by making their gaze feel off. Wide eyed stare, with drastic shadows and glowing eyes. Tho they cannot and do not glow for the same reasons as Classic Sans. I recently mentioned it HERE. There is another inspiration I took from Dust, not connected to the design, but as of now I cannot mention it. It will be revealed soon if all works out.

After that, I just started writing the character info on the google doc and polishing it. The story just kept coming and consuming my brain. I never planned to make a comic out of this little idea. I was only gonna post Tear’s info sheet, maybe draw Tear 2-3 more times and move on. It was an impulse decision. All because I couldn’t stop chuckling about the Error bit and the consequences of it. Now Tear became somewhat of a comfort character and gave me a hyperfixation of a truck

[jay-justjay]

Tw: underweight stuff. Probably got into vent territory on accident.

So quick fact about me, im underweight and prolly losing more as we speak. (Yes, very much taking advice on how to gain. Ive been struggling to do so due to metabolism and other factors). And I wanted to kind of... point something out.

It pains me to see my bodytype glorified. Its so often it feels, my own family does it constantly. I see in media constantly, and when its not glorified, its being treated as some kind of flaw in one's appearance. A flaw in character design, stuff like that. I wish my bodytype wasnt represented this way.

Is that mean of me to think? Probably.

I have nothing against overweight people, i frequently draw them like Id draw anyone else. But even to myself, its hard to convince myself to draw an underweight character. Its hard to get myself to draw a character that looks like me. Its really strange.

Id like to see a character in a game or show that intentionally has a bodytype like me. Especially in my main fandom, utmv, where most characters are average to overweight. Horror especially, I feel like I could be able to empathize with any body dysmorphia he might have from literally being starved for so long. I need to get into the habit of drawing him like me.

This post is kind of aimless, frankly.

[apocalyptyx]

I’m aware visibility on this platform is rough, but it feels wrong to keep posting stuff about this fic without addressing the Jakei situation.

For the longest of time, Underverse has sustained this entire fandom upon its back. And for a lot of people, including myself, it introduced us to the world of Undertale and the Multiverse. Underverse was my biggest inspiration to begin writing TFOUZ.

Underverse is the catalyst to hundreds of thousands of people’s most influential times in their lives. The UTMV fandom is where I grew into who I am today. Underverse threw me into this delightfully chaotic experience, one I never thought would end. One I hoped would never end.

And now, possibly the largest beacon within this fandom is subject to be knocked down and shattered by yet another group of sad individuals who have nothing else to do with their lives.

Today on the internet, we can’t have anything good. People always find reasons to be nasty, hateful, and ruin every little thing we have. Not only have these people destroyed a beautiful thing, but they’ve dragged down one of the most important people to this fandom. How does it feel to be the reason you made this creator give up? This event is going to shake the entire community, whether Jakei decides to quit or not.

On the topic of her quitting, my heart goes out to her. Mental health will ALWAYS be more important than an animated series. Whatever she needs, I pray the people of this fandom don’t blast her even more. She has done so much for this community, and no matter what happens, we’ll always be on her side.

We can survive, UTMV fandom. We’ve done it for nearly ten years (or longer, not quite sure!), even if 6 of those years we had Underverse. I saw a post earlier that said something along the lines of “Ink wouldn’t want us to quit making art” (def not verbatim), and I can’t express how true that is. This is not how we are supposed to be. We are not supposed to be worrying about the future of our fandom. To all of you out there who are thinking about quitting, who are thinking about giving up, leaving this experience behind them: please don’t. This is our happy place. We can thrive. Supporting eachother is the best thing we can do here.

And to anybody who may have contributed to the harassment, the shitstorm that has been this situation: I give you a big, giant, massive, gleaming FUCK YOU.

You have ruined something so precious. You have torn down a part of internet history that will never be forgotten. You will never be considered a part of this fandom. I hope somewhere along the way, you find happiness. I hope you find a life. I hope you find your place on the internet. Because right now, you have none of those things.

With that aside, I don’t care how many views this post gets- I needed to get this out there. I needed it to be known where I stand, I needed to give my condolences. Honestly, a part of me wanted to ignore everything that’s happening, because the UTMV fandom is my happy place. The first fandom I ever joined. The most chaotic, too. And I would never have changed this for the world. I didn’t want to believe that this could be the end of the best era in my life.

But, we’ll be okay. Stay strong, and keep creating art. Most of all: support Jakei, no matter what she decides to do. We’re on your side.

Remember to give an enormous THANK YOU to this fandom and everybody inside it. It provided for us, and we should continue to provide for it.

[dustalive]

Hello everyone🗿

This is my lil page where we gettin a bit 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂😎 (I'm JOEKING🥺)

I'm Dust, or thats the alias I went w over the years (it started w my COD username way back then🦅 Explanation incase of confusion under the cut, bcs I am NAWT roleplaying Dust😞)

⌖Mind that english aint my first language pls🧐

⌖any pronouns cs I don't really care👍

⌖I do art, but I am really slow w my stuff so I won't be posting consistently, and my artstyle may vary😔

⌖I could do commisions if anyone interested

⌖This will prob be an multifandom acc, cs it might vary in what fandom I am in. Fandoms, fav characters etc. under cut!

