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Spamtenna is T4T (NEO Edition)

"NEO" in the sense that it's a new (and improved) analysis about why I believe both of them are trans men, and "NEO" in the sense of the robot body designed by Mettaton, which is relevant.

To start off, I'll go over some things that establish Spamton as trans that aren't shared with Tenna (and one that could apply to Tenna a little bit). In Spamton's case, the trans manhood is at least heavily implied, if not explicit.

He's a Darkner of the same type as the Addisons, who are mostly androgynous in appearance, who have a gender-neutral name, and who are referred to with gender-neutral terms like "ads" or "shopkeepers"; there is one instance of them collectively being called "guys", but this term is also used in a gender-neutral way to refer to groups of people. Spamton, on the other hand, has a masculine name, as indicated by the suffix "-ton"; names with this suffix, both older ones deriving from place names and newer invented ones, are predominantly masculine. He's the only Darkner of this type to have a unique name and may have chosen it himself. He also refers to himself and is referred to by others with explicitly masculine terms, such as "man", "salesman", "mailman" or "mail guy". (While this was changed in the final version, it's interesting that the concept art of an Addison depicted them as feminine.)

So far, the only single Addison to be referred to with a third person pronoun was the pink one getting called "they"; given the Addisons' androgynous appearances and mostly gender-neutral terminology, it's not unlikely that all of them are they/them, similarly to how the ghosts start out as they/them. If so, Spamton going by he/him makes his transition explicit rather than heavily implied.

The dress on the Mannequin resembles the blue dress from Undertale, which is connected to trans characters. In Undertale, it's originally worn by Mettaton, a gender non-conforming trans man who is comfortable with feminine elements in his presentation, and he later gifts it to a lioness who wanted to try it on and is implied to have discovered her gender through doing so; in Deltarune, the same character is depicted in a dress and is referred to with the feminine term "waitress".

In Deltarune, the blue dress continues to have connections to trans characters, but in a different way. The dress is permanently attached to the Mannequin, meaning it's both impossible to wear and permanently stuck to an outdated image of Spamton, resembling his original look with white hair. Rather than representing freedom and gender euphoria, it represents the lack of those things.

For Spamton, the dress doesn't fit his desired gender presentation, and combined with the Mannequin it's attached to being a kind of doll, which also resembles his pre-transition look, it makes the overall item highly undesirable for him; "(The LoadedDisk squirmed and won't fit!)", with an exclamation point for emphasis. Meanwhile, Ralsei, who is implied to be transfeminine, calls the dress cute, but can't try it on and get gender euphoria from it due to it being attached to the Mannequin. Unwanted femininity is forced upon one and wanted femininity is denied to the other. The only character who can equip the Mannequin is Kris, whose autonomy is limited due to the player's control of them, but who is also non-binary, maintaining the item's connection to trans characters.

Spamton also creates pipis, which are eggs, as confirmed by himself through the line "WHAT ARE MY [Eggs] GOING TO DO!?". They're also referred to as "pipis_egg" in the game files, the ExecBuffet has blue "caviar" implied to be made out of them (and caviar is made of fish eggs), and they've been depicted in a bird's nest outside of the game. The one Tenna is keeping is implied to be his and Spamton's child by Spamton's Valentine's card that's addressed to Tenna ("I THOUGHT WE HAD SOMETHING!!! I THOUGHT WE HAD A [Kids!] I THOUGHT WE HAD A [Set!]"), as well as by Tenna making Small Mike sing lullabies to the cupboard she's in, like one would do for a child.

In his response to one of the Q&A questions, Spamton said that "ONLY [friend like me]" can call pipis "eggs". Only those he trusts get to know that pipis are eggs, like his partner Tenna, who references a pipis as an egg in his intro, and Kris on the Normal Route after they've helped him become NEO; meanwhile, on the Weird Route, he never calls them eggs, and their battle description calls them "clams" instead, despite neither their in-game nor outside depictions looking like clams.

