Okay, I am not a good analysis person, but I have seen several takes that destroy Spamton's backstory in wake of the new Pink dialogue, so I wanted to hopefully course-correct that. The new lore we got does not drastically change Spamton's backstory, but adds onto it.
Mainly: Spamton is not currently hiding from FRIEND. He did not drastically change his appearance himself to hide from them. However, I think it's reasonable to say he was possibly chased at some point, as he provides advice on dealing with cats in his QnA and all cat element defending armors are related to him, with the dealmaker tied for the most reduction. In that way, he is doing what he can to protect Kris and co. from FRIEND, who is now targeting them.
Also, FRIEND is very much separate from Mike, and Mike may even have been or still is hiding from FRIEND, but that's more speculative.
(Here is a tumblr post with all of Pink's new dialogue, as a refresher)
Firstly, the appearance change line is most likely referring to someone (or multiple someones?) other than Spamton. The way he refers to being made into a living puppet heavily implies someone else turned him into one, along with his general hatred of being a puppet and desire for a new body (NEO). Spamton did not alter his appearance himself, though perhaps it could have made FRIEND lose attention regardless? We don't know for sure, as Pink doesn't say if changing your appearance actually works; we just assume it can because the cats aren't “too smart.”
Now, you could say Spamton's glasses are him changing his appearance to hide. However, if he did do this, it wouldn't have helped him escape. Placing the dealmaker on any of your party members does not prevent FRIEND from continuing to follow the party, who are being chased, so it probably wouldn't have helped Spamton on its own in that regard. However, his glasses do provide the best defense in the game against cat element attacks, which is noteworthy. *
Now, I want to get into more speculative territory, as the benefactor, mantle holder, whoever owns FRIEND, and why Pink knew them are a whole other mystery. I think Spamton may have been chased by FRIEND after signing the contract with Tenna. It gives him a clear motive to run and not come back if he was afraid of FRIEND chasing after him. For one reason or another, he is cut off from Tenna's contact and turned into a puppet. So far, we have not seen FRIEND outside of the dark worlds, and perhaps part of Spamton's motivation in becoming NEO (and, a lightner by extension) was to escape it by getting into the light world. All his previous motivations we knew about for NEO do still exist, there is just one more motivation possibly on top of it.
Pink says the cats get bored of chasing eventually, and I think Spamton is in that category. For a guy that reacts with extreme disgust at any CRT, he has a comparatively tame reaction at the question about his thoughts on cats in his Sweepstakes QnA. However, he gives “free tool tips” about how to deal with cats by describing how items can help you defend against elemental pairs, and the first one he mentions is… puppet/cat. No one asked him to do that. Spamton is not worried about dealing with FRIEND; he already has, and he gives advice on how others can deal with them. Every armor that gives defense against puppet/cat (frayed bowtie, true tie, dealmaker, and the mannequin) is heavily related to Spamton in some way. This could be because he himself uses puppet/cat attacks, but I think both can be true at once. Interestingly, dealmaker, the item most directly connected to Spamton, gives 40% resistance, the most out of any of the puppet/cat armors. (*Both it and mannequin were nerfed to 20% in chapter 5, but I think that's just a balancing thing like twin ribbon's nerf and not lore significant? The bomb attacks are the only Pink attack not reduced by them anyways so I don't know why Toby hates us waaah)
Lastly, I wanted to talk about Mike. We didn't get any new info on Mike, but the new info about FRIEND changes things. Namely, FRIEND=Mike is pretty much deconfirmed, and I think that's a pretty popular theory? We know that both Tenna and Spamton are fond of Mike, Spamton doesn't want revenge against Mike, Mike's room existed before the fake Mike's took over, and Mike is capable of communication, as he was able to warn Tenna about creating the Contract. None of this really fits for an evil pack of cats that hunts and bites you.
