Hey just wanted to say, seeing you and other creatives I really look up to for their amazing Spamtenna content being outspoken about how it's okay not to apologize all the time for depicting the both of them happy and well not toxic with each other, has really lifted my spirits! There's a reason I fell in love with them, and that's the actual source material giving us all these sweet and bittersweet and sad and funny puzzle pieces about their relationship. Sometimes among the negativity that unfortunately can spread around, it feels like some of us feel guilty for liking them and what the game tells us about them, when there really is no need for that. Sorry if this came out weird, it was just really nice to see. So, thank you! Also your fanfic is the best!!!
Hello hello! I feel exactly the same way; I love that Undertale & Deltarune are games with all these themes of guilt, regret, moving on, reconciliation, and most importantly hope. The characters we sympathize with and like do bad things, whether that be Spamton and Tenna or even Susie. It feels disingenuous to write off their relationship as stock "toxic yaoi" when what the text presents us is both far more compelling and far more cohesive with the rest of the game
If I brought up all my analysis on their relationship and what it means in the larger context of Deltarune, it'd take me literal days, but I hope you don't mind if I dig into this a little more while I'm here 🤭 How do they feel about each other?
Here's what we know, right? Spamton and Tenna are "old partner"s (as Tenna puts it) who seem to hate each other's guts when we meet them. Kill your TV, Tenna yelling for Susie to kill the Spamton-shaped cannon, etc. Both hate the other for abandoning them. That's the first hint. You only hate someone for leaving if you loved them. And as we get to know both Tenna and Spamton better as individuals, the more genuine, hurt truth behind the vengeful bluster comes out. Let's start with Tenna.
Adding the full image on that last one because he gets PARTICULARLY deflated and sad there, which admittedly made me chuckle. Sorry, Tenna.
Tenna is waist deep in guilt. Even in his first recollection of events in the Sword Route, he makes specific note that Spamton's "face turned pale", so he knows that Spamton was in a panic when he ran out the door.
Tenna has to craft this narrative that Spamton was a dirty liar who scammed him and scrammed, because the truth is that Tenna convinced Spamton to sign the contract, and then chose the phone instead of helping him deal with the "something terrible" that would happen as a consequence. He only realizes he made that choice when it's already too late to undo it. If Spamton didn't scam him, then he's in danger or worse, and it's all Tenna's fault (...kinda. Our catastrophizing CRT doesn't know what's going on behind the scenes). So Tenna must tell himself Spamton abandoned him.
The mirror in the Z-Rank room is shattered. We know this was Tenna; Spamton dropped the phone and ran in a panic, so he wouldn't be stopping to smash some glass on his way out. The posters depicting two brightly smiling stars are untouched. If there's anyone Tenna truly hates in that moment, it's more likely to be the TV staring back at him.
As for Spamton...
90% of NEO fight dialogue is Spamton breaking down about his own issues by projecting onto Kris. The world has entirely abandoned Spamton. He lives in a dumpster, his name is clipped off of his own Big Shot Bowties that others continue to profit off of, his posters are pasted over, and most crucially, no one is going to help him.
If we take [credit card numbers] in the Valentine to refer to Tenna's phone number, it paints a pretty miserable picture. Spamton screams into the receiver for help from the partner who wanted them to be "big together", and the only response he gets is that the number he dialed is no longer in service. "GO AHEAD, [Kid]... CALL ALL YOU WANT! NO ONE WILL EVER PICK UP"
Little does he know...
I smell a tragic and confusing separation orchestrated by forces neither of them can control!
(Also of note, I take Spamton losing everything when he "tried to see too far" to mean the contract he signed with Tenna. It's the day his whole life came crashing down. Tenna says "I WAS GONNA PUT HIM ON TV! MAKE HIM A STAR!" If Spamton was on TV, he would cease to be "THE E_MAIL GUY", or there would be spam emails alarmingly popping up on the Dreemurrs' TV. It's a significant breach of the way the Dark World is supposed to work. A life with Tenna– beyond his intended purpose as a neglected, hated spam email– is a form of his coveted freedom. Or at least another step towards it.)
So Spamton calls and calls and calls for help with no answer. And when Tenna, at his absolute lowest, calls for Spamton's help...
There's Spamton, vibrating with excitement (not visible in png form lmao) and overjoyed that Tenna gave a damn about him after all. Not a "kill your TV" in sight.
This matches his behavior in the pacifist NEO fight; when he realizes you're trying to cut his strings (my assumption is that their existence is freaking him out so much that he's pretty out of it for most of that fight/meltdown), he stops fighting immediately and declares your [Friendship]. Spamton is made to be thrown away and forgotten; he is consistently very quick to latch on when someone shows him an ounce of care
If they reunite and start to rebuild a relationship, would it all be sunshine and rainbows? No. They hurt each other, intentionally or not. And Tenna sprays Spamton with foam and calls him an "overly small weird unidentifiable thing", which really does not help. But ultimately, these are two very lonely characters.
And faced with the truth that neither of them meant or wanted to leave the other in the lurch, I think their longing for (specially each other's) companionship would outweigh any desire to maintain the bluster of being each other's "biggest haters." From what little we truly know of the "good old days"...
It seems like their relationship would be something worth giving another go
TLDR: Do not fall for Spamton and Tenna's own self-soothing propaganda. It's artifice intended to conceal feelings that make them feel glooby/small, namely: grief.
(Also aprimachi I love YOUR art!! Your Sailor Moon reanimation lives rent free in my head <3)
forgot to leave a note for my doordasher to bring a blunt weapon to get past the catacomb skeletons so congrats to whichever necromancer is about to get my banh mi i guess
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