Playing Undertale Yellow and Undertale again after a while, I thought of a story where it's about Frisk helping Amalgamate Kanako reunite with Ceroba, but with my own take. It's not original, someone already did that, (VyletBunni's UNDERTALE: The Last Amalgamate) but since no one else is really doing this kind of thing in a way I would do it,, I was like, yeah sure why not? Turns out, I REALLY wanna see this through to the end.
Am making a comic where basically, Frisk helps Alphys by returning Kanako to her mom themselves, but ultimately, it will lead to a far more personal adventure than just another detour for the both of them.
Hello Evan I just wanted to say that I love The Eltingville club so so much! And I wanted to show you my fanart I made😎😎 it’s not the best but I tried.
Cool. Or, hot, as it may be because it's Bill with that lighter.
Now, lecture time. For lots of you out there.
It doesn't matter if drawings are the best or anything, honestly. No one should apologize for their art, it will become a bad habit (I say this from decades of experience and therapy, trust me on this one if nothing else). I read something recently that I wrote down, I should have written the source. But it was saying that you have permission to be messy. PERMISSION TO BE MESSY. Meaning, don't get hung up on perfection or anything like that. You're not drawing for a client or to gain entrance to art school or win a contest. Even then, sometimes you should permit yourself to be messy. To fuck around and find out what happens on the page when you attack it with a pencil or pen or marker or paint. Have fun and play with it. They say you have to draw thousands of bad drawings before you start getting good. And even then you have to keep working to improve.
My early work SUCKED. It was HORRIBLE. Messy as anything. I had no real formal training, only an anatomy class and a class in drawing for animation in college. I was accepted to NYU's art program not because I was great but because someone saw potential in me. And they offered me a scholarship based on my dopey monster drawings and messy, awkward still life art from high school (unfortunately, I was applying to the wrong school for animation, I applied to the film program and they took anyone who could pay. And no scholarship for me).
You never know how your art will be seen. You never know what style, what writing, or what characters you come up with will be accepted or rejected by others. I managed to get into comics while my drawing was spirited but estremely crude, because the black and white market exploded and any monkey who could hold a pencil got hired to fill pages. Go look up the black and white explosion and the black and white bust from the 80s. The art is almost all garbage, like mine was. But I held on and got better and lightning struck when I made a Milk and CHeese comic. WHich looked like dogshit, but made people laugh.
Which is a longwinded way of saying, draw for fun, draw for a hobby, copy the artists you like, as you get older if you get more serious about drawing expand your horizons, look at all sorts of art, work to improve your skills, check out different art supplies, look at tutorials online and check out instructional books and resources, draw from real life. But still have fun. And still be as messy as you want because you're learning. No one becomes amazing in a month. Or a year. I didn't get "good" until I was in my 30s, and I didn't get "better" until my 40s. Look at the first ELtingville comic and then compare it with the last two or three stories.
You (all) have permission to be messy in your artwork (and writing, and whatever). Just in case it's something you need to hear. I still need to remember it. And don't apologize for being young and drawing for fun and not being perfect. No one's perfect, even the artists who look perfect. Draw and have fun.
The Batter Is One of My Favorite Video Game Protagonists Ever
News of the upcoming remake recently got me back into OFF, and as I played through the game for the first time in years, I was struck anew by just how great a character the Batter is.
Not just for his role in the subversive meta-narrative, which was fairly new in video games at the time, but also for really being just a really nuanced and fascinating character.
Now, even knowing the twist and the way the game ends, it might be tempting to write off the Batter as a one-note character, like, "Oh, he's just an uncaring thug who wants to kill everyone," but no, I think that's a very shallow read. The Batter has a lot of depth if you take the time to really look.
So, because I've been chomping at the bit to gush about my favorite character, let's go down a list of some of the character traits that make the Batter great.
1. Doesn't Give a Fuck...or Does He?
Years ago, there was a post on Tumblr (that I won't even try to find now) that said of the Batter, "Man, this guy just does not give a fuck," featuring a bunch of screenshots of him saying things like this:
Don't get me wrong, his terseness and lack of reaction to some of the game's most outrageous or even harrowing moments is hilarious in a kind of black comedy way, but to imply that the Batter doesn't care about anything is inaccurate.
