AHAH I do tend to see such face value discussions. If you're interested in my thoughts on it all, then, sure...! I feel everything Does have significance in one way or another.

JEVIL - The playful rowdy boku-pronoun silly-willy who used to tussle with the diligent, loyal, capable Court Mage. This sounds to me like a pair of OCs Kris & Asriel used to enjoy playing together as kids. After all, Asriel is said to have favored a purple mage girl in smash (Seam uses 'atashi' ?! which has multiple interpretations...). Seam is a very, very old plush, seemingly older than the other Darkners, which would track with them having been Asriel's old toy, and thus feeling very Ancient to Kris (who is younger!). Jevil is giving major Little Brother energy, to me.

JEVIL is a troublesome rascal who draws well-behaved Seam into shenanigans, but who Seam does not hate or resent for this. Seam is nostalgic for how Jevil made things interesting, and their games. Feels a kind of regret for missed opportunities. Would Now like to see chaos flourish, before they dilapidate.

I would see this dynamic overall as representing the well-behaved Asriel constantly towing the line, doing as parents ask, getting good grades, engaging in extracurriculars, attending choir, while Kris is the rascal who does as they so please. I'm sure if Asriel could go back... they would see towing that line was pointless. What has it lead to? Forced to abandon Kris off to college, to suffer alone and lonely, to toil in normiedom. Why not blow it all up? Why not ruin it all?

Kris had been out there inserting swears into Christmas Carols, sleeping through class, terrorizing the girl next door... such a Jevil.

All of DELTARUNE feels as this to me. Asriel wanting to see the structured world he helped maintain for so many years, finally burn. The Court be struck down, the rulers dethroned, our Purpose ignored & displaced. What did Jevil know all along, that Seam did not? Was Jevil really the fool, or was Seam the fool, following imaginary rules and restrictions? What more is possible for us, outside of these strictures? Seam is excited to see something 'new', finally. I think Asriel is, too.

SPAMTON NEO - Asriel & Kris canonically once attempted to create a video game, with Kris studying video game music (seen in Queen's prison) & Asriel contributing God knows what. We know the CD inserted into SPAMTON to turn him into NEO was some sort of failed attempt at a rainbow-winged 'final boss' Asriel & Kris had attempted to implement into their own game. We also know Kris & Asriel collaborated on an 'angel' doll that was never completed, as they spent too much time attempting to decorate it with giant rainbow wings.

We also know Kris & Asriel collaborated on artworks depicting their worlds using MS paint (Swatch represents this icon) (their computer background is an image they collaborated on & signed).
So in every inherent way, this boss may portent what Asriel & Kris see as Final Boss Material, AT LEAST AT ONE POINT IN TIME!! Perhaps a more youthful, crude vision of a game boss?
Obviously this NEO isn't quite the Final Vision as intended, but may be nostalgic.

As for Spamton himself. I'm insane and think he is a character Asriel utilized to break rules and engage in an underhanded, hidden way. We know Noelle received e-mails from Spamton as a child (I cannot stress this enough, He Is Not Real And Does Not Exist), and was given files that would corrupt & modify her CATPETTERZ/petz game (based on P.F. Magic's Petz series from the 90s, which has/had a VERY active mod community I engaged with a lot as a kid!). We already know Kris & Asriel were attempting to make games, and had such abilities. So obviously, one or both of them were fucking with Noelle. More on ROMhacking later with ERAM, but obviously Kris & Azzy engaged in ROMhacking.

It is possible Kris & Asriel both 'played' spamton... but idk... he's Giving Asriel to me. The insults, mockery, resentment, but also weird compliments, evoke Flowey to me.

His favorite year is 1997, which I would charitably like to think of as When Kris Came Into the Household (maybe Asriel's birth year was like, 1992 or something, giving them a 5 year ageegap). This is my own conjecture. Spamton mentions Kris being in a dumpster. Was Kris a dumpster baby lol? Did Asriel discover Kris and bring them home, much like Asriel found Chara in UNDERTALE?

If I follow my own insane logic with Azzy playing Spamton, we would see a depiction of an underhanded, seedy guy who selfishly wants to take over & degrade everything, as kind of what Asriel Feels Like he becomes when he Tries to misbehave. What it FEELS like to secretly infect the girl next door's computer.

Its also worthy of note that Spamton would ATTEMPT to infect Queen's palace in the past, but her firewall/adblock/spam protection prevented this; Dess never opened Spamton's obviously fake bullshit e-mails, as she was not as naive as Noelle, who would simply download them directly into her game lol. The only way Spamton can infect The Laptop (which Dess used) is if Kris themselves HAND DELIVERS Spamton access INTO the palace. To me this implies Asriel using Kris as a tool to reach places he is too afraid to. Because Kris is willing to be nefarious lol...

I guess I'd say Spamton's fight Gets to Kris more than any other, because it doesn't respresent their Own feelings (like Jevil or Pink do), but Asriel's, which are more upsetting to engage with... because Kris loves Asriel, and may worry about what they are doing to their brother.

