What do you think about the possibility that Spamtenna is being portrayed more as an example of a doomed couple, perhaps to make some other aspect of the story feel more genuine or emotionally grounded, rather than as a relationship that is meant to end in a reunion?
I apologize if I'm misunderstanding something or missing an important detail here, but that thought suddenly popped into my head and now my curiosity refuses to let it go.
If that interpretation is completely off base, I'd genuinely love to hear why. And if you don't mind, I'd be fascinated to read the full chain of reasoning behind your analysis. I am, unfortunately, the kind of person who will happily consume twenty paragraphs of lore discussion without complaint.
Hi, thank you so much for the ask!!
I think it’s very unlikely that Spamton & Tenna won’t reunite on at least one route of the game, and I’ll go into why at length below, since you requested that. This is sort of a combination of several points I’ve talked about before, but I’m always happy to talk more about spamtenna! lol
The thing is, Spamton & Tenna already are being portrayed as a doomed relationship in the game…. on the Weird Route. That’s part of the purpose of the Weird Route — to show an alternate timeline of how this story can go if we do “weird,” fucked up things, putting the characters in bad situations they should never have been put in, and prioritizing power and LOVE (Level Of Violence) over compassion and actual love. This gets reflected in Spamton’s storyline; he sees us hurting people in order to get stronger, and this reinforces his worldview that had already come to be pretty twisted by the things he’s been through — it just proves to him that the only way not to get hurt in this world is by being bigger and more powerful, and hurting other people before they can hurt you. He seizes the chance to gain back the power that was taken from him (and even more), and he continues the cycle of abuse that he experienced with his benefactor by selling the Thorn Ring, which is then used by us to abuse Noelle in a similar fashion. Spamton thought “helping” us was going to keep him safe from the same fate as the others, but instead, his hubris backfires on him, and when he gets in our way, we use Noelle & the ring he sold us to kill him.
This also, of course, makes spamtenna inherently doomed on the Weird Route because Spamton’s death is a direct consequence of it… and the direct consequences of the Weird Route tend to be negative, obviously.
This is contrasted by the Normal/Pacifist Route, where we’re supposed to save Spamton and give him the chance to heal, by showing him kindness and mercy really do exist. Literally all he needed in order to choose to completely dedicate himself to helping the heroes do good was seeing that there are people who do want to help, who could actually care about him, even a little. And he’s so excited at even the possibility of that, that he immediately wants to be the Fun Gang’s friend and protector; even if he can’t be free, he wants to help these kids be free. Spamton still has a lot of care in his heart for those willing to find it, as well as the desire to be cared for. He just never thought that would be possible until the Fun Gang comes along.
So, the Weird Route represents hate, cycles of violence and abuse, being controlled by higher powers (Noelle by the player, Spamton by his benefactor — and the WR also represents oppressive queerphobia, funnily enough), and achieving power through violence, while the Normal/Pacifist Route represents love, freedom, autonomy, compassion, mercy, and healing instead. Spamtenna being inherently doomed on the Weird Route would then make the contrast of them finding each other and reconciling on the Normal Route make a lot of sense, right? Thematically, a spamtenna reunion would also represent defying the Prophecy, fate, & control by higher powers, as well as writing new endings — things the game very clearly wants us to strive for, as is basically outright stated, especially throughout chapter 4 — because Tenna was supposed to die according to the Prophecy, and the Benefactor, who is seemingly a pretty powerful entity, obviously wanted these two separated, as well.
We’re also clearly supposed to be picking up on all the clues that neither Spamton or Tenna ever wanted to be separated from each other, and that they still deeply care about & miss each other, even now, 10 years later. When you pay attention to how they actually feel about each other underneath their facade of “hate,” it’s very obvious. Before ch3 even came out, we got this Valentine from the Deltarune newsletter:
This clearly reads like Spamton is heartbroken after a breakup that he never wanted to happen. In the Japanese version of this Valentine, Spamton says “What’s going to happen to the things we built together?” and as @maybe-a-gatto-or-a-catto noted in this post, “The Japanese word for "build" here is kizuku. It’s a word that can refer to building concepts like building a relationship or a family. Putting it in context it would likely refer to their relationship and the things surrounding it like the "set" and pipis.”
This was a clue about the reason Spamton is actually angry at Tenna — not because Tenna “made” him sign the contract (because it’s implied Spamton did actually want to do that & he wasn’t really forced into it), but because he falsely believes Tenna changed his number and abandoned him and everything they’d built together when Spamton needed him most, after he lost everything and was transformed into a puppet. This is further implied with the Weird Route SNEO dialogue about calling people for help, but no one ever picking up.