Given what we've learned about FRIENDs hunting protein, the literal reason why he obscures that pipis are eggs is likely to protect himself (and the eggs) from being hunted. Allegorically, though, this also works as him trying to be stealth for his safety and thus wanting to hide that he produces eggs, something that's done by females in most species, including birds, which he and his eggs have the strongest resemblance to, considering the nest and the pipis child's tweeting noises if she's picked up by the player. (Spamton's current look also resembles Swatch, who is a bird, and his long nose arguably resembles a beak).

The pipis child appears to be different than other pipis, and Spamton and Tenna might've created her together, meaning she's Tenna's egg too (and hiding his egg to keep himself safe can have the same trans subtext for him as for Spamton). There are parallels to Noelle's blog post about the "incompatible pet" error in Cat Petterz 2 and her punishing pets to prevent them from falling in love and throwing away eggs; spam emails and a CRT TV aren't "compatible", and Spamton and Tenna got punished and separated, but they made an egg child, and they have to keep her hidden to protect her from harm. Also, the pipis gifted to Noelle through email was a glitched multiplying egg pet, which is another connection. (As a side note, both the Spamton plush and the Tenna plush have a pipis inside them.)

Now I will talk about why I believe both Spamton and Tenna are trans.

As I've clearly established Spamton being a trans man, that alone makes it fairly likely that Tenna is trans as well. They are "intentionally similar characters who mutually enhance each other", in Toby's own words, and he compared them to Spy vs. Spy. Their dynamic isn't like that of the spies, so he must've been comparing the degree of similarity between the two characters in each pair, and the spies' only differences are their colors and which country they're from. Having a shared trans identity and bonding over it would make sense for Spamton and Tenna. We also know both of them have made changes to their bodies, with Spamton dyeing his hair black, while Tenna got himself a long nose (notably, a trait copied from Spamton); while neither of these changes are related to gender presentation, they can relate to the characters' transitions allegorically.

Both Spamton and Tenna have connections and parallels to Mettaton, who is canonically a trans man, and whose transition is even more explicit than Spamton's (at least in Undertale).

I'll start with something simple and immediately apparent: the couple's matching suits are one of Mettaton's outfits in Undertale. All three are also TV stars with loud personas. According to the contract Spamton and Tenna signed, Spamton is a TV host (and he implicitly references himself as such in his miniboss battle), and he has the skills for it thanks to Tenna's advice, as evident in the way he talks throughout Chapter 2, which is more reminiscent of a TV host than a salesperson like the Addisons. The description of the TrueTie also refers to Spamton as a "forgotten TV star" rather than a salesman.

There are some other similarities, such as Spamton being a humanoid character with white skin and black hair whose name ends in "ton", and Tenna's show having similar elements to Mettaton's. All of their battles double as performances (being a bit more subtle in Spamton's case, since he's not literally on stage). Mettaton EX had hoped to leave the Underground at the end of his battle, while Spamton NEO had hoped to leave the Dark World, and both Mettaton EX and Tenna lose their arms in the end regardless of whether the player was Fighting or Acting. If defeated by Fighting, Spamton NEO will also claim he's becoming "SPAMTON [EX]".

Although both Mettaton in Undertale and Spamton and Tenna in Deltarune battle the protagonists, neither truly wish to cause them harm. Mettaton liked humans and wanted to entertain them, and his "killer robot" persona was an act that Alphys asked him to perform; his NEO form, despite supposedly being designed for killing, doesn't even have any attacks and is killed with a single hit. Spamton and Tenna didn't really want to hurt the Fun Gang either, only using force as a last resort.

Tenna wanted to entertain his Lightner owners, both because he felt attached to them and because his survival depended on being useful; he was also tasked by Kris to keep the party busy until the Knight showed up. His battle was a last resort to stall and keep the party around longer, as the Knight still hadn't showed up, and he also didn't want to get thrown away and die. Normally, he's shown to be averse to violence and avoids using physical force even in situations where it would be understandable, like when a bunch of Pippinses steal his belongings in the Bonus Zone. While the Sword Route is reminiscent of the Weird Route and requires violence, when Tenna remade it into The Legend of Tenna, he made it more akin to the Normal Route, where it's possible to either Fight or Act, and Fighting also doesn't kill the enemy.

