A Bodyswap! Deltarune fanfic I’ve been working on! Hope you all enjoy!
Chapters: 3/?
Fandom: Deltarune (Video Game)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kris & Kris' Red Soul (Deltarune)
Characters: Kris (Deltarune), Kris' Red Soul (Deltarune), Deltarune Player
Additional Tags: Bodyswap, Time Travel, Time Loop, Video Game Mechanics, Kris Hates Kris' Red Soul (Deltarune), Nonbinary Kris (Deltarune), Kris Needs a Hug (Deltarune), Kris Is Not Okay (Deltarune), Deltarune Player is Kris' Red Soul, Deltarune Player is the Angel, Tags Are Hard, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Kris (Deltarune), Yes beta but we still die like Onion to the Gaster Pirate Mafia Cartel, Out of Body Experiences
Summary:
Kris swears they have it the worst. Like, they're being puppeted around by some eldritch being, forcing them to do things they never wanted. Not to mention it keeps interfering with the plan. So what if it's always been nice, and treats their friends with love, and lets Kris do stuff they want, it's still controlling them! It must be so easy, not being the Cage.
What if they weren't the Cage anymore? That would solve everything, right?
The Mad Mew Mew/Pink Fight is the Best Secret Boss and I Will Not Take Slander
SPOILERS AHEAD (And for this I'll be referring to Pink as Mad Mew Mew for ease)
There are so many layers to this fight compared to the other Soul Mode bosses and its not even funny
To start, who is Mad Mew Mew?
In the Nintendo Switch Port, Toby Fox added a new late game boss, the previously encountered Mad Dummy who has stolen found a new body from Alphys's lab based off the in-universe Mew Mew Kissy Cutie anime series. It served as mainly a one off, but does help bookend the Mad Dummy arc and further emphasize that ghosts finding a body to merge are a trans allegory.
The other thing to note about her is how she fights. Because she's a Switch exclusive boss, the boss gimmick is focused on the "dual" nature of the console, coloring the soul the joycon Red and Cyan, making it so you have to use both controllers to move the parts of the soul. Interesting gimmick (if you don't have a Switch there are mods that let you play the fight with the arrow and wasd keys) but admittedly the bullets themselves are pretty bare bones, just being circles.
So how does Toby Fox and his Team revamp this pretty basic fight for a Deltarune Secret Boss?
PURPLE
Giving Mad Mew Mew the Purple "Trap" Soul is single handedly the most genius thing ever.
To start, her original boss fight also limited your movements, limiting you to at max five spaces. Just like how Trap Mode limits you to three horizontal planes.
Second, she has connections to Muffet, the one who originally introduced the gimmick, being that they share the "Mini-Boss" motif along side Napstablook. The fight actually references the spider, with Mad Mew Mew saying that the tea was from a "bug".
Third, what color do you get when you mix red and cyan? Purple.
Onto the fight itself, the gimmick has evolved in such a clever way compared to Yellow and Green whilst staying true to the connections with the Perseverance Child.
Yellow and Green's way of evolving are pretty simple and obvious. Give the Yellow Soul a charge shot. Give the Green Soul more directions to block. These are not bad evolutions mind you, just the most obvious direction. In fact, many fangames have done these prior.
The main way the Purple Soul evolved is by simply giving you more unique spaces to skip to. There's the classic three lines, but there is also a grid, the layout from the Switch fight, and a circular maze. For one attack they even rotate the battle box and thus your position. It's just fun to navigate through the lines and I'm so happy they didn't stick with the traditional three lines.
But how does this relate to the Perseverance Child? The dates.
When you fill up the Doki meter, you get to go on a date with Mew Mew to fill the Mercy meter. You progress through the dates by selecting the correct words. And what else has words?
A notebook.
THESE DEAD CHILDREN HAUNT THE NARRATIVE SO FUCKING HARD ITS CRAZY!
For context, all of the Soul Modes relate to one of the Fallen Children in Undertale. Blue relates to Integrity by us jumping around like a ballerina. Green relates to Kindness by being protective, with a frying pan having a good surface area to block attacks. Yellow relates to Justice given how they had a gun in the same way we shoot bullets. Even the new Orange mode relates to Bravery by having us charge through attacks like a fist colliding through glass.
