HGab13's Nerd-out Blog for Nerds

Good morning, good evening or good night, depending on the time you view this post. This sort of blog post is new to me, so please bear with me if some of it sounds too formal or informal. I wanted to get out some theories, speculations and/or analyses out before the upcoming chapter, and I figured this was the best forum for the task.

In the very first release build of Deltarune, users were asked to accept a terms-of-service agreement before starting the game. In it, we bear witness to the following text:

"YOU WILL ACCEPT EVERYTHING THAT WILL HAPPEN FROM NOW ON."

No answers were ever given as to what this meant for the overall game. A later patch removed the license agreement, and it was never seen again after the Chapter 2 demo came out. Ever since then, Toby Fox has never played with the installation of Deltarune or treated the game as anything but that, barring the secrets hidden within the code itself.

Besides for marketability and clarity's sake, I believe that the License Agreement was not included in any further releases because it was no longer needed. It was already agreed upon, by the game's fandom.

It is no secret to the audience I am writing to that one of Toby Fox's inspirations for his work is the cult classic webpage-comic hybrid series Homestuck. A large part of that work's fame came from a robust interaction between fans and Andrew Hussie, its creator. When reviewing for Medium, writer Ben Tolkin wrote:

Homestuck is over, and I mean over, not just that it isn’t updating. “Homestuck,” the masterpiece, was the event, the community, the shifting pace of updates, the constant chatter between fandom and author. Homestuck is done. If you missed it, you missed it. It may still be worth reading the comic, but it won’t be Homestuck. (Tolkin, "Homestuck in review: The Internet’s first masterpiece")

In contrast to this descriptor, the License Agreement for Deltarune is much more authoritative, setting a clear boundary between writer and audience. Even with this, however, the fandom of Toby Fox's work Deltarune seems to mirror the actions of Hussie's Homestuck. Fanart, theories and speculation, of all sorts of mediums, existed for both works all the same, even when the context is different. This is due to the secondary factor of Homestuck and the primary factor for Deltarune:

The waiting.

"Deltarune is Waiting" is not just meant to serve as a nod to fans who waited between chapters, but a call to action to experience the game while Deltarune-the-experience is still in its first intended form.

This is important because, for other works of literature (to which Toby's work intends to step toe to toe with) the wait implies a whole different structure to the work. When author Charles Dickens worked in serialization, he had to give his work a different spin to it than if he were a novelist, as Gerald Grubb puts in one of his bullet-points on his advice on editorship:

Fourth, Dickens mentioned the following specific elements of the pattern: (1) the scheme of the chapters; (2) the manner of introducing the people; (3) the progress of the interest; (4) the introduction of the principal places; (5) the early introduction of the plot; and (6) the rapid movement of the story. (Grubb, "Dickens' Pattern of Weekly Serialization")

These are all regarded to as important pieces of the patterns necessary for weekly serialization of literature in prose. Particularly, in Dickens' criticisms to a Mrs. Brookfield, who was planning to make a debut for her own serialized story, but wrote it in a manner too similar to what you would find in a book. The pitfalls she fell into were ones that you could likely find in modern serializations when they do adapt for the medium. This includes non-prose serializations, such as TV shows or videogames.

Of course, as a videogame, Deltarune must also be presented as a completed work. For the videogame to have further longevity, it cannot be the same as how reading Hussie's work in the modern day is "no longer Homestuck," but I do believe that, moving forward with more and more of Fox's work in hand, we must remember the medium through which the game was received, in order to properly analyze the game's main and meta-narratives. Unlike in Undertale, where we were presented with a preview (demo) and a completed work, like a novel or short story, this game will necessitate that we analyze the fact that we were left to wait.

The design choice for Castle Town was likely made after finishing Chapter 1, as a sort of "hub" you could grow attached to and would grow alongside your journey. Because of Toby's choice to not redo Chapter 1, this leaves the only choice for Chapter 2 to have an introduction to Castle Town in its beginning only for you to then go into the Library Dark Fountain.

After that, since there will be a wait until Chapters 3 and 4, the game also needs to demonstrate that the actions you perform across the game, like the different recruits you make, have their impact on castle town. As such, we are left with two Castle Town visits in Chapter 2, as opposed to what now seems to be the pattern, that we have one visit per chapter.

