Milkystar

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.

there's even other parallels which while not narratively important strengthen the intention behind the narrative ones. small things like the fact seam asks if you kept/found the mannequin when hinting at mew mew and the fact that in both bosses you fight the possessed ideal body of the two ghosts we know who desire corporeality.

i also think the intention behind pink having a shadow crystal is that the crystal is from the body itself, like how spamton found a shadow crystal in the mettaton body (as mentioned by seam). so the bodies themselves even further parallel each other. in the spamton neo boss you fight the distorted unfulfilled dream of mettaton's dream body, in the pink boss you fight the mad ghosts dream body, but rather than a distorted abandoned dream it's a dream once left unfulfilled now being fulfilled by it's original dreamer. this also in general plays strongly into chapter 5s specific focus on dreams.

And you know what?

Not out of character for him.

Sure, man cares about Rudy and is willing to give him flowers and they seem to have a pretty good friends but aside from him. Asgore always chases the people who are done with him than who are willing to be with him. Like sure we don't know anything about Asriel but the fact he always chases after him and Toriel and not Kris. The kid who listened to everything he told them, the one who delivered flowers for him even though the action makes them uncomfortable is kinda of dick move on his part. It's like he's not actually trying to find atonement or forgiveness. He just wants to prove something to everyone and therefore he has nothing to prove to Kris because Kris doesn't shut out Asgore completely hence he neglects them.

Like yes Asgore loves Kris but also he doesn't think about Kris that much because Kris loves him which causes him to neglect Kris because there is nothing to prove to Kris. Just like the flower people.

His own insecurities cloud his judgement where instead of prioritising the people who love him. He priorities the people who are done with him or his own chaotic delusions.