And for the purposes of the Mad Mew Mew fight, Purple relates to Perseverance by being the lines of a notebook. In this context, you could say the new grid is meant to be like those awful gridded papers.
Moving away from the Soul Mode and onto the bullet patterns.
The cats and the circles she throws at us are taken straight from the Switch fight. In the maze, the thing that circles it is actually a fish bone, cuz cats. The dummies in her idol sequence behave similarly to the Mad Dummy fight, where you have to get the bullets to attack the person at top.
The fuckass bombs she throws are incredibly significant however. How? At first I thought it was just because Mad Mew Mew has an explosive personality, but she actually stole those bombs. Those are the bombs from Mettaton and Alphys. Her cousin and the person who she got the body from.
In the maze, there's another obstacle that blocks your way. Electric air waves. Once again electricity relates to both Mettaton and Alphys, but the way they look like air waves could call back to Napstablook too given how they're a DJ.
Finally time for the juiciest part of all. The ever present theme of Freedom and the newly introduced concept of Lost Dreams.
Mad Mew Mew is a trans allegory. It beats you in the face with in fact.
(Now I am not trans and am personally comfortable in my body, so I don't have much to bring besides the obvious stuff. So apologies if I say anything wrong or offensive. Feel free to correct me!)
In Undertale, the Mad Dummy has had problems with fusing with her body, trying to fit into something that isn't her. She expresses this through anger hoping her strong emotions will help her fuse with it. Later on once you beat the Mad Mew Mew fight does she better resonate with her new body with positive emotions.
In Deltarune, she does not have this luxury of someone having a life sized anime doll. So she, along with Mettaton, stay inside out of shame. We also learn that she has been possessing the Light World Mew Mew doll, however she couldn't do anything with it, most likely because of the lack of magic in Deltarune.
However, at some point she heard the commotion outside of Asgore's shop, given how she lives right next to him. There she finds the Mew Mew figure can actually do stuff like moving and talking. She meets new people and befriends Orange. She finally has the freedom to be herself now.
But it can't last forever.
Imagine finally being able to be the best version of yourself but have to give it up otherwise the world will end. Freedom for only a moment. A lost dream to never be reclaimed.
Her shop is melancholic and introspective. She never looks at you like all other shopkeepers. Instead she is mesmerized by the setting sun, something she hardly ever sees due to being a shut in. When asking if she's human, she compares herself to looking and feeling like a flower. Obviously she's neither, and she could be saying it sarcastically or to better fit in with the other flowers, but it could also be her expression her self hatred of her ghost self. Of course I'm a ghost, that's why I feel like a doll.
(Theres also extra shop dialouge after her fight but I can't for the life of me fine footage for it... Will update this section once I do!)
Luckily this story does have a happy ending, with Susie inviting her to Castle Town. Jury's still out for whether or not the Fountain will be sealed, but at least Mad Mew Mew has more time as herself.
But why Mad Mew Mew of all people? Ignoring the fanservice aspect of Secret Bosses, the Secret Bosses tie into Kris’s feelings and fate as a whole.
Jevil can see the world is smaller than he wants, a video game, so he loses himself in insanity. Kris too is trapped by their promise and knowing more than most people.
Spamton cheats and lies to regain his former glory, only for the body he stole to be held up by strings, being reminded of his puppet status once they are cut. Kris is also a lying puppet used by Carol, the Knight, and us, and this exasperates their fear of being used up and discarded.
The Knight, most likely December Holiday in some form. Kris is working for them out due to a promise they made.
Gerson is the first subversion of the previous nihilistic bosses. His time may be over, and his lesson is mainly aimed at Susie, but he is encouraging the group to change fate and make their own story. Kris could defy the Knight and create the ending they want.
What does Mad Mew Mew bring?
Two beings fighting for control.
Mad Mew Mew is possessing the Mew Mew doll, a doll who is now a Darkner with their own thoughts and feelings. A puppeteer and their puppet. Like the SOUL and Kris.