I propose that Mike is his own character, and he's not evil or anything. Why he's there, how much he knows, what he looks like… all of that, I can't answer. But, I wonder if he is the one in hiding. If FRIEND is why he disappeared one day from TV World. Did he take the fall for Spamton? Is he the reason Spamton gets to walk free, albeit still horrifically transformed into a puppet? Is Spamton a puppet because he evaded FRIEND? Is this why Spamton keeps what he knows about Mike close to his chest? For Mike's safety? Did Spamton get the Dealmaker from Mike to protect Spamton against cats, or did he make them himself??? I'm writing more fanfiction than theory at this point, but I think it's quite an interesting development in the Mike mystery, and I'm fascinated to see where chapter 6 may bring us.
I do think there's a big point to be made about how Kris is currently a target of FRIEND (It's been in every chapter since 2, where we enter the ROOTS adjacent basement… hmm…), as well as them and Dess following the tail in the past, but I wanted to focus more on Spamton (and Mike, since he's connected) so I could actually finish writing this little essay. I'm unfortunately not too much of a brainrotted Delta-spiracist so I apologize if I missed any notable details. Feel free to add on.
Me: (puts the DealMaker on Kris just in case there's a single reference to Spamton in Chapter 3)
The pathetic divorced TV that's still whipped 20+ years later:
So YEAH writing my thoughts on the Spamton and Tenna content we got. Mainly:
Tenna is WAY more obsessed with Spamton than Spamton is obsessed with Tenna
Tenna's fond memories of Spamton have been tainted by his current hatred of Spamton
Tenna blames his problems on Spamton because that's easier than accepting his fate as a darkner of becoming obsolete
Tenna probably believes Spamton is more successful than ever, and would probably sympathize if he knew how poorly Spamton was actually doing
The 10 ft tall TV man is the submissive one?????
wait no delete undo control z delete delete delte dlelatefbbsjabcjowm
(Here's a YouTube video with all the nonsense I'll be referencing if you're normal and don't know what the hell I'm talking about)
It's interesting just how obsessed Tenna is? Despite the fact that Spamton thinks Tenna is the one entirely responsible for his downfall, he only mentions him a few times, and usually so vaguely we didn't even know he was referring to Tenna until chapter 3 came out. Spamton clearly found a new plan to become a big shot (becoming NEO), and while he's still very spiteful, he's somewhat moved on. He doesn't need Tenna anymore, just like he doesn't need Swatch, the addisons, or anyone else that was ever by his side. His plan doesn't involve anyone from his past.
Meanwhile, Tenna brings Spamton up repeatedly, entirely unprompted. Constantly mentioning emails, talking about how he's better than him, the Z rank room and the S rank room look like they haven't been touched since Spamton last visited, the fact that he's using the pipis Spamton gave him to mass produce TV slop, that giant Spamton head in the Susiezilla mini game—you can tell Tenna is still living in the past, and his Spamton obsession is a part of that.
Tenna also has a hatred for Spamton that seems strange considering how close they must've been. From Tenna's perspective, Spamton promised to help him become a “big shot” (I assume this is referring to helping Tenna become successful, relevant, and up-to-date with technology rather than Spamton's more metaphorical meaning when he uses the term), then rushed out after receiving a phone call, never to be seen again. This event was presumably Spamton's benefactor deciding they would no longer help him, and the reason he never came back was possibly because the laptop got taken back to the Library, or because he was getting evicted? Regardless, the last Tenna ever sees of Spamton is his face going pale, then literally running out of the room, phone still hanging off the receiver. If that was the last you saw of your business partner and friend (or lover wink wink), wouldn't you be concerned?
…And his first thought was that Spamton had purposefully scammed and ditched him? I think, given how “bright” Tenna and Spamton's smiles were in that Z rank room poster, Tenna's perspective of this event must've shifted. After all, Tenna is retelling this story 20-ish years later when he's been abandoned by the lightners for years. Aside from the Knight, Spamton is literally the only hope Tenna ever had. And, considering how Tenna's employees talk about him and his contracts in Chapter 3 (Lanino and Elnina, his 2nd in command, ditch him like five minutes after his crash out they ain't loyal 😭😭😭), he's probably been extremely isolated since Spamton (and Mike) left. He pretends that the random guys pretending to be Mike are actually Mike, because that's easier to accept than coming to terms with the fact that the real Mike is long gone.