For one thing, he drops the blunt speaking style and becomes very eloquent and even passionate when confronting those he sees as "impure."
That the game acknowledges him to be a figure controlled by a player by no means necessitates that he's merely an automaton, passionlessly following orders. He's devoted himself to his mission with the zeal of a fanatic. He fervently believes that he is right and just and that anyone who opposes him must be cut down for the greater good.
Confronting what he perceives to be evil is the most surefire way to loosen his tongue and get him fired up, which brings me to my next point:
2. Has a Strong Moral Center...Too Strong
The Batter's main goal may be to wipe out every living thing in this world, including all of the Elsens, but that doesn't mean he's indifferent to the Elsens' suffering. Far from it. He's actually deeply offended by their mistreatment.
In Zone 1, the Batter decides that Dedan is hostile and must be destroyed before Dedan has even had the chance to interact with him, meaning that Dedan being hostile to the Elsen is what made the Batter decide he has to die.
He also conveys a sense of urgency during the timed mission in Zone 2, as though urged by the sight of the Elsens in immediate danger. I don't remember his exact dialogue if you run out of time during this part, but I recall him saying something like, "We're too late..." which (if I'm remembering the line correctly) would show that he's motivated not just by a bloodlust for the Specters but by the need to save the Elsens' lives.
However, what makes this morality disturbing instead of redeeming is its lack of two things: empathy and nuance. While the Batter is able to understand that people being killed or mistreated or abused is bad, he isn't capable of empathizing with the victims. The knowledge that the people he's fighting so hard to save in Zone 2 are going to end up being killed anyway once he purifies Japhet doesn't give him pause for an instant. The inherent dissonance in that is beyond his ability to comprehend. He's so self-righteous that he sees each of his actions as good, even if they result in the same outcome for a particular individual as something he's trying to prevent. In simpler terms: When a Specter kills someone, it's bad and evil. When the Batter kills someone (even if it's the same damn person), it is right and just.
The lack of nuance in the Batter's moral compass manifests as a very simple worldview: Everything that is evil must be destroyed. This philosophy is key to the game's satire of morality in video games, where evil deeds and creatures are swiftly and violently punished by the main character, usually with death. By sticking to this worldview, the Batter is ignoring the nuance of the setting he's actually in. The Elsens whose mistreatment he's so outraged by don't want him to kill their leaders, and they don't want to be killed by the Batter anymore than they want to be killed by the Specters. But the Batter is so set in his worldview that he isn't willing to adjust. If the Zones operate in a way that he deems to be evil, then they too are inherently evil and must be destroyed. This chain of logic is taken to its natural conclusion when the Batter annihilates the whole world because, yeah, that's really the only way to eliminate evil, isn't it?
It may be tempting at this point to say that the Batter doesn't care about anything except his mission and punishing evildoers, but even that is oversimplifying the character.
3. Surprisingly Human
Mortis Ghost has very clearly stated that the Batter is not human, and I believe him. (Why wouldn't I? It's his game.) That being said, some of the ways the Batter reacts to the things he encounters strike me as surprisingly human.
It isn't true that the Batter doesn't care about anything outside of the mission. There is quite a lot that he doesn't care about, but he's also capable of forming opinions that have nothing to do with the mission. If you look out one of the windows in Zone 0, the Batter will say, "I think it's a nice day out," which is a line that really surprised me when I first found out about it because it's the only time I can think of where the Batter makes a positive comment about something.
There's also the way he insists on sitting in the front seat of the rollercoaster and always puts his arms in the air while on the incline. He's not obeying you when he does these things; he refuses to get on the coaster if you try to make him sit anywhere but the front, and there's no button prompt or anything to make him put his arms in the air; he just does it.
I also love his reaction to the "Panic in Ballville!" comic in the Room.
Not only is he decidedly unimpressed with this comic, he also refuses to read it again if you try to make him. Whether he realizes the implications of his own resemblance to the villain in the comic is unclear, but his refusal to even look at it again means that he might. Regardless, moments like these show that the Batter is more than just a single-minded puppet. He does have opinions and won't hesitate to put his foot down if you try to make him do something he doesn't want to do.
