the design of the angel dolls in rudy's hospital room and the holiday manor sticks out, doesn't it? they're pretty clearly based on real-life DIY angel ornaments, like these:
but... they don't have angel wings. rudy mentions that kris and asriel "wasted the whole time making huge wings for [theirs]", but the one made by noelle and dess in rudy's room and the one in the holiday manor basement both lack wings.
notably, this is in contrast to the angel trophy in noelle's room (presumably from when she was the angel in the holiday pageant) and the delta rune itself, which do have wings.
the lack of wings makes the holiday family's angel dolls makes them pretty reminiscent of something else, though:
a teru teru bōzu! if you've never heard of these before, the wikipedia article's a good start, but the important part for now is: they're little charms made from paper or cloth that you hang up in hopes it'll bring sunny weather. while they're commonly seen with drawn-on faces nowadays, traditionally, you're supposed to leave them faceless to make sure they work - just like the holidays' angel dolls.
interestingly, carol seems to have some issues with rain, to the point that noelle mentions in one of her blog posts that she went as far as cancelling school so that her daughter wouldn't have to go outside in heavy rain. if the doll's resemblance to teru teru bōzu is intentional, i'd imagine it's got something to do with why carol is so wary of rain.
something important to note, though, is that if you use one of these little fellas as an anti-rain charm, it should always be with its head pointing up!
because an upside-down teru teru bōzu doesn't ward away rain...
that's it thats all my duels masters unless I successfully tap back into the art well again. I think Yuu should be a little bit psychic normalstyle as a treat just like for her troubles. for her infinite fucking troubles. and to help her cross the ocean in a barrel
young child I respect your personal ethos around committing cardgame murder but I'm about to mind crush this argyric looking son of a bitch into oblivion
“And if you’ll give me 40% of the MOST POPULAR VOTE, I’ll give you my SPECIAL REWARD... A year’s supply of NON-GLOOBY SLIME!!! Never or BARELY used!!!” Tenna concluded his speech with a huge smile, jetting his hands up in double peace signs.
The crowd roared in confused enthusiasm as Tenna gave a gracious flurry of low-FPS bows, pausing only for the occasional stink-nose at his audience plants who weren’t throwing enough 3D roses.
Eventually, the room fell silent. It was Senshi’s turn to speak.
He puffed out his chest, took a long, sweeping look over the audience… and shook his head.
“I can see not all of you are eating properly.”
The crowd murmured with embarrassment.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s time to take the turkey out of your icebox. I have seen the ingenious technology with which your people store food... and I have also seen the waste which results from such convenience.
“The food you take had a life. Beasts grew fat on the grass of the field, plants grew from the sun’s rays, and mushrooms grew from minerals in the cracks of caves. And yet, it sits in your iceboxes, collecting moisture until it perishes.
“Eat what is given to you. Because its life will make you stronger, too.”
Without another word, Senshi left his podium and stepped away from the stage. The crowd murmured in confusion. “Is he really like that?” somebody said. “I only remember reblogging the photosets of him tripping and showing ass.”
--
Back in the Green Room, Tenna wrung his antennas nervously.
“Y-y-you think they liked me!? They HAD to!! I mean, I don’t know what Asgore was thinking, getting that weird haircut and running that food waste campaign, but… YOU thought I did good, didn’t you, Kris?”
Laios nodded aggressively, a streak of blue face paint peeling from his forehead.
“You did AMAZING, Tenna! By the way, now that we’ve seen all your insider campaign secrets, do you have any more videos of Susie? Especially her tail... If I could get a look at that, I could finally tell if she’s a dinosaur or --”
THWACK. Fake antlers butted Laios’s head.
“LAIOS?? Weren’t we dressed up to help SENSHI???” Marcille hissed, gesturing awkwardly with her hooves.
Suddenly, Tenna turned to the two adventurers.
“Hey, WAIT a second. SOMETHING’s not right here...”
Laios and Marcille held their breath.
“Where the heck are my POINTS!?”
Just then, the door opened. Chilchuck took one step into the room, whistling and holding a large bag.
Everyone turned to him.
Chilchuck paused, took a step backwards, and closed the door.
“CHILCHUCK!!!” yelled Tenna.
“How come Chilchuck got to stay Chilchuck!?” yelled Marcille at the same time.
--
Meanwhile, in outer space somewhere, some guy was making out with a rock.
been thinking about the shadow crystal quest; full spoilers for deltarune so far (as of chapter 5) under the cut, weird route and sword route included!
tl;dr: i don't think the shadow crystal quest itself is a bad thing... or not necessarily, rather. i think there's a good chance that finishing the quest will open up the option to make something else happen, but depending on your actions and active route, that something can either be something nice, a last-chance fix, or lead to something worse.
