With the Dark World seeming to crumble around them, the Player was honestly terrified- as were their allies. Everything seemed out of place- the Card Castle was falling apart as parts of it were replaced with rooms that were from the school, collapsing in on itself. And the Knight was there, laughing. "You fools... so focused on a pawn that you forgot to block the checkmate! And now the game is over!" he said, grinning madly.

The Player looked around, trying to find something- anything- that would get them somewhere. And as they saw a path into the Light World, they grabbed hold of one of the Ralsei variants. "Hold on, guys!" they said, triggering a split-second reaction for the six to grab each other, and Lancer of course. Lancer, trailing at the end, also gave a warning. "G- guys?! That guy is chasing us! What'd you do to make him this mad..?! What's happening to the castle?!" the prince said, confused. But the Player didn't look back. "No time! We'll try and explain soon!" they said, before pulling the six out of the Dark World and into the Light World- without them turning into their respective objects.

This terrified the Ralsei group. Lairse, for one, was enraged. "This... this isn't supposed to be possible! The darkness is merged with the light- no fountain, light or dark, should be able to do that!" he shouted, albeit still in the line led by the Player.

The Player, however, had a focus on their goal. "We need to find Kris. Odds are, they might be able to put a few pieces together. And with what we learned from that guy- I'm not even gonna bother with his name- we might have a shot at figuring out what we need to do."

The group nodded, including Lancer- though he was a bit exhausted. "H- hey, lemon-lime..? C- could I just tag along in your pocket..? I'm not really... the running type..." he said, panting some. The Player sighed. "Yeah, that's fine. I can't be losing you in this mess- Susie would kill me." they say, to which Lancer ran over (conveniently regaining enough energy to do so) and hopped in. Seems the inventory logic of the Dark World had blended through as well.

With Lancer tucked away, safe in the Player's pockets, the group of seven made their way to Kris' house via the Player's lead. Around them, monsters and Darkners of all kinds were panicking, with humans emerging from the rifts connecting the Dark World to the Light World. But these seven were focused on the task at hand.

As they approached the house in question, three figures emerged. Kris, Toriel, and then one more who looked surprisingly like the Ralseis- to his complete confusion. Kris and Toriel were also a bit shocked- especially Kris, as Ralsei was currently in the Light World, something that shouldn't have been possible.

The first one to speak was Kris. "P- Player, what are you doing here?! And what's with Ralsei and the others?! You all should still be in the Dark World- especially them!" they said, referring to the Ralsei group at the end. But the Player shook their head. "This is a massive emergency situation, Kris. Things have gone haywire on both ends. We need to get Susie and Noelle... and probably Berdly as well. I'm not sure what's going on myself, but this is a very bad situation, and that's best case. Worst case... this could be the end of your worlds. And, possibly mine if things go really south."

Asriel spoke up. "Um, sorry to interrupt, but who are you..? And why are there... uh, six more of me?!" he said, completely baffled. Toriel sighed. "Azzy, there's a lot to explain. I'm lucky to have been filled in on the situation myself, especially when things weren't so sudden. We should find Susie, Noelle, and Berdly first, then we can try and sort things out..."

Ralsei nodded, as did the rest of the Asriels- including, well, Asriel himself. Asriel, for one, was surprised at the synchronicity he had with them, but shrugged it off. "Okay. We'll need to split up to find them- but I think we can handle this." he said. "But we also need to ensure everyone's safety."

Kris looked to their adopted mother. "Mom, you know Mayor Holliday, and she trusts you. You'd be best to get Noelle." The Player, in turn, looked to Kris. "Okay, Kris, you might be able to get Susie. I don't know for sure how well it'd go- but you should be able to find her best. Here- take Lancer. That should be enough to prove the intensity of the situation." they say, pulling Lancer out of their pocket (to the shock of both Toriel and Asriel). Lancer just looked around a bit, and chuckled. "Wow, nice castle you got, Kris! Maybe someday I can see what kinds of holes it's got!" he said, before Kris just smiled a little, putting Lancer right into their own pocket.

Looking to Asriel, along with his six other selves, Player sighed. "Asriel, we'll need you to ensure this place is safe. These six should be able to help with that- just make sure this place is safe for when we get back." they say, to which Asriel just looks toward them. "...How do I know I can trust you, though..?" Both Kris and Toriel, however, nodded some, with Toriel speaking. "You can trust them, Azzy. It might be crazy- but there's something different about them. And they've proved themselves. So just work with them."

Asriel sighed, and nodded. "Okay. I'll do my best." Though, Kris spoke next. "Wait, what about Berdly? Who'll find him?" they asked. The Player sighed. "I'm gonna have to try and find them. I'm not sure, but they might be in the library- I just hope that they're all safe. But we need to move, and we'll need to move fast. There's no telling what might happen."

The group all nodded, and began working on their respective tasks. Kris began making their way towards the general apartment complex in the town- and odds were, Susie would be out and about with the chaos going on. Toriel made her way towards the Holliday residence. The seven Asriel variants began work on a sort of base, trying to make the Dreemurr house into a decent place for them to keep themselves safe. And, the Player was making their way towards the library of the town- where Berdly would hopefully be.

But on the way, they wound up plowing face-first into a large, admittedly fluffy monster. They fell backwards, and upon looking up, found themselves staring straight at a startled, albeit armed, Asgore. They immediately put their arms up. "Wait! I don't mean any harm!" they said, knowing how the Light World residents saw the humans. Asgore, however, was just confused. "Wait, what..? Human, what's going on? Tell me now!" he said, starting out confused but quickly getting his weapon, a gardening rake, readied. The Player nodded some. "Okay, I can try to tell you... it's gonna be a bit unbelievable but I think with what's going on you might be willing to believe it... heck if you want I can get you to a safe place, but I need to get to someone- it's a long story, but please, PLEASE believe me. I'm not trying to hurt anyone..."

