We Need Trans Solidarity

(guy who likes flowers) so i like the flower guys

blue’s wings are based on the african monarch/plain tiger butterfly, which i believe to be the species of his ‘mr butterfly’ gif sprite ! i talk abt it here

refs for a couple of these under the cut

First, I want to establish what Flowey actually is for a second. Because a fairly common misconception (one I also fell into for a really long time) is that Flowey is Asriel. He isn't. Technically. Flowey is Asriel in the same way the amalgamates are still monsters. He holds Asriel's memories, and clearly when he fuses with the equivalent of seven human souls he takes the form of Asriel, so he has to be him, right? But, I don't think that's the case; Flowey's the one who tells us that seven human souls can make someone a god, after all, and by his own words, he "was so tired of being a flower." He wants to be anything else, so when given the reality warping ability of that much determination, why would he not give himself a form he has familiarity with? I don't think the Asriel Dreemurr we fight in the True Pacifist ending is the same Asriel that died in a bed of flowers. And, I believe Flowery's existence supports this.

Flowery, much like Flowey himself, is a "secret third thing". He's neither Lightner nor Darkner, he says so himself. Flowers, as plants, abide by different rules when exposed to the darkness of a Dark Fountain. A couple lines of dialogue throughout chapter five imply that the seven flowers chose to look like that, even if they maybe can't change their shape anymore now that they've settled on a form, and they all chose to be "human". Flowery is undoubtedly alive, more alive than Darkners could be argued to be, but the form he's granted by the darkness still is not his. He's just a flower, after all. And he's your dad's best friend, at that!

Flowey doesn't abide by the rules of monsters. He doesn't turn to dust when killed, it seems like he can't even really be killed in the traditional sense, and that's not even in reference to his longtime grip on the save file. All of his fights don't behave like a combat encounter with a monster: the very first one we don't even get a turn for, Omega Flowey gets rid of the battle box entirely, and Asriel has infinite stats. In fact, none of Flowey's fights have real stats at play beyond the player's*, it's like the numbers are completely arbitrary for someone like him and he's able to exist outside their influence. I feel like we've seen someone like that before...

*I know Flowey has actual functional stats in the code. I'm not engaging with code for this analysis since the average player is not expected to ever see that. This is just about what you witness during a playthrough

All of this just establishes the way they parallel each other on a purely functional level, which I imagine anyone reading this who's played any amount Undertale and Deltarune Chapter 5's Dark World would be able to recognise on their own. I'm not really breaking ground here. Nor would it be special to point out that Flowery's "the true power of friendship" behaviour directly challenges and flips Flowey's "it's kill or be killed" mantra. I know I'm saying nothing extraordinary there.

Flowey and Flowery both are characters shaped and defined by one particular person in their life, their "best friend": Chara and Asgore.

Chara is established through Flowey's own dialogue and the VHS tapes in the True Lab to be mischievous, secretive, and hateful of humanity. While we do not know what they went through, it's reasonable to assume them to likely be suicidal, between their "unhappy reasons" for climbing Mount Ebbot and willingness to die for the cause of breaking open the barrier. At best, they view themselves as expendable, a martyr to be sacrificed for the good of monsterkind. They're shown to have pressured Asriel into their plan to save the monsters, and their reaction to your actions at the end of the genocide route further prove what I read as a twisted sense of justice. They describe themselves as a demon, clearly not believing themselves a good person but ultimately attempting to do good for others through their sacrifice, through their assurance that we don't get to enjoy a happy ending after genociding the Underground. Someone who doesn't believe themselves good, and so will do terrible things for the greater good of those beyond them. Flowey mirrors this mentality, translates it countless times across innumerable cycles of insanity and loss of self until he's become spiteful, vindictive, and selfish. Likely becoming everything Chara thought themselves to be.

Flowery appears to be the complete opposite. While Asgore displays hateful tendencies in Chapter 5, and we know he did much the same thing in Undertale, and Asgore too has a deep self-loathing in both iterations of his character, Flowery is the one emphasizing his kindness, his love and capacity to spread joy. Flowery is unmarred by the loss, identity crisis, guilt, and rage that has consumed and shaped Flowey into the character we meet in Undertale. Flowery has one shot to give Asgore as much happiness as he can while still live in that Dark World, where Flowey had infinite time to explore every possibility afforded to him. Flowery still has the object of his obsession, but Flowey lost his before he even gained sapience at all, and is thus left with infinite power, infinite time, and nothing but his curiosity to explore and experiment. I firmly believe that Flowery is very close to how Flowey acted in the early resets, if more mature than the then-childish Flowey, who we know was scared and looked to Asgore and later Toriel for guidance through it all.

The fact Flowery acts so much on ideas of friendship and the power it carries feel, to me, like a direct challenge largely on Kris, but in a more indirect sense they're challenging Flowey's selfishness as well. Flowery finds meaning to his momentary sapience in serving Asgore, in providing for him, giving him a family to fill the gaps left by the one he lost, and performing as an older brother for the other flowers to guide them through accomplishing their shared goal of giving Asgore even just a fraction of what he provided for them over the years. Flowery, despite also being a mere flower just like his mirror and predecessor, is one of the most powerful forces we've seen in all of Deltarune, and he uses it for the good of one person. Flowey never got this chance, as he would've done so for Chara, and so he's left feeling empty. Soulless, in a literal sense. The lives of those who'd otherwise be kin to him stopped having meaning, likely similar to how Chara felt about humanity, given their willingness to have Asriel use their soul to kill innocent people. To Flowery, every person, even just a flower, has meaning in this world, in his world. To Flowey, everyone, including himself, is just a toy to play with in a world he commands.