⌖I will be posting about stuff I only feel like drawing at the moment or what I am most invested in rn, its currently JJBA, but I'm not active currently

⌖This is a safe place for everyone<𝟑 🍉

DNI pedophiles, zionists, homophobes, racists, nazis, comshipping, if you actively hate religions and openly spread blasphemy, etc. I don't condone any hate on here. I don't have anything against proshippers as long as you aint toxic or nasty in a really REALLY weird way & fictional only (same goes for shipping in general!!)

Tags, socials and other🥳

You can use my art as pfp/other as long as you clearly credit me! Don't repost my art!! (Unless you have permission)

#dustalives art for my art RAHHH🦅🦅

#ask dust for asks🦴

#dust yappin for yappin and rambles🗿

#dustalive for my sona/oc Dust!

@dust_alive is my tiktok, I posted DC on it tho

Thanks for reading!

About fandoms, fav games/characters and own alias/character "Dust" under cut->

Fandoms

Undertale, DC, Sekiro, Ghost of Tsushima, JJK, COD, HonkaiSR/(Genshin)

Fav games🗣‼️(yes, this is very important)

Undertale | Batman: Arkham Knight | Ghost of Tsushima | Sekiro | Detroid Become Human | The last of us | COD: Cold war | Resident Evil: Biohazard | Zelda: Twillight Princess, OG Slatoon, Super Mario Glaxay (Nintendo games🔥)

Fav characters

Killer, Horror (UTMV), Red Hood (DC), Choso (JJK), Boothill (HSR), Sekiro (Sekiro💀), Joel (TLOU), Joseph and Jonathan (JJBA)

Regarding my own Alias "Dust": ->

⌖It's now part of my own character/sona, and a separate character from the dusttale!sans (Bcs no, I am not roleplaying as Dust😞). Just wanted to clarify that for future confusion. If it gets confusing to interract with a post (bcs your reaching out to me, and dont mean Dust!Sans if he is involved), you can also just call me Alive ig, but I prefer Dust if its possible, ty!

⌖She is me, but at the same time not, if that makes sense? Ig she is the better version of me that I want to be but can't (her backstory is still related to me tho), as she still has stuff to her character that are directly linked and connected to me, but altered in how she got them, deals with it (such as scars, mental stuff? Dont want to get spesific). But ofc she still has the same character traits as me🗿 I dont want to ruin this character by making them cringy w trauma I can't relate to, or too edgy. And yeah I said she is my sona but I see her more of an oc if that makes sense? Anyway, this is not an direct sona/oc post so I'll keep it short!

Heres my lil sona🦅

[moccasins]

reaper rant lmaooo

its been a while since i read the reapertale comic, so some of this info might be wrong lol

i find reapers fandom personality to be kinda funny, and i do like some of the changes, but i wish people would still reference the comic more. like, i wish people would talk about his depression!! the fact that i'm pretty sure he wishes he could die, but he IS death. so he can't. and he finds that eternally frustrating.

or that he hates his job because he's been shunned and seen as a monster by everyone he knows except his brother.

the biggest thing however? one that i've never seen a single soul mention? he doesn't like mortals. he thinks they're stupid. in one scene in the comic reaper is telling life, his toriel, about a story where he reaped a humans soul and the humans partner tried to journey the underworld to find their lovers soul only to also end up dead. he laughs and kinda mocks them because he thinks it was stupid.toriel responds with smth like "reaper. listen. if i dissapeared one day and you couldn't find me. what would you do to get me back?" and the look on his face. he looked.. conflicted. after that he made a joke and left, but he then leaned against a wall out of sight because he found himself terrified. he realized he would do absolutely anything to bring life back. and that scared him. being as impulsive and emotion driven as a mortal is something he genuinely doesn't understand. he's never lost anyone. sure he's had a rough life, but he's never had a mortal life. he can't understand why they feel what they feel and that scares him. the mere idea of acting on impulse makes him run.

and what happens when life dies in the comic? he loses it. he can't handle it. he's never experienced something like this before. he kills everything.

but his emotions are so strong that he just... wipes all life off the face of the earth within seconds. and then.. he shuts down. i wish we could see more of that in the utmv. could you imagine what it would be like to have a being so powerful they can destroy worlds in seconds and they can't entirely control it? people would be tip toeing around him, constantly trying not to make his emotions explode

could you imagine how much of a jerk he'd be to everyone? he wouldn't care about them. they're all pathetic mortals (yes. ink and error are mortals, sorry but i'm staying as close to canon as possible. dream and nightmare would be the equivelent of demigods, i think. powerful, but killable). they don't understand being a god. but he doesn't understand being a mortal.

this has so much potential you don't understand. i don't want reaper acting like a perfect angel. he's kind of a jerk. that's just a fact. so embrace that. he could kill everything with a single thought but he doesn't because he just doesn't give a crap about mortal affairs. they come to him like "reaper! we need your help!! nightmares killing so many people!! help us save the multiverse!!!" and he'd be like "nah. you mortals got yourself into this, you can get yourselves out."

he's kinda selfish. show that.

show him eventually coming out of his shell and finding that he actually wants to help people because he likes them. show the terror that comes with that realization. the realization that he has friends. and he loves them. how would he deal with that? what would he do then?

or!!! afterdeath!!!!! stars, could you imagine how he'd react when he realizes he's fallen in love with a mortal of all things? mortals have lifespans. they grow old. they change. they die. he wouldn't immediately flirt with geno, he would run. he would run and never come back until curiosity got the better of him. and slowly geno would break down his walls and he's terrified because the real world is scary.

reaper is sheltered, to an extent. i just wish people would show that more.