Asgore glared into eyes of the Player for a few moments, before sighing and allowing them up. "Okay. I believe you. Tell me where to go, and I will meet you there..." he said. The Player got up, slower than they would have normally. "Go back to Kris' place... they should be able to explain when they get back. It'll be a crazy story but this is already crazy as it is. I'll be back soon..." they said, and Asgore's only reply was a nod, before he started to run towards the house. Out of the corner of their eye, the Player also noticed Kris with Susie, as well as Lancer piggybacking on Susie's shoulders. That was good timing.

So they continued on their way to the library- but what they saw honestly terrified them. It wasn't entirely a library anymore- a tree that looked straight out of a pop-up book had grown through the roof, with Berdly on one of the branches. Upon seeing the Player, he called down to them. "Player! Help! I'm not used to this! I don't want to be a normal bird right now!" he said, admittedly getting a small chuckle out of the Player, before they refocused on the situation.

They quickly tried to find something that would break the fall- before noticing a nearby Darkner that was conveniently just an oversized pillow. As such, they quickly approached. "Hey, I need your help really quick. I know it's strange, but you need to break my friend's fall- are you able to do that safely?" they asked. Shockingly, they nodded- turns out they had been doing that for other Darkners too. As such, they went over to the spot where Berdly would probably land.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just that easy. Berdly was still clinging to the branch, not wanting to let go. "I can't fall that far down! I'd PERISH! This isn't the Dark World, where a single pillow would nullify all the fall damage!" he said, clearly afraid of heights. The Player just sighed. "Berdly, there's no distinction between the two right now! Whatever it is that's going on has messed up the rules of reality! Think of it as a glitch- fall damage isn't working right because of it!" they said. So Berdly gulped, closed his eyes, and dropped right onto the pillow-Darkner. Getting up, he looked at himself, and let out a sigh of relief and did a fist pump- before the Darkner asked for him to get off of them, which he did.

With Berdly back in the group, the Player now chose to make their way back to the Dreemurr house- Berdly not far behind. As they approached, the two could see Asgore and Toriel, actually talking. It was strange, but it seemed that the dire circumstances were allowing them to interact... somewhat normally. And with Toriel back, that meant Noelle had arrived as well. But to the Player's surprise, there was a second one there with her- another reindeer monster who seemed to be just a bit older than Noelle, and dressed in an outfit much like that of Noelle's Dark World outfit, except it was a light blue instead of white. She seemed to be talking with Noelle, as well as Susie and Kris, and when Susie saw the Player approaching, she pointed them out. Kris quickly went over, with Noelle and the other reindeer monster staying back for the time being.

Kris looked to Berdly. "Berdly, you got any idea what's going on?" The bluebird shook his head. "Not in the slightest, aside from the obvious. Why? You don't know either?" Kris shook their head. "Just checking to see if we needed to explain. Regardless, now that everyone's together, we need to get a sort of plan. Dad was worried for Mom, and Dess wound up finding out about things because her outfit changed, so they're getting an explanation of things from before."

The Player sighed. "Okay, once those explanations are done, I think me, Ralsei, and the rest of Asriel's alternate selves have some stuff to explain too. Turns out that the Knight had us all fooled. I don't know how we could have stopped him in the first place anymore."

Kris groaned, concerned but clearly not wanting to think on it too much. "Okay. Tell us later. Right now, we've got a lot to work on. At least we have another two in our team for now. I don't know where we'll go from here, but... I think once Azzy and the Ralseis finish getting the house fortified more, we can get things hashed out more calmly. For now, we should just get you introduced to Dad and Dess. That way, they don't mistake you for one of the other humans who seem to be... not as happy about what's going on."

The Player simply nodded. "Got it. Let's get that done."

Whoa, what's this? Part 20?! And I hadn't even done a Anon Asks yet!! Seems that things really have gone into chaos. And this is a nice, larger part too. I personally am unsure of the quality of it but if you guys all enjoy it then that's what matters to me. I certainly want to aim for quality as well in the end. So now we've had two parts in the span of one week (not in terms of a calendar, I mean two parts in seven days), and honestly I'm happy about that. I have a few ideas for where to go from here, and those vary wildly in all honesty. Depending on how I can work with Azzy being part of the story, as well as the new additions (hehe!) we might be seeing a variety of things. Could be new stuff, could be rewritten old stuff, could be stuff happening in the background of old stuff. There's even another option that you might be able to figure out if you hunt it down. Pgp lkwbak isow mqgba abj wep, xxnr zme isrbpn waabec penrxnm ezp isr zga. Qkz bbnpaan lka nzptpe fg lka dtqu uip rexmo abj bouznn royew nu mp. Md do ritnazzm vwzm pgc yafigapne pso htwe, tobp pso lmeeyo abj opzcg mqbpnjp. Hopefully you all enjoy this additional part of the story, and whatever else is soon to be! I'll see you all in whatever comes next, be it the next Anon Asks, or another part should I manage to pull more motivation out of thin air! Previous Part | First Part | Next Part LynxGriffin's Paper Trail Comic (Whoa, a completely original segment! Shocking! Check out the comic anyways though, you might find something that might be intriguing- there's all sorts of stuff in there that inspires these story segments!)