ERAM - MANTLE is obviously Kris & Asriel's ROMhack of Catpetterz RPG. Some assets have been entirely replaced according to their own fixations (the SHELTER fully rendered in), while others are completely unchanged from Noelle's description of the original game (the ICE PALACE). It is incomplete & abandoned. I would assume this ROMhack was an early endeavor in video game programming... perhaps made some time before the NEO final boss programming attempt? Or after...? Well, we don't know...

TENNA ironically ROMhacks their ROMhack to make HIS video game. Because I think Tenna was a character of Kris's, this makes sense to me.

ERAM. Looks like Asriel. Am I insane? This feels obvious. There is also fire magic & the kind of loving, obsessive dialogue about Kris's true heart & desires, as we recall from Flowey in UNDERTALE. It is a kind of loving masochist stoking the fires of their sadist's urges. Watering Their Own Thorns, one might say (:

Like SPAMTON, I think ERAM unsettles Kris Because it does not Evoke their own voice, but Asriel's. Thrilling, possibly nostalgic (if this is an old project of theirs), alluring, exciting, terrifying. Asriel has a kind of... intoxicating madness to him... I would describe ERAM's dialogue as seductive, PERSONALLY. Knows what you really want, knows what stimulates you, deep down. Knows this nonsense is not what you Really Want. Knows you can't share this with anyone else. Knows what you're hiding. Of course this dialogue makes Kris sweat, makes their eyes flicker with burning desire...

Oh yeah! And the game console is obviously under Asriel's bed, with Asriel's controller (with janky pink & yellow buttons, likely a bootleg replacement for buttons that broke from overuse, which would come in all sorts of garish colors, back in the day...).

GERSON - Alphys is a new hire at the school (and new to this town overall), and Alvin's dialogue implies Gerson passed away fairly recently. Gerson likely used to teach Asriel at the school. I believe Kris & Asriel both create Darkworlds, and Asriel's reflects his memories of Gerson.

Not much more to say beyond that, other than, Gerson makes me think about transformative works & derivative fiction ... he is effectively a scholar of the bible, who eventually wrote Bible Fanfiction. That Bible Fanficiton later was again iterated on in the form of games suchas CATPETTERZ RPG, which are then further drawn apart from their source by Kris & Asriel modifying it with a ROMhack, MANTLE.

We don't have to accept what was written before us, we can rewrite it. We can impose our wishes on this world & contort it to our desires.

I wonder what conversations Gerson may have had with Asriel. Asriel was also an active participant in church, so... possibly a lot of exposure there. I wonder how that may have influenced Asriel's fiction itself.

PINK - So starkly this represents Kris's struggles between BODY & SOUL. Conflicting desires, wrestling... subject to urges beyond your control, urges which may influence your actions, may betray your intentions, may contradict, may consume you.

As these are a representation of Kris's struggle, ""Ralsei"" is the one compelled to offer comfort & advice, wishes for Pink to seek parity with self, to not divide in hatred, or shame. Accept the body's requests, as it must be nurtured... it is your body. If you fight it too harshly, you may lose what the body offers to you. You may fall apart. It isn't sustainable, this warring...

Compare this to SPAMTON, who Asriel offers no comfort & wishes to distract Kris from, write him off as just some wayward program, nothing important. IIII Think it makes sense for Asriel to downplay representations of his own suffering, but take Kris's seriously.

I do not PERSONALLY think the BODY & SOUL are different people. I think both are Kris. And represent Kris's own impulses, desires, some more earnestly than others. I do not think "the player" "the vessel" is anything distinct, I also Literally don't know where people even got this idea from UNDERTALE, as both Chara & Frisk have their own capabilities & omit a player from control respectively. We cannot create new dialogue options, or new endings... we, as the player, are subject to only what Kris's mind comes up with, gives us to work with. I Do Not See people making this argument about Link or Mario, so I don't know why it exists at all for Toby's games.

and finally. I will just say. I think Another Him refers to Asriel (who is referred to as this ominously in UT's soundtrack), and I think the voice speaking to you as you create 'the Vessel', is Asriel. And he's testing some mechanism, and Kris's memories. If Kris is properly amnesia'd by whatever they have chosen to endeavor together. By asking crude baby questions suchas Kris's favorite flavor and color, and name, Asriel can douse if the magic is Working as intended, or if something is wrong. I think the tone it speaks in is again that kind of oddly seductive tone we hear in various representations of Asriel in UT & DR. I believe, at the moment, that Asriel wishes to know what it is Kris really wants, thinks.... is your favorite color even what I know it to be? And perhaps the reverse is true, depending on what Ralsei 'is', what Asriel has Done to make him exist. I'm insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So perhaps bare all of that in mind when reading my personal present interpretations on the game & bosses. Thank you [falls down the stairs]

This interpretation actually comes from the Undertale Alarm Clock dialogue, with lines like "he... was my Rudolph. I ... was his santa." though it is corroborated by Rudy calling out Asgore as a fruit in Deltarune lol. That dialogue in the Alarm Clock already had everyone go "OH?" so, in this case, I don't actually think it's an overreach! It is also Funny. I don't feel this interpretation is exclusive To fandom goggles, I see Normal Gamer Guys find it funny.
When any dialogue occurs, I think, "why was this placed here?"
It is present enough in Toby Fox's mind to occur across the scant interactions we have of these characters, so it feels worthy of note. I Think Toby loves this kind of sticky morass, especially with Asgore of all people who is wishy-washy in his decisionmaking. It enhances the dynamics for me, even if I'm not "interested in it" beyond the intrigue and how it adds to the perspective on relationships in a small town. The last thing I would want to see is 2 dads doing anything. But I respect.... ball....

