a-town-called-hometown

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one of hometown's biggest notable features to me is that the people in it are consistently talking about the past + about asriel + about other stuff in a way that makes it obvious that they want kris to react in certain ways

^ incomplete compilation just from my recent ch1 playthrough

while it's not unreasonable that kris might miss their brother, or might feel certain ways about the past they shared with him... it's interesting that kris (a character whose major storyline involves having their personhood suppressed by an outside entity) is constantly attributed to feel certain ways by the people around them! people who, as shown, are not correct about kris' feelings on other topics. makes you wonder how accurate their assessments of kris' feelings towards asriel are

#deltarune #im not saying this to say kris doesn't like asriel btw! #im saying this to say we don't Know a lot abt it. any cues we have on kris' feelings about him could be interpreted a number of ways #whatever the situation is... its probably more complicated than what the people of hometown seem to think it is #i love hometown in case you couldn't tell. fucked up location.

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This is just like how Ralsei quotes Flowey almost word for word. Thematic parallels of soulless Asriel-adjacent characters who would be totally justified in killing

exactly. you get it

#this is funny to me actually also because im a deltarune blog and biscia is an ut blog. #we are cross universally lawyering for our faves' rights to Kill.

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im ralseis number one defender i do not care if that boy killed people. in fact i hope he did

#there we go. cinematic parallels

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im flowey apologist numero uno idc if he killed ppl i hope he kills again

#REAL but also biscia i need you to know that this is structured exactly like a post that i made years ago abt ralsei. hang on let me find it

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seam.

SEAM. would you like an impromptu seam ramble. okay here we go.

seam is one of my favorite characters in deltarune, point blank. i think they get overlooked a lot because the darkners aren't as popular and a lot of their deal is still a mystery (in the same boat as ralsei on that one), but they're definitely being set up to be important later on down the line. between their knowledge of shadow crystals (mentioning them before they learn jevil had one in the first place, telling you they've a special power and could make something useful out of them), their "hunches" about going back to make sure you've met the secret bosses, and their penchant for saying ominous things, they've got a lot of presence even while confined to their little seap.

one of my big characterization points with seam is their nihilism. they're the sort of darkner who doesn't care what happens to them -- being patched up by a lightner is equally as unpleasant as being left to rot by them, because either way, they'll still be stuck within the cycle of use and disuse that perpetuates the light world's existence and robs them of their agency. the only "purpose" they need is the non-literal sort they can find in those they like -- namely, their "games" with jevil. they'll find little scraps of warmth in the happiness of people like him and queen, who they seem to care about, but they're also not gonna kid themselves about the state of the world. nothing they do matters, and their world's gonna end one day. in fact, it already has, once -- with the dark fountain closed, card kingdom is no more.

another characterization point for seam is that, while they're old, they're certainly not defenseless or unassuming. no, they're probably one of the most assuming characters in the game. they mention jevil was the only one who could match their ability in "games" (which we know from jevil's dialogue to be battles, literal "numbers games"). they mention that they wish they could watch the trio battle him. they wonder if they'd be a little less nihilistic if they could still play the games they miss so much with him -- though that's only a hunch, ha ha! they've got a lot of knowledge and seemingly pack a punch, and i like to think that while we as players don't get to see it, seam may be a bit more openly cutting with their teasing, ominous personality when they're not selling items to teenagers. (that's something i think a lot about when it comes to adult characters -- the way one acts around kids and the way one acts around other adults are usually pretty different.) it would also give 'em a neat parallel to ralsei, who's the other "guide" character in the game with a weird amount of possibly-eldritch meta-know-how -- both of them seem to have another side to them that we haven't gotten to see the full picture of yet.

still -- seam may know a lot, and might even play one of their "games" with the trio once they're strong enough, but like all darkners, they still cannot choose who they are in this world. they're an object just like everyone else. and in addition, i wonder -- what measure is being smart or strong when the world has you set as an obstacle for our "heroes" to clear?

#THINKING ABOUT THEM AGAIN. seam is so fascinating to me i hope they kick my ass in a future chapter

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when ralsei is drawn anthy-himemiya-esque my heart is filled with joy he's literally

#i had to go find this post because ive been thinking of it all day. fave

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love this place. its not normal <3

hometown has the worst vibes of any rpg town ive ever seen. why does its map look like that

#deltarune

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hometown has the worst vibes of any rpg town ive ever seen. why does its map look like that

#deltarune

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i'm being tormented by carousel attack

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I really love how Toby draws Ralsei

#a goofy little fellow...

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im ralseis number one defender i do not care if that boy killed people. in fact i hope he did

#this is still true. perhaps more true than it has ever been

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replaying ch1 for the first time in YEARS has really solidified to me how much deltarune is in conversation with undertale and its reception. i know people are very interested in puzzling out the in-universe connections, but I'm fascinated by what this does from a doylist standpoint. I could almost read it as a commentary about how toby fox's work is, at this point, always going to be compared to undertale, but that reads as secondary to how those connections work on the player in order to establish a huge list of things about deltarune's world and themes. it's done pretty deftly!

#deltarune

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maxing out my GUN'S stat in the clown generated content farm so that i may communicate my inherently violent and evil nature (the intent is lost and instead the result just looks kind of lame)

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I mean, even if they are grown adults, it's okay for them to be wrong about a theory for a video game they like, right? Being wrong about a game isn't something that actually harms real people, but shaming people for it (not saying you are! just a trend I've noticed lately) does. People who are just trying to have fun should be comfortable with the possibility of being wrong (as long as they aren't being harmful to real people by saying they're the only ones who are right or something) imo.