I think, in the same way Spamton blames his problems on everyone else, Tenna blames all his problems on Spamton. He probably believes that Spamton is still the richest salesman in Cyber City, that he's more successful than ever while Tenna rots in a broken home. He doesn't know that Spamton's been puppetified (either horrifically transformed or agonizingly burned alive in acid depending on what theory you like more), evicted from his home, and has been living on the streets for literal decades. Not to mention Spamton's verbal and visual glitches, which very well could hurt given how much he mentions being in pain in his dialogue.
Chapter 3 definitely showed that Tenna is an antagonist, not a villain, unlike what Spamton would have you believe. The only reason he fights is because he's desperate for attention, and also because of the Knight's instructions (which he also only followed because he's desperate for attention). I don't think he would hate Spamton if he knew what Spamton went through, which made that shitpost scene of him getting blasted with foam that much more heartbreaking. Spamton has been through so damn much that his voice and appearance is entirely unrecognizable from the man he once was. I know it was a joke, but Tenna literally assumed he was some weird, feral animal. Spamton could pull out his birth certificate, passport, driver’s license, social security number, whatever, and Tenna probably still wouldn't believe him, because his image of Spamton is completely different from the real man.
From Spamton's perspective, it's interesting how quick his tune changed when he saw that Tenna kept the pipis. It makes me wonder if he really does believe Tenna was responsible for his downfall, or if he tries to trick himself into believing it because it's easier than accepting his fate. Otherwise, like Tenna, I wouldn't be surprised if Spamton grew to resent Tenna the longer he went without seeing him. Even if Tenna was already losing popularity by the time Spamton left, he still had so much more than Spamton had. Spamton started from the bottom, but Tenna always had his giant TV studio, always had employees, never had to worry about when his next paycheck was. Spamton was born to fail. Tenna was born at the height of his own popularity. It's not surprising that Spamton would envy Tenna, and it's not surprising that he wishes their roles were reversed. Though, perhaps seeing Tenna all these years later, desperate, pathetically lonely, still obsessed with Spamton, and begging for freedom made Spamton a little sympathetic.
Overall, the similarities between Spamton and Tenna makes their dynamic very enjoyable to me. Both have been abandoned, and still perceive and hate the other as the other's old successful self. Their similarities also make their differences more fascinating. Part of why I like Spamton is his perseverance. His situation is easily 100 times worse than Tenna's (literal homeless man that's been horribly disfigured vs. millionaire irrelevant tv host smh), yet Spamton's the one that wakes up and still works his ass off trying to reach his goals, while Tenna desperately clings to his dying dark world, bitterly living in the past rather than trying to do anything to help his situation.
I don't care if he's a murderous criminal, Spamton's a fucking inspiration. No matter how much everyone hates Spamton, no matter how much they try to erase his image, they still constantly replicate what he had. The Color Café sells his bowties, the Chapter 4 addisons try to mimic him the second they don't have jobs, and, of course, Tenna loathing yet revering him. None of these people know if Spamton's even still alive—yet the mere idea of him has influence everywhere. No matter how hard they try to scrub him from existence, they can't escape it. I like Tenna as a character, but he will never compare to Spamton's sheer influence.
Also sorry Tenna but I think you deserved getting kinkshamed by an entire audience for keeping your ex's freak ass unfertilized puppet eggs and nonconsensually feeding them to your employees
Conclusion: uuuuuh can I have a 200k words slow burn fic about these two reuniting in Castle Town with a side of overcoming their hatred and realizing how similar they are? And a drink of hijinks with Tenna refusing to recognize Spamton at first? oh yeah can I also get a Spamton NEO? Your NEO cream machine is broken? Okay……..
(Re)Introducing ANT Tenna! A once humanoid version of Tenna who got the Gregor Samsa treatment and awoke one day as a giant larva, eventually pupating into a fully grown anTV. As an extension of changing size, he can also shapeshift a little, and uses it to uncomfortably hide most of his ant features. Tenna claims that his changes are purely cosmetic and that he's still the same TV he always was, but his constant neglect of his new body's needs makes him prone to slipping into instincts when upset, and he's terrified of them fully taking over like some sort of parasite. He's based loosely on a carpenter ant and other various insects.