Spamton also immediately comes out of the inventory when he sees Tenna kept his pipis and says he wishes Spamton could be there for him, and Spamton is literally shaking with excitement that Tenna really does care about him.
However, this is unfortunately extremely bad timing for Tenna to be faced with one of his very worst fears being confirmed: that something terrible really did happen to Spamton because he signed Tenna’s contract. Tenna had just said he was at his limit, and that confirmation pushed him over into a full-on panic, and he reacted in an unfortunate way. This overwhelmed & panicked response does not mean Tenna actually meant the things he said, and in fact, the very next day, he breaks down and admits how guilty he feels about ignoring Mike’s warning, admits that he cares about Spamton, that he wanted to help him & to be big together, that nothing has even felt real since Spamton left, and that he could never forget him (this scene is quite likely after Tenna recognizes Spamton in the pipis scene, and Spamton is most likely hearing all this from the inventory).
This is not someone who is ready to or even wants to move on at all. It’s clear that neither of them actually want that!
And it’s not even just in-game content pointing towards the fact that this story will lead to a reunion, but a lot of bonus material as well. If you look at everything from the Spamton Sweepstakes as well as the game itself, Toby has put an incredible amount of effort into this relationship for years now — again, way more effort than an ultimately doomed ship would ever need.
We also have merch, and the way merch is represented is actually very important to Toby — he has said he wants all his merch to “improve the game.” Why, then, have the Tenna plush designed to specifically have matching proportions with Spamton when none of the other plushes do? Why approve of and draw attention to them being sold as a pair and pictured in cuddly poses together? Why bring Spamton up in the ad for the Tenna figurine (that Toby likely voice acted), and imply yet again that Tenna still misses Spamton under his denial?
Why approve of Fangamer using Spamtenna at all for marketing if this is truly a doomed relationship? Toby doesn’t make merch solely for money, otherwise he would actually be making that highly demanded merch of Lightner characters. Again, he’s adamant that all merch should “improve the game,” meaning Spamton and Tenna being a pair/couple improves Deltarune to Toby. I think Toby also absolutely knows how cruel it would be to use spamtenna to make money without planning on them ever actually being together in-game; as someone deeply involved in fandom culture, he is very much aware of what queerbaiting is, and would not do that to his audience. That alone convinces me of a reunion, personally, if I’m honest.
I also am still certain that this dialogue added to the 10th anniversary version of Undertale — which is clearly supposed to make us think of spamtenna with the term “business partners” (Spamton & Tenna are the only ones in Undertale or Deltarune) — is a nod towards how they truly feel about each other, as well. There would be no reason to even reference “business partners” in such weighty dialogue if not to imply something about those two. Humans and Monsters who loved each other were separated from each other by outside influences who didn’t think they should be together, and this is a parallel to spamtenna being forcefully separated from each other by the Benefactor. They didn’t want to be separated, and they wouldn’t be “enemies” if they hadn’t been manipulated into it.
There’s no reason for spamtenna to be doomed in order to “ground” Deltarune, especially because they’re already doomed on the Weird Route. Everything, including the game’s themes, lines up with a reunion and reconciliation happening at some point.
Toby Fox is choosing to repeatedly emphasize how much Spamton & Tenna still care about each other, extending this storyline way beyond what it needed to be for a simple past doomed relationship. It would not be good writing to create more scenes to continue to give us hope for them to get back together, only to say, “Actually, you shouldn’t have hope, they’re doomed,” when there is absolutely no reason that they need to be when they’re both alive and clearly miss each other. Deltarune is literally about hope and writing new endings, after all.
@maybe-a-gatto-or-a-catto very good points!! Yeah, even on the Normal Route, it’s possible for them to not reunite — it’s likely you have to go a bit out of your way to help them do that. So there are options here… you have to decide to help these two get their happy ending, and most players probably won’t do so their first playthrough, even just because they don’t realize that’s a possibility.
What do you think about the possibility that Spamtenna is being portrayed more as an example of a doomed couple, perhaps to make some other aspect of the story feel more genuine or emotionally grounded, rather than as a relationship that is meant to end in a reunion?
I apologize if I'm misunderstanding something or missing an important detail here, but that thought suddenly popped into my head and now my curiosity refuses to let it go.
If that interpretation is completely off base, I'd genuinely love to hear why. And if you don't mind, I'd be fascinated to read the full chain of reasoning behind your analysis. I am, unfortunately, the kind of person who will happily consume twenty paragraphs of lore discussion without complaint.
Hi, thank you so much for the ask!!