It's not a complete one to one of our situation and hers, given how the two catgirls can actually communicate with each other compare to us being unable to hear what Kris says when we select the dialouge button, but I do feel like Mad Mew Mew represents Kris's feeling more than our own, saying how it's "Her body, so it should listen to her." Remember, she's been inhabiting the doll before the Dark World gave it sentience. Like a higher being taking over you. Kris has their own agenda too, separate from what we the player wants. Both her and Kris are highly possessive of their bodies and doing what they want.
For Mew Mew and the SOUL, both of us want to vibe. Mew Mew wants to go on dates while us, the player, want to hang out in this world. Sadly, our wants are overrided by the others.
Remember, it's not a complete parallel, as Ralsei reminds the puppeteer that their puppet has their own feelings as well. Like how we can forget Kris is not our vessel.
The biggest parallel between Mad Mew Mew and Kris comes from the final date scene, where she admits that she was scared that the heroes were flirting with Mew Mew, that she was losing herself to a new person. She hates her current self, but is afraid to let the better version have their own likes. In the end, the two vow to listen to what the other party wants.
Kris almost certainly carries a lot of self hatred for themself. Its why they follow the Knight, for a chance to right their wrongs and help Dess. The SOUL plays a big factor into the plan, so they become our ward. And what does the SOUL do?
Be nice to everyone. Be a better Kris.
People don't like Kris, they like the Kris that's controlled.
And if everyone likes the Kris that's controlled, then who are they as an individual?
To truly stop the Knight, we and Kris need to come to an understanding and work together. We may have our own preferences, needs, and desires, but we need to listen.
Perhaps one day we can hear Kris and talk to them directly.
We might be dealing with salmon zombies: Things in the Splatoon Raiders release date trailer I think are interesting (part 1)
Gonna try to get this post out before ProChara drops his trailer analysis video and makes me look like I'm just repeating what he says there. :p The Splatoon Raiders trailer had a lot of interesting little details that I noticed or saw other people pointing out, so I wanna go through it again and discuss some of them. Sounds good? Good.
Starting from the beginning it looks like we've got the same setup in character creation as last time except there's now a button to preview your character's voice, which makes sense as that's one of the few things unique about your body type. From what I heard we're still using the same voice clips for the player as in the previous games, which doesn't surprise me.
Speaking of things unique to body types, eyebrows seem to still be locked to gender type, as we get to see the full range of the type B inkling's eyebrows at one point and it doesn't include anything we see on the type A.
The unibrow is an interesting inclusion, I'll say that much. Major respect to anyone with the confidence to pull that off!
I'll admit that none of the hairstyles we see in the trailer spoke to me very strongly, but I find the use of ocean trash as decorations a really interesting aesthetic touch. Is it just to sell the "stranded on an island" vibe, or is ocean pollution an important aspect of the game's themes and motifs?
But okay, let's get into what I think is the most interesting aspect of the trailer and the part I allude to in the title of this post: The Salmonids. They're back with several new variants, but also a new appearance and a sickly new ink color.
As I reckon most people reading this can tell their new look is based on what happens to real salmon during spawning periods, where they undergo extreme physical changes, becoming bright red with hooked mouths. You can see that happening with the Salmonids too, some of them almost looking a bit bird-like, but I want to focus on another detail: All the salmonids we see in this trailer have this white crust on their fins.
There's a post by @inkpun (sorry for the ping but I like to give credit where credit is due) that likens this crust to the way that real salmon will, after spawning, start rotting alive as the physical changes they undergo during spawning season are so drastic that it deteriorates their bodies from within. I'm not gonna post any pictures of it here because it's pretty gruesome, but if you just look up "zombie salmon" you'll finds tons of stuff about it. Gnarly stuff.
And I think that's what the visual reference is but I believe there's something more going on here because of another recurring visual motif I noticed in the trailer: Lots and lots of crystals.
Something about the Spirhalite Islands is causing this buildup of crystals on almost every surface, forming into lots of little cubes. On the bigger crystal we see the robot drilling into it resembles bismuth in its texture, but there is something more it looks like, and that's salt.