[cursed-paperrat]

WOAGH!! itsa blog

L / rat / looseleaf ☆

CURRENLTY STILL SCREAMING ABOUT II ENDING i am not the same. I am not normal about those SSSTUPDI fucking objects mention them and i Will tweak so hard

@a-mimic-and-a-jester is my HORRIBLE HISBAND (romantic. /J/J /SILLT /PLAT /NSRS) who i LOVE SO MUCH and i hope he gets put down and lives NEVER!!11 (JUST KIDDING I LOVE HIM SO KCU MMMWAH <33)

☆ - It/he !1!1! ^u^ [and any neos !!] ; MASC TERMS PREFERESE :3

☆ - current fixations !! : Homestuck, UTMV, Undertale, Deltarune, Pokemon (Scarvio especially ^7^), Inanimate Insanity, BFDI (do NOT mention 4x around me i WILL tweak) , and other object shows :3

☆ - im in a LOT of fandoms but those are the ones that i WILL yap your ears off about ^^

☆ - IM RRREALLYY socially awkward so if youre one of my moots and we never interact I SWEAR I DO WANTOYOURE ALL SO COOL i jsut CANT🙁🙁

☆ - MY DMS AND ASKBOX ARE ALWAYS OPEN!!11 feel free to jsut dm/ask me whatever i dont give a shti jsut dont. be weird😰

DNI :

- basic DNI criteria,

- i dunno know how to word this but if you make fun of someone JJJSUT because of their fandom please dni🙏,

- people who use "pmo" PLEASE GET AWAY FROM ME!1!1!! BACK🤺

My pronouns page !! : https://en.pronouns.page/@cursedrats

SIDEBLOGS: jfc i have so many

>@tornpaperrat (yttd art blog)

>@rats-dotpng (general art blog)

>@cookednserved-rats (dead plate centric blog)

>@cursed-rattatas (pokemon centric art blog :3)

PKMN IRL BLOGS:

@/driflooningaway

@/psychosis-solosis

@/suspectedpokemon

@/darktypezbelt

[liliallowed]

ok guys imma be real with you I'm so tired of people saying proshipper with pitchforks. I'm tired of proship defenders raising their shields. I'm tired of a me vs them mentality. let's break things down.

I haaaaate people who use the whole: "it's just fiction." or "the bad affects will be addressed" then proceed to never aknowledge the wrongness as if it's normal...

bro crimsondust is not normal they're fucking crazy. I assume I don't need to say it right? it fit's the characterization. the story flows nicely and they WOULD stab each other to death while kissing because of the corrupted codependency.

anyways more proshipper thoughts and rants below. avoid if not comfortable.

but like I get it there's this ick that's different with like other stuff because murder is so cool and edgy in fiction. probably something to spice things up despite being morally wrong.

but other stuff erm... kinda creepy. if it was addressed or part of the intended characterization it'd still be icky but not this much. because your mind would EXPECT that from the character.

anyways what I'm saying is I don't like in*est I don't like age gaps I don't like those stuff because it's OUT OF CHARACTER.

if I was in character then I'd be more lenient to endure it and wait to see how it's addressed as something harmful. as long as it's not condoned and the psychological impacts are explored I think it's okay...???

like the coffin of Andrew and leyley. those guys that ship is IN CHARACTER. it's weird. it's messed up but you... kinda get it because they only ever had each other to rely on... and the toxic stuff about familial bonds IS ADDRESSED. leyley can easily manipulate Andrew because they grew up together. that's like one of the base problems with in*est. too much information. too much private access to stuff that you normally wouldn't know if you were partners...

like I think we should take the time and think WHY is in*est wrong instead of treating it as an alarm to run away.

controversially I think the coffin of Andrew and leyley handles the conceptualization well and takes accountability for how fucked up the situation is. they live in a [SPOILER] FOR FUCKS SAKE!

anyways in that context I actually don't mind it. it's fitting it feels like it fits in the world. and it's like... tragic even. it's sad.

now back to the utmv fandom. when you ship Frans or fontest...

it feels like broken glass or nails on a chalkboard for me. like HE WOULD NOT FUCKING SAY THAT. no I'm not talking about proship bad, anti good. I don't care it's all fiction.

I'm talking about people activity ruining a character bending the rules just to get to the pairing. that shit makes me angry. that's insulting. that's kinda character assassination.

go make ocs as siblings and have them make out or some shit. it's weird sure but I don't really... care? you do you man.

just don't do that to these character.

like if you had a character that's so self obsessed that they'd probably fall in love with someone similar looking then it's in character to ship them with a sibling (blegh). that can WORK. if it fits in the story if it dices deep INTO the psychological aspects and explores the good and the bad unbiased.. that's GREAT even!

like I don't really care about the moral implications. my fucking pairing is a serial killer and a time loop maniac. they're horrible people but because it's "in character" nothing is bent out of proportion to make ends meet it flows nicely together.

