(undertale spoilers)

a popular narrachara theory is that chara is the one who provides the check information based on their own knowledge, because they were familiar with the underground and its residents. however, there’s a pretty big issue with this: many of the monsters in the underground weren’t alive when chara lived there. many claim to have never seen a human before, which probably would have been impossible if they’d lived in chara’s time.

for this post, let’s assume that chara is, in fact, the narrator (although most of this is relevant even without the narrachara theory). however, let’s also work based on the assumption that there’s no way chara could possibly know everything about every monster, including ones only born after they died. with both of these assumptions in mind, let’s explore the nature of the monster checks.

a monster’s stats reflect their feelings

early on, we learn that the amount a monster is hurt and can damage is based on their feelings towards the one they’re fighting. a monster’s defence is also reliant on the intentions of their attacker.

this can be seen in actual gameplay too – when certain monsters are ready to be spared, their defence will often drop down into the negative thousands.

checks are said out loud

on a few different occasions, monsters actually respond directly to the information said in checks – napstablook and papyrus immediately come to mind.

the accusation that napstablook “doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor” prompts them to respond in an upset manner. additionally, if the check option is selected after the “dapper blook” occurs, napstablook will take offense in the same way they would had the “threat” ACT been selected.

when checked in a neutral route, papyrus will respond by echoing the thing he “likes to say”, suggesting that he only says it because the information provided in the check reminded him of it.

aaron responds to the act of checking rather than the content of what’s in the check. still, this proves that some monsters are aware of when a check is being performed.

when checked, tsunderplane denies the question proposed in typical tsundere fashion. this is a direct response to the check text.

from this, it is reasonable to suggest that at least some checks, if not all of them, are said out loud by frisk/chara.

monsters provide their own check information

there might be a small, unseen conversation that occurs each time the “check” ACT is selected. in this conversation, frisk asks the monster about themself, and the monster responds, describing their stat numbers and sharing a little bit of personal information. chara then condenses the important bits into what the player sees after using the “check” ACT.

why would anyone actually assume this? glyde’s check information says it all.

always trying to look cool, glyde’s attack and defence stats are only listed as “high”. according to the datamine, glyde’s attack is only 9 and its defence is -20. the next part is important: it says that glyde “refuses to give more details about its statistics”. we can infer from this that it was glyde who told frisk its stats – chara didn’t figure this out on their own.

this evidence suggests that all monsters may actually tell frisk their check info on their own.

monsters tell lies about their stats

if monsters are the ones who provide their own check info, this explains why some of the stats are false. just as with glyde, many monster’s check stats don’t line up with the true monster stats in the game’s data.

let’s use undyne the undying as an example.

her check info states that her attack and defence are 99, but her damage doesn’t really seem to live up to these numbers. in reality, checking the game data will reveal that she actually has 12 attack and 5 defence. that’s a pretty significant difference. it seems that undyne is trying to look as threatening and powerful as possible here.

asriel is an interesting one.

despite the fact that his check info states that his attack and defence are infinite, the true stats tell quite a different story: asriel’s hp and defence are both 9999, but his attack is a somewhat pathetic 8. this is true for both of his forms. although it seems likely that his attack stat has the potential to be infinite (or at least go up to 9999), the fact that he never attempts to use his full power, even in his second form, says a lot about his feelings toward chara.

chara’s feelings

most checks in the game seem geared towards hinting at how to achieve sparing conditions. in certain cases in the genocide route, that gets thrown out the window entirely. important or unique enemies are graced with completely new checks. it seems that chara replaces helpful check descriptions with their own feelings. nonetheless, as with undyne the undying above, stats are still unreliable and are probably provided by the monsters themselves.

in the genocide route, chara doesn’t have much to say about papyrus.

glad dummy’s check is particularly cold and malicious. to really drive home the point, when glad dummy is attacked, they stop smiling.

the rg01 and rg02 checks are direct quotes from kitchen by banana yoshimoto. toby fox stated that: “in general think references are OK as long as the material stands on its own without knowledge of the source material”. therefore, we should assume that chara quite literally “couldn’t stop laughing”.  

the first part of sans’ check is both true and ironic.

the second half of sans’ check appears to be orders from chara: “keep attacking”.

in the genocide route, the checks stop focusing on monsters. instead, the information provided reflects chara’s feelings towards them.

tl;dr

there’s no way that chara could have known all the monsters in the underground, as it seems some only showed up after chara died

glyde’s check seems to suggest that it is monsters who provide their own check information

some stats in checks do not match the actual data in the game – if monsters provide their own check info, then some lie about how strong they are

this could be their way of covering up their weakness in front of humans

Hmm yes this powerpoint is coming along nicely

More Dispatch anti-ICE art!!!

I recieved a lot of love on the last one, thank you guys so much!! These are really fun to make, I entered a flow state making this one while listening to Primer 55.

Here's a sketch based on a suggestion by videogamesarecool! I might actually finish it cause it turned out really good. :)

Adore o Luo Binghe como novo inicial.

mu

In the trend of horrible and terrible, candible should mean “inspires candor” or “makes someone want to be open and honest.” So you could say "they felt candibly guilty” or “their guilt was candible” if they felt guilty and it made them want to tell someone about what they did. But you could also use it as a noun and call truth serums candibles, sort of like how we talk about edibles.

And similar to horrify and terrify, candify should mean “to cause candor” or “to force someone to be open/honest/truthful.” So a truth serum could be called a candifier because it candifies you when you take it.

And similar to horrific, candific should mean “candifying” or “tends to cause candor,” which could be used almost interchangeably with candible. It could also be used as a noun and call a truth serum a candific, sort of like how soporific is used. (Side note: if you think about it, alcohol and anesthesia could be considered candifics.)

So technically, we could refer to truth serum as a candible (like an edible), a candifier (like a humidifier) or as a candific (like a soporific). But these two words have totally different feels to them - candible has a subtle connotation of “enabling but not forcing,”, while candifier has a sense of brute force to it, and candific could work in place of either of those two. And when you think about it, there are also two types of truth serum: the ones that lower inhibitions so you speak your mind without engaging your brain-to-mouth filter but don’t stop you from lying (i.e. candibles), and the ones that do physically stop you from lying (i.e. candifier).

fusion bolt huh,,, some fanart for the latest chapter of the dragons family by @cuz-reasons

Ingo a few years later gets accidentally dropped in Hisui and finds out about the Wild Child of the highlands and when he asks about it, the Pearl clan is like “Oh, you mean the Witch? Don’t approach her, she’s dangerous and may eat your soul.”

Ingo, being a modern man from Pokémon New York, obviously thought this was bullshit. And also was a little appalled that an entire clan of people were ignoring the literal child just running around on their own.

Naturally, Ingo goes out and adopts the kid. Lures them close with the honey candy he conveniently had in his pocket. Keeps them around by giving them plenty of head pats. Praises their tree climbing skills.

Akari doesn’t know who this guy with the funky shoes and comfy coat is but she likes him. He thanks her for giving him handmade stone daggers, unlike others who run away screaming. Clearly, he appreciates her talents! Also he actually touches her, which others don’t, and she’s kind of starved for affection here.

Ingo brings back the Witch of the Highlands and gives everyone in the Pearl Clan a stern Look of Disappointment the second any of them open their mouth to protest. That tends to shut them up pretty quick. And it’s not long before the clan realizes that Akari literally is just a child who didn’t have anyone raise her.