Spamton is strongly associated with healing; he used to sell a great healing item (S.Potion) and now sells an expired version of it (S.Poison) as it's the best he can offer due to his circumstances, and he will openly offer to heal the party in battle through the HealDeal and FriedPipis Acts and "press F1 for help", which he voluntarily informs Kris of. In Chapter 5, an angel Spamton may appear alongside an angel Ralsei when Ralsei's "ReviveSong" spell is used, with the chance increasing if the Dealmaker is equipped on Ralsei. The PuppetScarf, the item that's obtained through violence against him (outright killing him on the Weird Route) and decreases magic, is described as being "For those that abandon healing". He only fights as a last resort, and he only enables or encourages violence once Kris has already been violent and he believes it's what they want, and thus it's what he can give them in exchange for his freedom. Even on the Weird Route, he only gets into a fight to prevent Kris from sealing the Dark Fountain and thus causing him harm, and he still heals them during the battle. Despite his verbal threats, he doesn't really want to kill anyone.

Like Undertale's Mettaton, Spamton was a nobody, known by just a handful of people and only dreaming of stardom, until someone helped him become successful, as well as promising him a new robot body that represented a path to freedom; in Mettaton's case, he was getting genuine help from a friend, while in Spamton's case, someone was giving him false promises to take advantage of him and turn him into a puppet. The description of the socks prize from the Sweepstakes said "HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO MAKE ME INTO YOUR [living puppet] AND [enslave me] WITH [visions of glory]?", and I believe this is what it's referencing; the phrasing is pretty specific and doesn't really have anything to do with the socks, but fits perfectly with this theory.

This is where I finally talk about NEO, as well as the themes of freedom and autonomy.

Given Swatch's open admission that he once considered Spamton a "valued customer", we can be sure that when he says Spamton found out about the robot "somehow", this isn't him pretending like he wasn't the one to tell Spamton out of embarrassment over a perceived mistake; he genuinely doesn't know who told Spamton. I believe it was Spamton's benefactor, and that they were the person who told him NEO was particularly powerful and could set him free; the Shadow Crystal inside it likely helped make it sound more believable. Spamton NEO also shows that Spamton enjoyed having the body itself, which is another reason why it would be appealing.

As to why his benefactor would do this, remember that NEO doesn't actually work as promised, and remember its strings; I think they had intended to let him become physically stronger once he was obedient enough, like how the Thorn Ring is the culmination of Noelle's power on the Weird Route and lets her cast Snowgrave at the player's command. They may have similarly intended to coerce Spamton into committing an act of extreme violence, perhaps also against someone close to him, which would've broken him psychologically the same way casting Snowgrave on Berdly breaks Noelle.

(After his downfall and after recognizing that his benefactor wasn't a real ally, Spamton still clung to the promise of NEO, because he needed something to believe in to keep him going all those years, until he finally had something else to live for: helping the Fun Gang.)

Spamton's desire to become NEO and fly to freedom parallels Noelle's desire to grow wings and fly away, especially given their shared angelic imagery; in Noelle's case, the idea is more metaphorical and has suicidal implications, while in Spamton's case, it's more literal. There is also a parallel between the player on the Weird Route and Spamton's benefactor being abusive and controlling towards Noelle and Spamton and leading them towards their doom, yet convincing them that they're benefiting from it. Meanwhile, Noelle and Spamton's relationships with Susie (on the Normal Route, where they spend more time together) and Tenna, respectively, are/were saving them and helping them become truly strong, free and fulfilled.

I believe that, back when Spamton was successful, using NEO to escape the Dark World, or at least get a glimpse of the Light World, was the original goal he was working towards, until he met Tenna. Similarly to how Noelle no longer wants to "leave" thanks to Susie's positive impact on her life, Spamton's priority became staying together with Tenna; as long as Tenna was with him, he would be happy. He would've been fine with staying in TV World and just being a TV host there, but he and Tenna had another dream.

The last line here is likely referring to Spamton, I've been told that the Japanese version actually says as such, so only the lines about technology and "making it big" are relevant here. I believe he's referring to the robot body designed by Mettaton.