---
isn't it interesting how most of the encounters you go through to get the shadow crystals end in something positive, even if getting to that point might entail something bad?
let's go over each shadow crystal holder encounter one at a time, just as a refresher. if you feel you don't need it, you can skip to the section that starts with "if you've read this far" to jump to my main point, but i'd encourage you to at least skim the following write-ups a bit, just in case. it's been five chapters with two routes spread out over almost 8 years by now, after all; it's easy to forget some of the finer details of each encounter, especially the earlier ones.
---
jevil's an interesting case on that front. his dialogue at the cell is shifty, mus_creepynoise plays when you initiate his sidequest, malius cautions you against using the key to his cell (and notes it holds a "terrible energy"), seam seems mixed on the idea of confronting him (thinking it might be better to deal with him now, but also not expecting you to succeed and musing on how this whole sidequest might be "more of a curse" than luck), and jevil himself immediately initiates a death match...
...but the encounter ends up being fun for jevil (and susie, seemingly), always results in him giving the party a word of warning for what's to come, has him join them on their adventure in one form or another, and also prevents him from getting out to "play" with the others on his own later. you're dealing with a strong foe when he's extra dangerous to you but not yet active instead of - if what seam hints is true - potentially encountering him later when you're better-equipped but he's already causing mischief, and the end result is a net positive for both the party and him (so far).
---
spamton's sidequest on the normal route is likewise pretty unambiguously "bad" at first. he puts kris on edge as soon as he starts talking about their [HeartShapedObject], but accepting the deal he offers due to their similarities is also the only way to spare him, since it's a solo fight with no access to pacifying spells. a lot of the text in his shop can be taken as kris still being uneasy around him. the castle basement you have to go through to retrieve the NEO body's disk for him is unusually eerie and has the single most dangerous teacup ride in the chapter (and an unavoidable instance of IMAGE_FRIEND spying on you, too). and once again, when spamton gets his new body but realizes it's not enough for his actual goal, he tries to kill kris to get their SOUL in hopes that will be enough.
it's unsettling, it's more difficult than the rest of the chapter, it's noticeably traumatizing for kris going by the cutscene you get as you head back upstairs, and nothing you do ultimately actually helps spamton... or does it? spamton remains bound by his own strings even if you cut them for him, but the encounter gives him hope in the party, his newfound friends, that they might be able to break free, and leads to him lending them his aid in item form, letting him stick around for later chapters where he can see his old business partner again (even if that currently doesn't pan out too well).
and while the whole experience is evidently traumatic for kris (and spamton's predicament as a whole seems a little too close to home for them), it also allows ralsei and susie a chance to comfort them, show their worry for them, and bond with them, something they do seem to appreciate, no matter what you choose.
---
the old man is pretty self-explanatory in how that encounter ends up being a good thing. finding all the pieces of the music sheet needed to open the door does put the party in some danger (with one in particular requiring you to go through another dark area where titan spawn end up chasing you), but the worst of those gets interrupted by the old man himself before it gets too bad and segues into a teaparty scene where susie gets to flex her storytelling, ralsei gets to try some tea, and kris either gets tea or an apple (and, on the weird route, potentially some important comforting words).
the battle with him is loaded with foreshadowing, some of it admittedly ominous, but it's ultimately portrayed as a learning experience for susie where she's never in true danger, with her friends cheering her on. the old man will never land a finishing blow on her; she can retry as often as she needs to. if you do succeed, you not only get a solid weapon for susie, but she also unlocks BetterHeal earlier than normal, gets a boost to her magic stat (currently only for ch4, but still), and learns the importance of perseverance - of allowing yourself to improve little by little through practice even if you aren't "good enough" to do something right from the get-go.
---
and then there's pink. her entire situation is set up as a parallel to kris' with all that entails: a vessel and a soul partnered together, with the soul needing the vessel to engage with the world but being too insistent that the vessel is her and should just go along with everything she wants, and the vessel needing the soul to manage things she can't on her own... and struggling to function if the soul is separated from her for too long. it's a dire mirror for kris' own predicament, even invoking the same strings imagery as spamton NEO's fight when the conflict is at its worst...
...but no matter what, if you're on track to complete this boss fight, it will always have a happy outcome. there's no way to get through this fight without encouraging lightner pink and darkner pink to work together and love each other, to acknowledge each other's wants and needs and try to find a common ground.
pink will always end the encounter finally feeling "together" - lightner pink fusing with her ideal body, and darkner pink able to persist and do things she couldn't on her own. she'll learn that the flower kingdom dark world has to be sealed eventually, but she'll still have another place where she can be her true self: castle town. and for the time she has left here, she'll be welcomed by the flowers as one of them even as she admits she's not a "real" flower, and she'll get to spend her remaining time there with her friend orange by her side, now knowing that even if they can't remain together like this, she knows where to look for orange in the light world and plans to make sure she's cared for properly.
and that's just pink's side of things! completing her boss fight also opens up a previously hidden passage in the castle where blue meets with you, with all the flowers offering you special gear forged from their own petals in exchange for the pink coins associated with their new friend, even knowing that you might use that gear against them. it's not outright stated, but given when this room becomes available, it's likely that the flowers' decision to try to help light the dark road ahead of you (as blue puts it), to offer you a memento of their existence, is because the party helped pink - because the trio proved that even if this world has to be temporary, they still cherish it and are trying to do what they can for it and the one person that can persist past its sealing.
it's really sweet, isn't it?