Even in the ways they respond to the human threatening their "perfect world", you can see how Flowery flips Flowey on his head. Flowey is hateful, attempts to trick Frisk into dying at minute one. He taunts Frisk for making mistakes and walking them back, he sulks in the shadows, watching our progress, puts obstacles in our path (Muffet) to see whether we'll make more mistakes. He knows that this is all just a game to people like us, because he is like us. It's all a game to him, it's all a game to us. There's no consequences, so he can't comprehend why Frisk would ever make choices going for a happy ending they won't stick to. But Flowery, while he's an antagonist sure, he isn't doing so to make Kris mess up and reveal some twisted "true nature". I don't think Flowery would ever want to actively break apart the Delta Warriors, even with all his antagonizing Kris and Ralsei. It's not the point for Ralsei, why would it be for Kris? Just because they made the Dark Fountain, are working with the Knight? Flowery certainly seems to understand this, Seth mentions that Kris gave them orders and made promises as the Fountain was being formed so why would that not extend to Flowery? And that's assuming Flowery doesn't just know innately, which feels like it might be the case similarly to Ralsei.

Where Flowey wanted Frisk to slip up and fail so they could be more like him, Flowery too is attempting to push Kris to be more like him. Pushing Kris to evaluate how much Susie and Ralsei mean to them, how much Asgore means to them. The Knight is after Asgore, after all, and Kris most certainly knows this. Why else would they make the Fountain? And giving Kris the benefit of the doubt here by assuming they're working with the Knight out of a belief it'll result in the "best ending" for those they care about, much like Asgore did in Undertale by ordering the slaughter of all humans that fell into the Underground, and like Asgore did in Deltarune through his obsessive investigation into Dess's disappearance and the Dark Worlds. That Kris isn't acting maliciously, but making "necessary evil" choices that they believe will provide the best outcome for everyone. But Flowery can see where that path would take Kris, can see how Kris is following in their father's footsteps, and is pushing them to stand with the people they love. To not make Asgore's mistakes and leave behind the people they care about because of an assumed happy ending on the other side, or a hope that Susie and Ralsei will forgive the betrayal when they see what came of it. Flowery doesn't just use the power of friendship, he wants us to use it, too. He doesn't use the power of friendship against the Knight, he doesn't go Omega there, despite that seemingly being when he's most powerful. It could be to stop the other flowers from being in danger, but it can also be that his Omega Flowery form is to prove a point. Teach a lesson. He waits until Kris is alone to use it, after all. Until Ralsei and Susie have already proven their power of friendship.

Flowey's absolute power involves him breaking the rules of the game he's playing in order to win. He removes the battle box entirely and gets rid of your access to the menu, saving and reloading over your own death to keep you locked in a perpetual game, or gives himself infinite stats and becomes utterly untouchable, where your only hope to progress the fight is surviving until the next phase. He locks you in a battle box so small you can't move so as to hit you with an undodgeable attack. Flowery cheats, too, we see it through his fake stats, but he doesn't use them to win against the Delta Warriors. That's not the point, that's not his "absolute victory". He's pushing the Delta Warriors until they either give up and leave the Dark World or prove to him that their dream is greater than his. They're both ultimately battles of wills, two unstoppable forces clashing until one side gives up, but it's impossible to truly take Flowery as a villain when all he wants is to give Asgore the love he was provided, to tell Asgore "thank you" in the most meaningful way he can: give his life for a few days of bliss. Even the loss and grief that would follow Flowery's timer catching up to him is seen as worth it, because Asgore would hopefully have been touched by love in the same way he and the other flowers were. Even in the lower stakes Neutral Route Omega Flowey fight, the "war of wills" unquestionably places Frisk in the position of the hero, rallying each of the six human souls on their side to turn against Flowey. Flowery takes our recruits, is offered their power in the same way the Delta Warriors are every prior chapter to use against us. To the Darkners of the Flower Kingdom, we are the Flowey for them to overcome, and Flowery is their Frisk.

Even in the ways the two characters capture Asriel do they foil each other. Flowey carries Asriel's memories, has lingering mannerisms from him, but embodies the worst of Asriel's character. The selfish prince who relies too much on his friend, who listened to the sibling he knew wasn't in a great headspace and went to the extreme option because of it. Who proved himself to be everything Chara thought they were. But Flowery appears to draw a bit from Asriel, too. From how much Kris looked up to him. The perfect older brother, the perfect friend, the perfect person. Something Kris admired deeply and intensely resents all at once.

Flowery is the absolute antithesis of everything Flowey seeks and stand for in Undertale. And with the way Flowery is introduced, I believe Toby knew this entering Chapter 5. Knew that we would see a character who claims to be "your dad's best friend" with a name like Flowery and immediately be distrustful of him because of the experience we've had with Flowey. So Flowery must disprove every part of Flowey's argument. Even if, in the end, it shows that Flowey is right. That, when confronted with Flower Kingdom versus Castle Town, it's a kill or be killed world. All Flowery does is sprinkle kindness and love into the exchange.

W green for making the world a better place they literally outmog and outaura everyone idc

a flower, a jack of spades, a laptop and a CRT TV lay at a bar...

(tiny doodle comic)