It will depend entirely on what winds up being canon! Will I enjoy their history, dynamic, and her aesthetic? It remains to be seen. Based on the stories we have so far, I'm tickled by her and very intrigued. I think the image the fandom has of her VS my own idea of her in my head, are vastly different [shrug] I like my image of her in my head so far, but I don't like the fandom's at all. Who shall prevail...

That said it's important to bare in mind my central OTP is and always will be Kris/Asriel. Even if I explore something like Kris/Noelle or Asriel/Noelle, Kris/Asriel is, in my mind, somehow the backbone and centrally prominent, even if not depicted in the individual image, it is 'true' and somehow cornerstone to the events between others even transpiring. So what could that mean for a dynamic with Dess ??? remains to be seen... in this way it is important not only how Kris and Dess may have gotten along, but also Asriel, with all of them.

At the moment I have idears for depictions of all 4 of them shenaniganizing... hopefully someday those images will come to pass, if canon does not render my present concepts void.

I love to think about the general hormone compote that is Dess + Noelle + Kris + Asriel, stimulating for my mind. The only reason Dess is presently excluded from my shenanigans, is that I do not wish to presume or invent my own design for her, or extrapolate too far on what exactly anything was visually. I'm patient and "working with what I've got" at the moment! There is ENOUGH to play a little in the Kris/Asriel/Noelle space, for now.

Dess/Asriel is intriguing to me, in that any combination of these kids is mystifying and curious. Processing the current information for me is like...

What we see of Dess's room looks, to me, like a teen who planned to run away sooner rather than later (but disappeared before that could happen). Her instruments are all dented, and there are many of them, which to me implies she quickly got bored or fed up with things and lashed out. Perhaps constantly oscillating between understimulated/overstimulated. I do not feel this was a little girl with a stable, loving boyfriend or something. Absolutely not!

We have this weird parallelism briefly suggested between Kris/Noelle and Dess/Asriel, which I think is SUSPICIOUS and NOT TO BE TAKEN AT FACE VALUE. It's a little too convenient if you and your brother like the girls next door in such an organized arrangement, isn't it? I don't think Toby is that straightforward.

Noelle vaguely mentions, in a ferris wheel interaction with Kris, of her concern that Kris was always just "going along with what [she] wanted, just like..."
so what does that mean eh? Hrm. Did someone or something make Noelle consider how people sometimes charitably placate or pretend to have feelings, for someone else's sake?

We HAVE evidence that Asriel was placating towards multiple girls around the same time; we have Bratty spin-the-bottle, and we have Catty prom. We have UNSENT love letters to BOTH Catty AND Dess. Which of these do we place stock in? Why is one more or less valid than the other? None of them 'prove' any relationship. They only suggest a purgatory.

My impression of Asriel is that he was a pushover, always being told what to do by others, reticent to ACT on his own will. Perhaps scared to. Did Asriel WANT to be in choir? Did Asriel WANT to do cross-country? Did Asriel WANT to go to prom with Catty? Did Asriel WANT to be King with Dess's Queen? Did Asriel WANT to go to college? Did Asriel WANT to be a bad kid, or a good kid?
(stares at Ralsei's entire arc in the entire game thus far)

Kris is, in contrast, a very free-spirited and impulsive child, and very dependent. Asriel seems to have fostered this dependency soooo exceptionally, he was known as Kris's only friend (what on Earth has Kris done or failed to do to make Noelle and Dess NOT seem to be equally friends with them?!).

My biggest theory at the moment is simply that Dess disappeared before Asriel or Kris could even crystallize what either of them wanted with her, or Noelle. And the disappearance created so much fear, anxiety, it froze everything in place. If Asriel couldn't be with Dess, why would Kris be with Noelle? That would entail leaving Asriel all alone. What does Asriel's future hold? We now know the 4 of them talked about crossing to the other side of the lake. But did Kris, Noelle, and Asriel actually have that ambition, or were they just going along with Dess's dream, to stay together?

This concept of "going along with [something you may not want] in order to stay together/maintain harmony" is I would say, Very Deltarune. Berdly does shit to keep his dynamic with Noelle stable (in his delusional mind), Susie tries to not step on Kris's toes with Noelle and Ralsei (asking who Kris likes before the festival is in MY OPINION, her attempt to douse for interest so as to not unintentionally blow things up with any actions), Kris sits in the cuck chair for Noelle & Susie to have their dynamic,

I think DELTARUNE overall has a very persistent exploration of unrequited or incompatible feelings, which is a very interesting component of the "your choices don't matter" theme. That concept sounds so dismal, so desolate, but if we apply it to the concept of crushes or love, it's kind of painfully true, isn't it? It doesn't matter who you love, if they don't want that with you. You don't get to choose who you are. You're Kris.

We have a lot of weird missed connections going on...

