spamtenna brainrot level 1: oh they share leitmotifs! Tenna mentioned they were business partners I guess he stole his style from Tenna haha! Is that why he made this paper mache of Spamton's head and called it his biggest hater???
spamtenna brainrot level 2: okaaay so the hidden pipis scene. Spamton wanted to see Tenna but he doesn't recognise him? Didn't they hate eachother or whatever ? Tenna kept Spamton's... Egg??? And acts like it's his kid or something????
spamtenna brainrot level 3: Oh. OH. So all that time Spamton mentioned CRTs and game show hosts and all that other stuff in his fight that was about Tenna? And every time Tenna mentioned his business partner or mail-man that was about Spamton? Oh and they had matching suits. That's cute.
spamtenna brainrot level 4: Okay so you're telling me Spamton was brought to the TV world with Queen and became Tenna's partner to save his show but was steered by a mysterious entity who had a deal with him. Spamton convinced Tenna he could make him successful, and they cooperated on the show in some capacity, I guess Spamton did ads for him? Tenna really wanted to know Spamton's secret so he "sweet talked" him into signing the contract (breaking his deal with the benefactor) which is the entire reason Spam was turned into a puppet and lived in the dumpster for 10 years. Tenna took it as him walking out on their deal. No wonder they hate eachother huh #toxic divorce
level 6: SO WHEN SPAMTON MAKES ALL THESE DIVORCE REFERENCES IN SWEEPSTAKES THATS ABOUT TENNA? THE "I THOUGHT WE HAD A SET AND KIDS AND YOU TEAR THEM ALL DOWN" VALENTINE FROM SPAMTON WAS ALSO DIRECTED AT TENNA? [SOUTH OF BORDER] IS A REFERENCE TO THE ISLAND OF LOVE? THAT HAS THE SAME SOUNDTRACK AS KEYGEN??? SPAMTON KNEW THE PROPHECY AND KNEW TENNA WAS ABOUT TO DIE WHICH IS WHY HE PAINTED ALL THESE CROSSED THROUGH BOXES NEXT TO HIS SHOP?????
level 10: Oh no so Spamton thought Tenna tricked him into signing the contract, and Tenna genuinely wanted them both to be Big together. That's why he showed up when he saw the pipis he was hiding cause he realised Tenna talked about him and missed him and cherished their relationship all this time. And Tenna thought Spamton bolted on him to be successful on his own while he was experiencing some cosmic horror level shit because a god-like entity was trying to break them up??? Oh no. That's so sad now I kinda wish they get back together.
level 50: *in a trance like state* the soundtrack "and now's the time for our sponsors" is named "bacci perugina" in the files, which is a reference to a brand of Italian chocolate which contains love letters in the package. It's theorised that the origin of the addition of these love letters was inspired by an illicit affair of the founder of the company. The track is 19 seconds long with 97 BPM (1997 being Spamton's favourite year) and is written in G minor. It's likely that Spamton's role in Tenna's show was being a sponsor (sponsor segments curiously missing in ch3) and is associated with letters (Tenna calling him mail-man and implying he ran the mail room which he hadn't accessed since Spamton left). I'm normal about this.
level 99: Spamton and Tenna's relationship being hidden in the game files, scenes out of the main plot, and easter eggs, and not apparent to a casual player is meta-textually a reflection of their relationship in-fiction. They're Darkners from vastly different dark worlds that weren't meant to be a set, but purposely made themselves look and act alike - they shaped themselves to be a couple, contrary to their assigned function. Darkners' autonomy (or lack thereof) is an important theme of the game, and they challenged that notion by trying to defy fate, something they were separated and punished for.
Their connection is not accidental. All the clues were placed there meticulously, meant to be obfuscated and then uncovered, because while homophobia doesn't exist in the DR universe directly, the discrimination, shame, and repression these two characters experience, especially in reference to their relationship does an amazing job at subtly invoking real life bigotry queer people go through.
Spamton has one of the strongest trans man-coding I've seen in fiction since Mettaton, and his entire arc revolves around the idea of self-determination and transformation. The Dealmaker-free version of the pipis scene in ch3 has Tenna feeling embarrassed for keeping the egg (which in many ways, can be treated as a symbolic representation of their relationship), and literally gets shamed and berated for it by the audience. While Tenna talks about Spamton almost constantly, a lot of these references are implicit and he never addresses him by name. Spamton still cares deeply enough about Tenna to show himself to him even though he has every right to feel abandoned, but whenever he mentioned it before or after, he dresses it in anger and resentment. He also plays up this heteronormative 90s businessman persona that, especially in the context of their relationship, could be read as an older queer man dealing with some internalised homophobia.
Tenna's whole deal with censorship and the fact that he seems like he wants to express himself more explicitly and sexually (his ass obsession, for once) invokes a queer TV personality during the Hays Code era. It's easy to imagine that would also come with an undisclosed relationship with a business partner only close associates knew about (i.e. Mike).
You may like this ship or not, but saying it's barely there or it's not relevant to the game, when it's been placed there very purposefully and reflects some of its' main themes in very interesting ways, means you just haven't been paying attention.
level 100: hehehe Tenna is an ass man and Spamton body pillow in sweepstakes has a big ass. This is why they got together