Rate UT characters on likely they are to eat spoiled food

premise: as monster food does not spoil, this speculation is based on how i think they'd treat human food in the post pacifist ending

frisk. trash burger. enough said. (also i hc that they grew up on the streets, so... not a lot of chances to be picky with your food.)

sans. second most likely. there's milk in the fridge bought specifically for him to drink out of the carton whenever frisk's or papyrus' friends come to visit, like a stereotypical disney channel older brother (he loves being annoying on purpose). it's been there for a month. he's still not done with it. it's probably rancid. enjoyer of food and lover of even shittier food. mr worst burger on the menu. he is ESPECIALLY gross about food and he is gross about it on purpose, he will peel an apple for papyrus and then take a bite out of it before cutting him a slice. and then call him a wuss when he acts disgusted. ("stop being a baby bones, we have the same germs anyway" "NO WE DON'T. *YOU* HAVE GERMS! AND I DON'T WANT ANY OF THEM!!" "why? they're pedigreed" "OUGH!?!!"). he mostly uses it as a chance to make a gag (or a lack of gagging, lol) but his strong stomach did also come in handy in the early days of papyrus' interest in cooking

mettaton, of sequins-and-glue hamburgers fame. he's technically tied for 2nd place with sans, but i put him in third because i feel like sans does it on purpose, for mettaton it's more like... a side effect of starting life off as a ghost. few people question it since he's a robot now.

alphys. she doesn't go out of her way to do it, but she buys her snacks in industrial pallet-fuls to reduce social interactions to a minimum, so by the time she reaches the last 3 or 4 packets of blue takis, they're well past their expiration date. not that it stops her. now, this wouldn't happen on the surface because she gets better and has a solid support system, but if monster food could spoil back when she was going Through it with the amalgamates, i feel like she'd either be too depressed or tired to care and eat it, or she'd tumble into a "g-god. you can't even take care of your own f-food. is there anything you can't fuck up" self-deprecation spiral and lose her appetite altogether

flowey. did it to see what would happen. nothing did. never did it again. tbh I just don't think he eats much of anything, spoiled or not.

undyne. getting into the "wouldn't eat spoiled food" tier. she actually thinks it's really gross but papyrus tricks her into doing it by challenging her machismo. she gets SO sick from it. they do this aprox 3 times a month. rinse and repeat

asgore. he's a gardener, and i can see him working in a community garden on the surface, so he'd have access to a lot of fresh produce, for both himself and to give away. however, if some of it were to go bad, he'd probably cut off the affected bit and eat the rest so it doesn't go to waste.

toriel. she is SUPER careful about expiration dates and mold and checks to make sure all she owns is still safe to eat almost weekly. this level of care, however, is mostly meant for other people, not herself, but she would really rather not eat anything that's gone bad. same reasoning as alphys', IF monster food could spoil when she was still in the RUINs, i could technically see her biting the bullet, if only because 1) she was also heavily depressed and struggling to take care of herself, though i think she might sooner skip out on the meal altogether, rather than eat something spoiled, and 2) the awkward stares from the other monsters in the RUINs supermarket might not be something she's willing to deal with on any given day.

papyrus. he would NOT. no way. master of cleaning, germophobe extraordinaire papyrus (well, not really, but he plays the part). if toriel is meticulous, papyrus is obsessive. there better not be a SINGLE spot on his food. and no lines or plaid patterns either!! he WILL wash it untill it goes away. with soap probably. canonically a picky eater to begin with (his picks are just weird as balls). can should and WILL get on sans' ass about his unhealthy eating habits, and that includes eating food that's gone bad.

Asgore in Undertale gets way too much flak for being a child murderer, and I'm tired of him being forgotten by the fandom. The people who don't hate on him just forget about my poor big Mr Dad Guy!

I think that while Asgore wasn't in the right about the killings, he was reasonably justified. Like, listen to this:

Asgore's entire species was nearly wiped out in a one sided war over a POSSIBILITY, not even ONE monster had ever absorbed a soul, and yet they were still sealed away.

For anywhere from decades to CENTURIES passed and Asgore still wanted peace with humans. Then, Chara fell. Chara, the first human to interact with monsters in who knows how long, hated humanity. They fell down Mt. Ebott for "not good reasons", and Asgore took that child in. Asgore raised a human abandoned by their own kin, the same species that slaughtered his kingdom. And he still wanted peace.

It was only when Chara killed themselves to help Asgore achieve his dream, and Asriel was mercilessly slaughtered, that Asgore lost his cool. Asgore had to watch as both of his children died by the hands of humans.

Now, remember, a Boss Monster cannot age without a child, so when Asriel died, it doomed Asgore to spend the rest of eternity trapped in a mountain watching his species die out. Because also remember that when monsters lose hope, they fucking DIE. They Fall Down and enter a coma until they turn into dust.

Asgore, after watching hundreds, if not thousands of his people die and lose hope, including his own children, he finally snapped and declared war. Asgore needed seven humans to die, and then he'd be able to allow his kingdom to even just see the SUN for the first time.

Asgore came to his senses almost immediately, but it was too late, there was no turning back. The promise of seven souls gave monsters hope again! And if he stopped, a more bloodthirsty monster would try taking his seat and using it to declare a bloodier war (exactly what Undyne does to Toriel in certain Neutral Runs).

Asgore had to kill seven people to save his entire species from extinction, and even that was too much for his soft heart. He would rather die and let you go home, but he knows that isn't a real option, when it comes down to Him versus the 7th Soul, Asgore knows someone will have to die, for the sake of his people, his friends, and his family.

Asgore lost EVERYTHING, and he still wanted peace, it just... wasn't an option anymore.

Big old TS!Underswap thoughtpost. Spoiler free :p

PROS

* It's really visually striking in almost every sense of the term. The areas are beautifully colored and the characters are all so well designed and the spritework is pretty fantastic. So many little character animations that bring the game to life. I like that the overworld sprites try to replicate the battle sprites, as opposed to the original Undertale that scaled down their designs into little low-pixel chibi things. It gives TS!US it's own visual identity which I appreciate.

* CHARACTER WRITING!!! Oh my god. The character writing. Oh my god? Probably the most in character Undertale fangame I've ever seen. Everything from the character interactions to the dialogue down to the humor feels like something Toby would authentically write. You'd think swapping everyone's roles around would make it difficult to keep the characters... in character, but actually it's astoundingly good. Toriel and Asgore have the same motives, but the difference here is that Asgore was banished to the ruins after waging war on humanity. Sans is a pretend superhero in a big old PR thing orchestrated by Papyrus. It's awesome. I give huge props to the character writing for those last two specifically. It works. You'd think an Underswap fangame would be horribly OOC but actually. It just works. it all works so well.