Asgore of course loves Toriel, but she has moved on. Also a crush on Rudy. (I also feel like Rudy has a crush on Toriel but this is largely unsubstantiated delusion on my part. The church interaction is just so loaded. I also feel like Carol has some sort of thing for Asgore but this is just a feeling. Perhaps everyone shuffled into the arrangement that made the most sense, but there are Missed Connection feelings all around which is what leads to somewhat raising their children side-by-side together)
Berdly performs having a crush on Noelle as an act of charity, but comes to like Susie, who will not like him back.
Susie admits in ch5 to having assumed Kris and Noelle were dating, making her jealous.
Obviously Weird Route Kris can express a crush on Noelle, who presently crushes on Susie.
Noelle seems to express having had a crush ?? on Kris as children ?? (and I felt this is suggested in her initial ferris wheel memory in Queen's chapter, so it's feeling like canon to me).
""""Ralsei"""" is very desperate for Kris's attention, regardless of this being reciprocated through player action. He is eager to change virtually anything about himself or accept any treatment in order to remain available to Kris. He is anxious of having any preference at all, for fear it may make him less appealing to Kris. (stares at Asriel) (Stares at Asriel's dynamic with Chara in UNDERTALE)
The entirety of the Burgerpants/Bratty/Nice Cream Guy situation, which is too complicated to even summarize here, but is bonkers amounts of everything I am saying here.

Weird dynamics are explored even in the toybox in DELTARUNE, with participants for some reason fixated on concepts like "throuple" and then escalating recently to discussing "symmetrical" 4-partner relationships.
and then you know.
Whatever Spamton & Tenna have going on,
Whatever Queen and King have going on,
The entirety of Rouxls
I could write an unwell essay about Goulden Sam & Suilver Sam & Sons

And of course, in UNDERTALE we also explore a lot of similar weird things, suchas Alphy's one-sided crush on Asgore and Mettaton, and also somehow she has slept with Sans who I don't think was ever her endgame and we do not know what Sans feels/felt about that. whatever
Blooky's fanboyism for Mettaton (who cannot tell them he is their cousin and already loves them dearly. reciprocation can be complicated, even if you want to give it!)
Mad Dummy has a crush on Undyne as her practice dummy, and MOST LIKELY Alphys is horny for the Mad Dummy's body as the original owner of the huge sexy figure. Mad Mew Mew accepts Alphys and Undyne's relationship respectfully (though the 3 proceed to be depicted together in newsletters, what does that mean?)

and Toby, in general, has a funny fixation on relationships shifting and changing over time. If I may be presumptuous, I think "cloistered, small, enclosed community which feels simultaneously comforting, and entrapping" is an interest explored in both DELTARUNE and UNDERTALE. It's a "small town vibes" in both games... that the few people who are "stuck" here are rotating all around one another, trading partners, everyone knows each other, relationships come and go. Do we want to escape? Or is everything we love, care about, right here? Do we blow it all up? Do we leave????? Asriel doesn't, can't, in UNDERTALE. Too permanently altered by love for Chara. What do we take from that?

Now. What is my opinion.

My main opinion is I DO NOT THINK THE 4 OF THESE KIDS HAD WORKED OUT WHAT THEY WANTED OUT OF ONE ANOTHER BEFORE DESS DISAPPEARED AND ALL POSSIBILITIES OR POTENTIALS VANISHED BEFORE THEY CAME TO BE TRULY KNOWN. I DO NOT THINK ASRIEL AND DESS WERE IN A COMMITTED, OPENLY EXPRESSED AND DISCUSSED RELATIONSHIP. I THINK DESS DISAPPEARED WHEN SHE WAS LIKE 12 OR 13, based on my calculations???????????????????????? I DO NOT THINK EITHER FAMILY WOULD HAVE ALLOWED THEIR CHILDREN TO BE DATING, SINCE EVEN AN OLDER ASRIEL IS PUNISHED FOR KISSING A GIRL BY BEING FORCED TO GO TO CHURCH EVERY DAY. AND I DO NOT THINK ASRIEL WAS SO CAPABLE OF STANDING UP TO HIS FAMILY AT A YOUNG AGE, BASED ON WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HIM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do not think any of these kids really CRESTED what they WANTED out of life! Dess wanted to leave, everyone liked her, but did THE OTHER KIDS want to leave? Did Noelle want to go to the city? Did Asriel? Did Kris? Did any of them simply want to stay in this little town forever and enjoy their life together just as it was? Is Dess's idea of escape childish, or might someone else's idea of things staying just as they are, be childish? Might both ideas be unrealistic? Unachievable!? Does this incompatibility have something to do with DESS GOING MISSING?

Did Kris see Noelle as something like a sister, a potential girlfriend, or a funny toy to mess with?
Or did any of those definitions ever have the chance to solidify themselves, amorphous and unidentified to this day? Might Kris willfully reflect on these embarrassing or inconvenient feelings, which could jeopardize the harmony of their friend group? Or Might they violently avoid all of it internally, to the point of splitting in twain?

Saying yes or saying no to an opportunity will close a door. Even if you like both opportunities, to whatever degree.