I care about character assassination and people RUINING the characters.

like I already shared my thoughts on Frans. I get the dynamic. it's friking cool! time traveler x the judge. but uhm... you DO realize frisk is just a child you're guiding through the underground right?

and sure you can say they eventually grow up... then marry sans or some shit...

isn't that a little fucked up to you? that someone knew you as a kid and now they're your partner? these relationships are problematic for a reason. partners should not know private life matters without consent. partners should not be RAISED tougher in one place.

childhood friends works because it's still two seperate lives.

Frans is still equally fucked up even if you age frisk up. and I'm not saying sans would do anything. no absolutely not. he in fact would push frisk away and... uhm possibly call them to go see a therapist maybe? don't soul bond bullshit me. he's their fucking uncle. he's their dad. HE CARES FOR THEM as if they're his own child.

WHY ISN'T THAT SOMETHING YOU'RE FOCUSING ON!? WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO REVOLVE AROUND ROMANCE CANT FRISK JUST BE FRISK.

ahem... okay anyways. I don't like Frans because sans would know better. and you know he wouldn't so you use soul mates as an excuse. that's gross. that's character assassination. that's bending rules.

just have the friking SOUL fall in love with him. like plop out frisk's soul. frisk is free to go do their own think then u can have that dynamic. leave da child vessel out of it.

as for fontest... uhm... okay Frans might have been a bit excusable but this is just straight up out of character. I don't even feel like I need to explain why it's icky right? I've been rambling on and on about the importance of established characterization. they would not fucking do it. HAVE YOU PLAYED UNDERTALE my guy. have you touched grass.

okay you may argue you can ship what you want sure. why don't you ship everything else then. just put a character randomizer and ship unbiasedly.

again I hate how the fandoms developed into proshipper vs anti when uhm... you know there's people who just aren't on a far side right?

-"oooooh lili likes coffin of Andrew and leyley she must be a perverttttt"

I mean if that's what you think you're free to leave now. I believe I've shown you enough of my true self for you to understand.

and no this isn't emotional manipulation I'm coming clean so moots that feel uncomfortable can leave and I can stop pretending to be neutral.

I'm NOT neutral I have tons of opinions!

but to call me proship or anti is... idunno feels like you're trying to just put me in a box without listening to what I'm actually saying.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

I think we as a collective fandom should make more angst stuff about epic.

dude canonically traumatized, stuck with a crappy magic donor (epic!gaster)who saw him as nothing more than an asset (called him that to his face mind you), raised his brother by himself after that said magic donor went to get the milk on his way to commit genocide, hasn't gotten a wink of sleep in the last 20 years and is suicidal as a result (along with other reasons) - WHY ISN'T THIS FANDOM DOING ANYTHING ABOUT THAT????

This fandom LIVES off of the misery of residents of the multiverse. The utmv has basically gotten the MLP treatment with the OG material being sunshine and rainbows and every Au out of it having the vibes and story of silent hill and I have no mouth and I must scream.

Like imagine how many peices of art or fanfics that could come out talking about this stuff!!!! AUGH SO MUCH POTENTIAL. Like what if epics friends find out about his past, what if his brother finds out how he's actually feeling. IMAGINE WHAT CROSS AND THE X-TALE GANG WOULD DO AS A RESULT. WHAT THE CHORMATIC CREW WOULD DO!!!!

TOO MUCH POTENITIAL BEING WASTED >:(((((((((((((((((

Probably cause most of the focus in the sans AU part of the fandom is mostly on the bad sanses and making them into either a family or a large poly that’s barely a poly.

So basically, shipping. Many people forget Epic even exists — and replace him as Cross’ best friend even — and mainly focus on using him to say a joke or something. Which isn’t too bad I suppose, I’d imagine it’s rather hard to get Epic to drop that “memey” part of his personality—especially if it’s also a coping mechanism for him—but also imagine what it’d take to push him far enough to drop it or let it slip.

[underlust-but-like-acearo]

Yeah, I don't want to make it a big thing but like.. Aside from the obvious things that were wrong with Underlust, as someone on the acearo spectrum and a nonbinary indivual, I do wanna point out the sort of general queerphobia that's attached to Underlust? Obviously there's more nuance to be had, but here's just some things I've been sitting on for a while.

The biggest thing in my mind was definitely the issue of how morality and sexuality were handled, because this has just always been something so glaringly obvious to me. All the quote on quote "good" characters are less sexual or not sexual at all, and the "bad" characters are overly sexual. Blah blah blah it's not up to the author to tell you what is good and what is bad, be critical... But it has always been very disconcerting to me how the character we're guided to sympathise with, Mettaton, blatantly calls the characters who are more sexual (and also portrayed as kinda unlikeable), "gross". There's a general vibe that sexuality is bad, sexuality is gross, and also that it's not the most real or goodest form of love. It's up to the asexual character to go to through the Underground and snap these goddamn heathens out of their lustful trance! And like wow?? What can I say but yikes.