* Character writing+. There are loads of new characters that actually feel like monsters that could exist in the original game. There are two cartoon henchmen named Larry and Harry that are rivals to Crossbones and they are my absolute favorite of the new characters added. So many loveable characters here (which makes the No Mercy run all the more difficult... so props to TS.)

* Game mechanics. Lots of new game mechanics added. There's a journal that keeps track of the monsters you've encountered and how you've dealt with them, plus a collectibles menu and even a quest system. (The quests seem to be integrated into the morality system which is a really cool spin on the morality system of the original Undertale; the game even commends you for going out of your way to complete quests instead of barreling through areas! It makes me wonder how much of the "control" aspect is at play here.)

* The Human. The human has a lot of little character quirks and dialogue and animations that really make them such an endearing protagonist. I could talk about this character all day. Chara fans will love this one.

* Character writing. Mentioning it again. So good. Really good characters. Oh my god

CONS

* I dont even know

*

* The music is good but it's just kind of "good" when the rest of the game is so much more polished. I feel like there could be more... instruments in a lot of the songs. I don't know, I'm sure they were trying to replicate the chiptune style of Undertale music, but if they went through the trouble if changing up the art style then I'm not sure why they couldn't put a spin on the music style also, it kind of clashes with the theme. A very small complaint though. Muffet's battle music is so so catchy it's been stuck in my head.

* I dont know what else

* The No Mercy run is scary and it made me scared :scared:

* Sans is sidelined for this mysterious masked superhero guy named Crossbones?? Why'd they even bother putting Sans in the game. And who is this enigmatic Crossbones fellow...

* for real though i have very little complaints here its so so polished. Please please please play TS!IUnderswap i will dedicate the rest of my life trying to convince everyone to play it. It currently goes up to this universe's version of Waterfall but there's about 6 or 7 hours worth of content here already.

Don't think I've seen this pointed out yet, but Susie saying this to kris implies we're in for some really great Toriel content in chapter 3, a very high chance for some fun susie and toriel interactions, and perhaps toriel being a little silly and finally letting loose a little 👀

It's also possible they'll get to talk to asgore some more in hometown, and/or that asriel will be back! Toriel said asriel will be there next week, and most people figure that since there was talk of no school and going to church, chapter be 3 will be Sunday... Maybe he'll come home on Monday?

Edit: upon further thinking, I think chapter 3 will probably just take place overnight and chapter 4 will be Sunday, since that'd give kris and Susie the time they need to explore town. Makes me feel Asriel is less likely - could still happen if he decides to surprise them a day early though, or if toriel considers Sunday the first day of the week!

I don't ship Soriel... Why?

... because I honestly don't like their friendship...

... it's based on secrets and lies...

... also, Sans lets a child almost die and treats it like a joke, which is a deal breaker for most single parents (especially ones with dead kids)!

Trying to scare Frisk for fun during first meeting...

Tricking Frisk into shaking hands with a whoopie cushion...

Telling Frisk to hide behind a lamp, then telling Papyrus about Frisk's hiding spot...

Asks Frisk to play along with Papyrus' puzzles and doesn't wait for Frisk to agree or disagree...

Does nothing to help Frisk with Papyrus' more dangerous puzzles (keep in mind, Frisk is a child and Sans made a promise to Toriel to protect Frisk)...

Refuses to interact with Frisk, while Frisk bonds with Papyrus...

Pranks Frisk with a whoopie cushion again and pretends to leave Frisk with the bill...

Spills ketchup all over Frisk's dish, if Frisk wants the ketchup (he does give Frisk his meal however) ...

Asks Frisk about a flower...

Tricks and pranks Frisk again...

Sleeps when Frisk is being chased by Undyne...

Stacks hot dogs on Frisk's head...

The pranks seem at first seem harmless, but Sans is definitely trolling and messing with Frisk, with the pranks being a bit antagonistic...

He doesn't truly do anything to help Frisk, despite making a promise to protect Frisk...

He usually keeps his distance, even when Frisk hangs out with him...

Sans never truly acts like Frisk's friend, he only acts more like an acquaintance at best... and even then, he might not even truly be Frisk's acquaintance.

Considering that he tells Frisk that the child would be dead where they stood, if it wasn't for Toriel's promise.

Then he jokes about how 'great' he is at protecting Frisk.

And then he chuckles about the thought of Frisk dying, if Frisk gives him a look.

Toriel is allowed to move on from Asgore and date other people... but if she must date someone else... it should be someone that actually cares about kids and is honest with her.

so this video (it's pretty good, worth a watch) basically saved me having to clean up the big word salad post I was drafting but I'm gonna reiterate a few points -

firstly, this isn't mentioned in the video but I think it's so, so important: unlike the valentine author, Gaster has never, ever used a single contraction. Toriel is another character who never uses them, no matter how casual the context. for something like this to suddenly change for no reason makes no sense. Toby is meticulous. I genuinely believe this is a HUGE strike against it being Gaster, yet almost no one mentions it. next, the valentine author speaks as if they don't know us: "you seem reliable", "you are very odd". and as we know, Gaster's well acquainted with us by now, so it'd make no sense for him to speak to us this way. (but what it does lend credence to is this being a character we either haven't met before, or haven't extensively interacted with.) additionally, in all instances so far, Gaster's been keen, focused, sharp. why would he suddenly be so addled and confused? the author saying they forgot who they're supposed to help, and it possibly even being themself, doesn't point to Gaster either - in fact, just the opposite - because the idea of him being forgotten is pure fanon. the game explicitly states that Asgore took so long to hire a new royal scientist because Dr. Gaster's brilliance was irreplaceable. how would the king know that if he didn't remember? fictional characters, by their very nature, are presented to us in a deliberate and finite way; our interactions with them have specific purpose. this means that when we try to hold them to real-world standards like "I, a real live person, write differently depending on the occasion", it won't always hold up. we have to go by what precedents have already been set by the creator, in the context in which these characters exist. on occasions when characters in UT/DR have spoken in a different way than usual, the fundamental, anchoring traits of their speech still remain intact (see: contractions), which would not be the case if Gaster were the valentine author.

