ASL Tutorial is Great, Hereās Why
So, Iām a HUGE Handplates nerd. Itās my favorite UT AU. Maybe about two weeks ago or something, I finished reading ASL Tutorial byĀ @kurokkuwaakaa-to-yonda, and I LOVED IT! Itās pretty much @zarla-s āHandplatesā as a fanfic, except itās an AU of it. So, Iām about to ramble to show my appreciation for ASL Tutorial, and there will be spoilers! If you wanna read it yourself, you can go here. Yeah, Iām probably late to all the good stuff again and this fanfic may not be relevant, but who cares about that! Here we go.
Basically ASL is an AU were the UT gang in post-pacifist decides to head back into the Underground because there are āstill monsters in the COREā who havenāt been taken to the surface, all in the Handplates universe. The āofficialā description for the fic goes, āThe heart of a pacifist is put to the test, and so is the gameās coding, when the child returns to the underground. Their aim was the Core and its creator. But that was only the first step and arguably the easiest one...ā (And I have to say this is 100% accurate.)Ā I like to say itsĀ āthe gangās all here!ā except in the Handplates universe, which definitely causes problems.Ā
The cast of this AU ofc starts with theĀ āIāve got plenty of excuses for my horrible logicā scientist, Dr. Gaster. And boi has he not changed a bit! (Except towards the end a little.) Youād think about 4 years in the void woulda changed a man? Nah. He still likes to cause pain, problems, arguments, sometimes wants to go back to hisĀ āexperimentingā days, and still is complicated as heck. Then we got āthing 1ā³ and āthing 2ā³ as Sans and Papyrus. Theyāre here bc theyāre also essential to the AU, and its pretty hard to see them suddenly remember everything about their past. Sansā reaction is pretty expected, but Papyrus? Well, its pretty gosh darn depressing. (Paps: āLets go save Dr. Ga-ā *suddenly remembers everything* *literally breaks down*.) Next we have the rash fighting fish, Undyne! A very necessary character imo. Since they all enter a very strange, possibly dangerous world, theyāre gonna need some back up. Thatās exactly what she was used for. Then thereās the sarcastic smiling weed, Flowey. Just there for more angst. And to convince Frisk to do risky stuff forĀ āfun.ā He really is a pain. Surprisingly (maybe not), the ASL cast included the void demon child, Chara. Not gonna say too much about her as itās a lot of spoilers, but god she was a nightmare. Lastly, we have the main pacifist-loving determined child, Frisk! She pretty much went through hell and back to rescue someone who really, really didnāt deserve her kindness.Ā And she went through so much. Like, absolutely everything imaginable. Become non-exsistant and watch her friends forget her, save a bunch of āfollowersā only for them to die right after, almost died herself fighting Gaster, watch the skelebros struggle as she continues her mission, become temporarily traumatized after realizing everything Gaster did to the bros, be thrown into the CORE ITSELF- okay you get my point. It only gets worse. Much worse. Iāve never felt more connected to her as a character. Poor girl.
Now there are a lot of reasons why ASL is an epic read. Here are some of the main reasons. Itās hella accurate to the Handplates series. Like, pretty much the essence of the AU is captured in ASL. Itās full of angst, lots of pain in all forms, dark, and suspenseful. Characters used from the AU stayed true to their original self (or at least, their feelings.) The storybuilding is done excellently, like Handplates. All the references to the series with its dialogue and events are placed well. All in all, how is ASL not written by Zarla?! Also, how many times can you describe pain in a new way?! If Octo was told to write a 30 page essay on āpain,ā well, I think they would have already accomplished that. ;) Itās amazing tbh. Every time Frisk feels pain, itās done a little bit different to avoid repetition. (Teach me your ways!) ASL also introduces the idea that the pacifist route isnāt all ārainbows and sunshine.ā I mean, everyone is out to kill Frisk no matter if itās a pacifist route or not. The dark elements behind the pacifist route and all the moments Frisk was faced with a potential human killer are shown in the nightmares at the end of ASL. Just gotta remind ourselves sometimes that UT never has perfect routes. Lastly, gotta love those rhyming chapters! Itās just a big poem in the end lol. And they all fit to the chapterās main theme somehow, Iām impressed!
I... I think thatās everything. But seriously, I was into this fanfic. The end wasnāt perfect, but it was still great to know Frisk and all her gang got out of the Void with Gaster. Whether he liked it or not, who cares! Frisk girl, you didnāt give up once. You stayed completely DETERMINED through the entire ordeal. I applaud. I just hope she ends up getting the Tutorial she wanted from the beginning in this AU. And for Gaster to go back to who he once was...
Thanks for reading! āØ(Told yah it was long.)