---
if you've read everything so far, you probably noticed that i skipped something. that's because the chapter 3 shadow crystal is the one instance that seems to be an exception so far, and it's a pretty extreme one at that.
going for the roaring knight's shadow crystal will always make things worse than they would've been had you just let them KO you from the start. you put up a fight, sure, but all that reveals is that the heroes were always in over their head. for a moment, susie and ralsei have a glimmer of hope that they might have won, that they can end the battle right there and then - only for both of them to get cut down in an instant. they get hurt much more than they normally would (based on ralsei's comments), toriel has a nightmare instead of sleeping peacefully, and kris gets knighted by the roaring knight... whatever that may signify, it's probably not good.
the only good things to come out of that fight is the black shard that chipped off the roaring knight's sword (an incredibly useful weapon in chapter 4), the glowing voice cheering for you during the struggle, and seam gaining some actual hope again if you bring them the shadow crystal... and that last one gets overridden if you got the shadow mantle beforehand, itself tied to a sidequest-slash-alternate-route that pokes at kris' own fears and darker tendencies and puts them in danger by the time you get the final board, with the shadow mantle and delaying ramb's petrification for a little bit being the only good things to come from it so far (and given ramb goes missing when you reach the shadow mantle holder boss fight... that last one might not be a good thing either).
...given the circumstances, the shadow crystal gotten here - that remnant of a lost dream - might very well be that of the heroes' lost dream of seemingly getting so close to winning a nigh-unwinnable battle only for it to be crushed in an instant by two unexpected blows.
---
and, of course, there's the other outlier: the weird route spamton NEO fight. all that stuff i wrote about the good things his normal route encounter lead to despite it still being traumatic? not applicable here whatsoever!
kris fights spamton NEO on their own, when he tries to stop them from sealing the fountain of a world he's clearly trying to usurp at this point. kris is forced to reveal abilities they normally try to hide from us to have a better shot, spamton's dialogue is much more accusatory, insulting and ominous, and you can't even defeat him because eventually his defense gets too high to offset his spam-healing; you have to call noelle to bypass his defense with ice magic, when by this point she's so traumatized by the route's events that even queen feels she should be resting instead. kris' friends don't hear them during the battle, and don't comfort them afterward; they just rush to seal the fountain, left to deal with the weight of everything entirely on their own.
you still get a spamton item, sure, but it's always the puppet scarf, an item that's only good for offense (and not that impressive on that front, either). if it's still spamton in item form, he's not conscious like he is in the normal route - you won't get any comments from him in TV world like you normally would, and he won't pop up for the pipis scene.
you dodge the basement and its lurking IMAGE_FRIEND instance, but outside of that, it's all the bad of the normal route encounter with none of the good that normally comes from it. fitting for a route where it's implied that things might be heading for something even worse than normal, i suppose.
---
if you've read this far, thank you for sticking with me! i know this is a lot to read through.
to summarize real quick, out of five shadow crystal encounters:
four (jevil, normal route spamton, the old man, pink) have ultimately positive outcomes (more so the further you get, no less)...
...even if three (jevil, NR spamton, pink somewhat) involve a fair bit of danger and either ominous allusions or outright traumatic experiences.
the one clear outlier is the roaring knight fight, where the heroes' hopes of an early victory get dashed by surprise swipes, and going for the shadow mantle dampens even what little good you do get out of that one.
(spamton's weird route encounter is also an outlier, which likely ties into the weird route itself heading for worse things than normal.)
that's a majority of positive outcomes so far. the old man and pink deserve a special mention here, as they have positive story consequences that might be extra meaningful long-term; the former due to being all about teaching susie perseverance, and the latter because it gets another lightner involved and over to castle town and gives the flowers a chance to have a longer-lasting impact on the heroes by giving them gear that doubles as mementos of them.
i feel like that's significant. the shadow crystal quests are definitely dangerous, no doubt, but if they were supposed to be something better off avoided, i can't help but to feel like it would've made more sense to have them result in negative outcomes more often, with only the items you get from them to tempt the player. but we're giving characters chances to stick around longer, to help the heroes, to teach them lessons or work with them to find a happier path for their future. that has to mean something.
and i think it's because this sidequest can lead to something better - but it's only even possible at all with our help.
i talked about some of this before in my musings in response to the new darkner!pink dialogue added in v0.0.247, but i feel it's notable that the shadow mantle holder in the sword route mentions that kris is looking for the shadow crystals:
Kris… oh… Kris…
Is it fun, Kris?
