I love this ship ;w;

I will finish later

@llyrica, here’s what I’ve got so far for the “draw your otp on a date” challenge! I’ll let you know when I have more ;D

{Check out the tags below}

Possible Health Problems of Hybrid Fanchildren

No, think of the children!...your hybrid children, that is. Contains lovely ideas for angst.

Hybrid fanchildren are common in the Undertale fandom. It is likely this is because the main characters of the game cover multiple "breeds" of monster, and there are in fact canon cross-breed couples (Undyne and Alphys, RG01 and RG02). Fanchildren are also a creative exercise where one combines the looks and personalities of the parents into a new, distinct character design.

In-universe, if hybridization is even possible, it's likely common. However, hybridizing could cause problems.

Where potential mates of their own species are rare, animals might hybridize with closely related species. Furthermore, animals might make hybrids if they're compatible species kept in the same enclosure (e.g., lions and tigers in zoos). In birds when one species parasitically lays its eggs in the nests of another species, the offspring might imprint after its host parents in looks or song, and so only be interested in birds that look or sound like its host parents.

All these things likely happened when monsters were sealed underground. While it’s unclear if different monster breeds interbred before the war, given monsterkind’s massive casualties it’s likely monsters’ options within their own breed were limited. (This would surely be especially true for monster breeds that were rare to begin with.) Staying underground, especially if they all stayed in just one city for a long time, would also work like captive conditions. Furthermore, the devastation might have meant a whole lot of orphans, which might have been raised by different breeds. Such orphans might, like the parasitic birds, prefer breeds like the ones they were raised by. It’s certainly clear monsters have variable preferences and can imitate other monsters (e.g., Papyrus catching a thrown stick in his mouth)/have variable behavior, after all.

Biological Problems

For some breeds, even if hybridizing is possible it would likely cause health problems. This is especially obvious for fire monsters, such as offspring of the Sans X Grillby ("Sansby") pairing. Though skeleton monsters are apparently1 insensitive to cold, it's unclear whether they're insensitive or immune to heat too. Fan works often assume Grillby's fire is painfully hot, and becomes much hotter when angry. While (dry, human) bones can withstand greater temperatures than human flesh without (visible) damage, being on fire constantly might be a problem. Even if the hybrid children can withstand it, it's possible (and more likely) that they might hurt themselves from the higher temperatures if they ever get angry.

Pain can make people easier to anger, so being burned by their own flames might cause a self-destructive feedback loop of pain and burning. If they can't quickly heal burn markings from such events, they might become anxious about it, akin to obvious scars or burn wounds.

Environmental Unsuitability

Environmental unsuitability is also a problem. While a hybrid's parents might be well-suited to distinct environments, the hybrid may be unsuited for either or require unpredictable intermediate environments.

For example, the fish monster Undyne is vulnerable to heat stroke/dehydration when travelling through the dry, hot caverns of Hotland; Alphys is not. Evidently travelling through Hotland is enough of a danger to Undyne that Alphys installed a water cooler for her halfway to her lab, even though Alphys' lab is only a few screens into Hotland. While Undyne says she dislikes "snow", she's evidently not in danger standing outside Papyrus's house indefinitely. This might not be true for Alphys: while some fish can live in cold water, reptiles either die or hibernate in cold environments like Snowdin.

A hybrid child of the two might do well in an intermediate environment (e.g., hot but humid, like south Florida) or take after one or the other unpredictably.

Some assume Undyne can breathe underwater through gills; what if the child prefers most of their body to be dry but needs to keep their gills moist? What if the child prefers dry, but not hot, environments? With such a potential blend of preferred environments, they all might need custom rooms (e.g., humidifiers, pools) in one house.

Most dangerously, what if Undyne can breathe water through her skin, but a reptile-skinned but otherwise fishlike child cannot? One work, Scramble Saga, suggests Undyne sleeps in a water-filled bathtub rather than a bed. If a helpless baby that can't breathe underwater is put in a tub-crib, the baby might drown. The child might drown, too, if Undyne is playing boldly and aggressively in the water and mistakenly assumes the child can breathe underwater.

Psychological Problems

No Horns

(The picture is based on goat skulls; notice they don't have horns. Picture modified from here.)

In goats, horn buds don’t grow directly from the skull, but from a specialized patch of skin. Only later do they start to merge to the skull.

Assuming Boss Monsters’ horns grow like that of goats, a Boss Monster-skeleton hybrid might not have horns. (Many such fanchildren have no skin, after all.) While many monsters do not have horns, this might still make the fanchild self-conscious about not having horns. (Perhaps similarly to Kris of Deltarune, though Kris is a human.)

The Problems of Papyrus x Mettaton

“Us ghosts spend our whole lives looking for a proper vessel. Slowly, slowly, we grow closer to our new bodies... Until one day, we too may become corporeal beings. Beings able to laugh, love, and dance like any other...” - Mad Dummy

It is unclear whether ghosts’ desire for vessels (or “bodies”) is biologically or culturally driven. Either way, hypothetical fanchildren of Papyrus and Mettaton are likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies.

