to me, xpap is pretty close to a "perfect" swap papyrus by my own metrics. bc ill be honest, i personally have never liked the traditional "sans is now just papyrus, papyrus is now just sans" swap. ive always preferred swaps like ts underswap, where their roles (and maybe some aspects of their personalities) are swapped, but theyre still distinct characters rather than preexisting ones wearing a different shell. xpap is that to me.
he retains classic's positivity. he retains his energy and his motivation. pretty sure jakei has explicitly said that, like classic, xpapyrus has that belief in every single person, though id say he takes a different approach to it.
he's more violent. more likely to kill. classic is actually more violent than people give him credit for: sure, he wont kill you, but hell give you a pretty fucking brutal beating, and he's always stoked to spar with undyne, which as you can imagine is not a harmless process on eother side bc its fucking undyne. but he wont kill, because a huge facet of his character is his own moral code (his integrity if you will gets shot gets shot gets shot), and that includes not resorting to killing because of his belief that anyone can be a better person if they try! and you cant really try if youre dead.
xpapyrus has killed and will kill, most likely because thats something he has been trained for. not necessarily in the royal guard - i dont see them training to kill bc their whole thing was protecting frisk and not rlly agitating humanity too much?? which wouldnt work too well if they were killing them constantly. but i do see them resorting to it in extreme situations - i think xgaster and the way he raised them plus his own pushing his sons (and others) in certain directions to better suit his future wouldve contributed to that a lot more. however, we dont have much on that really (or if we do i havent seen it. sigh why must so much xtale content be deleted...)
despite his positivity, he is noticeably more jaded than classic, most likely because he knows the circumstances of his universe and his being. he's more laid-back, im pretty sure in the timeline x comic he tells cross to take a nap and says something implying that they have the classic swap thing of "now papyrus is the nap guy while sans hates naps and sleeping", which i think fits.
at least from what weve see so far, xpap seems less. "performative", lets say. because despite his morals, classic pap is also known for sort of. playing a role. he plays the confident cool guy who has lots of friends and admirers and therefore doesnt need any more, and thats not to say that he isnt cool and awesome, but that he feels the need to compensate for his insecurities via the "fake it til you make it" method. also, if you pay attention to things like his phone call dialogues, you see him constantly contradicting himself and switching what he does and doesnt know depending on who's with him. he has a delicately and deliberately crafted persona, tailored to the people around him so they can find him more likeable. i dont really see xpapyrus doing that.
he seems more open, less willing to be pushed around. thats not to say classic is a pushover - hed object to something like, that, too. but hes more likely to go along with certain things if he thinks itll make him more likeable. like his phonecall with undyne in grillbys. she says she fucking loves grease, so papyrus backtracks on his grease hate to talk about how much he loves it (but also, i believe if you talkto him in front of his house when undynes there too, he outright admits he doesnt like grease?? so idk what changes between that and the grillby's phonecall. maybe the fact that in the latter, undyne specifically expresses an opposition to his own opinion and he feels if they clash like that, their friendship will be tarnished?? idfk this man is a mystery to everyone but himself but probably himself also). i think if it was xpap instead, hed just agree to disagree, or maybe start a like. play-argument of sorts.
same thing i can see with a scene like the one where you see undyne for the first time - he tries to tell her that frisk is cool and friendly and they dont have to fight and she doesnt have to kill them!! but undyne is clearly unhappy w this idea and papyrus backs down pretty quickly (though he obviously still works to help you bc he wants to be friends rather than enemies). xpapyrus i think would not back down, at least not so easily.
and i think his belief in people is different from classic's in the way that, yes, he does believe people can be good. he does believe in choices and the ability to make the right ones. he also, however, believes that he doesnt have to stick around for that shit if he doesnt want to. he believes that sometimes, too much is too much, that anyone can make the right choice, and in this moment his right choice is getting rid of whoever has wronged him. "dont kill" isnt imprinted in his moral code like it seems to be for classic, so hes more. "flexible" in his options for dealing with people who just wont listen. he wont go out of his way to injure or kill, but hes not above doing those things for whatever reason he deems necessary (and i do believe it has to be a necessity for him, he wont do it otherwise).
like overall he very much still evokes "classic papyrus" - hes full of positivity and energy, he sticks to his morals and beliefs, he loves to fight, he believes in people. but hes also more "mature", a bit more mellow. he's laid-back. he's measured in his views and expectations of people. he's more "open", more willing to be himself no matter the situation or who hes around. honestly, id say hes a swap papyrus if, rather than the swap being in relation to being more "sans-like", it was more about being the opposite of being "papyrus-like", if you know what i mean.
idk theres a lot i dont know. what i do know, however, is that i love and care him. if he doesnt play a big role in 0.8, either part one or part 2 (or both) i will riot.
if you do find the comic you were talking abt... tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell m
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