I think it’s very unlikely that Spamton & Tenna won’t reunite on at least one route of the game, and I’ll go into why at length below, since you requested that. This is sort of a combination of several points I’ve talked about before, but I’m always happy to talk more about spamtenna! lol
The thing is, Spamton & Tenna already are being portrayed as a doomed relationship in the game…. on the Weird Route. That’s part of the purpose of the Weird Route — to show an alternate timeline of how this story can go if we do “weird,” fucked up things, putting the characters in bad situations they should never have been put in, and prioritizing power and LOVE (Level Of Violence) over compassion and actual love. This gets reflected in Spamton’s storyline; he sees us hurting people in order to get stronger, and this reinforces his worldview that had already come to be pretty twisted by the things he’s been through — it just proves to him that the only way not to get hurt in this world is by being bigger and more powerful, and hurting other people before they can hurt you. He seizes the chance to gain back the power that was taken from him (and even more), and he continues the cycle of abuse that he experienced with his benefactor by selling the Thorn Ring, which is then used by us to abuse Noelle in a similar fashion. Spamton thought “helping” us was going to keep him safe from the same fate as the others, but instead, his hubris backfires on him, and when he gets in our way, we use Noelle & the ring he sold us to kill him.
This also, of course, makes spamtenna inherently doomed on the Weird Route because Spamton’s death is a direct consequence of it… and the direct consequences of the Weird Route tend to be negative, obviously.
This is contrasted by the Normal/Pacifist Route, where we’re supposed to save Spamton and give him the chance to heal, by showing him kindness and mercy really do exist. Literally all he needed in order to choose to completely dedicate himself to helping the heroes do good was seeing that there are people who do want to help, who could actually care about him, even a little. And he’s so excited at even the possibility of that, that he immediately wants to be the Fun Gang’s friend and protector; even if he can’t be free, he wants to help these kids be free. Spamton still has a lot of care in his heart for those willing to find it, as well as the desire to be cared for. He just never thought that would be possible until the Fun Gang comes along.
So, the Weird Route represents hate, cycles of violence and abuse, being controlled by higher powers (Noelle by the player, Spamton by his benefactor — and the WR also represents oppressive queerphobia, funnily enough), and achieving power through violence, while the Normal/Pacifist Route represents love, freedom, autonomy, compassion, mercy, and healing instead. Spamtenna being inherently doomed on the Weird Route would then make the contrast of them finding each other and reconciling on the Normal Route make a lot of sense, right? Thematically, a spamtenna reunion would also represent defying the Prophecy, fate, & control by higher powers, as well as writing new endings — things the game very clearly wants us to strive for, as is basically outright stated, especially throughout chapter 4 — because Tenna was supposed to die according to the Prophecy, and the Benefactor, who is seemingly a pretty powerful entity, obviously wanted these two separated, as well.
We’re also clearly supposed to be picking up on all the clues that neither Spamton or Tenna ever wanted to be separated from each other, and that they still deeply care about & miss each other, even now, 10 years later. When you pay attention to how they actually feel about each other underneath their facade of “hate,” it’s very obvious. Before ch3 even came out, we got this Valentine from the Deltarune newsletter:
This clearly reads like Spamton is heartbroken after a breakup that he never wanted to happen. In the Japanese version of this Valentine, Spamton says “What’s going to happen to the things we built together?” and as @maybe-a-gatto-or-a-catto noted in this post, “The Japanese word for "build" here is kizuku. It’s a word that can refer to building concepts like building a relationship or a family. Putting it in context it would likely refer to their relationship and the things surrounding it like the "set" and pipis.”
This was a clue about the reason Spamton is actually angry at Tenna — not because Tenna “made” him sign the contract (because it’s implied Spamton did actually want to do that & he wasn’t really forced into it), but because he falsely believes Tenna changed his number and abandoned him and everything they’d built together when Spamton needed him most, after he lost everything and was transformed into a puppet. This is further implied with the Weird Route SNEO dialogue about calling people for help, but no one ever picking up.
Spamton also immediately comes out of the inventory when he sees Tenna kept his pipis and says he wishes Spamton could be there for him, and Spamton is literally shaking with excitement that Tenna really does care about him.
However, this is unfortunately extremely bad timing for Tenna to be faced with one of his very worst fears being confirmed: that something terrible really did happen to Spamton because he signed Tenna’s contract. Tenna had just said he was at his limit, and that confirmation pushed him over into a full-on panic, and he reacted in an unfortunate way. This overwhelmed & panicked response does not mean Tenna actually meant the things he said, and in fact, the very next day, he breaks down and admits how guilty he feels about ignoring Mike’s warning, admits that he cares about Spamton, that he wanted to help him & to be big together, that nothing has even felt real since Spamton left, and that he could never forget him (this scene is quite likely after Tenna recognizes Spamton in the pipis scene, and Spamton is most likely hearing all this from the inventory).