LordLaharl’s Vassal made a convincing point that Papyrus may have body dysmorphia issues. The Wikipedia article on the subject suggests part of the variation in body dysmorphia issues in the population (or “heritability”) can be explained by genetics. If this is true, and also true for monsters, a Papyrus x Mettaton child could have twice the body issues of either parent.

It’s unclear whether the child would be born/the equivalent of born a ghost fused with a skeleton body, a ghost possessing but not fused with a skeleton body, or be born separately as a ghost body and a skeleton body. If the Papyton child has a handy skeleton body from birth/the equivalent of birth, the child might not develop ghostly psychological problems, as the child could do normal non-ghost things with it.

Related Reading

Inter-Species Socialization

Do Monsters Have Instincts?

Dialogue from Papyrus is contradictory; he explains how he can live in Snowdin's cold environment saying "I have no skin" but complains about the Annoying Dog having cold feet. ↩︎

Undertale for the fandom ask

Can do. I’m just doing this for base Undertale so, if you want AUs, ask again ;P

Character I first fell in love with: Papyrus. He’s so happy and silly, I was gone from “it’s been 8 days”

Character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Frisk. They’re the player character, with no real development outside of their name not being what the player entered. But then you realize that while YOU chose what action to do, FRISK decided what to do with that action. And this little NB child is so precious to me now

Character everyone loves but I don’t: um.....nobody? unless you for some reason love Aaron or Jerry, then them but.....There isn’t a character I don’t like on at least some level besides those two.

Character I love but everyone else hates: I don’t....think...that exists either? Unless we go to AUs and then things get nuts, but....if we’re talking inside the fandom, then there’s no conflict on that front either.

Character I used to love, but don’t any longer: Again, base Undertale, nobody. I’ve only grown to love everybody more over the two years since it came out. I might not write much for all the characters other than the skeles, but I love them all.

Character I would kiss: Sans. Duh. Since I fell in love with Sans, everything’s so much better for me. I’ve made a huge improvement in my ability to cope, and I have to thank Sans (and the AU baes) for some of that. Knowing that he knows what it’s like to live through depression, that I’m not the only one who can’t really understand why someone would hurt everyone underground, that there’s SOMEONE that would be able to look at me, all of me, and not go ‘wow you’re a mess’ is comforting. Cause even if he does teasingly say i’m a mess, it’s followed with ‘but then again, so am i” and that’s worth it.

Character I want to Slap: Um....well....sorry but I want to slap Flowey. I know to some extent he’s innocent by reason of insanity, but YOU FREAKING HURT ME stupid flower. You hurt SANS and you hurt PAPYRUS, and that breaks all of my rules for not getting a whooping.

A Pairing I love: I’m really fond of the canon pairs, like Undyne X Alphys and RG01 x RG02

A Pairing I hate: fontcest. Just......just no.

Sit so this whole thing started because there are "too many" LGBT relationships? TBH out of the main cast isn't there just one? Papyrus and mettaton? Since then you have Soriel, Harlow x Gaster, and frisk x kid? Either way love what you guys are doing and love the blog! Colon three

There’s also Alphyne, which is the only canon pairing in Undertale besides maybe RG01 and RG02.

FriskxKid isn't exactly straight since they're both nonbinary but ok.

XD I officially have more straight pairings in this comic than the game itself. Y'all should be grateful.-TQ

you know, sometimes i take a step back and wonder what i’m doing sticking around in a fandom that i’ve been obsessing over for a little over a year now and then i take a moment and look at my life and go...

DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO BE SILLY INTERNET UNDERTALE TRASH. 

Papyrus is bae and goals and everything great and pure and perfect in this word. I will never forget our date my sweet skele-dove your spaghetti riddled its way to my heart from the word ‘boondoggle’ and every second in this world since you rejected me is that of a half life, a cursed life, and empty life. And yet, I forgive you. Truly you are a skeleton of unspeakable honourable standards and I respect that. You are the greatest Papyrus. The greatest.

Undyne is my spirit animal and thinking about her when no one else is around make me want to stand up, yell at the top of my lungs and roar like some beserker-mode she-hulk from hell and crush my opponents into the ground so hard they pulverise on contact. It makes me want to release all the energies of my soul in a punch of passion that leaves destruction in my midst and drives in me some warrior instinct I never knew i had.

Sans and Papyrus are the BroTP that i never knew my heart needed to survive but it most DEFINITELY does just... just take my soul already. The feels have melted it anyway. Take it. I don’t need it anymore, these skeletons are my heart. Their love is my love. Their life is my life. 

Chara and Asriel’s back story gives me feels so hard i break out the dramatic single tear whenever i hear His Theme and the full magnitude of every single shred of their implied history i hold in the most sacred of gravity, appreciating how their actions directly are interwoven into the entirety of Undertale’s main storyline.

Though their words come out like loud nasal clicking from an old-school gameboy system I can hear every word, every tone, every inflection, every hesitation, every last drop of emotion in those lines and their voices live on and resonate with me long after that text finishes loading or I press X.