Full 9k word lore dump below
This version of Tenna is also paired with my Wormton AU! If you don't know what the hell a Wormton is, don't worry, these two don't meet until Castle Town so you can probably enjoy most of this anyways
They have that feral warrior cat and kitty pet dynamic
This version of Tenna is also paired with my Wormton AU! If you don't know what the hell a Wormton is, don't worry, these two don't meet until Castle Town so you can probably enjoy most of this anyways
They have that feral warrior cat and kitty pet dynamic
Sections:
Biology and life cycle of anTVs
Quick timeline of events
Tenna's backstory: getting turned and larval life
Tenna's backstory: adult anTV
Tenna's backstory: the laptop and the Mikes
Events of Chapter 3 and beyond
Possible content warnings: body horror, Tenna doing something dumb and hurting himself, the TV is an all time champion of self loathing, the typical hunting and eating of maice
Biology and Life cycle of AnTVs
As often the staple of living rooms, televisions tend to manifest as boss darkners in their dark worlds, forming an entire environment for other darkners to live within. The landscape grows with them as they age from a child-like state to an adult, shaped by what their lightners use them for. All TV darkners come with a manual (representing the light world instruction manual) with instructions on early care, maintenance, and diagrams to ensure that the boss darkner can remain as healthy as possible. CRT TVs are split into two incredibly different types of darkners depending on whether or not they possess antennae in the light world.
Humanoid TVS
Antennaless CRTs manifest as mostly humanoid darkners with TVs as their heads and bodies composed of white light. Their presence forms massive sprawling film production studios in their dark worlds, including darkners based on their channels. Their height, body shape, and personality are dictated by their size and brand in the light world. They can display a variety of projected faces at will, usually used with the intent of showing emotion. In their youth, these CRTs resemble a young humanoid, though they age significantly faster than an actual human. They take on the role of producer, director, or as hosts for shows, as well as managing the business itself.
“Turned” TVs are a phenomenon where a humanoid CRT is abruptly turned into an anTV monarch after being given a pair of antennae in the Light World. This usually occurs when they are very young, giving the dark world time to adjust, as the TV darkner usually forgets what they used to be and the underdeveloped studio soon turns completely into an ant nest. However, in the rare case that the process occurs after a TV darkner's dark world has already been fully established, the transition is… far from seamless.
AnTV Appearance
Antenna CRTS, or anTVs, take on an insectoid shape with six legs, an abdomen, a thorax, and four wings. Their bodies are semi robotic, their exterior resembling a mix of exoskeleton parts and the plastic frame of a TV. They can resemble a multitude of ant species based on the brand and model of both the TV and its antennae. AnTVs grow much larger than their humanoid counterparts, getting up to 20ft in length depending on the species. Their screens don't have visible eyes, but they do have a prominent proboscis and pair of mandibles extending from their faces. While anTVs are considered sapient, their societal structure and culture is so alien that other darkners struggle to understand them. Their primary methods of communication involve pheromones and their unique infrared language, both of which are completely undetectable to the vast majority of darkners.
Colony structure
These dark worlds form a massive ant nest that the other darkners live inside. Material and composition depends on the species, but Tenna, as a carpenter ant, would've had a nest resembling a massive chunk of wood with rooms and halls dug into it. Once a TV is set up in a lightner's home, a single anTV monarch manifests, who will be capable of producing smaller, wingless “worker” ants that run the TV channels. Each worker focuses on maintaining a certain part of the nest, representing each channel, as well as searching for food. The non-ant darkners living in the dark world take care of the “TV studio” side of things. Unlike a normal ant colony, the monarch takes on a much more active role by defending the colony against what they deem as a threat using their formidable mandibles and claws. The stationary nature of a TV in the light world means that the ants cannot forage easily, and their best source of food is “invasive” darkners that encroach upon their dark world. They are carnivorous and actively seek out prey, but will also scavenge whatever else they can.