Chapter 1 has a sort of complete story arc, where it is shown that our choices matter and we get a story about pacifism in Ralsei, pretty much the themes in Undertale, and we get a send-off to the darkners and lightners not unlike the one for the monsters in Undertale. Chapter 2 has a sort of complete story arc, with Noelle's plot and the enhanced worldbuilding of the Dark Worlds and what they represent (likely escapism), and we get a hometown and castle town segment at the very end.

Chapters 3, 4 and 5 were meant to release together, so we are unsure whether we will get similar things to happen with them, but Toby Fox says that he intends there to be a pause between your playthrough of Chapter 3 and Chapter 4:

That being said, please don't rush through the game. Just relax and enjoy it at your own pace. At the very least, I personally recommend taking a break between chapters…! (Fox, Deltarune Chapters 3+4 Release Newsletter)

Well, on some level that started already in Chapter 4, with the Hammer of Justice introducing the idea of Lightners being reborn in Dark Works as Darkners under very specific circumstances.

But the Flowers really put that point front and center. They are living things that receive some sort of Wish-Fulfillment in the Dark World, much like how our Lightner characters receive cool outfits and powers… but the main Wish being fulfilled for them is having a higher form of consciousness and a more anthropomorphic form, like how Darkners come to life in the Dark World. Flowery’s portrait is Black-and-White, much like the Lightner characters, because he is a kind of Lightner as far as the metaphysical mechanics of Light and Dark function… except he also has colorful Darkner-like Golden eyes.

And so much of the conflict of this Chapter is based on their unique liminality. They’re Lightner enough that being reduced back to their Light World ‘inanimate’ form feels much more like a death to them then it feels to a regular Darkner (who can find contentment as inanimate objects, as they are ‘alive’ from the Dreams the Lightners associate with them)… but also Lightner enough that they can’t actually survive for long in the Dark World, their physical bodies still have their regular physical needs, but unlike Susie, they also can’t exactly pull out of the Dark World, grab a snack for nourishment and then pull back in.

And then the Secret Boss is another kind of Liminal being, a more traditional Darkner (in the sense of a truly inanimate object come to life) that’s also being brought to life due to being possessed by a Lightner ghost. Another sort of unique being who is not quite as Ontologically Doomed as the Flowers, but struggles with figuring out what her identity is in her own way. She feels more at home with other Liminal Beings like the Flowers, despite being technically a different kind of being.

All of this feels like build up to exploring the nature of Ralsei, the so-called ‘impossibility’, who already has some of their own ‘Liminal’ elements - they look much more ‘like a Monster’ than any other non-Gerson Darkner, they can appear and survive in every Dark World, and from a meta-narrative perspective, their role as a Darkner Playable Party Member seems to clash with the game’s meta-commentary making Darkners to be like a whole species defined as Video Game NPCs on some level.

They don’t quite seem to match any of the ‘Rules’ of the Liminal Beings we know of so far. Resurrected Lightners like Gerson are specifically mentioned to only appear in very specific Dark Worlds, so this is like the opposite of Ralsei’s situation, and even with their white fur, their portrait seems considerably less monochromatic to me than Flowery’s. But I think this is still a thematic build-up being done to explore different kinds of liminality between Light and Dark and how they affect the relevant characters, before we get into the particular kind of liminality that Ralsei represents.

I’ve seen a lot of people complain that Pink’s placement as a secret boss in chapter 5 is disconnected or unfitting. but i think she's actually perfect for the last secret boss, especially if secret bosses are meant to symbolize a desire for freedom. Now i will yap about it for several paragraphs