Toriel. Asgore. Sans. Papyrus. Alphys. Undyne. Mettaton. Naptsablook. Asriel. Frisk. Chara. Flowey. Monster Kid. Muffet. Dogamy. Dogaressa. Moldsmall. Migosp. Whimsun. Vegetoid. Loox. Mad Dummy’s cousin (~you are the apple of my eye ;D). Specifically the Froggits who teach Frisk about showing a little mercy, showing respect for monsters by not skipping through all their dialogue all the time, contemplate the amount of frogs in the room and can arrange for all the monsters to change their names pink instead of yellow as a favour if you want. Not to mention the poor Froggit that Toriel gave a full on death glare when we tried to compliment lol. Snowdrake. IceCap. Gyftrot. Chilldrake. Doggo. Lesser Dog. Greater Dog. Snowman. Grillby. Nicecream Guy. That bunny who walks her brother bun on a leash. The bunny who finds that disturbing. The monster who spends all their time rearranging presents under a decorated tree. Mysterious person behind the door who loves the sound of me knocking their door. That wolf who constantly throws large blocks of ice from a machine into the water knowing it will cool down the core. The fish monster who threw out a pick up line. The dog who’s playing poker against himself and losing. The monster who talks about crowding in New Home and how people will start moving to Snowdin and slip on their butts. The bear who goes ‘thaaats politics’ and should really be elected mayor (I’d vote for you). The librarian who has to put up with the spelling mistake for their Librarby sign. The monster who wasted all of their school life on wordsearches to realise that it was actually worth it after all. The ladies who write the newspaper including the one who’s still in the process of writing a book. The rocks who play human and monster. The shopkeeper who makes the classic cinnamon bunnies and greets a traveller. The inn keeper and her kid who are kind enough to not charge you without staying the full night and give you a refund. The annoying dog. Shyren. Aaron ;). Woshua. Temmie. Jerry (ok... maybe i don’t appreciate him. But still. He’s memorable)  Moldbygg (i respect your space). That little monster who doesn’t know what a star is. That monster that just wants you to step on their face. The small bird that carries me over a disproportionately sized gap. The two monsters who must have made wishes to the echo flowers and laughed when they realised their dreams were one in the same. Gerson, who has the guts to stare a homocidal maniac in the eye and know they can’t do a thing to strike him down while he’s like this and actually calls the little demon out on it too; respect dude. Tsunderplane. Vulkin. Pyrope. RG01 and RG02 you crazy dragon and bunny lovers you ;D. Heats Flamesman (of course I can’t forget). Okkkkkkkkk clam guy (you’re such a poser). The Mettaton fans that couldn’t make it to work who were actually quite well-informed about what Mettaton’s demographics like. The school kid monsters who loitered around and celebrated the time off because of those activated traps even though they were already in summer holidays anyway lol. The poor sucker who spent all their money when they walked past Muffet’s sales bench. The lion who wanted to wear a dress like mettaton and looked fabulous wearing it btw. The dragon with a wife back at home he desperately had to call because of the broken elevator. The slime who, as a slime, had a legitimate disliking to the situation. Bratty and Catty. The poor janitor perpetually cleaning forever but never taking a break either (now that’s dedication). The fathah of the Snowdrake and his amalgamate wife, happily reuinited and accepting their son for the aspiring comedian he is. The monster who makes reservations for literally everything in the restaurant. The totally relatable guy who stuck it out with that plan like a socially awkward pro in there. The monster who loves his job and puzzles. The monster who hates his job and puzzles. Burgerpants, my man you bring cred to the minimum wage class. (...i’ll admit all the NPCs started to blur together by the time i reached the core but i’ll give it my best shot. *deep breath*) All dem mercenaries hired by Mettaton, the ones who looked like bananas as silhouettes, you know who you are. Night night Knight Knight, sleep tight (don’t let the bedbugs bite). Madjick. My mystical friend Final Froggit. Whimsalot. Astigmatism. In particular that one dude who liked the fire room and would try to find it when the core reshuffled itself and chill in there sometimes, something about that story really stuck with me. All those monsters in New Home kind enough to fill me in on the story of the dead prince and human. Alphys’ amalgamates: the bad memories, the one whose ‘attack’ was getting themselves attacked by bees and then setting them off on me, Endogeny, the one whose speech was overlapped from all the different people in them, the one with the giant monster mouth attack, the one who put a blanket over us that was absolutely adorable, the one that Frisk tried to check out in the shower that weirdo (good for you disappearing on us when we open the shower curtain and respecting your privacy, i’d get progressively more panicked if someone was trying to perv on me too) and the ones that disguised themself as a SAVE point and shock bubble symbol (classic but meta at the same time, really inventive you guys). And i’ve probably missed people... but yeah. Lots of memories. Lots of friends. Gotta love em all. 

DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO LOVE UNDERTALE. AND I DAMN WELL DO. I DAMN WELL LOVE IT. AND I WANTED TO SAY THAT DAMMIT.