Life cycle
The colony starts out with just a lone monarch larva. Unlike the worker ant larvae, they possess short legs, claws, little mandibles, and a false head on the tail to better defend themselves before they reach adulthood. While they can hypothetically scavenge food independently, it's in the best interest of the darkners living with them to nurture the monarch, as their presence shapes the cold, desolate landscape into a much more safe nest for the other darkners to live in. Dark worlds where the monarch dies don't tend to thrive. After a few years of growing, they pupate for several months, then emerge as adults. Adult anTVs can reach massive sizes, but possess the curious ability to shrink back down into a smaller shape, perhaps to allow them to interact more safely with their much smaller subjects. Unlike normal ants, they keep their wings for their entire life due to their stationary life style and asexual reproductive process.
Workers
Once the monarch reaches adulthood, they produce small eggs that hatch into worker grubs. These larvae are significantly smaller and almost featureless, looking closer to actual ant larvae. When they hatch, they're about the size of a chicken egg. They grow fast, reaching adulthood in just a few months. They get to about half the size of the monarch, always lacking wings. The monarch actively cares for and feeds the first brood, but they are not required to after that, as the workers can take care of it. Still, they're generally very protective of their young and show parental instincts towards even those that aren't their own. Workers maintain the nest, scavenge for food, and take care of young. They may have special roles in specific areas depending on what channel they represent, with the ones watched most by the lightners in particular gaining extra responsibilities. The workers don't live for more than a few years, and the dead are taken back to the nest and consumed for their remaining nutrients, or buried if needed to prevent the spread of disease.
Special Abilities and Features
While all TV darkners possess the ability to see infrared light (which is invisible to us) because it's what TV remotes use to send signals, anTVs also use it as a way to communicate alongside their pheromones. They use their glowing screens to send flashes of light, a language only understood by anTVs themselves. Zappers cannot perceive these signals, but they can one-way communicate with anTVs by sending their own infrared light signals. AnTVs also use infrared light from their screen to hunt in what their prey would see as total darkness.
Their screens are thin stretchy membranes covered with thousands of cells that emit light and sensors that detect light, acting as eyes. The screen can display video, but the proboscis will always be in the way of it, warping the image unless seen from head-on.
Their sharp mandibles are used to tear and pull food into their mouths, while their pointy teeth are more so used to clean bits of flesh off the serrated edges of the mandibles, or to hold things in place. They don't have tongues, but the flexibility of their mandibles allows them to effectively clean their teeth.
Like humanoid TVs, anTVs do still have a cord attached to the back of their head, although it travels inside their abdomen rather than hanging freely like a tail. For the monarchs, it can extend somewhat from their abdomen and be used as an actual plug, but also functions as their ovipositor. The plugs on channel workers have no function and cannot extend.
AnTVs breathe through vents throughout their exoskeleton that act as spiracles. Their bodies include both organic parts and plastic and metal components, including some completely robotic internal structures. Many of the wires that transport “blood” are partially visible from the outside. All of their inorganic components can grow and heal like the organic ones. Their partially robotic structure makes them more hardy than their humanoid counterparts, as they can potentially have limbs reattach and heal if the wires are reconnected properly.
Only the monarch anTV has magical abilities. They commonly use electric or star type attacks, and their ability to change size is also tied to their magic. They generally use magic attacks less than their humanoid counterparts because of the natural weapons they have, including their mandibles, claws, and general strength and size.
Tenna's Backstory - Larval Life
Timeline:
1992: Tenna is “born” as a humanoid TV darkner
1994: Tenna is turned into an anTV, considered about 16 years old in TV years
1996: Pupation starts late in year
1997: Tenna emerges, considered an adult anTV now. Asriel is born soon after.
2002: Kris is born
2004: Kris is adopted
2013: Dess goes missing, Kris is 11 and Asriel is 16
2014: The Divorce™
2015: Asriel starts college. TV is unplugged.
2018: Game events take place, Tenna is 26 years old now, but considered middle aged in TV years. Kris is 16 and Asriel is 21.