This is not someone who is ready to or even wants to move on at all. It’s clear that neither of them actually want that!
And it’s not even just in-game content pointing towards the fact that this story will lead to a reunion, but a lot of bonus material as well. If you look at everything from the Spamton Sweepstakes as well as the game itself, Toby has put an incredible amount of effort into this relationship for years now — again, way more effort than an ultimately doomed ship would ever need.
We also have merch, and the way merch is represented is actually very important to Toby — he has said he wants all his merch to “improve the game.” Why, then, have the Tenna plush designed to specifically have matching proportions with Spamton when none of the other plushes do? Why approve of and draw attention to them being sold as a pair and pictured in cuddly poses together? Why bring Spamton up in the ad for the Tenna figurine (that Toby likely voice acted), and imply yet again that Tenna still misses Spamton under his denial?
Why approve of Fangamer using Spamtenna at all for marketing if this is truly a doomed relationship? Toby doesn’t make merch solely for money, otherwise he would actually be making that highly demanded merch of Lightner characters. Again, he’s adamant that all merch should “improve the game,” meaning Spamton and Tenna being a pair/couple improves Deltarune to Toby. I think Toby also absolutely knows how cruel it would be to use spamtenna to make money without planning on them ever actually being together in-game; as someone deeply involved in fandom culture, he is very much aware of what queerbaiting is, and would not do that to his audience. That alone convinces me of a reunion, personally, if I’m honest.
I also am still certain that this dialogue added to the 10th anniversary version of Undertale — which is clearly supposed to make us think of spamtenna with the term “business partners” (Spamton & Tenna are the only ones in Undertale or Deltarune) — is a nod towards how they truly feel about each other, as well. There would be no reason to even reference “business partners” in such weighty dialogue if not to imply something about those two. Humans and Monsters who loved each other were separated from each other by outside influences who didn’t think they should be together, and this is a parallel to spamtenna being forcefully separated from each other by the Benefactor. They didn’t want to be separated, and they wouldn’t be “enemies” if they hadn’t been manipulated into it.
There’s no reason for spamtenna to be doomed in order to “ground” Deltarune, especially because they’re already doomed on the Weird Route. Everything, including the game’s themes, lines up with a reunion and reconciliation happening at some point.
Toby Fox is choosing to repeatedly emphasize how much Spamton & Tenna still care about each other, extending this storyline way beyond what it needed to be for a simple past doomed relationship. It would not be good writing to create more scenes to continue to give us hope for them to get back together, only to say, “Actually, you shouldn’t have hope, they’re doomed,” when there is absolutely no reason that they need to be when they’re both alive and clearly miss each other. Deltarune is literally about hope and writing new endings, after all.
@maybe-a-gatto-or-a-catto very good points!! Yeah, even on the Normal Route, it’s possible for them to not reunite — it’s likely you have to go a bit out of your way to help them do that. So there are options here… you have to decide to help these two get their happy ending, and most players probably won’t do so their first playthrough, even just because they don’t realize that’s a possibility.
I wanted to make a post where I compile all the things that I believe point to them being autistic. I'm making one post for both of them, since they are quite alike as people, and it would make sense that if one of them is autistic, the other is likely autistic as well, and it would be part of why they connected with each other.
A major trait of autism is difficulty communicating and socializing with others in ways that are expected by society, such as struggling with the usual back-and-forth model of conversation, failing to pick up on social cues, not sharing emotions/feelings (like not telling anyone if they're having a bad day), etc. Another trait of autism, directly related to this, is difficulty developing and maintaining relationships (of all kinds), especially in adulthood.
Both Spamton and Tenna are very lonely and clearly have difficulty connecting with others.
Spamton's loneliness is more immediately obvious; in Chapter 2, he was homeless and living in a dumpster, completely left behind by society, and from his very introduction, he was complaining about how his friends have abandoned him. When you listen to how most of those supposed lost "friends" talk about him, it becomes even sadder.