Also, the issue of libido. Libido being heavily conflated with a lack of restraint and also being presented as something that makes you attracted to everyone all the time? It's not a very flattering image of sexuality, and it's also sorta misinformed. To put it shortly, libido (sexual arousal), sex acts (e.g sex), and sexual attraction (if and who you're attracted to) are different things. All the monsters in Underlust have high libidos, have a lot of sex, and wanna have it with everyone. And the asexual character we got, Frisk, probably was gonna have low or no libido, never have sex, and be sexually attracted to nobody. You had all three or you didn't, which is very reductive to say the least. It's good that asexuals were acknowledged and I love ace Frisk with all my heart.. But this is a very narrow, misguided and unfortunately common way people understand sexuality. High libido and bisexuality aren't intrinsically attached to one another. High libido and allosexuality aren't intrinsically attached to one another. High libido and sexual acts aren't intrinsically attached to one another <- being aroused doesn't make you a jerk that crosses people's boundaries, and being aroused is not always expressed openly by said person. Again, it's all just a very reductionist way to look at sexuality.

Also, this is just a teeny weeny thing, but aging up is a bit complicated of a topic for me. Having a character be of consenting age is important if they're going to be sexualised for obvious reasons, but the complete absence of children from any story featuring or discussing sex can be troublesome in its own right. Making sure kids are educated about sex from a young age and letting them be a part of discussions is important for protecting kids from sexual abuse and ensuring their sexual health. Removing children from the conversation makes them ignorant, it makes them feel ashamed, isolated, and puts them at greater risk of harm. Also, Underlust is just so obviously queer, and I'm sure I don't need to get into a conversation about how some people think that children can't be queer, or think exposing them to queerness is inappropriate. This is all wayyy beyond the scope of the original work, but I think it's important to think about.

And the last thing on my mind doesn't have to do with the au itself actually, but I'm looking towards people in the UTMV fandom. Some of y'all with your shipping are just.. Uhh.. Well. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but being overly sexual or flamboyant does NOT make you feminine. If you think being promiscuous is an inherently feminine trait, you are partaking in the sexism my guy. If you think that a gay ship NEEDS to have someone be assigned 'the guy' and someone be assigned 'the girl', you are partaking in homophobia my guy. And if you think that LUST should be the GIRL in a relationship when paired with someone else, double whammy, that is both sexism AND homophobia!! I'm bonking you on the head, cut that out. (If a gay man wants to call themselves the 'wife' in a relationship, that's their own business, but treating it like that's the standard is not okay.)

Maybe I didn't go over everything as thoroughly as I could have here, but I've been typing for a bit and I'm sure you guys get the picture. If you have commited any of the cardinal sins here (joke), that's okay. I honestly don't think the creator meant to portray this, and I don't think anyone in the fandom has bad intentions, but it's still important to examine our own prejudices and misunderstandings and learn to be better. Just because you did a bad thing or didnt know better before doesn't mean that you're a bad person. Peace and love on planet earth, let's make Underlust best au in the whole world, okay?

[carlyraejepsans]

this is just because i need to rant ab this BUT all those edgy sans aus are so hard for me to get into because they completely misinterpreted sans’ character and motivations. like! this man only fights us when he thinks we’re going to not only destroy the world, but annihilate the entire timeline so that there’s literally nothing left. sans doesn’t fight us because we killed his brother, or all those other monsters in genocide (strictly speaking, you could kill the same amount of monsters in a non-genocide way and NOT fight sans). sans kills us because the literal fate of the world is at stake.

i’m not saying that there’s no world where sans would kill us (ik you just made the post ab that and how it’s his promise to toriel, etc etc), but the problem with so many aus is that sans is portrayed as proactive when he’s really not, unless the world is gonna be destroyed. they often completely warp his character for the sake of angst, and ignoring the fact that there’s SO much to work with for angst that’s rooted in canon, it makes the characters feel unrealistic. i can’t get into a story where i’m constantly being like “no, he wouldn’t do that” or “that’s not something he would say.” (this can be applied to other characters as well, but let’s be honest we know sans is at the helm of most of these popular aus).

when i say i mean no disrespect to these aus and the people who enjoy them, though, i mean it. it’s just not my cup of tea. people enjoy different things and that’s awesome! i’m glad so many people have been so involved in the fandom to make their own worlds and stories- it really has helped keep undertale alive! just bc i can’t personally get into it, doesn’t mean it’s bad or unenjoyable (obviously. they’re popular for a reason).

but idk this is just something that always sticks in my mind when people ask what you don’t like about many aus. and like, you don’t need to respond to this or anything but i just needed to rant lmao

nothing more to say pal. i agree with everything you said. my real issue with stuff in the utmv fandom stuff isn't the characterization. sure it annoys me, but at the end of the day i can't control how people engage with the text. or uuhhh don't. you'll just go nuts

the actual problem here is that... they do it in a way that drowns out the majority of the new canon-adjacent content being shared at the same time by using the same tags and fandom spaces. even when (by many au authors' own admissions) they're stories and characters made specifically in the context of the mv and thus have next to nothing to do with canon save for like, the character design. sometimes. THAT'S the real issue here.

