Recently, Rift of the Necrodancer posted this, seemingly teasing an update of some sort.
If you're following this blog, you certainly are thinking the same thing everyone else is. Muffet is getting added?!?! This is still unconfirmed, but it did make me think it would be cool to go through and talk about all the media where Muffet does appear! And at the end, we will use what we know to predict what Rift of the NecroDancer will be doing!
Grab some cider, and join me this Muffet Monday as we dive in to every piece of commercial media Muffet appears in!
Now, I fully expect there to be some disagreement over what counts as commercial media. My only qualifier is something I feel would have required a license to do. So I won't be mentioning fan-made games, music, or animations. Later on, we will also look at one piece of commercial media that only made a slight reference to Muffet, likely nothing that required licensing or permission.
First and foremost.
🕷 Muffet originates from Undertale, released in 2015. Unlike most Undertale characters, she was designed by Michelle Czajkowski, more famous as the creator of the webcomic Ava's Demon. The top left picture here is Czajkowski's concept art.
As of the time of this post's creation, Muffet does not appear in Deltarune.
Although this one interaction seems to be a cute reference towards Muffet. I, among others, am holding out hope that she will appear in Chapter 5.
🕷Muffet also makes an appearance on a few pieces of Fangamer merchandise. Here she is advertising their collection of mugs, which are of Toriel or Grillby.
Here is her Fangamer poster, and tarot design. As of the time I'm writing this post, the tarot deck is the only piece of official Muffet merch still being sold on their website.
I've always found it odd that Muffet is given the tarot for Temperance. Does that fit her? I have to imagine that this was the result of them just not having a character for Temperance and just giving it to her to fill slots. Either way, lovely art.
I bought the poster when it first released, and it still hangs directly behind my computer. Persisting across multiple moves and about a decade of time.
Now, here's a special one.
🕷 Fangamer sold this design on a T-shirt. It's cute! But why do I say it's special?
This design was drawn by Michelle Czajkowski, Muffet's creator! As far as I'm aware, this is the only time she has drawn Muffet aside from the initial concept art. How special!
It's fun to see. It seems like Czajkowski is leaning into Muffet's in-game characteristics more. Compared to the initial design, Muffet is much shorter here, which seems to line up with how short her overworld sprite suggests she is. We also see her pet, which I believe was added by Toby and Temmie. Very cute! It's like a further revision on her design.
🕷One last thing before we leave the official material. Fangamer and Toby Fox released two volumes of Line stickers. Muffet got one sticker in each set!
Okay, time to see where else Muffet makes her appearances! This will be both more and less than you're expecting, I think.
Firstly...
🕷Spider Dance was added in Just Shapes and Beats' 1.6 The Lost Chapter update. This level features a very distinct pink spider design.
However, JSaB fans have carried the torch, adopting this design as being Muffet herself!
No doubt you've seen some of these here, I've definitely shared the ones I've found.
🕷 Next up, Sound Voltex is a game I am mostly unfamiliar with, but in 2022 in their EXCEED GEAR update, Spider Dance was added!
I was quite excited at first. As far as I could find, Sound Voltex has special cover art for each of their songs!
Purely for example, heres one for a song called Binary Star
So when I heard Spider Dance was here? I hunted for that cover art like you wouldn't believe.
And what I found... was...
"Thats it? It's just her game sprite twice over a blank background?!"
Naturally, I wasn't really jumping for joy over this. But, as a Muffet fan, I am happy to see Spider Dance being shown so much love. The good word of Muffet spreads farther.
🕷 One more game to talk about. in 2019 GROOVE COASTER added an Undertale pack! This was a paid DLC for the game, and added Spider Dance!
Unfortunately, Muffet doesn't appear on the cover. But no matter, let's check out the game!
I... Wow. I can't believe every other character has their sprite on their songs except Muffet... Perhaps I was too harsh on you, Sound Voltex...
Well, the songs have unique visuals. Surely, she must be...
Oh, hi Nabstablook. I bet any Nabstablook-appreication blog is quite excited to see you here, I'm just wondering where Muffet is in the level that is her theme song?
I guess everybody who is subscribes to the Muffet is a ghost theory would be happy to see this. Should I do a Muffet Monday for that?
🕷 So, Back to Rift of the NecroDancer...
This tweet, which was a reply to this, was posted about a teased character update. Now, let's not get too excited, I really really doubt this character is Muffet.
My prediction? April 9th, they'll announce an update which will add a new character (Probably an original one?) And in this update, I'm guessing, will add Spider Dance as a song. The cropped bake sale photo is obviously a nod to Muffet, but I think it's just one in a pile of cute and fun references, and Spider Dance is a fan-favorite Undertale song, so this would definitely be worth hyping up.
So, April 9th, Rift of the Necrodancer update announcement, Spider Dance added as a song.
The logic simply being that every other commercial game Muffet appears in is actually just Spider Dance appearing. I'd love if this was something bigger, but just looking at the pattern the answer seems obvious.
Bonus: Reddit User Misty-Bay pointed out this detail in an episode of Fionna and Cake! Obvious Muffet reference. I personally have yet to confirm this, as I'm not terribly familiar with this show, but based on some preliminary searches I believe this is from Season 2 Episode 4.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, comments, corrections, or topics, feel free to send me an ask!
the opening sequence of my game, Laments of a Platinum Rose. the first ~50 seconds is just listening to the title screen music, so feel free to skip that if you want straight into the intro.
Theres a better world where Spotify is ~$5 a month, doesn't have AI trash branded as features, has a toggle for smart shuffle, and the CEO is still wealthy; just not so wealthy he can donate over a billion dollars to training AI to kill people.
With that being said. Use spotdl to download your playlist. Try out Musicolet or Poweramp as mobile players instead. Use the money you're saving to buy merch instead. You'll spend less money and your favorite artists will make a lot more.
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