It would make sense for him to be referencing an already established element, especially one that is technology and which Spamton talked about as something that would make him "big" (and set him free). Both Spamton NEO's dialogue on the Normal Route and Tenna's Chapter 5 cutscene emphasize the idea of being big together, and in Spamton's case, specifically becoming big together through using the robot body. Tenna has lines in which he uses the term "NEO", specifically in all caps, which suggest that he knows at least some information about the robot, which must've come from Spamton, since he didn't have a mysterious benefactor telling him things, and he has likely never been to the mansion.

Unless the file for NEO was specifically sent out through spam emails at some point - which is highly unlikely, I doubt there's even a second copy of it - there's no reason why Spamton should be able to interact with it or possess it, and yet he can, so it's not much of a stretch to believe Tenna could use it too. We know at least some forms of magic are skills that can be learned, like healing; we've also seen Darkners turn into items unrelated to their purpose, like Spamton transforming into his glasses or Jevil transforming into a scythe, and it's possible this can be learned. Tenna's specific wording makes me think that's exactly what the plan was: Spamton was going to teach him how to transform in a way that allowed him to "plug in" and "use technology" to "make it big". This was going to happen after they had signed their contract, but they were interrupted.

Since Spamton learned of NEO through his benefactor, if Tenna knew this, I think this may have been why he thought picking up the phone was his chance to become a big shot: he thought the person on the phone was going to help both of them become NEO. I also believe he had a delayed reaction and didn't realize that Spamton had panicked until after he had picked up the phone. The phone being undamaged in any way, but its handset being on the floor, implies that Tenna dropped it as well and likely hasn't touched it since; therefore, I think it's likely that the phone has always been unplugged, and noticing this may have been what prompted Tenna to realize that something terrible was happening, just as Mike had suspected and tried to warn them about.

All versions of the Spamton NEO battle reference Tenna in some way. Notably, if he's defeated by snapping his wires and the background changes to his painting of the Light World sky as he celebrates seemingly being close to freedom, the track "A Real Boy!" doesn't use his individual leitmotif, but rather his and Tenna's shared leitmotif, "HEY EVERY !". They dreamed of using the robot body to become so big they would see past the dark and look into "heaven" together. And aside from being a reference to Pinocchio, Spamton's wish to become a "real boy" is reminiscent of trans men's desire to be recognized as their gender, adding to the transmasculine coding of NEO and becoming free through obtaining it.

Considering the existence of Mettaton NEO in Undertale, Deltarune's Mettaton likely called his dream body "NEO" as well, but I find it interesting that it's only referred to that way by Spamton and in the context of the Spamton NEO battle (and Tenna's use of the term "NEO" references it implicitly). Although Swatch helped Mettaton create the robot and greatly values it, he never refers to it by a name outside of just calling it a robot, and the dialogue prompt in his shop also just calls it a robot. It seems that the only people who refer to it as "NEO" are those to whom it represents freedom. For Mettaton, freedom meant transitioning to the robot body and living that way; for Spamton and Tenna, it meant using the body to escape the Dark World, or at least get a glimpse of "heaven", though since Spamton actually got to possess NEO for a time, we know that he also experienced euphoria from having the body itself.

(The only use of the term "NEO" that I can recall outside of references to the robot is Jevil's line "THE TRUE AND NEO CHAOS!". Jevil believes he's already free, and his use of the term further connects it to the idea of freedom. To "become NEO" is to become free, and he likely picked up the term through Spamton using it in reference to the robot, since they knew each other.)

It's important to note the transmasculine coding inherent to the robot. It was created as a visual representation of a trans man's dream body, and of the two men who saw it as their ticket to freedom, at least one is definitely trans; it's not a stretch to believe that the other is likely trans too. This wouldn't even be Tenna's only connection to Mettaton's transition; if the TV is given to Mettaton in Chapter 4, he will use it to watch a music video that causes an "awakening" in him, most likely related to his transition, since that's the major focus of his story. To be more specific, Mettaton had already dreamed of becoming a male robot and a star, but he had given up on it in the past, as it seemed unattainable (which created the Shadow Crystal found inside NEO), but seeing the music video reawakens that dream in him; I would guess someone in the music video might resemble his desired look.