[undertale-data]

[Image Description: An Undertale chat box that has “WHY FANS LOVE UNDERTALE” at its center. Next to it are a line chart and an Egg from the Dating Hub on its left, and a CRIME measurer (also from the Dating Hub) on its right. End I.D.]

[Image Description: a pie chart titled, “LEVEL OF LOVE FOR UNDERTALE.” The textbox on the top right reads, “On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the least and 10 being the highest, how much do fans enjoy Undertale?” From the top going clockwise, 12 or 0% chose 5 and below; 23 or 1% chose 6; 98, or 4%, chose 7; 325, or 12%, chose 8; 529, or 20%, chose 9; and 1664, or 63%, chose 10. End I.D.]

It’s clear from all of the data analyzed so far that fans who took the time to answer our survey love Undertale. It is unlikely that they would have taken the time to answer so many questions if they had not, and even less likely that they would have come across our survey in the first place. Naturally, it comes as no surprise that 63% of our responders gave their love for Undertale a score of ten out of ten. 95% gave their love for Undertale a score of eight or higher, and only 12 responders responded with five or below, a number so small that their responses had to be lumped together to be visible on the pie chart. Of those, only 3 responders gave their love for Undertale a score of 1, and based on those responders’ other answers, it is likely that they were only intending to troll. We are very fortunate that the vast majority of responders took the survey seriously, enough so that responses like this are barely a blip in the data.

Now, for our final analysis post of the event, we will delve into the reasons that fans love Undertale so dearly.

(Essay and highlights under the cut.)

There have been countless essays on the impact that Undertale has had on people’s lives. I can hardly add more on the subject than what has already been said, but I hope this summary can provide a brief overview of what stood out among the over two thousand answers given in response to this survey. That said, due to the sheer volume of answers, I could not read every single one in depth—however, I did skim all of them, and some that stood out or were representative of several responses have been highlighted below. If you would like to see what every fan who consented to share their response had to say, you may view the full list of responses here. Note that these responses have not been edited in any way. This document may take a long time to load, as it is over 100 pages long.

(Warnings for mentions of suicidal thoughts in the following essay.)

Several responders loved the theme of choices mattering in Undertale. Whether people played the pacifist, merciless, or neutral routes, they enjoyed how the game reacted to their actions. For some, it even made them consider their own morality. One touching response explained the impact that the theme of mercy made on them. “I realized that Mercy isn't something that's given to those who deserve it. Flowey didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it myself. Shoot, we ALL need Mercy in our lives.” Many fans left similar comments about how the themes of Undertale made them better people.

Undertale changed how its fans treat others, and it also changed how fans treat themselves. The theme of staying determined and the messages of hope in the game were a light to a very large portion of fans. I cannot list all of the fans who said that Undertale helped them out of a dark place, or that they would not be alive if not for Undertale. “DETERMINATION became a metaphor for not killing myself at a really rough time in my life and I’ll always cherish that. Undertale isn’t afraid to go to really dark places but at the same time holds on so tight to its hope.”

Undertale brought fans together in unexpected ways. Some said they met friends or significant others through the fandom. “I wouldn't have met my now husband without Undertale,” one fan said. A different fan who is non-native English speaking mentioned that the game and the fan community helped them to learn English.

It would be impossible to discuss Undertale without mentioning the fan community. Whether for good or bad, many responders mentioned the fandom in their responses. Overall the feelings towards the fandom seem positive, though many made references to “toxic” parts of the fandom without specifying which parts they consider toxic. Others rejected the idea of toxicity in fandom. One response said: “[SLAMS FIST ON DESK] I KNOW MOST PEOPLE SAY THE FANDOM IS TOXIC AND CRINGE OR WHATEVER BUT OH MY GOD. The Undertale fandom, both the UTMV and the actual UT fandom, has been so much fun to be a part of. I've met countless friends because of our shared interest in something related to the game! The art people create can be breathtaking and so inspirational, and the fanfics are so so good!! I've seen people write incredible things for this fandom and it's what made me continue writing!”

One thing that makes the Undertale fandom unique is the way it embraces various AUs. Some fans are tired of AU content, but the majority of responses show a love for the creativity behind AUs. “Roll your eyes at the 50th AU Sans all you want, it's encouraging people to step outside the boundaries of fanart and pushing people to make their own ideas! I mean, hell, it was how I gained the confidence to start making my own original content.” The lack of a judgemental atmosphere seems present in the AU community, according to the responses we saw. There is an interesting balance between AU and canon (sometimes referred to as “classic”) content that another responder pointed out: “The fandom helped keep the game alive all these years, with all of its AUs. Although personally, I always enjoyed AUs that kept characters as close to the classic material as possible (dancetale, outertale) I do appreciate the creativity of the fandom. They almost created entirely new stories with new characters of their own! If it weren't for those people, the Undertale fandom would have probably not been as active as it is now. I do feel like we're getting a resurgence of classic content now too! (In 2021)”

Regardless of the many AUs the fandom has created over the years, the original game of Undertale still feels like home for many fans. They wished they could reclaim the feeling of playing the game again for the first time, but even though we can’t reset time in real life, there is still a special feeling for fans each time they play Undertale. One fan said, “Even the best fics I've read can't capture that feeling of nostalgia/almost-"coming home" that comes with hearing the music and talking to the characters.” This feeling is one that can be cherished time and time again. In the words of another responder: “It always feels welcoming like home or like comfort food that I never grow tired of no matter how many times I go to it.” Others pointed out the strength of the found family trope in Undertale, which likely contributes to this feeling of “home” as well.