(and of course, this doesn't even touch on the Japanese translation highlighting how wildly different the speech styles are, which I personally put more stock in than they do in the video.) the last 3rd of the video is more opinion/headcanon-oriented but he makes his point well. even if you disagree with his perception of Gaster (I do to an extent), it's true that there's already no shortage of whimsical, silly, lighthearted characters in UT/DR, and surely, if Gaster were meant to be one of them, Toby wouldn't reveal it in a way that's so out of left field. I love silly goofy wingding man as much as the next guy, but I also agree that attributing this personality to him out of nowhere, when it's incongruent with everything we've seen so far, would only serve to undermine his character and the uniqueness of it. none of this is to knock anyone whose opinion differs from mine! I'm just laying my thoughts out, for whatever that's worth. I've seen an unfortunate tendency in the community to lump the valentine in with the tweets and gonermaker text as all being on the same level of "obviously Gaster", and then tout it as proof that their headcanons are real. (we all have our headcanons! just don't be a dick about it eh?) at the end of the day, personally, I try to absorb and cling to as much canon evidence as possible, scant though it may be. because what I really really want, is to know who Gaster is. in the truest sense, as he is intended to be by his creator.

(but isn't it wonderful how much we all love this character, no matter how differently we may see him? I mean ultimately if we're not having fun here, then what's the point, right?)

but yeah, give the vid a watch! it goes into more detail and makes more compelling points than my sleepless brain can atm. :p

had to remember what the hell i meant by papyton (doomed) (what the hell i meant was yet another overanalysis of a character relationship that is way more bizarre than it seems at first glance). such is my brand 😭 and please do forgive the scattershot explanation! i have been in a real bad mire of writer's block lately.

in undertale, the core cast are all pretty tightly interwoven. unlike deltarune, which presents a pretty sprawling web of interconnected characters across the dark world, the underground is a pretty compact place. everyone seems to know everyone in the underground – and most of our main cast have some sort of significant on-screen interaction with one another. sans and papyrus are brothers with goofy antics akin to tall-and-short-guy mooks of the 90s, alphys and undyne are the core romantic relationship of the game, toriel and asgore are former paramours, alphys is mettaton's pal and made his robot body for him – you name it. the core six even get to banter with one another in the true pacifist ending, letting characters interact who normally don't get the chance to and establishing a sense of closure to the game.

a lot of these personal connections are established off-screen, too. flowey's done everything we've done offscreen and has some pretty personal connections to alphys, papyrus, and – of course – his family. mettaton visits undyne's house to lie on her piano. sans and toriel's conversations at the ruins door have a ripple effect that echoes throughout the game. and all of these are personal connections, the sort that characterize the world of the underground itself – that is, except for papyrus and mettaton's relationship.

papyrus and mettaton don't interact onscreen at all during any given route. they're both very similar – oozing with genuine confidence, unabashedly "themselves" – but we hardly even see them in the same room together. papyrus gets a moment in true pacifist to look at mettaton's hot leg, and the alarm clock dialogue mentions them both being at the same holiday party (ft. another leg), but strangely, that's about it. there's a certain level of distance placed between papyrus and mettaton – which wouldn't exactly strike me as so interesting if it weren't for the fact that papyrus just does not shut up about mettaton. i mean, just listen to him;

(see also; the "would you smooch a ghost?" from the papyrus qna. that's probably the most blatant you could get if you're doing a romantic reading.)

but the way papyrus talks about mettaton is also quite interesting – reminiscent of a celebrity crush. it adds an air of near-parasociality to the dynamic that stands out next to such a tight-knit cast.

all this to say, there is one instance in the game where they interact in a more personal way. it's one most players won't see – the ending where mettaton becomes king of the underground and turns it into his own personal playground, making sure no dissenters can ruin his 100% approval rating. only papyrus and sans remain in his orbit – as his personal agents. they're the only two who get to be on the level.

all in all, i find this conspicuous setup super interesting. i can't say with certainty if it was on purpose – but considering what it could mean regardless has really begun to drive my thoughts about these two. what could it say about their dynamic that the only time we see them together is when they're at their worst?

I just. Love how delighted Toriel is that Kris has a friend, and doesn't really care who said friend is. In Chapter 1, the second Kris says that they're hanging out with a friend, Toriel's tune changes immediately and she says Kris can continue hanging out with said friend as long as they please. In Chapter 2, when she meets Susie, she doesn't get judgmental in any way, and all their interactions are just really cute. Baking together, punning together, letting her stay over...

Like, with how Toriel is characterized in Deltarune compared to Undertale, I feel like a lot of people make her...meaner, I guess. They take how she acts around Asgore, and use that to inform how she'd act in other situations. But she doesn't think Susie is a bad influence on Kris at all, she's really happy to welcome Susie into the house and meet her! It's adorable! So I don't think she's quite as strict and judgmental as some assume, or if she is, her desire for Kris to be happy overrides her 'knows what's best for you' tendencies. She's clearly not fully aware of Kris' situation, but is aware enough to be concerned, and to let some things (like waking them up, letting them wander Hometown after school, or devouring an entire pie) slide if it means they're safe and happy.

