Regarding the NEO Machine.
A while back I noticed the bizarre detail of the gold statue from the Spamton Sweepstakes event being described in an oddly similar way to the NEO Machine... and it got me thinking about how the introduction of NEO in chapter 2 has left us with so many unanswered questions.
So I did the reasonable thing, and documented all the characters majorly connected to the NEO vessel in Deltarune as one does.
I think Iâve made the Deltatheory equivalent of a cognitohazard. Read on if youâre interested, but be warned.
Starting off simple, there are several characters that directly connect to Deltaruneâs NEO:
The Hacker, Swatch, Spamton, the Werewires, and the unknown Lightner who designed The NEO Machine in the first place.
(Note that while Mettaton is also referenced in various ways throughout the Spamton NEO battle, there is yet to be a direct throughline between Undertaleâs Mettaton NEO and Deltaruneâs NEO Vessel despite the obvious parallels between the two. Iâll explain a bit more laterâŠ)
The Hacker is the NPC with the blue checkmark sidequest and hints towards the existence of the secret beneath the palace. Heâs constantly making gamerisms and takes pains to remind you heâs The Hacker despite No One Asking. Not much to note here other than his design referencing a completely different NEO. Honestly, you could probably unlock NEO without this guy, but good luck trying to find the hidden switch without having a cursor to point it out for you.
Not gonna waste my breath too much here since everyone knows Spamton is part of the NEO subplot. The short version is this: On the Normal route, you end up making a deal with him to sneak on through to the basement, transfer date from the LoadedDisk, and upload him to the machine so he can reach Heaven, while on the Weird route, your jackass stunts result in enough chaos to allow a certain spambot to breach Queenâs defenses.. to the point the final battle is less of a final line of heroic defense, and more trying to keep you from screwing him over at the good part.
Swatch is another pretty obvious one, being the art application based darkner who helped build the NEO machine before it was discarded... and who oddly shares a counterpart in the form of the librarbian in Undertale, complete with colour-coded books. Swatch also oddly feels the need to cover up the existence of NEO, which feels a little excessive considering the spelling tiles, teacup rides, mazes and electrical puzzles that act as barriers on the way to NEO.
Then there's the Werewires, the alternative forms of the plugboys citizens of Cyber City who resemble common 9-to-5 workers and end up brainwashed by Queen's control wires before you free them by snapping the wires, much like you end up freeing SNEO... And have I mentioned that Ramb, the plugboy who leads you onto the sword route, was given meaning by Kris playing with him? And this distorted sense of meaning is precisely what leads to the plug-n-play hell that is the Sword Route? Freedomâs for the Big Shots after all⊠though unfortunately, constantly alluding to the fandom buzzwords isnât enough to save Ramb from being frozen in stone by the end of chapter 3.
Now, letâs take a step back and look at how Undertaleâs NEO was designed in the first place. In the past, Alphys was the only one who responded to Mettatonâs Human Fanclub Advertisement, and she was the one to show him the sketches of a body that would become Mettaton EX. Being the human-culture weeb that she is, both Mettaton EX and MNEO are heavily influenced by anime and video game designs, with the latter being a pseudo-final-boss to act as a last line of intimidation on the weird routeâŠ
But in Deltarune, despite there being a human in hometown and monsters living on the surface, the two of them are total strangers, meaning the Mettaton we know is unable to exist, as Alphys is a awkward high school teacher. We can at least introduce Tenna to the Blook household so they wonât be bored for long (hence a certain somebodyâs quote along the lines of âsomething awakening within meâ), but if the circumstances that led to Alphys designing Mettaton NEO in Undertale didnât exist in this world⊠then how did Deltaruneâs NEO come into existence? How did the anime and video game influenced, oddly humanoid, robotic body make its way to the librarby computer, when the one who drew it in Undertale isnât connected to the friend she designed it for in this world? And why go to the trouble of designing something like that with such love and care, only to discard it as if it never mattered?
Something doesnât add up here.
But even with this alternative scenario, there seems to be someone else who fits the bill.
A Lightner who has been introduced to the same video game and anime culture that influenced Alphysâ robotic designs, who also has a fascination with the human body, who also seems to be alluded to by several of the aforementioned characters, and who also had the opportunity to design NEO on the librarby laptopâŠ
Hey, remember how I started this post?
I mentioned how I noticed the golden statue was described in an oddly similar way to the NEO machine.
And I thought: surely, thatâs just coincidental? Surely, if I do a bit more research it should assure me I was seeing things where there was nothing?
Because why would the Smart Race battle directly parallel the Spamton NEO boss, complete with the same quote upon violent defeat?
Why would Berdly serve the same role as Mettaton NEO on the Snowgrave route, as a brave yet ultimately meaningless stand against a merciless player, again with the same flavour text quote?
Why would Berdly constantly allude to gamerisms in the same manner as the walking Matrix reference, including the same Minecraft With Gadget references?
Why would Berdly be rescued from wire control in the same way as the working-class-adjacent npcs as one of the few characters known to work a job, and who bonds with Kris over playing in much the same way as Ramb, yet is also ultimately seen as not belonging in the eyes of others?
Why would Berdly and Swatch have such similar avian design elements and subservience to Queen, along with visual resemblance to Undertaleâs librarbian, especially considering Swatch and the Swatchlings also disappear following Snowgrave on the Weird route?
Why would Berdlyâs dark world design and Alphysâs classroom motivational poster reference the same video game other than to remind you theyâre both absolute nerds?
And why, of all characters, does Berdly have such strong connections to all the characters related to the NEO Vessel sidequest?
I donât have a clear answer to why this is the case just yet.
But I do have my personal hypothesis why the abandoned machine was so heavily guarded, and why such a wondrous embodiment of a Lightnerâs hopes and dreams was left to rot in the first placeâŠ
Itâs the same reason why a neglected child suffering from a lack of identity or sense of self-worth would purposely reduce themselves to a label assigned by others, denying themselves of any genuine self-expression outside of what is expected of themâŠ
âŠand itâs the same reason why Kris was only half surprised by what they saw beyond the door.
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