several parallels are built between Spamton and Pink during her fight, which make it clear they’re meant to be compared. their designs both feature pink and gold, they both steal a body that isn’t theirs, they’re both involved with green strings, they both feature Mad Dummy in their boss fight/theme, are both puppets related to cats, and they both have odd connections to the weird route (as evidenced by the translation of Cutie Mew Mew Magic). in almost every other way however, Spamton and Pink are opposites. Spamton’s story is a tragedy; from the start, his rainbow-colored peers don’t accept him as their own and see him as lesser for being different and less capable. he’s a broken and decrepit doll who’s had life screw him over every step of the way, he’s been abandoned by everyone he ever loved and cared about, his body has been marred beyond recognition, he’s treated as a living puppet with no autonomy or freedom, and he doesn’t get to keep his dream body or ‘fuse with his chosen vessel'. Even after being defeated by the fun gang, none of his problems are fixed; he has no choice but to accept his status as a simple puppet. Spamton is Kris’ worst case scenario. they are terrified this is going to be their own future, they’re visibly shaken by Spamton’s fight unlike any other in the entire game.  i think the reason Chapter 2 in particular features a character which symbolizes such a depressing future for Kris is because Chapter 2’s dark fountain is created by the Roaring Knight. a character which Kris is very heavily implied to have some kind of partnership with, one where the Knight holds power and control over Kris (as evidenced by the knighting scene after their fight, and the high probability that the Knight is the person who talks to Kris on the phone and sends them orders). the dynamic Kris has with the Knight can be compared to the relationship Spamton had with his benefactor, where he must follow orders from a mysterious voice on the phone lest he be punished (and punished he was).  by this point in the story, Kris is both being metaphorically puppeted by the Knight, and literally puppeted by the player, leaving them feeling a complete loss of autonomy. this situation is opening way to Kris’ worst future. one where they are abandoned by everyone and thrown aside like an unwanted puppet. like Spamton. in Chapter 5 however, the dark fountain is created by Kris instead. though the creation of the fountain was clearly premeditated (likely to get time for the Knight to kidnap Asgore), i don’t think it’s crazy to say that part of the reason they created it in the moment was to distract Susie from the Rudy situation. to keep Susie happy, because they don’t want her best day ever being ruined by the news. Kris cares about Susie so, so much, and it’s clear she’s a huge part of the reason Kris can now see a future for themself where things aren’t so bad. this hope manifests as Pink.  Pink is present in Kris’ subconscious before Chapter 5 even begins. Kris plays Shop 3 on the piano in Noelle’s house, a song which is later present in the shop owned by Pink. Shop 3 shows a more somber side to Pink’s character, as she simply watches the sunset, captivated by how freeing it feels to be able to do so in her dream body.  Pink herself, of course, is very much a parallel to Kris, being a Darkner and a Lightner both using the same body, who struggle with differing wants and desires and must ultimately learn to cooperate with each other despite that (which may hint towards the idea that Kris' ideal ending would be them and the player learning to understand each other, rather than one or the other being banished for good).

even though Pink isn’t really a flower, when she pretends to be one, HER rainbow-colored peers all see her as one of them and accept her with open arms, uncaring of her strange circumstances. In the end, Pink gets to keep her dream body and watch the sunset with her best friend. All things Spamton desperately wanted and never got to have, and all things Kris hopes to have. Pink is Kris’ best case scenario, their subconscious manifesting a future for them where everything ends up fine, even if just for a little while.

This one hurt, her work had such a profound effect on my life, thoughts, and politics.

May her memory be a blessing

it's finally here, the thing i've been working on all year....

The Ultimate Splatoon Lore Iceberg.

clocking in at 1 hour and 49 minutes, it's my longest video yet. feature length splatoon lore babyyyyyy

Finally finished it! I’d like to do the rest of the scene, but I think six pages is a good chunk. If you like this comic, please like and reblog! It helps others find my work. If you have a favorite panel, thoughts, or comments, please let me know below! I read every single comment and tag.

jotaro learns about pokeyman

bonus:

"In this age of artificial intelligence, we cannot forget that poetry and love are necessary to save our humanity. No algorithm will ever be able to capture, for example, the nostalgia that all of us feel, whatever our age, and wherever we live, when we recall how we first used a fork to seal the edges of the pies that we helped our mothers or grandmothers to make at home."

Pope Francis, "Dilexit Nos," 20 (first few sentences)

The Hometown Cryptid Club convenes again to discuss potential Ice-E sightings... Keep looking, Cryptid Club! You'll find what you're looking for someday!

and the image imma use for tiktok