I think that kind of unresolved, unknown, unanswered desire could result in contradictory, unpredictable, hard to read behavior (literally what is happening right now in-game, literally parts of Kris warring with self over the definition of their dynamic, as "more than friends" and "something else", literally body VS soul)

Over the years of growing up, did the kid's impression change, evolve? I feel as if the "MAN COUNTRY" sign evolving into "non-men are OK too" points to this kind of childish attitude evolving to include the girls as players over time.

MAYBE Noelle had a crush on Kris, MAYBE Kris thought Dess was cooler, and was more eager to hang out with her! Maybe Dess Liked Asriel, but uncontrollably had compatibility with Kris! Maybe world's Tiniest Noelle had a baby crush on Asriel, who was placating in a way that eventually hurt her feelings! Maybe Asriel was placating Dess's crush on him! Maybe Kris had a crush on Dess, the bitchy older girl!! Maybe Kris liked both of them! Maybe Noelle liked both of the Dreemurrs!! Maybe Dess just liked to bully everyone, but wouldn't acknowledge liking anyone at all directly! ALL OF THIS IS MORE INTERESTING TO ME THAN ANYONE STRAIGHTFORWARDLY DATING .................

Now briefly I WILL try to get into a little bit of my thoughts for, Dess's dynamics... I think the Cyber's World is based around Dess's interests primarily, and what her and Kris's dynamic was like. I think Queen was a character Dess played with Kris. I think they could play arcade games together, and Dess liked how Kris didn't have opinions and was mostly silent. We know Kris at some point sycophantically brought food to the "Oneesans" (it's fucking gendered in Japanese localization) at the diner. Was Dess at that table? Did Kris wish to be openly friends with Dess, but she was too cool to accept that in public????????? This feels so damn likely to me. Kris, to a detrimental degree, was resistant to providing Noelle virtually any reassurance about her value to them, as kids, but what if Kris was much more openly barking up Dess's tree of approval? Could you IMAGINE Kris buying NOELLE food at a diner???????????????????? This burger oneesan story HAUNTS me.

My personal delusion is that Dess will have either a chipped tooth, gap tooth, or missing tooth on one side, as the Queen mech & Rouxls feature this aesthetic, and are both sexually vivacious WHORES, unlike Asriel & Kris's characters, who are ugly flop buffoons. Rouxls and Queen also both condescend to the kids and overtly bully them. And are worse at puzzles/arcade games than Kris.

But what of Asriel. Queen refuses to acknowledge Ralsei. Hm. But Ralsei is so amenable to being dressed as a butler for Queen, compared to Flowery doing the same action. We know Ralsei can feel "fuck OFF!!!!" emotions. So I don't think it is that.

I don't nauuuuuuuuuuuuuuur about Asriel and Dess, honestly...! We have so much GAP. We have MORE information about Kris's dynamic with both Dess and Asriel, because Kris is the player character, the perspective we share. The love letter in the drawer is familiar to Kris, it is not a surprise. Did Kris help WRITE IT? In what context did Kris ever see this? How many years ago?

Did Kris in any way WANT Asriel and Dess to date? Was there a benefit to that for everyone? Could Asriel marrying Dess, in their childish minds, force her to stay here in this town with them? Who did it please, or displease, this concept? Did Kris NOT want Asriel to be with Dess, and that's why the letter was left unsent?

In this crazy compote I think anyone liking or not liking anyone else has the potential to blow it all up... I can see why Kris may have left everyone in limbo eternally. And maybe Asriel did, too.

"Dream Holiday" (any mixed-and-matched combination of the Dreemurr and Holiday kids) is of Big Interest to me, but it remains to be seen what is ultimately true. A LOT OF MOVING PARTS IN THIS RUBE-GOLDBERG MACHINE. Will I ultimately like what we are shown? Well, Toby Fox has warned us all that we might be fostering delusions, and canon may explode us in viscera. So I have my fun little theories and I play with my little dollies. But who knows (:

I like to think about them all playing things suchas Snugglebug and Taste My Steel. At the moment Asriel/Dess is the least mentally explored for me, but again, this is because there is just too massive of a gap for me to cross with respect to the both of them. While I'm sure to a lot of people, any Asriel & Noelle stuff I draw is only 200x more insane and contrived, BUT I KNOW WHAT THEY BOTH LOOK LIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND I KNOW KRIS IS ATTACHED TO THEM BOTH! I KNOW HOW THEY BOTH TREAT KRIS! I know what their everyday actions with Kris were like! So I PERSONALLY feel more comfortable extrapolating a little there, even if canon may humiliate me later.

Basically I have no hatred for Dess/Asriel, or fear of it. I think it COULD COME TO PASS that I some day draw all 4 of them, heaven forbid. But my own reservations have me sitting on my hands for now.

Patterns like the Jerboa are still kinda being playtested by a friend and I...! Trying different materials, working out kinks, adjusting the flat pattern...! I'll likely share the patterns publicly once we have enough data, suggestions for materials, and final results to show off. I also need to work out how to convey accurate sizing/measurements.

I just recently had sent a friend the flat patterns + paper dummy models to trial in faux fur, terry, and some various eyeballses on.... there are also more patterns among that group that are also not done such as a sinosauropteryx I drafted years ago, a jackal I'm working on, a Dorumon, some Pterosaurs, a stoat/weasel...

so as you can imagine, hands are a bit full, so many differing stages, sometimes a pattern must be revisited entirely, fix this sudden problem that didn't present itself in a test... The jerboa is being fiddled with along with a stoat, and maybe I can get both of those simple little patterns up together at once, once I have some of the plush in my hands >> there's stuff being shipped back and forth out here haha.

