Underlust (AU wiki #1)
This is the first entry in an ongoing project of compiling information about various "mainstream" undertale aus. While both undertale-au wiki and undertale-au-fanon wikis exist, they don't always quite have all the information I want, and also do not focus much on history, or if the originator is still around.
This post will discuss fontcest and frans, which I also ship.
Anything other than strict factual accounts is my personal opinion on the AU.
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1. Overview
Underlust was created in 2015 by tumblr user nsfwshamecave, whose blog is now disused. Initially her personal headcanons for an "undertail" au, it rapidly gained popularity and began to grow its own lore, namely that everyone except Mettaton was horny and obsessed with sex. This matched with the initial drawings, which were of Sans and Papyrus having sex with each other.
(cw: rape) The first comic, ie. "canon" Underlust, focused on the developing relationship between Mettaton and Papyrus, as well as Mettaton's recovery from sexual assault, and his discomfort in having a "sexy" body created by Alphys. Mettaton was a performer, and Papyrus a naive but well-meaning sexy monster who wanted to join the royal harem, as opposed to the royal guard. As a side plot, Sans slowly developed a relationship with Grillby, whose club he worked at as a stripper or possibly was just a patron.
The second comic focused on Frisk, the fallen human (in this AU, an adult and asexual) and Rosie the Rose, this au's Asriel reincarnation. The intended plot of the comic was for Frisk to show the monsters the power of love, not sex, after the monsters were injected with Chara's soul ability, LUST. Chara was by that time long dead. The desire for these injections was caused by low fertility among the monsters.
This backstory is a notable departure from the earliest Underlust art, which consist mainly of lust!Sans and lust!Papyrus interacting with OCs and other au versions of Sans and Papyrus (namely Underfell and Underswap). Is important to note that six years ago, tumblr had not banned explicit sexual art or driven off large chunks of its userbase.
2. Plot Summary
1st Comic (cw: rape)
Mettaton is a performer who has to endure a lot of sexual harassment from his fans. One day, he is gang raped by an anonymous group of humanoid monsters, permanently cracking his soul and fusing him into a body he doesn't quite like.
He begins to receive sincere, non-sexual harasser fan letters from a mysterious "P", who turns out to be Papyrus, a skeleton monster who wants to join the royal harem but has been rejected by Toriel for being too kind. Over the course of the comic, Papyrus and Mettaton grow close, and begin to date.
2nd Comic
Only a few pages were drawn before the author went on permanent hiatus.
Frisk falls into the Undergrown, finds Rosie the Rose, who agrees to travel with them. They find Toriel, who doesn't want to be touched, and is very upset and traumatized. That is where the comic ends.
3. Characters (all images used are by nsfwshamecave)
Papyrus--called Pink, a few other things, by the fandom. More submissive than his brother, will have sex with anyone but falls in love with Mettaton. Pink ectoplasm. Wants to join the royal harem because everyone loves them.
Sans--called Lust by the fandom
Horny, passionate, with a tendency towards domination. Does not want his brother to join the Royal harem. Works as a sex worker at Grillby's. Developing a relationship with Grillby. Purple ectoplasm.
Mettaton
Has a cracked soul and eye from being sexually assaulted. Works as a performer and deals with a lot of sexual harassment. Shy, reserved, slowly falls in love with Papyrus over a series of letters.
Toriel
Presented in two ways by the original author. First as the dominant Queen, running the royal harem (headed up by Undyne) and specifically domming her husband, though with a sad side as she lost her child very young. The second is as an isolated, traumatized figure in the ruins, frightened by touch and wanting to keep Frisk away from herself.
Alphys
Royal scientist. Gave Mettaton his lewd body, and made it slightly less lewd after his assault. Cracks crass jokes. Overtly cruel and sexual at times. Responsible for the actual LUST injections, potentially. (That's a bit complicated, as underlust Gaster appears as a side drawing and the "canon" of Underlust changed a few times)
Undyne
Has a few appearances; will try to edit this back in, but isn't discussed much in the original canon.
Asgore
Grillby
https://www.tumbex.com/nsfwshamecave.tumblr/post/144527804876/for-all-of-you-who-were-asking-to-see-underlust
The submissive husband to queen Toriel. What happened to him before the second comic is unknown.
Gaster
Sans's boyfriend. Runs the strip joint.
(nsfw link) https://www.tumbex.com/nsfwshamecave.tumblr/post/140481293986/im-just-gunna-leave-this-here-rolls-away
Not much is known. This is his canon design
https://www.tumbex.com/nsfwshamecave.tumblr/post/140771255596/underlust-gaster-om-my-golly-gosh-have-i
Frisk
Frisk is asexual and would have "taught the monsters that love is more powerful than sex" if the second comic had continued.
https://www.tumbex.com/nsfwshamecave.tumblr/post/150790883236/here-they-are-underlust-frisk-and-chara-now
Chara
Chara had LUST and did a series of terrible things. Possibly did some type of dominatrix stuff? Like with Toriel, their personality and role changed drastically over the course of nsfwshamecave's control of the fandom.
Flowey is now Rosie the Rose, little is known about him other than that he is small and adorable and presumably the dead monster child from one of the earlier ask comics.
Fandom tends to focus the most on Sans, who is often shipped with Underfell!Sans. This has led to a weird dichotomy, where people will express fondness for Underlust Sans but hatred for the AU for "lewding minors" despite the creator's repetition that everyone is 18+ (fandom is kind of terrible like that).
4. Fandom
I may make another post collecting all of the Lust ship names and ship children, but there are a lot of those and that would make this post unwieldly.
For the side of the fandom that isn't focused on proving how much more virtuous they are than the original creator, the art continues to be good. A lot of it has moved to twitter, given the tumblr nsfw purge. They tend not to follow the original plot of the comics, though some fics do follow Mettaton's original backstory.
5. Personal Opinion
I really like the aesthetics of this au. I like the fact that it started out as a bunch of horny fontcest drawings. I am less comfortable with the implication of "love over sex," as well as the apparent movement of the original creator to a sort of sex negativity in general. I wish Frisk's asexuality wasn't treated as some sort of anti-sex field, as I know many asexual people who are interested in sex.