...On the flip side. It's also kinda sad. Kris isn't really hated by anyone in Hometown, but between being the only human, the situation their parents are in, Asriel(who they're closest with) moving away, the emptiness of their room and how they sometimes lock themself in the bathroom for lengths of time, the way Berdly, MK, and Snowdrake talk about them at various points...it's not so hard to understand why Toriel's so happy and relieved that there's someone outside herself and Asriel Kris has a positive relationship with. They used to be friends with Noelle, and they seem on pretty good terms with Catti, but I don't think they're quite friends right now. So it's also somewhat sad. Susie is probably Kris' first friend in a very long time. But maybe Noelle and Berdly can also become genuine friends, too.

To answer your reply That's fine can't wait to see the final product when it's done

I thought you represented Asriel very well but how did you exactly get an exact picture on what personality type to give Asriel? because the game doesn't really feature him as much as other Undertale characters

I was going to work with someone on an AU comic for Undertale's 10th anniversary and I was hoping to have every charceter as accurate or canon as possible. What would be the best approach ?

I'm gonna answer this ask in reverse, starting with "how to keep the characters In Character", then how/why I decided on Asriel's personality. This is quite a long answer, so I'll put it under a Read More as not to stretch out your dash~

So you say you want the characters to be as canon as possible, and wonder what would be the best approach. Well... the only advice I can give is to replay the game and explore as much as the dialogue as you can. Click on everything. Inspect everything at least 2 times. Make a phone call to Papyrus in every room, then go back and do it again after you befriended Undyne. Keep in mind the relationships the characters have with each other and how they're all connected. Undyne has ties to both Gerson and Asgore, who in turn also have a connection as Gerson was once the War Hammer of Justice, and could resonably served in the royal guard as well with Asgore as his boss. Alphys is connected to Bratty and Catty (childhood friends), Bratty and Catty are connected to Burgerpants (the glamburger fiasco), Burgerpants is connected to Mettaton (boss and employee), and Mettaton is connected to Alphys (both have a mutual interest in humans). Everybody has ties to everyone else. How could those ties effect their interactions? What does the character's home/room/job say about them? Take in the environmental clues and extrapolate on them. You can learn so much about the undertale cast from indirect details. And it's okay to dip your toes into common tropes or stereotypes to flesh them out. Just be wary about making those tropes/stereotypes their ENTIRE personality, or else the characters will end up being flanderized. Never forget Papyrus is more than a skeleton who makes spaghetti, Toriel is more than an anxious mother who makes butterscotch pie, Undyne is more than a guard who suplexes boulders just because she can, so on and so forth. Ask yourself, "What are these character's values and beliefs", then using that framework try to imagine they would respond to the situations you have planned for this comic of yours. While some reactions may be similar, all should be unique. We all know Papyrus's reaction to a bad pun will be different to Sans's, but Sans and Toriel may have a similar reaction, etc, etc. There will be wiggle room. You may have to fill in parts that don't have clear cut answers, but ultimately, so long as you stay consistent with the characterizations you decide, readers will be willing to suspend their disbelief even if their interpretations are not 1 to 1 with yours. That's what makes fan fiction and theories so much fun~

Now for the second part. To copy/paste what you asked;

"how did you exactly get an exact picture on what personality type to give Asriel? because the game doesn't really feature him as much as other Undertale characters"

This is just amusing to me because saying the game doesn't really feature him is just factually incorrect. Asriel is in the game A LOT. More than some of the minor characters like Napstablook and Monster Kid, at least. But what do I mean by this? Well, aside from the protagonist you control, Asriel is the very first character you meet in Undertale, even if you don't realize it, and that's because...

Asriel IS Flowey. This is an irrefutable fact about Undertale's lore. Even if he doesn't look like a sweet goat child, even if he doesn't act like an innocent baby boy, we must accept that this cruel, heartless, emotionless flower is Asriel at his absolute worst.

Asriel himself doesn't even deny it. He doesn't say that the things he did as Flowey were the actions of a seperate entity. He fully owns up to it. To directly quote his dialogue from before and after his God of Hyperdeath fight, "I was so tired of being a flower", "As a flower, I was soulless," "I acted so strange and horrible," "I hurt so many people," "There's no excuse for what I've done." And even as Flowey, he does not see Asriel as someone separate from himself when he talks to you in New Home in the No Mercy route, recalling the memories he has before falling down as is own (example, he says "remember when WE played here", as opposed to "Remember when you and Asriel played here".)

(Now, granted, I think the concept of Flowey debating if he still "counts" as Asriel is a facinating philosophical quandary for him to explore, so much so that it became a minor story thread in a 200k word fan fic I wrote 4 years ago, but that story thread is not relevant to my current fan comic nor the game itself because, once again, Asriel DOES see himself as the same entity that is Flowey and vice versa)

Alright, enough sidetracking, back to my main point. Flowey IS Asriel at his absolute worst. Flowey is what Asriel always had the potential to become if none of his actions had consequences, if his choices had no repercussions. With out a prong collar of past regrets to keep him in check, his worst traits can run rampant. And knowing this, I reverse engineered a personality for him by defining who Flowey is then watering these traits down to something that would fit a 10 year old.

So what do we know about Flowey? We know he's deceptive (Lying to you in your first encounter in an effort to steal your soul), He's controlling (Save Scumming in every neutral ending to keep the upper hand), he's sassy (mocking you after the toriel fight no mater if you spare or kill her) and he's obsessed with Chara (declaring life isn't worth living without them, claiming "chara" is the only one who is fun to play with anymore.) (You can also make the argument that Flowey is incredibly lonely and bored, but I personally think that is a result of reliving so many timelines over and over and not something intrinsic to Asriel) using these descriptors I dialed it back in order to fit an average "child" character. My Asriel became someone who is snarky, stubborn, and cares deeply about those he loves to the point of detriment because he justifies it all as "I'm doing this for your own good/I know what's best for you", which in turn becomes his own hamartia. Asriel is also an honorary brat because he is a child and all children are brats and I don't mean that in a negative sense. I was a child once, so I was a brat once. We were all brats once in our lives. It's part of the process of growing up as an emotionally complex creature, and no one is born with perfect emotional intelligence for others. Chara and Frisk are brats too in this comic, but to varying degrees because of their own life circumstances, but that's an essay for another time.