I actually did go through this whole dex a bit ago when it was said that a localized demo was slated to be heading to the US at gamescom. I always do look through any new critter game's dex, whether or not it's promising on the tin...

Chinese is quite difficult for me to parse/type so talking about the critters here is difficult...! I'll try to include descriptors of little thoughts...

ah firstly, you're astute, it's not my bag much at all... overall a very polished, overly rendered, unpleasant and corporate/mascot-y feeling aesthetic, and very repetitive at that. I appreciate critter-catchers with limited color palates if not straightforward pixels... 3D or cell-shaded renderings have the same foibles as modern pokemon; way too much detail, nonsense, minimalism is dead, little pleasant appealing shapes like a Quilava or Nidoran, you know? And the rendering comes out plastic-y.

I felt like this dex had like 6 entirely different lines of scorbunny clones??????????????????? each unappealing in a different way... and then so many Cool Wolves, the bane of my existence for creature games... [Blue Diamond voice] CAN'T YOU CONTROL YOURSELVES. Every fictional biome should sooner have many rats before it has many wolves. I am often wanting in pokemon-alikes for more fun, simple bugs, small burrowing creatures, and the majority of them would simply rather populate their world with more furries or more big cool wolves. Sad. When I wish some would actually remove the furries and wolves and be entirely bugs and mice.

Little goat Zhuiweiyang was a fine one, just OK. kind looksa subetapet.

I like Emoding, looksa meerca.

Xiaoshuta is a fun concept, I like the idea of a rabbit-seal, though I'm never into those oddly textured cloud-y swirls on designs and would prefer some sort of normal fluff there. Looksa Flight Rising.

mengyou an appealing kindaaaaa digimon feeling... if generic. it is a sort of mage cat. Its evolutions are generic feeling [shrugs] the kind of thing I see on many app games that have you merging dragons or something. Which is also kinda what a lot of the rendering in this game looks like.

Chuitouguan is kinda terrorbird-ish! But not really interesting otherwise.

Fenglingsha I really enjoy this sort of glass windchime, I love chimecho afterall! But evolving it into a sortof manta-ray is very very cute!! Feels like it is becoming an adorned kite, I love that! One of my favorite lines. Not too cluttered, cute. It is looksa mantyke but we forgive it due to its unique gimmick.

Huyouli has a lemur-like vibe, feels unique, doesn't feel too intensely aping anything else, going for its own vibe. I respect! DO NOT LIKE ITS EVO... another stupid WOLF

While Dianqie is not necessarily my bag, the look is unique & I enjoy the animal silhouette beneath the terastalized guff. I have no idea what it is. Some sort of swag penguin. But it earns respect for looking different.

The little lolis Shock me but I also have to kind of respect doing your own thing. Though I guess newer Digimon are also that crazy. Still I am curious about if you own these tiny girls and throw them at dogs or what. Uhm interesting.

Shuishesuo is kinda neat, I like this concept of flying serpent+cobra hood+hooded cape. It's marrying some interesting aesthetics I wouldn't think to combine. So props to that.

Yuanyanzhizzhu is perfectly acceptable buggy spider thing, its evos are fine too. I would place its first form happily in the BG of some sort of environ. The final is a little busy, but the rendering is mostly at fault I feel... I don't think it'd look so bad as a pixel or something simpler. Middle evo quite kyuut and interesting face shape.

Huayuanman and the evo are very unique and cute, some sort of mimic perhaps? I enjoy the inventiveness of the design. Kiss

Tita perfectly acceptable steel-ish thing, cute shape. I don't have sex with these sorts of things but I allow them in the world. It adds to the magic.

now, Moyoushi and its evo, this is actually a favorite in this dex!!! Conceptually very strong and not overly involved, I LOVE the idea of an inkwell squid! I also may be fond because I used to draw with that sort of pen in high school haha. Unique, well thought out, and a good amount of restraint in the design. The weird geometric evo variant however is flop

Maotouxiaozhu resembles some sort of little black, creature? bug? hiding itself in husks ? straw? I am likely missing a lot of culturally obvious symbols here, BUT I love the concept and visually, super fun and cute, lovable, unique (: up there with Moyoushi, where I think the execution and level of detail is restrained and thoughtful. I would place it in environments happily.

Rongrong -- the first creature to make me go uuuoooo aauuuu :D funny little pale thing, buggish, kyoots! Big bink eyes! cute forehead marking.. nub limbs. Simplistic, minimal, cute!! I wish this game had more like this </3 its evos are neat and fun, the final ? almost centaur-like Rongxianzi is very fun... unique! pretty mane...

Shuangdengyu a sortof jester-themed anglerfish, mmwow!! great idea! Good work on execution too. I like it a lot. The evo has some strange ideas of how teeth should work in a mouth??? embedded... IN the lips?? I do not know quite what they were going for...