Early life
Tenna first came into existence as a wedding gift for Toriel and Asgore from the Holidays in 1992. As a literal baby, he didn't have a name other than his serial number, but gained the name Anthony at some point, which was then shortened to Ant. He was created without antennae, and manifested as a humanoid CRT darkner. Tenna was primarily cared for by the weather duo, who were the darkners mostly in command, as the weather channel was the one most frequently used by the Dreemurr couple. He grew quickly, soon taking on his full-time role as the leader of TV World.
The Dreemurrs never previously had a TV, so they didn't use it a lot at first. However, they started gaining interest by 1994, and ended up buying an antenna attachment for it to get access to channels. By this point, Tenna was around 16 in “TV years.” He watched Asgore install the antennae onto his light world form, wondering how it would affect his studio. Would it expand to fit sets for the new channels? What new darkners might he meet? However, as the current shoot went on, he started to feel more and more ill. He ended up leaving early with the excuse of preparing for the new channels, but could barely think with the pounding headache in his ray tube. That night, he curled up on the bathroom floor of his room, the light of his body flickering weakly as a small pair of antennae forced their way out of the top of his casing. Flexing, twitching, organic unlike every other part of him, yet responding to touch and the pain of him trying to rip them out. Exhausted, scared, and not really knowing what to do, he crawled into bed and collapsed under the blankets after pulling them tight around himself.
That morning, when Ant Tenna woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible insect. His arms? Legs? Both? No, there were more than four—twitched uselessly at his blanket as grubby claws got caught on the threads. Something moved in his mouth, like grasping fingers scraping against his teeth, flinching as the cold outside air touched them. He could still feel the antennae that had started it all, trembling in his fear. Tenna tried to scream, for help, for anything, but his tongue was gone, and nothing resembling speech came out. He could still feel the phantom sensation of tears beginning to pool, but his new body was incapable of crying.
All the other darkners heard was nightmarish screeches and chitters coming from Tenna's room. As they called his name, the sounds only got louder as they heard a dull thud of something large falling onto the floor. At the employees’ various words of confusion and fear, the sound quieted until all they could hear were sniffles that were vaguely familiar. Once someone finally found the spare key in Tenna's office and his door was opened, all they found was some horrible monstrosity curled up on the ground. It was grub-like, with a segmented body, sharp claws upon its six legs, serrated mandibles sticking out of its sharp toothed mouth, and… a CRT television as a head, in the same shades of lavender as their boss.
It took them a little bit to fully accept it as the truth, but a while of the creature being non-aggressive and a simple “once for no, twice for yes” game confirmed that this thing was somehow Tenna. Unbeknownst to all of them, he had turned into an anTV larva in the second instar stage of growth. Tenna himself was terrified. Most of his mobility had been taken away overnight, and he couldn't even speak. Strange instincts plagued him as the new parts of his body moved without input. He was sickened by his gross, bloated state, completely unfit to continue his duties.
Aftermath
Tenna did eventually learn to speak with his new mouth. He couldn't figure out how to get rid of the lisp caused by the rather annoying mandibles, but he still mostly sounded like his old self. Movement got easier as he begrudgingly adjusted to his new body. Was this his life now? His employees couldn't run his studio for him forever like this—It wasn't feasible! Though… some started to speculate that he might be a “caterpillar” of sorts, causing his mind to run wild with the thoughts of what horrible insect he might turn into. With what he already looked like, he doubted he would turn into some beautiful, harmless butterfly. He couldn't decide whether being stuck like this forever or changing into something else was worse.
The new instincts he seemed to have turned out to be more… concerning than not. He didn't even notice the sudden preference for meat until someone pointed it out. And, once he started avoiding it more, the cravings only got worse. This was what those big awful mandibles were for, wasn't it? This wasn't him, it wasn't! There was… one particular incident that haunted him. Once, a fly had gotten into his room. Its buzzing was starting to grate on his nerves, making his antennae flick angrily (Apparently he hears with them now. And smells with them. He hates it). Before he knew it, he pounced on the fly, snapping it up with his jaws and devouring it in one satisfying crunch… between his… teeth. Did he…? Why did he do that!? What was WRONG with him? He tried to spit it out, but it was already long gone. Eaten live. Why? For… annoying him? What if that was anything but a fly? What if that was an employee? He couldn't be acting like this, like some sort of terrible, awful… beast!