The Addisons say that he used to "shoot his mouth" about making it big one day, a negative framing that implies they found him annoying. When he became successful, they stopped spending time with him out of jealousy; they don't mention any actual wrongdoing on his part and just gesture towards him supposedly not "needing" them anymore (true on a material level, false on an emotional level). There's also the line "why did he deserve this?", the emphasis on "he" highlighting how they saw him as lesser than them. When asked about him while at work, they'll pretend not to know him or say they "don't talk about that around here". Then there's Swatch, who Spamton was attached to and considered a friend, but who only saw him as a customer. Part of why Spamton got attached to him was definitely a failure to read the room/pick up on social cues, along with him having low standards for what counted as a "friendship" because of the Addisons. Someone simply listening to him talk, even sometimes, was enough for him to hold them in high regard (additionally seen in him speaking fondly of Noelle and gifting her a pipis for reading his emails).
Spamton is a classic example of an autistic person who thought he had friends earlier in his life, but then slowly came to realize that all of those "friends" only tolerated him at best, or even actively disliked him, and that they only kept him around out of pity or because he was useful in some way, like paying them money or being like some sort of amusing pet to them (rather than a respected peer).
The only person Spamton has truly connected with was Tenna, with the two forming a strong mutual bond. And it says a lot about Tenna that his closest relationship (and one of maybe two meaningful ones he has in total) is with the embodiment of spam mail - something unwanted, unloved and seen as annoying - especially considering how alike they are as people.
On a surface level, Tenna seems to be better off than Spamton. He's the boss of his own Dark World, and he's surrounded by people; he even has some kind of therapists in the impostor Mikes. And yet, if you pay attention, you'll notice how alone he really is.
He doesn't have close relationships with any of his employees; they are just employees, and by the end of Chapter 3, most of them have left. He calls Lanino and Elnina "old friends" when begging them not to leave, and considering their presence in his Castle Town room, there's probably some truth to them, as his second-in-command, being closer to him than his other employees are, but it's unclear whether they actually consider him a friend. I'm inclined to believe they don't view their relationship as closely as he does (assuming he isn't just calling them friends as a way to be overly affectionate in an attempt to appease them; something I'll talk about later). The impostor Mikes are a hollow replacement for his real friendship with Mike; he does seem to like (or at least prefer) Cat Mike/Pluey, but is upset to see Small Mike and demands Pluey instead; his feelings towards Cowboy Mike are unclear as of now.
The way the impostor Mikes, or at least Battat, treat him isn't great either. Battat consistently infantilizes Tenna (something that commonly happens to autistic people), such as tucking him into bed and singing him bedtime songs, and wondering if Mike is an "imaginary friend" (the kind of thing a small child generally has); Small Mike talks like some kind of overbearing nanny. The entire dynamic the trio has with Tenna is itself infantilizing, since they genuinely think he believes them to be the real Mike. It's akin to a guy dressing up as Santa to make little kids happy; what makes the kids happy is that they believe it's real. This infantilization is likely a big part of why Tenna prefers Pluey, who behaves like a cat, and because of this probably doesn't infantilize Tenna - not to his face, at least.
While Tenna's bad behavior towards his employees, yelling at them and being highly demanding, contributes to his lack of closeness with them, it doesn't fully explain it, and is also certainly exacerbated by his preexisting lack of closeness with any of them. He lacks any real emotional support, meaning he has to suffer through all his struggles alone, which results in his more toxic behaviors. Trauma in general can lead to difficulties with emotional regulation, and his specific trauma surrounding abandonment and the loss of loves ones, leads to him being more controlling - and even then, that control comes entirely through the contracts everyone signed willingly, and once they quit, he doesn't actually do anything to stop them; he just begs them to stay.
Worth noting that they leave individually or in small groups, rather than all uniting together to stand up to him, because they recognize that he's not actually a threat and it's not necessary. After they quit, they have fun sneaking around with the Fun Gang, dancing in the Cooking Show Room, the Pippinses literally steal from Tenna in front of his face, the Shadowguys are doing their own concert, etc. It's all very out in the open. If Spamton isn't present during the pipis cutscene, they will also show up to shame Tenna for his consumption of pipis. While he will try to defend himself, their opinion clearly affects him, and he leaves his own child behind and runs away, allowing her to be abandoned or destroyed.
They don't respect him at all, and likely never have, and this is an interesting contrast between him and the other two leaders, King and Queen, who are taken seriously and respected by their people, either through reverence or through fear. Tenna doesn't inspire the same feelings in those around him; he's openly insulted and shamed by his equals (like King) and even those who are lower than him in the Dark World hierarchy. He's at the top of his world, and yet still ostracized.
In the Chapter 5 cutscene, Tenna says that ever since Spamton left, everything feels like playing pretend. While he is, in part, referring to the literal game of pretend he has with the impostor Mikes, because the real Mike no longer talks to him, he also likely feels like he can't be truly authentic with anyone other than Spamton, the only person that ever understood him.