Theorizing about what'll happen next is a form of fandom participation everyone should feel comfortable in, but if people are punished for being wrong (be they teens, people with autism, people who only enjoy the game casually, etc) it cuts off that way of participation for them altogether.

with all due respect, I'd like to tell you gently that this ask comes off as a bit condescending. I've already agreed that I will work on my tone when criticizing things I disagree with. you continuing to press the point after I've already agreed with you makes me feel like I'm being lectured, and I don't appreciate it. I would prefer if you wouldn't do that in the future.

yes, of course it's okay for people to be wrong. but I also don't see how me being slightly snarky on a small tumblr blog discourages people from participating in fandom. I haven't mentioned anyone specific, and if I ever implied that fans are dumb, I sincerely apologize. but I don't think it's inherently rude for me to be annoyed with certain popular ideas, especially because I try to be constructive when making serious critiques.

if you want people to be okay with being wrong, you also need to be okay with the presence of critics. if all good-faith debunking of theories is interpreted as being punishing towards fans who like those theories, then nobody is ever allowed to be comfortable with being wrong. anyone pointing out that you're wrong can never be interpreted as morally neutral. it is, in short, not a good fandom space for serious discussion to flourish.

now, dogpiles do exist, and people can absolutely be mean when criticizing stuff! I personally struggle with tone due to being autistic, and so I'm always open to people pointing out specific instances where I come across as rude. I certainly don't want anyone to feel unwelcomed or insulted when interacting with me. and I understand the concern with making sure everyone feels comfortable, considering how toxic the fanbase can be.

you don't need my permission to be wrong. nobody does. it's okay for you to be wrong. I just ask that you consider the fact that sometimes criticism occurs and that people are sometimes annoyed with fanon, and that those are not inherently bad. you are capable of ignoring critiques of fanon if they happen to bother you.

#i am sure you mean well and are trying to be polite but i would like you to consider what you are implying #when you say that 'people shouldn't be punished for theorizing' in response to a semi popular post debunking a very common theory

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I think that the game will definitely address but subvert the escapism idea, but also that it's okay for people to be wrong about it in the meantime? Does that make sense? You gotta remember most people don't have degrees in media analysis and the game likely *expects* people to get this wrong before it subverts it.

So people being wrong about the escapism thing only to get surprised by the direction the story takes later is probably part of the plan, and if they're wrong about it *right now*, it's okay, y'know? People not really understanding how the game is likely to go are the majority of the fans. Maybe it's a bit frustrating to see people not to get the plot twists before they happen, but I think the game should be accessible to people regardless of their level of media literacy, especially since most fans are probably teens or kids or just people having fun.

I don't think escapism is a direction the story is really taking hardly at all, which is why I wrote the post with the goal of pointing that out. I feel that people are expecting a plot that simply won't happen, rather than people expecting something that will be later be directly subverted.

but you're right that I tend towards snark in my expression of this idea. my exposure to the theory has admittedly been mostly through grown adults expressing it, and I am easily frustrated by that fact. it's easy for me to forget a lot of people are teens since I don't hang around them much. if I was mean to anyone, I apologize. I'll work on being kinder in the future

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I do need to play the mother series and maybe some classic 90s jrpgs myself sometime. to make sure im not talking out my ass when im discussing the stuff deltarune is doing

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its so weird to me that people saw deltarune be a portal fantasy and think that he's going to conclude the story in the typical portal fantasy way, when this is toby radiation fox we're talking about, his whole thing is genre subversion

to be fair, i think a lot of undertale's subversive elements have been somewhat lost on players as well — not in a derisive way, but rather because of the fact that undertale itself has grown into an odd niche in the cultural zeitgeist. the game's almost ten years old now — a lot of people who played it during their childhood are going to be in their twenties soon (if they aren't already)! for many players, undertale was one of their first rpgs ever — and so a lot of the subversive elements likely went over their heads, given they hadn't much to compare it to. nowadays, players compare games to undertale instead — the amount of people i've watched hesitate in an rpg game to wonder "is this going to be like undertale?" is not an insubstantial one. undertale has become the archetypical rpg to many, which causes somewhat of its subversive punch to be lost on its audience in the process.

i think this is a part of why deltarune has also had its subversive elements overlooked. deltarune goes to great pains to draw attention to many of the same older rpgs — both in the broad strokes (such as playing with the idea of a battle between light and dark) and in the small and specific references (seam is clearly inspired by the look and affect of zelda's happy mask salesman, for example.) but many may be relying on archetypical examples of portal fantasy to guide their way because they didn't pick up on the subversive elements of fox's writing style at all. in many portal fantasy stories, the conceit is that the protagonist must overcome the fantasy in some way and go home — the protagonist must grow to fit in with our society. the fantasy is often merely a means or an obstacle to that end. but deltarune takes great pains to invest us in these fantastical worlds and the people that live there beyond the archetypical — lancer, spades king, queen, spamton, ralsei, and everyone else are not merely written and framed as such. they struggle under the role of being objects. they have feelings about the way that they must live and react to that in ways that are realistic and not always easy to grapple with. when their worlds fade away, the game takes the time to linger on it and frames the dismissal of fantasy worlds as "lesser" as suitably disquieting. at every turn, deltarune draws attention to the things we would normally take for granted in a portal fantasy story and asks us to take a closer look.

#yeah yeah yeah extremely true #i don't think a lot of the fanbase has played 90s and 2000s jrpgs! which is the specific inspiration/subgenre deltarune is referencing #(to be clear i have not either... but my older sibling and dad both like a lot of 90s and 2000s rpgs and jrpgs. ive seen a lot of them) #i think deltarune still works well subversively even if you aren't aware of the specific fantasy subgenre that it is dealing in #simply because its fantasy elements are common to many subgenres #but some nuance and understanding is lost if you don't have at least a passing familiarity with like. super mario rpg