Despite his attempts to keep everything under control, Tenna couldn't stop, or even notice, everything. Still, just the knowledge of every part of him that was changing, even if a change was harmless, was horrifying. He started sleeping in a pile of blankets and pillows on the ground due to his bed being difficult to access, unknowingly creating a nest. He also developed a big sweet tooth, but didn't see it as worrisome as the meat cravings were. He'd discovered how nice it was to… gnaw on wood. Not to eat it, but to carve through it with his mandibles. But… he didn't really have anything but his own furniture to chew, and he really didn't want his employees to know about his weird new craving. It seemed pretty harmless, but he just tried to ignore it.
Tenna attempted to return to his duties, but he couldn't exactly do a lot in his current state. He figured out how to hold a pen again, but his legs were so short he couldn't see a thing he was writing, so it was useless. The weather duo ended up taking most of his duties despite his protests. Tenna was still technically in charge of the big decisions, but they kept the place running and functional. And honestly, with all the new darkners they were getting with the new channels, Tenna didn't really want to be seen as this shambling grubby thing, even if he knew he couldn't hide forever. So, he tried to keep relations with newer darkners limited. It wasn't the most sustainable solution, but… he wouldn't have to worry about that much longer.
Tenna's Backstory - Adult AnTV
Pupation
Tenna had molted twice since he was first turned, and hated every single second of both occurrences. He'd insisted on doing it alone so no one would have to see something so gross. Even more disturbing than molting itself was the fact that he was growing. When he'd first been turned, he'd been about 6 feet long, about where his height used to be. But, then he grew up to 10 feet, and now he'd reached 14 feet. He barely fit in his doorway, and only because his dark world had started warping in accommodation. How much bigger was he going to get?
That answer never came, as in the late half of 1996, instincts stronger than ever before overtook him. In the middle of the night, he gnawed deeper and deeper into the wall as if his life depended on it. For some reason, it felt like it did. He wasn't thinking straight, not until he had dug an entire tunnel into the wall, blocked off the entrance with his nest's materials, and slowly fell into a comatose state. After a short but frantic search, and a whole lot of guesswork, the darkners of TV World determined that Tenna was most likely pupating. Although relieved he wasn't dead and that their dark world would be okay, there wasn't much they could do but let Tenna be. They kept his room clean and frequently checked up on him to make sure nothing was going wrong, otherwise trying to run the studio as best they could. With Tenna's… condition, they were pretty used to maintaining the place almost alone, anyways.
Early into 1997, Tenna would finally emerge. The process was slow, his mind feeling like sludge as it focused on the sole goal of escaping his restrictive prison. He shuddered as the cold air embraced his form, long antennae slowly unfurling from where they were soaked against his head. As he crawled out, claws gripping at the soft blankets beneath him as his wings splayed out—as his… his……
Clarity struck him harshly as he started to register sensation. He felt nauseous, clenching his stomach, except the thing that actually clenched instead was behind him. His neck twisted downwards, far more flexible than it had previously been, letting him stare down at the pair of clawed hands holding him up, colored in the same shades of purple and violet as the CRT he was supposed to be. Gross spiky hairs branched off the back entirely like, well, an insect.
His legs felt weak as he twisted his head around, staring at the massive pair of segmented wings that had sprouted out of his back, wrinkles smoothing out as they dried. Then, the primary source of his discomfort, the large abdomen now attached to the back of him. He felt even more sick as he both watched and felt it pulsate, a feeling that only grew worse as it clenched and continued to twitch in response to his dread.
Tenna tripped over his own legs as his panic rose, starting to hyperventilate as he tightly gripped the blankets below him, antennae sniffing the fabric softener that must've recently been used on them. He still couldn't truly cry, only sob as the light of his screen flickered in distress. Every new sensation of his body brought a new wave of horror. This was worse. This was so much worse than being a useless grub.