Chuntuan is a perfectly OK rabbit, it is sad it is fated to become Another Scorbunny

Mobiwuwu is a sortof legless little cute shimmering tube dragon filled with some kind of fluid ? this can be the boyfriend of that cute little albino-looking pink thing earlier that becomes the centaur moth (: The evo has some perplexing details but altogether not unappealing to me, unique and interesting. Fun proportions.

Their bodies are primarily pom-pom balls, most limbs are pipecleaners or a specific type of pipecleaner called a "chenille bump" or "bumps", and their eyes are either vintage googly eyes I found at a flea market (but are easy to find online!) or black plastic fork prongs :3 a detail here or there is a small piece of fleece!

put together using low-temp small hot glue gun! Anyone could have fun this way I think w one can trim pom-pom balls into a desired shape, provided you don't cut too close to the center and unravel the entire ball.
One can also intentionally unravel a ball to utilize just the fluff on any random area it is desired!

I've hesitated to answer just 'cuz it's sooo broad, what can be said, but I meant to come back and at least try a little overview~~

This chapter... scrumptious... the church chapters were so Susie-focused, there were honestly a lot of moments I was rather disengaged or a bit bored >>;; though of course I liked what we saw of Ralsei, the overall environment, music, enemy designs were stimulating enough to fill in the gap of my attentions. I am uniquely immune to "funny old man shares wisdom to young girl" due to my tastes... but then Jack would show up and I'd go YAAAY JAAAACK!!! and then Ralsei would sob.

Ch. 5 felt soooo opposite in many ways!! I LOVED what Flowery exposed in Ralsei, all the provoking and poking of his insecurities, guarded reality, WOO!!! I got what I wanted most of all as well: Ralsei Intuitively Knowing he needs to hide from Asgore, because Asgore will freak out if he sees Asriel wandering around. Noelle had the cloak of this being a "dream", but Asgore didn't! Asgore had preestablished knowledge of this world, and an awareness that what he was seeing was 'real' and consequential. I love that he had a level of perception high enough to look at Ralsei and feel unable to distinguish him as a Lightner or a Darkner... heehoo!!!

I guess overall the music & rando enemies were less interesting to me ? BUT the Netskie kind of made up for this... I also, like that, their names are anagrams of Kitsune... lol. anagrams eh...

I really liked Aqua & Seth, a fun and cute duo (: of course they reminded me of perhaps a younger Kris + Asriel playing around... but they also reminded me that Toby likes Ran from Touhou, and made me wonder if her dynamic with Chen is alluring... something I've wondered idly in the past! Well, it's a bit sexy to think about, isn't it? I like when a servile girl has an underling, who she commands, but whomst is a useless rat. Nobody is a real 'master' in this dynamic, everyone's kind of under a thumb and helpless... oneeloli is so rare and special! It makes me imagine, in some world, can Kris and Asriel fantasize such a thing? [stares wistfully over the misty sky] so beautiful...

One of my favorite moments... was when Aqua is asked who she likes better, between the Fuck Gang or Seth, and Seth freaaaaaks out and won't let Aqua answer that question, too scared of the answer <3 and then... later... Ralsei does the exact same thing when Kris is asked that question ... <3 I love that he couldn't handle any confirmation or rejection... so immature, so pathetic!! You're this submissive, but you can't handle rejection?! HAH!!! [pointing and laughing at Ralsei] What Kris wants is so important to you, unless it disincludes you, huh? It's almost like you're not completely selfless and servile... hehe...! There are just some things you couldn't go on living after knowing, huh? You can't pretend to be selfless forever, I know you have WANTS!!!!!

Another fav moment, RALSEI WEARS MAKEUP CONFIRMED?????? Why would this be confirmed... jaw on the floor... also, the onsen scene starting, I felt like I was witnessing a pornographic film unfold suddenly. Terrifying. Well, I look forward to what the eastern fandom may draw regarding, this. But seriously... the pink around Ralsei's eyes confirmed to merely be makeup that washes off, WTF!!! HOW DO YOU HAVE MAKEUP!!! THAT DOESN'T WORK WITH YOUR BULLSHIT 'NARRATIVE' OF BEING A DESOLATE NOBODY WITH NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but it works with MY narrative of Ralsei somehow painting color on himself to disguise his portrait as a darkner. I'll bet dollars to donuts his horns are painted pink with polish =.= "vanilla nerd, strawberry nerd" as Susie says... I know you secretly have white horns like mommy and daddy...

Really really scared by the Love Dojo starting to talk about foursomes guys.... and even numbers being balanced.... really scared guys. Why would it say that. Dream Holiday is rumbling just over the mountain... [running in high heels on rocky terrain in the opposite direction]

I hope Ralsei in the end ripped Flowery's roots up, lol.... this golden flower... my long-standing enemy... Kris's favorite flower.... die die die die die die!!! I'M KRIS'S FAVORITE.. RHgklsdfgjf;!!

omg but I admit, completely checked out for Blue/Yellow... ugely... bring back the oneeloli...

there is SO much omg I'll forget everything ever.