Features of autistic communication may include directness/bluntness, repetition, and being hyperverbal (in simpler words, talkative); there's also the earlier mentioned example of not sharing or communicating one's emotions/feelings, like not telling anyone if they're having a bad day.
Both Spamton and Tenna are very talkative, as are the objects they embody; both spam emails and TVs talk a lot. Repetition is also a trait present in both; the term "spam" itself describes unwanted repeated messages, and TVs may broadcast reruns of various shows.
In the Dark World, the trait of being talkative is particularly noticeable in Spamton, since we have other Addisons to compare him to and see that he talks far more than them; part of it is certainly due to being more narratively important, but that doesn't entirely account for the difference. It's also implied that the Addisons found him annoying, with them saying he would "shoot his mouth" about making it big one day; a negative framing. Them saying he was doing this "every night" also highlights repetition. He talked a lot about the same subject repeatedly.
With Tenna, there's an interesting bit of dialogue that happens before his final battle:
When searching for what he might've done to upset the party, his immediate assumption is that he was talking too much. This likely didn't come out of nowhere; he was probably judged by others for his talkative nature in the past.
Throughout the gaming section, while the party is playing The Legend of Tenna, he keeps saying stuff, even when it's not necessary to explain what the party is supposed to be doing, and when none of them were trying to talk to him; he also gets ignored by them a number of those times, such as when he directly asks if anyone else thought the Tropic of Love was cool, and none of them respond. There's also him asking the party to say "I love TV" 99 times, and then doing it himself once the time was up; so he at least likes repetition.
Now, directness/bluntness. Spamton is generally pretty honest and direct. In his introductory monologue, he infodumps about his past, and he expresses a desire to see Kris's SOUL, immediately revealing what he wants; he explicitly states it again after becoming NEO. If defeated by fighting in his miniboss battle, he will explicitly admit that he's trying to rip people off. He mentions being physically in pain several times without being asked, and he complains a lot about how other Darkners have abandoned him; he's fairly open about his feelings.
Tenna doesn't communicate how he feels as openly as Spamton does; along with his final monologue in Chapter 3, the other major instance of him communicating deeper emotions and thoughts is in the Chapter 5 cutscene. He especially doesn't communicate to Lightners about his relationships with other Darkners; he largely avoids the subject when aware that they can hear him and only talks about his purpose as a TV, expressing only a desire to be watched (to survive by being useful), but making no mention of how lonely he is in the Dark World and how much he misses the one person he deeply connected with. In the rare times he acknowledges his desires beyond his purpose, like a wish to travel, he hides it behind comedy so that Lightners don't take it too seriously. Most of the time, he doesn't tell anyone how he's feeling, in part likely because he doesn't expect any support with his struggles, but it may also have always been an autistic trait of his. In the rare times he does communicate, he is fairly direct.
An example of both Spamton and Tenna being blunt is seen whenever they want to insult someone; there is no subtlety, they will explicitly call people mean names. Examples include Spamton calling the Addisons "sloppy sams" and calling Tenna a "criminal" and a "Boob tube" (idiot box), Tenna calling Spamton a "little freak", and this interesting contrast between Tenna and Queen:
Both of them are calling Rouxls stupid, but Queen does it in a more subtle way (enough that I, as someone who is probably autistic, didn't immediately pick up on it). "Bright" can be a synonym for "smart", so she's calling Rouxls stupid by saying that his brightness level seems low. Tenna, on the other hand, just bluntly calls the lamp "stupid", and also phrases it awkwardly. Their insults towards Rouxls are a very useful comparison between them, since both of them are upper class (and specifically rulers of their respective Dark Worlds) and are insulting the same person, meaning the difference can't be attributed to the relative social status of the characters. Tenna just communicates very directly; perhaps it doesn't even occur to him to be more subtle.
Queen will either lie to be nice (as she did with Berdly, calling him "smart" despite not believing that) or will be mean to people in more subtle ways, as she does here with Rouxls, or how she was basically ragebaiting King in their Chapter 2 cutscene; she never name-called. [EDIT: Also, it's worth noting that she knows King well, and they clearly indicate some level of mutual affection, so she's being playfully mean in that scene]. Meanwhile, when Tenna doesn't like someone, he will express that bluntly, even when they can hear him or he's speaking to them directly. Even his insult towards the Spamcannon's shortened nose is very direct, he just calls it "small and disgusting" rather than making some sort of more subtle joke.