He's even capable of being taken aback, as Enoch's dialogue about the Specters being the souls of the dead appears to give him pause.
That brief moment is the only one in the game where the Batter shows any sign of hesitancy or uncertainty in what he's doing. He was very convinced up until this point that the Guardians were controlling the Specters (despite Dedan accusing him of the same thing in Zone 1). Not only that, but he's never taken the time to think about what the Specters actually are. I kind of interpret this as a rare introspective moment from the Batter, where he begins to realize there might be aspects of this situation and what he's doing that he hasn't considered.
However, he quickly recovers from this moment of doubt and hardens his resolve to eliminate Enoch because of his...
4. Unshakeable Faith...But in What?
A lot of the language the Batter uses to describe himself and his mission contains a lot of religious overtones, with adjectives like "holy," "sacred," "righteous," etc. His perception of his himself matches with portrayals in the Old Testament of God as a punisher of evil and a smiter of the wicked.
I don't think I need to list all the references to Christianity throughout the entire game because that would take way, way too long. Needless to say, everyone has noticed the religious motif in this game, and when an Elsen in Zone 1 straight up asks the Batter if he's religious, he doesn't deny it.
However, I don't think it would be quite right to call the Batter a Christian. While he uses a lot of language that's reminiscent of Christianity, his dialogue doesn't contain any references to specifically Christian practices or beliefs, such as Jesus, the Bible, the saints, angels, baptism, the Resurrection, etc., etc. The Batter may have devoted himself to his mission with a religious zeal, but is the mission alone all he worships? The kind of faith he exhibits is usually that associated with a deity.
Identifying the "who" at the center of the Batter's worship is not easy. When the same Elsen from Zone 1 asks who sent him, the Batter straight up says, "Nobody." I've seen it suggested that the deity the Batter "worships" may actually be the player, but I don't think that's right either, since he's pretty quick to turn on you, without any sign of hesitation or angst, if you side with the Judge in the final boss fight.
But I have another theory. If we're still using Christianity as a reference, then the Batter would presumably be worshipping some sort of creator deity. Who is the Batter's creator?
When the Batter meets the Queen, she tells him to go back home. His response?
He outright refers to Hugo as his father. As you may recall, "Father," is one of the aspects of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost.) The Father is God the Creator, God the Progenitor, God the Origin of the World. This, I believe, is how the Batter sees Hugo.
Remember how the Queen attacks the Batter by saying, "You don't even know his first name"? Could that be because the Batter only knows Hugo as "Father" and not any other name?
This revelation becomes even more enlightening (and disturbing) when you take these lines into consideration:
What does the Batter see as the Queen's only important role? To care for Hugo. Why does the Batter feel compelled to complete his mission? Because of Hugo. Why did he come all this way? To see Hugo. Where is his home? With Hugo. Everything is for Hugo.
That the main goal of his mission is to kill Hugo fits the mold in a twisted way. After all, Christianity rather famously centers around a God who died. That death is believed to have saved the world.
Regardless of how exactly he came to that conclusion, the Batter truly believes that killing Hugo is what's best. Even his infanticide (patricide?) is driven by his twisted devotion to Hugo, his creator and his God.
All of this is why the Batter is my favorite character in this game and none of the others (as great and memorable as they are) can even come close. He's not just a brute in a baseball costume. Each time you peel back a layer of his motivations, you only see more layers underneath. He's an incredibly rewarding character to analyze, and I never get tired of talking about him. He's a fanatic, a devoted apostle, a self-righteous murderer.
OFF/Mortis Ghost tribute sketchbook drawings.
Did these to commemorate replaying the game after a very long time. Last time was probably when it got popular during the Homestuck gigapause.
Think of these as a drawthrough (drawing + playthrough) of the game. They are all in A5 with Nº2 graphite pencils and 0.5 and 0.05 archival ink pens, plus digital coloring through limited color palettes in Aseprite.
Just as with the Yume Nikki post, I'd love to know: What's your favorite?
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