Anyway, I hope this long-ass post helped you if just a little bit, or at least made you think. Good luck on your AU~! (god, I can't believe Undertale will be a decade old in 2 short years.)

TI GOT A COMPLETE REDESIGN LETS GO!!!!

okay!! first form is his original appearance in his universe (underchestra), second form is when he first glitched and third form is after he was rescued by ink keep reading for more info on drawing him and his lore!!!!

likes do nothing so please REPOST

LORE SECTION

about ti

ti was just a normal sans who lived in underchestra, a universe where all monsters were intertwined by music. ti mainly plays the trombone, but has also learned to play the flute. his personality is similar to classic, but he has social anxiety and tends to be more secluded because of it.

about underchestra

it's an au where all monsters share a passion for music. most monsters play instruments typically found in orchestras. here's what the characters will play so far (i still need to decide the rest):

frisk: flute (uses it as a weapon in genocide. can be used as gun or dart shooter)

sans: trombone (secondarily, flute. learned from frisk)

papyrus: trumpet

toriel: harp

asgore: tuba

ti's lore

on a random day, ti was kidnapped by error. frisk managed to tag along with him. while they were in the anti-void, ti's creator gave up. his universe was being destroyed. core frisk managed to get everyone to safety, but noticed their absence.

frisk and ti glitched the anti-void. a horrible screaming noise could be heard, not just coming from them, but their code. the anti-void turned blue.

error did not expect that. he instantly let his strings go off him, in disbelief. the noise was as if their code spoke to him, as if they were alike.

core soon managed to arrive with an ally: ink. ink rescued ti and frisk from the anti-void, leaving error in a semi-glitched domain. the anti-void would soon go back to normal.

ink helped core take care of ti, as he found him to be very interesting. over the next few days, ti's glitches would reduce to a something he could live with without being in complete agony. frisk managed to recover with minor errors, due to not interacting with error directly.

ink gave ti new and funky clothes: pants, sneakers and a small cape. at the time, ti didn't have a name... he was only sans. ink was very fascinated by ti, and when he learned ti could play the flute, he gave him one. due to the nature of it being ink's flute and to his glitches, it made him able to travel the multiverse. he soon got to be known as flutist sans (ti for short), for traveling through aus with his flute.

INFO SECTION

for everyone who wants to draw him

both second and third form have the incorrect DOS version BSoD image overlaid over them second form uses burn on 50-60% and third form uses screen on 20-30% second form uses the same incorrect DOS version BSoD image for his eyes, but with a filter that makes it look like the blue is darker on the second and third form, the amount of chromatic aberration is up to you, just keep in mind that the second form has more chromatic aberration than the third

fun references i put on him

the 0x0000007B text on him refers to the (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE), which means the system is unable to boot from the hard drive,,, which would fit on his lore since his au was abandoned while he was in the anti-void, leaving him with an unaccessible path to his au (which would be the equivalent to a hard drive)

"papyrus picks sans up and carries him around like a bag" and "sans never pays off his tab at Grillby's" are two uber popular fanon pieces that i categorize in the same folder as they are 100% innocuous and really really funny but just. not really true to canon when you get down to it. which is also funny because people WILL assume they're in the game

toriel is pretty open with physical affection with frisk, and she has no problem wrestling with sans for the phone later on, undyne repeatedly noogies papyrus and carries/is carried by other characters in the cast (...ok usually still papyrus). alphys and undyne have the amount of touchy-feeliness you'd expect from two people in love, and asgore trained with undyne all her childhood, and was likely as physically affectionate as toriel with his children.

in this context sans and papyrus never really... interact physically? like they're always There standing together, but they never hug, they never high-five, they never scuffle. they're starkly non-physical with each other, compared to the other characters.

oh and sans is "Grillby's best customer." doubt he'd get that title from the other regulars if he never paid his tab

Regarding Ralsei's identity… the fact that his name is an anagram of Asriel makes me question whether he was "designed" by someone in-universe to resemble him in some form. People often dismiss this as out-of-universe symbolism of the player's attachment to Asriel. However, it's interesting to note that his mannerisms and even his sprite animations (like his giggling animation, which mirrors Toriel's) sometimes reflect Toriel more than Asriel. Also, remember how Susie comments, "Ralsei looks like your mom, right?" to Kris. His coaster design in Cyber World is also more similar to Toriel for some reason...

His entire form screams "Dreemurr Family", and not just "Asriel doppelganger" to me, almost as if he's been personally tailored to appeal to Kris. This isn't surprising, given how he seems far more attached to Kris than even Susie. (I'm leaning towards this being connected to Kris rather than the player, as our attachment typically leans towards Asriel, not Toriel.)

Though this idea is way more unsettling than the idea that he's consciously altering his form to "fit in" haha. And that could be the reason why Ralsei doesn't know what it's like to be himself – his entire being might be molded to be an effigy of Kris's family, a byproduct of either Kris's unconscious mind or another person's deliberate creation…

Yeah, I think you might be correct here, actually. Ralsei does have this maternal side to him, most particularly in the immediate aftermath of the Spamton NEO fight ("There, there" is such a mum thing to say, isn't it?) And his admonishments to Susie for drinking the tea too fast gives off big mom energy, as well! The Dreemurr I think of most in relation to Ralsei is in fact Asgore, on account of the fact that they are both male and enjoy activities you might consider "effeminate". They both also go above and beyond for the people they care about most, even at the expense of their own wellbeing. I'll grant you that Ralsei isn't quite as much of a wet lettuce as Deltarune Asgore is, but there are definitely similarities to be noted there!