Some examples of Tenna perhaps not being very good at reading the room include: his first appearance in Chapter 3, interrupting an emotional moment between Susie and Ralsei and turning it into a part of the show; him interjecting when the Weather Duo is arguing, and them being clearly annoyed and telling him to shut up (which he does); and him using diminutive nicknames on people he doesn't know very well. Importantly, he was not trying to antagonize the other characters in any of these situations.
We have examples of the diminutive nicknames with Toriel and King, which is notable, since Toriel is a Lightner (someone inherently above any Darkner in the hierarchy) and King is Tenna's equal as the ruler of another Dark World.
Although Tenna is the embodiment of the Dreemurrs' TV, having been with them for many years and knowing a lot about them, his attachment to them is one-sided and, from Toriel's perspective, he would be a stranger; he also definitely wants her to like him so that she doesn't throw out the TV. But it doesn't seem to occur to him that maybe he shouldn't be calling her "Tori", at least not yet, and stick to the more formal/neutral "Toriel".
Now, with King, Tenna is genuinely trying to entertain him. And this is how he introduces himself:
Aside from his awkwardness, he also uses a diminutive nickname, "Kingy-doodle". It doesn't seem to occur to him that this might annoy King and undermine his own chance of success at entertaining him. King gets annoyed with him and yells at him to leave, and as Tenna does so, he trips and falls, which King and Lancer laugh at. He's initially (rightfully) upset about this, until King says "I like this one". After a lifetime of being ostracized and judged, Tenna doesn't have enough confidence or dignity to stand up for himself, and he clings to any crumb of positive attention (even if it comes at his expense), so he accepts this as a positive.
Tenna actually seems to believe that being overly affectionate will appease others; at least, that's what he naturally jumps to whenever he's in a difficult social situation, like when Susie overheard him scheming and he tried to deflect from it (as I mentioned earlier, I also wonder if him calling the Weather Duo "old friends" is an example of that as well, rather than indicating an actual friendship). He also generally becomes awkward in unexpected social interactions, like Kris coming to talk to him between the Rounds, the aforementioned case of Susie catching him scheming, or when everything goes wrong during Round 3 and he starts saying things like "that was so normal!". He's a good performer only if he has a script. Without one, especially in a stressful situation, he quickly falls apart, and his difficulties with socialization become more apparent.
Another trait of autism is the desire for routine and predictability, and becoming distressed when a plan or routine was disrupted by outside factors. Such a desire for adherence to routine, and for things to be done the "right" way, can make an autistic person seem controlling, even though their intention isn't controlling the lives of others, but rather their own.
I'd argue this is part of why Tenna behaves the way he does as a boss; he gets annoyed even at minor deviations from his plans, such as the Pippinses doing something they weren't "supposed" to do in The Legend of Tenna, even though it didn't have a significant impact on the game. Ramb's criticism of how Tenna modified the game is interesting as well, with him saying Tenna "made the whole adventure some big ol' blasted line from A to B" and that this is boring; Tenna not only took out a lot of the violence, but he added more structure to the game, more predictability. I think the desire for routine/sameness and difficulty handling changes, especially big ones, is also part of why Tenna has such difficulty accepting that the Dreemurr family fell apart; even if they had continued to watch TV and he wasn't at risk of being thrown away, he had a pretty fixed idea of how the family is "supposed" to be and he was used to it, so it was difficult for him to accept that it has changed.
We have examples of Spamton liking predictability as well, or at least disliking risk and uncertainty. His changing room is the Z-Rank, something one can only get by performing poorly on purpose. He'd rather have the certainty of his performance being the worst than the uncertainty of whether he would achieve his desired result if he tried to aim higher, or the risk of being made fun of for an earnest attempt to perform well; performing poorly on purpose guarantees that he has control of the situation. He likes to plan things out, and when it doesn't go the way he expected, he struggles to handle it and stay composed, such as him getting upset if Kris's inventory is full after the SNEO battle and he's unable to immediately add himself to it; this shows both his strong attachments to people (and sensitivity to rejection) and his dislike for his plans getting disrupted by unforeseen outside factors.
An example of both Spamton and Tenna desiring predictability is what they envisioned as their ideal future: a stable home, a stable job, and a conventional family setup, with them in a lifelong partnership having and raising a child together. When granted autonomy, they pursue stability and commitment; this is their idea of happiness. They can travel when they want to, as both of them express an appreciation for driving around and feeling the breeze, and Tenna expresses a desire to go on a tropical vacation, but they want to do that on their own terms, rather than being forcefully moved around by outside forces, the way Darkners generally are as objects.