And I don't think that's a coincidence, because we see these structures in the trailer that look a lot like salt and pepper grinders:
And the whole salt thing makes sense because the salmonids were already associated with food visually and thematically. They revere eating and being eaten as part of the circle of life, and food and cooking utensils are all over their architecture, but there is one more kind of crystal we see in the trailer, and it shows up in two places:
First here on this seemingly powered-up Stinger.
And second growing directly out of the back of this enemy at the very end of the gameplay section of the trailer:
And I think it's worth highlighting that the crystals are growing out of the white salt-like crust, too. They are directly connected in some way, and I'm thinking it is doing something to the salmonids, corrupting them in some way, and I think that because if you pay attention to the cohocks in the trailer you'll notice that they move with this exaggerating swaying, languid and loose in a way that simply doesn't look natural.
TL;DR: I think the devs are using the imagery of the way real-life salmonids start to rot while still alive post-spawning to indicate a kind of zombification, but the actual cause are the weird crystals we see all over the place. Something is going on with these islands, and the crystals are at the core of it.
I have a lot more to say on the trailer, but I'll split that off into a separate post since this one is already enormous.
Given how many outfits we've seen for the mechanic have zero hats, that's probably the reason why the hair styles have these wild junk punk decorations as they don't have to worry about fitting 30 different hats.
Also 90% percent sure that these salmonids are actual zombies (or at least stuck in petrified rot by the salt crystals) as it does help sorta mend the main problem with them as an enemy, that being that despite being barbaric, salmonids do have specific cultures and lives but are forever having their territory invaded and eggs stolen by Grizzco. They are the orcs of Splatoon, and are shown to be aggressors to cephalopods (octarian trade aside), but you can't help but feel bad for them as we fight them on mass.
With them being zombies at least we can say we're putting them out of their misery. It would't be out of the question for them to be rotting zombies for the franchise. Octo Expansion anyone?
It would also explain this weird post from (dear lord) 2020
This was posted and never really went anywhere. Even with Rise of the Mammalians focusing on Mr. Grizz and Lil' Buddy, besides some sunken scroll snippets and the use of golden eggs as power, saving the salmons never happened. Obviously the Covid Pandemic happened, so that's definitely part of the reason for this post going nowhere.
My crack theory is that Splatoon Raiders was meant to be part of Splatoon 3 (either as the main campaign or dlc) but was cut due to the pandemic and other reasons (time, storage, plot, etc). It then received the Silksong treatment of having it's mechanics expanded to a full game to help tide us over for Splatoon 4
While not a perfect anagram, Tumetto sounds a lot like Tomato, so it's food all the way down. Fitting since in Salmonoid culture they have a desire to be eaten. Although it's curious that none of the food is seafood themed like the rest of the series (Soup can have fish but here it's non-specific)
After 2 years and 10 chapters, I'm finally promoting my Digimon Chat Fic™ here! As well as some of the art I've made for it!
Summary under Read More
Chapters: 10/?
Fandom: Digimon - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Yagami Taichi | Tai Kamiya, Motomiya Daisuke | Davis Motomiya, Matsuda Takato | Takato Matsuki, Kanbara Takuya, Daimon Masaru | Marcus Damon, Kudou Taiki | Mikey Kudo, Akashi Tagiru, Shinkai Haru, Amanokawa Hiro, Tenma Tomoro
Additional Tags: Humor, Attempt at Humor, Crack, chatfic, there’s light shipping but nothing between characters present, no beta we die like men, or i guess we die like leomon, potential Beatbreak spoilers you have been warned
Summary:
CatchTheseHands: thats it I need casual convos rn before my brain explodes
!StarryEyedWonder!: What should we talk about?
Dra-men: ummmm…
Dra-men: bees?
M00nM0ver: bitch I refuse to talk about bees
SleepIsForTheWeak: Boy don't make me hunt you down too
M00nM0ver: bet
!StarryEyedWonder!: So bees
CatchTheseHands: ya like jazz
Dra-men: bruh
M00nM0ver: boi
WhySoSirius?: …
Or:
The leaders of each digimon season have found themselves in a mysterious chatroom with each other. Hijinks ensue