Playing around like this…
That’s why you’re searching for them, aren’t you?
The SHADOW CRYSTALs…
… and the SHADOW MANTLE that I’m holding!
Do you honestly think it’ll get you what you want…?
but if you start a playthrough at any chapter past the first one, the default file won't have a shadow crystal. not a single one. kris can't get the shadow crystals (or the forgotten man's eggs for that matter) on their own - only with our help. they have reason to believe that the shadow crystals will get them something they want, but without outside help, they're out of reach for them.
now, sure, that could just be an in-universe explanation for why kris will even go along with the more ominous shadow crystal holder sidequests. but why can't it be both? why can't it be that the reason they're willing to ask seam about the key to jevil's cell, why they'll make a deal with spamton and go along with helping him despite him seemingly scaring them, why they'll fight the roaring knight until susie can catch them off-guard and chip their sword despite the fact they might very well be working with the roaring knight...
...is that this entire sidequest can lead to something that'll allow for something special in the future, and that all these positive things that happen along the way are meant to show us that whatever they lead to can be something good?
pursuing the shadow crystals is dangerous. it requires you to defeat unusually strong bosses, deal with obstactles you otherwise don't even need to encounter, and to put up a fight when you're meant to lose. it requires you to pull off feats that kris cannot do on their own. but if you go for them, you're also fulfilling one of kris' wants - you're finding common ground with each other! pink's boss fight showed you that the soul and vessel listening to each other lets them balance being together; would us and kris doing just that really be a bad thing in the end, when it's already leading to so much good along the way?
since chapter 2's release, it's been speculated that the shadow crystal sidequest will let you get the pure crystal, described as "the shadow purified by the cat." i think now that we know for certain that the shadow crystals are the result of lost dreams, this is almost certainly true; a purified "lost dream" would likely be a realized dream, or at least hope for its realization in its purest form, and undertale already gently poked at the idea that the goal of determination is the realization of dreams.
pursuing the shadow crystals is dangerous. kris needs help to be able to reach them, and even with us joining forces, it still requires getting through difficult challenges you don't otherwise have to deal with, potentially even putting you into the crosshairs of something especially dangerous if you're also collecting the eggs, if darkner!pink's dialogue is any indication. it's a test of determination, one that already results in bringing a little hope to people through our actions - it'd make sense for its final payoff to be the embodiment of that dream for what could be, of that hope that there can be something better waiting at the very end.
and maybe you can use that to change something for the better. maybe it won't change the actual ending that awaits you, but that pure crystal - that dream you two worked so hard to achieve, your hope for something in crystallized form - might just let you change a detail along the way to that ending for the better.
...on the normal route, at least.
---
when it comes to the weird route, i'm less confident it'll lead to something good. in side-B proper, you might not even be able to get the pure crystal, since you skip chapter 5's dark world (and thus pink's shadow crystal) entirely. it's possible we'll be able to get the missing crystal from a different source and a non-seam way to purify it (since "the cat" is ambiguous enough to allow another character to play that role too), but even if that ends up being the case, it wouldn't surprise me if its use case ends up being much less positive.
failing the lake scene, meanwhile, still lets you get pink's shadow crystal, but also leaves noelle's and kris' mental state much worse off. if that has consequences on the story (and i'd be surprised if it doesn't), they could easily impact what the pure crystal's use will be. maybe instead of giving you a chance to change something for the better even if it doesn't change the main ending, it'll be needed to reign in the harm that following the weird route this far did? a last-chance way to avert an even worse outcome than normal would still fit thematically, i think.
and if you aborted the weird route after getting the thorn ring (or it ends up being possible to get it back in chapter 6 if you ditched the route in chapter 4), there's the twisted sword, of course: a "strange blade" made from the pure crystal and the thorn ring that even susie thinks looks "bad," currently one of the strongest weapons in the game and the only one with trance down (instead of the thorn ring's normal trance effect). it's been in the fusion menu since chapter 2, almost taunting players to find a way to obtain it, with chapter 5 now also showing its trance down effect in the fusion menu.
i think getting the twisted sword will almost certainly lead to something. maybe it'll even tie in with the sword route minigame, since while the ice palace section can be taken as a hint for how to start the weird route, the rest of the minigame doesn't really add up with the events of the weird route so far. but even just the fusion recipe itself feels... worrisome. whatever this thing leads to, i doubt it'll be anything positive for the story.
it wouldn't be the first time a game required you to do something incredibly specific to get an item that's been hinted at that only ends up making things worse than if you'd never bothered to pursue it.
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