Because of Deltarune's visual style, with the characters getting a limited amount of sprites, certain other features of autism, such as eye contact or lack thereof, or smaller motor movements that may be examples of stimming, won't be visible to us unless they or another character points it out. I think Tenna's standing and dancing sprite, used in places like his Castle Town room, could be interpreted as a stim. I'll also mention the theory/headcanon that the reason his tie is not tucked into his suit is so that he can stim with it. [EDIT: Adding that Spamton is quite physically expressive as well and does a lot of little movements.]
That's the stuff I can think of off the top of my head; if you have more stuff that I missed, feel free to add on!
“I want to write a fic about this but I don’t think anybody will be interested in it” ummm hello excuse me ma’am what do you mean you don’t think anybody will be interested in it??? YOU. YOU ARE INTERESTED IN IT???? write it because YOU are interested in it and YOU want to write about it. fanfic writing should always be first and foremost about YOUR enjoyment, not other people’s.
Actually you mention weather duo/spamtenna parallels and they are so obvious once you notice them and there's an abundance of them ... Awesome...
One random one is that both duos are intentionally similar lolll I thought about how similar Elnina and Lanino are while replaying chapter 3
Ooh, now I’m curious what other ones you’ve noticed!! I mean, clearly there’s this — I could absolutely see Spamton saying this, and it’s obviously a reference to him (also, who’s “everyone,” Lanino?):
The Weather Duo’s biggest like is each other, and their biggest dislike is being alone, which seems pretty accurate for Spamton & Tenna too:
There’s also the fact that Elnina & Lanino are literally the only other characters to refer to each other as “partners” how Tenna does with Spamton (outside of the school project partners), and this is intended in a romantic and professional sense:
(more under the cut)
Of course, Tenna tries to convince them to stick together after what happened with the Dreemurrs and Spamton… (and also for the show’s sake, obviously.) He even tries to say that every couple fights sometimes, and tells Kris to back him up.
The Weather Duo’s dynamic is also somewhat similar to how I imagine Spamton & Tenna’s could’ve been, seeing as they’re hotheaded, impulsive characters who deeply admire & love each other, but also can easily get jealous of one another, especially for receiving more attention. They say things without thinking, then get guilty for making their partner feel insecure, something I can imagine Spamton or Tenna doing.
But then they try to convince themselves they don’t need each other when the other leaves…
If Lanino is supposed to be more of a Spamton parallel (with the whole pompadour + long nose thing), I find it interesting that he sees himself as being “behind” Elnina, as Spamton is a lower level of Darkner, and that Elnina says “REAL weather fans! SUN isn’t even a weather!” seeing as Spamton wasn’t even really intended to be successful OR be on TV. (It may be a reach, I’m just pointing out all the possible parallels I see)
However, they both very quickly realize that being apart is not something they want. They feel empty without each other, and blame themselves for their separation, like Tenna currently does.
They're constantly reminded of each other and miss each other while apart, which is also certainly true for spamtenna, if how often they bring each other up even after 10 years is any indication (it is)…
Yet, they try to stay in denial and tell themselves they don’t need anyone.
And of course, they eventually realize what they really want is each other, and it was a misunderstanding keeping them from being happy.
I think it’s another interesting possible parallel that they say they only need someone they can “share the sky with,” considering the posters in the Z-Rank Room that call Spamton & Tenna “two stars.” There are so many possible parallels that I think at least some of these had to be intentional, and were meant to give us a little more insight into spamtenna’s past relationship.
I’d also be willing to bet that the Zapper & Pippins in the room below the Green Room, who became friends even though they weren’t “supposed” to, are another parallel to Tenna & Spamton, respectively (which I may also talk about at some point, although that would probably be briefer)…
So, adding to this, do you guys remember how Lanino and Elnina finally got back together?
Yeah, that flamboyant chaotic lamp
I wonder who would play that role if there is going to be a spamtenna reconcile, would it be a lightener? a darkner? that lamp? us? toby?
I brushed over the parallels between Lanino/Elnina and spamtenna because I didn't think there are much to build a reunion theory upon, but this has me going back to that because it's much more compelling than I initially thought
Are there any mutuals or followers who are bpd?
I'm looking for a sensitivity reader for a fanfic that has two bpd-coded characters, one quiet (blue addison) and the other loud (Tenna).
While some aspects are canon to Deltarune, other aspects are additional head canon. Because of this, Tenna's role will stick to and build upon the canon elements in his relation to Spamton. Should also note that Spamton's the primary pov character, so this is largely being written from his perceptions and perspective. This does not reflect my opinions of Tenna as a character (who I love). This is why it's important to find a sensitivity reader. I want Tenna to be a character and not a medical trope.
Credit for whatever chapter(s) you assist with will be given in the notes section!
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