As mentioned briefly earlier, the music is part of what makes Undertale feel like home for fans. Even when responses focused on other aspects of the game, many would throw in a comment about the soundtrack at the end. One comment focused on the music said “IT'S SO GOOD like I will literally go through the entire thing over and over and not be bored with it. It makes my monkey brain so happy you have no idea.” Like with the game itself, the music has incredible replay value, an amazing feat considering most of the tracks use the same few motifs. “I think what I like the most about Undertale is how the music attaches you to the story,” another responder said. “They're simple melodies that stick with you throughout the whole game, and they can remind you of both good and bad times.”

If the music sticks with fans in their hearts, then the game’s lore sticks with fans in their minds. Even six years after the release of Undertale, fans are still creating new theories and digging up new secrets. The way the game breaks the fourth wall in particular intrigued many fans and has stuck out through all these years. The awareness that the game shows for the RPG genre makes it memorable. The game plays with the player’s expectations and turns them on their heads, all while reminding the player that they’re in a game. There are few other games that do this on such a large scale, so it’s no surprise that fans cite this as one of their favorite things about Undertale.

Lastly, the LGBT+ representation in Undertale has been a huge draw for fans. Especially in 2015, the sheer volume of non-cishet characters was unprecedented, as one fan pointed out: “It's practically unheard of to see so MANY from just one source, especially during its heyday in 2015-16. Hell, you can't even GET the true pacifist ending without helping two gay couples hook up. It's really nice to see all of them being accepted for who they are and not judged for their sexuality or gender, at least in-canon.” The LGBT+ cast including Frisk, Chara, Napstablook, Monster Kid, Mettaton, Alphys, and Undyne each connected with fans in unique ways. It’s clear how important this is from responses such as: “There are canon nonbinary characters 🥺. i have never seen representation of myself before.” “It made me gay and trans so thanks for that.”

Once again I am overwhelmed with just how much there is to say about Undertale. One responder really understood when they compared Undertale to an iceberg, explaining that there are so many layers to the game that there is something for everyone: “everyone can find something to enjoy in the lore/game regardless of what kind of fan they are! Being able to appeal to various types of fans—from simple happy shipper people to deep dive lorediggers—is the mark of the coolest games!” I would have to agree with them.

It’s been six years, and despite everything, it’s still you. Thank you for reading, participating in this survey, and above all, staying determined.

Highlights:

DETERMINATION became a metaphor for not killing myself at a really rough time in my life and I’ll always cherish that. Undertale isn’t afraid to go to really dark places but at the same time holds on so tight to its hope.

I think the coolest thing was having the opportunity to watch the AU community grow from its bare roots. It's nearly insane how big and complex it's gotten, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Roll your eyes at the 50th AU Sans all you want, it's encouraging people to step outside the boundaries of fanart and pushing people to make their own ideas! I mean, hell, it was how I gained the confidence to start making my own original content.

i love how the lgbt rep is so naturalized... there are just gay people! and its nobodys business!

The music is my go to answer, but what I really really REALLY love is how the minor characters have so much personality to them when you talk to them. They aren't incredibly important to the overall story, but they're all so likeable and diverse that you just can't help but like them immediately!

I think it was the first videogame I have played that broke the fourth wall that much. Of course there has been other videogames that broke it but just for one or two tongue-in-cheek jokes. The guilt of killing mama goat was also something intense as well that I appreciated as an experience and that I didn't think a videogame could cause on someone.

I love how no character can be seen as completely bad! Everyone builds up Asgore as some horrible villain, but he turns out to be a 'fuzzy pushover' who's broken and just wants his family back by the time you meet him. Then you think Flowey's an irredeemable killer who engineered the suffering of the monsters across many timelines, and he is... but he also used to be the kind and beloved Prince Asriel Dreemurr, traumatized by his death and subsequent rebirth, projecting his best friend onto you.

The fact that choices matter in the game. Your first playthrough and getting the golden ending for the first time. I can never replicate those feelings again, wish I could erase my memories and replay the game from the start.

I wouldn't have met my now husband without Undertale.

(Toxic parts of the fandom aside) The community is possibly one of the kindest I've ever met. Cringe culture is completely dead, and I feel like I can be myself. I felt a very close connection to many of the characters, and I loved consuming content about them when I was in a rough patch in my life.

just everything, the whole game has just impacted my life so much. i know it sounds really lame, but when the game first came out, i would purposely put my hands in my pockets and sway slightly, like sans' idle animation. of course i dont do that anymore haha, but undertale still really impacts me to this day, and i wouldnt have it any other way :)

it made me gay and trans so thanks for that

I realized that Mercy isn't something that's given to those who deserve it. Flowey didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it myself. Shoot, we ALL need Mercy in our lives.

