ASL Tutorial is Great, Here’s Why
So, I’m a HUGE Handplates nerd. It’s my favorite UT AU. Maybe about two weeks ago or something, I finished reading ASL Tutorial by @kurokkuwaakaa-to-yonda, and I LOVED IT! It’s pretty much @zarla-s “Handplates” as a fanfic, except it’s an AU of it. So, I’m about to ramble to show my appreciation for ASL Tutorial, and there will be spoilers! If you wanna read it yourself, you can go here. Yeah, I’m probably late to all the good stuff again and this fanfic may not be relevant, but who cares about that! Here we go.
Basically ASL is an AU were the UT gang in post-pacifist decides to head back into the Underground because there are “still monsters in the CORE” who haven’t been taken to the surface, all in the Handplates universe. The “official” description for the fic goes, “The heart of a pacifist is put to the test, and so is the game’s coding, when the child returns to the underground. Their aim was the Core and its creator. But that was only the first step and arguably the easiest one...” (And I have to say this is 100% accurate.) I like to say its “the gang’s all here!” except in the Handplates universe, which definitely causes problems.
The cast of this AU ofc starts with the “I’ve got plenty of excuses for my horrible logic” scientist, Dr. Gaster. And boi has he not changed a bit! (Except towards the end a little.) You’d think about 4 years in the void woulda changed a man? Nah. He still likes to cause pain, problems, arguments, sometimes wants to go back to his “experimenting” days, and still is complicated as heck. Then we got “thing 1″ and “thing 2″ as Sans and Papyrus. They’re here bc they’re also essential to the AU, and its pretty hard to see them suddenly remember everything about their past. Sans’ reaction is pretty expected, but Papyrus? Well, its pretty gosh darn depressing. (Paps: “Lets go save Dr. Ga-” *suddenly remembers everything* *literally breaks down*.) Next we have the rash fighting fish, Undyne! A very necessary character imo. Since they all enter a very strange, possibly dangerous world, they’re gonna need some back up. That’s exactly what she was used for. Then there’s the sarcastic smiling weed, Flowey. Just there for more angst. And to convince Frisk to do risky stuff for “fun.” He really is a pain. Surprisingly (maybe not), the ASL cast included the void demon child, Chara. Not gonna say too much about her as it’s a lot of spoilers, but god she was a nightmare. Lastly, we have the main pacifist-loving determined child, Frisk! She pretty much went through hell and back to rescue someone who really, really didn’t deserve her kindness. And she went through so much. Like, absolutely everything imaginable. Become non-exsistant and watch her friends forget her, save a bunch of “followers” only for them to die right after, almost died herself fighting Gaster, watch the skelebros struggle as she continues her mission, become temporarily traumatized after realizing everything Gaster did to the bros, be thrown into the CORE ITSELF- okay you get my point. It only gets worse. Much worse. I’ve never felt more connected to her as a character. Poor girl.
Now there are a lot of reasons why ASL is an epic read. Here are some of the main reasons. It’s hella accurate to the Handplates series. Like, pretty much the essence of the AU is captured in ASL. It’s full of angst, lots of pain in all forms, dark, and suspenseful. Characters used from the AU stayed true to their original self (or at least, their feelings.) The storybuilding is done excellently, like Handplates. All the references to the series with its dialogue and events are placed well. All in all, how is ASL not written by Zarla?! Also, how many times can you describe pain in a new way?! If Octo was told to write a 30 page essay on “pain,” well, I think they would have already accomplished that. ;) It’s amazing tbh. Every time Frisk feels pain, it’s done a little bit different to avoid repetition. (Teach me your ways!) ASL also introduces the idea that the pacifist route isn’t all “rainbows and sunshine.” I mean, everyone is out to kill Frisk no matter if it’s a pacifist route or not. The dark elements behind the pacifist route and all the moments Frisk was faced with a potential human killer are shown in the nightmares at the end of ASL. Just gotta remind ourselves sometimes that UT never has perfect routes. Lastly, gotta love those rhyming chapters! It’s just a big poem in the end lol. And they all fit to the chapter’s main theme somehow, I’m impressed!
I... I think that’s everything. But seriously, I was into this fanfic. The end wasn’t perfect, but it was still great to know Frisk and all her gang got out of the Void with Gaster. Whether he liked it or not, who cares! Frisk girl, you didn’t give up once. You stayed completely DETERMINED through the entire ordeal. I applaud. I just hope she ends up getting the Tutorial she wanted from the beginning in this AU. And for Gaster to go back to who he once was...
Thanks for reading! ✨(Told yah it was long.)