But of course Weird Route ruled!!!!!!!!!!!!! EPIC... I KNEW NOELLE WOULD NOT STAY A 'VICTIM' FOR LONG AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was awesome!! I felt gobsmacked by the contrast between Susie holding Noelle above the water and wading shallowly, while Noelle and Kris fully submerged...? This felt parallel to Susie & Kris dipping their feet in the onsen, while Kris & Ralsei submerge fully....? But it's one of those things that is so intentional, yet opaque to me. It feels sort of like a dream. This concept of "shallowness"... I guess in a way, it felt surprisingly unbrazenly cruel to cast this contrast upon Susie/Noelle? I suppose my soft reservation about Susie/Noelle, has been that it may be too precious, or beyond meaningful deconstruction.... but I felt like the Weird Route kind of took it apart at the seams, for me... made it feel, so surface-level, like a compromise with 'reality' for Noelle...

I'm not against it or anything like that, merely personally not piqued by it. I don't seek to disprove or unspool it at all, but I also didn't foresee canon handing me so much fodder to do so. I guess it was validating for me?! I hold the belief that Susie just.... doesn't possess the depth or intensity to truly satisfy and excite Noelle, a true Masochist. At the end of the day, Susie has never wanted to hurt anybody. She's just a lonely, defensive little girl who accepted being painted as something mean & scary, by her surroundings. But if she's not a Sadist, how is she supposed to satisfy a Masochist's needs? Is it enough to joke about a severed hand and carry a girl above water?

Seeing Noelle genuinely manic... enthralled, wild with desire, desperate to escape herself, I was so relieved Kris could do this for her. It's like seeing an animal get the stimulation it needs... not a block of ice filled with fish to lick, but a leaping body to throw down and bite.

But in a way I worry it's almost cruel or unfair to feel that sort of thing ?! but I can't complain either...

Quite SHOCKING reveal that Noelle, growing up, felt that Kris may have merely been "going along with what she wanted" for various interactions, suchas voting eachother as King and Queen ? and she relates this suspicion to something that happened between others, who remain unnamed .... ? implies Noelle spectated a situation where someone lead someone else on, merely because it was what the other person wanted. I would have to assume this relates to either parents, or siblings... but well, we know Asriel had various, conflicting unsent love letters to Catty and Dess, as well as being made to kiss Bratty. So I suspect Asriel, may have been such a people-pleaser, such a pushover, that he struggled to reject anyone, or explicitly state his own interests. I wonder if Noelle was perceptive to this, or even witnessed a particular conflict. I've always wondered why, exactly, she is so pessimistic... while I know Kris is obtuse and cryptic, and that contributes a lot, perhaps spectating some sort of humiliating event occur to someone close to her, could explain even more... could make her paranoid, "what if that happened to me....?"... she's a paranoid girl in general, eh...

Huge fucking reveal also that SUSIE THOUGHT KRIS AND NOELLE WERE DATING??????????? explosions.................................. this, as part of the explanation for her behavior towards Kris early on, holy fuck!! Funnyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!! THE LESBIAN INCEL [points] many such cases!!! It makes me think though, man, Kris must have looked like an asshole partner LOL... being all quiet and often expressionless while a girl hands you pencils and helps you with homework. Susie trying to make heads or tails of this.... it also adds a lottttt to her previous reaction to her seeing the ferris wheel photo of Kris & Noelle on Dess's wall. Susie being faced with "what are they, to each other...?" is so funny. Honestly Susie, they don't know any better than you do, I think.... everyone here is so helpless......

and uhm lastly. Ralsei really was such a sminch this chapter, not just being mean to others, but even being a bit smug about Kris liking them in some dialogues...? Hellooooooo....
Big fan of Ralsei impulsively revealing he has fire magic (: hmmmmmmmm... who else has fire magic I wonder.... wasn't there some sort of family of monsters, in UNDERTALE...? Oohh but DELTARUNE isn't UNDERTALE, so it must mean nothing.... ^^

Ralsei trying to yellll at Flowery for pretending to be something he's not, and giving himself 999 whatever power.... and Flowery simply pointing out the hypocrisy... thats right BITCH!!!!!!!!! Omega Idiot.

Princess Ralsei... [suddenly throws my body against the wall over and over] why would this happen... oh, I'll be YOUR princess, Kris.... my life has been endangered. Why would this happen... a doujinshi has taken over the game file. I don't know how this has happened... where do we go from here. [unsticking my bloody body from the wall]

Sometimes I wish I could live the peaceful life of people who think "the game wouldn't Go There". It must be so tranquil, stable, secure. In the same chapter we can have Ralsei obliquely dodging Asgore (because he would. recognize him.) and crossdressing to appeal to Kris.

Oh yeah... the Mew Mew stuff. Feels as blatant as the Gerson Ghost stuff, with regards to foreshadowing. I greatly enjoyed Ralsei being uncharacteristically kind & helpful, spectating such a situation of a soul & body fighting conflicting desires. To say it plainly, I think it reminded Ralsei of Kris. It's important to not hate any part of yourself... or you will suffer your connection to yourself. Ralsei has taken discrete care, to compliment both BODY & SOUL of Kris.... in particular, when both sides play piano (with distinct contrast in their abilities). I don't think Ralsei wants either to be neglected, rejected, or hated... both make up Kris.

OK... methinks that is enough for now.... I can try to extrapolate on specific things on request though >> it was so much game to consider, huh.... I've forgotten probably 1 million things...