With all of that in mind, an argument could be made that Ralsei is in fact some kind of mental amalgamate of the entire Dreemurr family. In fact, you can go further, and say that rather than him representing Kris's ideal form within that family, Ralsei instead represents the absolute platonic ideal of a loving family (i.e. the Dreemurrs pre-Dess's disappearance). Created to be the perfect brother, mother AND father figure, all at the same time. Almost tailor-made to try and grant Kris, and to a lesser extent Susie, the things they most seem to be missing right now.

As for the somewhat-romantic undertones of Ralsei's interactions with Kris, I think this too can actually be explained using the above. It seems to me a rather childish interpretation of the notion of love, not just in the sense that it's very "puppy love"-esque, but also in the conflation of romantic imagery with all other forms of love, including familial. I think this is because when you're young, things like platonic love aren't so clearly signposted and blatant, in both real life and in media, so a child's idea of expressing love to somebody might cleave more towards the more "obvious" expressions typical of romantic love. If that makes any sense whatsoever!!

Very interesting to think about, anon! And the fact that there's so many plausible theories as to who or what Ralsei is actually supposed to be means I can continue talking about all this for years to come! Or at least until the remaining chapters come out :P

Name Interactions

Way it works is that each main character that you name yourself as appears on-screen, while the less important ones don't The arrow to show who's talking would also change positions depending on who's talking (+) - Name is allowed (-) - Name is not allowed (Papyrus) - Papyrus is narrating (Papyrus) (+) Papyru - "WOWIE! THAT'S ALMOST LIKE MY NAME! !" (-) Dummy - "No. No! NO!" (+) Metta/Mett/Mtt - "I'll allow it, darling." (-) Toriel - "Sorry, child. Try picking a different name." (+) Tori - "I suppose that's fine." (-) Asgore - "Ah... sorry, but no. Maybe try a different one?" (+) Gorey - "Hoho! Sure, why not?" (-) Alphys - "U-um... maybe think of something else?" (+) Alphy - "... S-sure... I guess?" (-) Undyne - "NOT A CHANCE!!" (-) Chara - "You wish." (-) Asriel - "O-Oh! uh, no." (-) Sans - "sorry, there can only be one detective around here with that name." (-) Shyren - "..." (+) Napsta/Blooky - "oh..... that's unfortunate........" (-) MewMew - Only I get to be called THAT! Mew~ Extras ( Papyrus) (+) Frisk - "I'VE BEEN INFORMED THAT THIS NAME WILL MAKE YOUR JOURNEY HARDER. ARE YOU SURE?" (Papyrus) (+) Murder/Mercy - "THOSE ARE WEIRD NAMES! AND VERY ON-THE-NOSE." (+) AAAAAA - "ARE YOU SCREAMING DUE TO EXCITEMENT? ?" (+) Reshtop - "Sure! As long as you don't disturb my shopping!" (???) Mr. Sunshine - "SHUT UP!! THAT NAME'S TAKEN!!" (+) NCG - "Oh! want some ice cream?" (+) Grillb - "........................ okay." (+) Catty - "Like, sure! Why not?" (+) Bratty - "Like, OK, whatever." (+) BPants - "That name sucks, little buddy." (+) Gerson - "Wah ha ha! Sure thing!" (+) Alvin - "I, Father Alvin, shall allow it." (+) QC - "If you wish to, hun." (+) Temmie - "WOA!! u tem friend to?" (Papyrus) (+) Jerry - ". . . WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT ONE." (If you put your name in Lowercase, Papyrus will comment on how he can only say your name in Uppercase)

I'm curious to know if we'll get some interactions between asgore, toriel, and flowey? (Are they perhaps also going to find out something about their son being a flower?)

Ah, not anything extended--they have some brief interactions later, but flowey has his reasons for not telling his parents the truth--which I have explored in a scene that still needs some polish (and doesn't come until a fair bit later anyway).

So, the topic gets touched on, but it sounds like it's not exactly what you're envisioning. Hopefully you still find it interesting when the time comes :>

you tend to pair up the frisks with the sanses a lot. How come? Just curious since I usually see frisk and chara with Toriel or Asgore

You kinda answered the question for me! It’s not done as often, and I tend to like to explore unpopular dynamics!

But the longer answer is that I was always fascinated by the Frisk and Sans dynamic in most aus. In regular Undertale, Sans jumps all over the place with his attitude towards Frisk, but at the end of the day, shows he really cares by telling Frisk to take care of themselves and keeping his promise in the mercy run by not killing them.

I also don’t think Toriel would be healed enough to care for a child anyways. After losing so many children, we see how depressed and traumatized she is in the ruins. Another child will not help. She has to come to terms with her grief and move on from the others before taking in another that will likely leave her constantly paranoid and worried. This isn’t an insult to her by any means. She just needs to heal, along with a lot of the characters in Undertale. That leaves Sans and Papyrus, both of who show to be decently healthy people (minus San’s depression, and Papyrus’s self confidence issues) and could be a good household for Frisk to grow up in.

Let’s not forget the many interpretations of Sans having to raise Papyrus. It’s the most common interpretation of the two, which means Sans does have history in raising kids. Or at least shows he’s good with them. The way he interacts with Frisk in general showcases this. He’s able to crack jokes that he hints make Frisk actually laugh in the mercy run, most being toned down for a kid. He’s a good fit. And with Papyrus’s positive attitude, it’s a good environment for a child, especially when they get to watch Sans and Papyrus interact positively. It’s a good example of a healthy friendship/ dynamic, where as if Frisk was raised by Toriel and Asgore, they’d have to deal with hostility between the two co-parents.

This extends to any au too. Especially with Underfell and underswap, where the need to care and protect the human are even greater.