The thing I love most about Undertale is no matter how many times I play or watch a playthrough it always makes me genuinely happy. It always feels welcoming like home or like comfort food that I never grow tired of no matter how many times I go to it. Toriel still makes me feel all warm and cozy in her home, the Skelebros always make me laugh, and I still cry on the inside watching Frisk comforting Asriel. And on the flip side the No Mercy run still invokes the negative emotions in me as well. In short Undertale just feels like a second home to me and I always wish I could stay.

The reader inserts are my favorite way to decompress after a hard day

I think Undertale helped me discover my love for 8-bit games, and made me realize how IMPORTANT music is in video games.

the worldbuilding and character design are my favorite parts of the main game apart from the music! I’m also a huge fan of the random AU music- not for like underswap or underfell i like the stuff where someone makes a megalovania for a random au where gru from despicable me replaces sans as the character. i think its funny

Just... the vibe, honestly? Even the best fics I've read can't capture that feeling of nostalgia/almost-"coming home" that comes with hearing the music and talking to the characters.

there are canon nonbinary characters 🥺. i have never seen representation of myself before.

[SLAMS FIST ON DESK] I KNOW MOST PEOPLE SAY THE FANDOM IS TOXIC AND CRINGE OR WHATEVER BUT OH MY GOD. The Undertale fandom, both the UTMV and the actual UT fandom, has been so much fun to be a part of. I've met countless friends because of our shared interest in something related to the game! The art people create can be breathtaking and so inspirational, and the fanfics are so so good!! I've seen people write incredible things for this fandom and it's what made me continue writing!

There's a scene where Frisk (the player) is going towards what is presumably going to be their death. They will fight Asgore and he will use their human soul to break the barrier and free his people. The music, despite the player's impending doom, is... triumphant. You are not the triumphant one here, and yet, the score invites you to experience the monsters' joy and happiness as they tell you the tale of their subjugation. The monsters are going to be free. This is their victory, but they don't hate you or want you to die. They're just... happy. That scene has always struck me very deeply. I feel it represents the best parts of Undertale.

I loved how well thought out the Geno route was. It really made me feel like I was doing something horrible, and the characters were very obviously reacting to dire circumstances.

I dunno? I like Undertale for it's characters, story, music, secrets and many more. I am not good with Headcanons but I also like the neutral endings and how different they can depending on who you spare and kill

I was very bad at english before, i thought i couldn't progress because i was very shy and not confident. But my sibling and i wanted to have the best experience with this game so we wanted to play it in english. It's this game and the fandom which helped me to make huge progress in english !

THE SOUNDTRACK. IT'S SO GOOD like I will literally go through the entire thing over and over and not be bored with it. It makes my monkey brain so happy you have no idea.

to avoid writing an essay i will say one word. Mettaton

It is like Toby specifically made the games to fit the iceberg meme and it's awesome, everyone can find something to enjoy in the lore/game regardless of what kind of fan they are! Being able to appeal to various types of fans - from simple happy shipper people to deep dive lorediggers is the mark of the coolest games!

I love almost everything about Undertale as a game on its own. The music, the art and especially the characters and how they interact. They made me feel at home. Undertale means a huge amount to me. (I even got a tattoo of the castle when you and MK walk together!) The fandom helped keep the game alive all these years, with all of its AUs. Although personally, I always enjoyed AUs that kept characters as close to the classic material as possible (dancetale, outertale) I do appreciate the creativity of the fandom. They almost created entirely new stories with new characters of their own! If it weren't for those people, the Undertake fandom would have probably not been as active as it is now. I do feel like we're getting a resurgence of classic content now too! (In 2021)

the mystery. toby fox refused to give answers to anything and i think thats very sexy of him.

I just feel guilty for liking it so much when I'm in my 30's. But I recently got diagnosed with ASD, so I guess it explains things a bit. Many ppl consider Papyrus to be neurodivergent, and some adult fans are too, so seeing that makes me feel a bit better.

i think about "Despite everything, it's still you" everyday of my life.

I like how it's just as funny as it can be serious. All routes are this way. I laughed as much as I cried when I played the Pacifist route and then once I opened the game again and Flowey was telling me to let them be happy, I immediately turned off the game. I somehow felt bad.

The Found Family Trope

The True Pacifist Ending is just...man. And the fanworks about saving everyone even when the game doesn't let you? MANNNNNN

I think what I like the most about Undertale is how the music attaches you to the story. They're simple melodies that stick with you throughout the whole game, and they can remind you of both good and bad times.

there's honestly a LOT to love about this game, but i think one of my favorite things about it is just how many lgbt+ characters there are??? i can think of alphys, undyne, frisk, chara, mettaton, napstablook, monster kid, asgore, mad mew mew, the dress lion, the royal guards, and arguably even papyrus off of the top of my head, but im sure i'm forgetting a few from just undertale alone (there's even MORE in deltarune)!! it's practically unheard of to see so MANY from just one source, especially during its heyday in 2015-16. hell, you can't even GET the true pacifist ending without helping two gay couples hook up. it's really nice to see all of them being accepted for who they are and not judged for their sexuality or gender, at least in-canon.

[Image description: A wordcloud in the shape of the capitalized word UNDERTALE. The text is white on a black background, and uses the font found in the game. Some of the most visible words are: Game, Love, Music, Life, AU, Store, Friend, and Feel, which represent the most common words in the essays people wrote about their love for the game. End of ID]