I'll note that I believe the TV likely isn't required for Mettaton's transition to happen; given his cousin's inclusion in Chapter 5 and his preexisting knowledge of what he wants, he probably just needs her to tell him about the Dark World and bring him there. But I still find it interesting that giving him the TV on the specific day he asked for entertainment connects the TV, and thus Tenna, to transmasculinity by reminding a trans man of his transition dream.

Spamton's defiance of his assigned purpose isn't limited to a desire to escape the Dark World. As an Addison, he's supposed to be a scammer who's unconcerned about his products being useless or even harmful to people, but S.Potion and B.ShowBowtie show that he used to sell good products when he was able to; he genuinely wanted to give his customers a good deal. He's generally shown to care a lot about others through the depth of his attachments and his usage of healing magic. Nothing about his purpose suggests he should know healing magic, but it has been established as a trainable skill, implying that he actively chose to learn it and get good at it; S.Potion shows that his interest in healing dates back to at least his successful era, if not earlier. As an ad, Spamton's job is to sell things, but he wanted to be a TV host instead and learned performance skills; he likely couldn't abandon his purpose entirely, but he wanted to make it secondary to being a TV host.

While it's easy to see why Spamton doesn't want to be stuck as spam mail - something unwanted, unloved and disposable by design - it's interesting that Tenna wanted to escape his purpose too, and he was actively asking Spamton to share his secret so they could escape together.

He was once a beloved household TV, the whole family would gather to watch it... but this wasn't fulfilling for him. He tells the Lightners he was happy just being watched, but deep down he knows it's not true; he has simply given up on the idea that he could be anything more than an object, so he pretends to be one, and just being watched is what a TV is "supposed" to want and "supposed" to be content with. When speaking to Ralsei at the end of Chapter 3, he only tepidly pushed back on the idea of accepting death, but not on the fundamental idea that he's just an object and it would be acceptable to throw him away if he became obsolete. He doesn't believe he has worth as a person and thinks he has to be useful to justify his existence, and he's used to being miserable and settling for bad options, so all he asked of the Lightners was to let him survive by giving him away to someone.

In Chapter 5, as he's starting to realize that staying in Castle Town may be an option (and thus his options are "new owner or Castle Town" and not "new owner or death"), he's no longer so desperate, or even that enthusiastic, about the idea of just being someone's TV again. Having a new owner wouldn't fix his loneliness, as he can't communicate or form real bonds with Lightners in the Light World and would be separated from all the Darkners he knows, and it would mean losing the greater autonomy he has when a Dark Fountain is open, as well as put him at risk of being thrown away again. If Toriel could throw him away after so many years despite him still being functional, what's stopping the new Lightner from eventually doing the same?

He wishes to be more than just an object, even if it's an appreciated one, because being an object isn't fulfilling, on top of being a precarious existence. He wants to travel, and he wants to have his own family. He's still keeping the pipis, he's still keeping the nose he copied from Spamton and still wearing the matching suit, and he has outright stated that he will never forget Spamton. Whether he's kept in Castle Town or given away, this won't change. Their time together was the best period of Tenna's life, where he got to be fully himself and was deeply beloved by the only person who truly understood him. He will never forget their dream, and he will always carry its shards; if they're reunited, those shards can be put back together, and they can live their dream of lifelong partnership.

Spam emails and a CRT TV aren't really "supposed" to interact at all, but they became very close and wanted to stay together forever, and it's notable that being together inspired them to become a matching pair, changing their appearances towards the same end goal, like how meeting another trans person, particularly one transitioning in the same direction, can give someone more confidence to pursue their transition. While there are other trans people around on a literal level, these two being the only ones to understand each other can work as an allegory for how it can be hard to find another trans person, since trans people are a small percentage of the population; there's also the additional layer of them being autistic (as I've talked about in another lengthy analysis), which is another reason why it's hard for them to find someone who gets them.

It meant a lot for both of them to meet another autistic trans man, who also knew the particular struggles and trauma of being a Darkner and yearned for real autonomy, and thus understood them in a way no one else has before or since. With their shared desire to escape the confines of their assigned roles, and them actually planning to do that through the same transmasculine-coded robot body, them being a T4T couple would make a lot of sense.

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