An assortment of employees who had heard the commotion opened the door and rushed in, having left it unlocked. But Tenna screeched in horror as soon as he saw them, pulling a blanket over himself as he demanded they leave. Don't look at him! Don't look at him!!! When they stepped back out, Tenna realized they probably deserved at least some explanation. He told them that he was okay. Just… he needs a little time to adjust, that's all! No developing crisis here!
The Freshly Crowned anTV Monarch
Mostly left alone at his request (aside from frequent check-ins through the door), Tenna tried to get familiar with his new body, as much as he hated the idea. He had fingers and thumbs again, which admittedly was an improvement. He found he could walk on just his hindlegs, too, though his abdomen kept scraping against the ground. It was still better than crawling around on all sixes like an animal. His clothes were a different story, unfortunately, because he was many times bigger than the suits he wore before this all happened. He was grateful his boss darkner status gave him some influence over his dark world, because otherwise he wouldn't be able to stand up straight in here.
While isolated in his room, Tenna discovered a very weird new ability to shrink in size. He had no idea what the point of it was, but it was quite useful, at least. He was able to shrink all the way to his original height before this all started, but he found that it was difficult to maintain, like a muscle that was being used for too long. The other thing Tenna discovered was that he could… get rid of his extra features. His sheer disgust at his body and memory of what being normal was like meant that he could warp the size-changing into shape-shifting. The first time he did it, he felt like he was going to vomit as his organs got squeezed into the tiny space of his thorax. It hurt, body aching as he forced himself to keep maintaining a normal shape, but… it worked. He was undeniably changed, but maybe if he hid the right things… he could make it seem like he was himself again. The mandibles wouldn't go away, but he could hide them in his mouth! There wasn't really an option for the antennae or his long nose, but… he still looked far more normal than he had in years. And, despite everything else that came with it, he was relieved to have functioning arms and legs again.
And so, Tenna was mostly ready for his role as director, producer, and leader of TV World. He started going by his last name, Tenna, instead of Ant, because it felt almost cruel to be named that given what he now resembled. And, he needed to make a good first impression, because now his lightners had an infant. An infant who would be watching him, giggling and laughing at the bright colors displayed on his screen. A family who looked nothing like the horrid thing he had become.
Despite his efforts, there's certain times he has to let his “full form” out. He reverts back every time he falls asleep. Extreme stress also causes it, perhaps as a form of defense, and his features like to start coming out even if he doesn't revert fully. Usually, the first thing to show up is his claws. His new, specially-made clothes all have neatly hidden slits and clasps so that he doesn't shred open his clothing if the worst happens. The most time he spends awake as his full self is when he has to molt, possibly one of his least favorite things. But, he found out the hard way that they weren't skippable.
His cravings for meat got worse. Just the mere smell of it had him drooling, mandibles straining from inside his mouth against his grit teeth. Nothing ever felt truly filling, and that terrified him, because he eventually realized that his own employees were triggering the hunger, too. Unknown to him, his “ant side” couldn't understand that he was the one purposefully starving himself, and thought that there was some sort of threat at fault, making him more jumpy and aggressive. Tenna ended up completely banning meat for anyone in the studio, the only solution he could think of. The ban didn't last long, though, as the first employee he caught and kicked out of the studio into the snow was let back in maybe 10 minutes later as Tenna sobbed and apologized for being a terrible boss.
His darkners had… mixed feelings on whatever was going on with their boss. Him being a weird insect wasn't the problem necessarily; it was his clearly poor physical and mental health. The weather duo were at least able to convince him to get some protein and calcium in his atrocious diet, but other efforts weren't as successful. With so little control over what was happening to his own body, Tenna clung to the control he did have as a boss. Combined with his lack of leadership experience from spending years as a useless grub, Tenna was extremely stubborn in his decisions and absolutely hated any opposition, even from his most trusted team members.
All of this compounded when a particular staff member started arguing with him during a meeting. Whatever it was about, they had missed the increasing signs of aggression from Tenna until his claws were digging into the table and his exposed mandibles were dripping with drool. Insects didn't have pheromones for work meetings; they had them for survival, and right now his employee was registering as a genuine threat. His composure slipped into nothing as his extra limbs freed themselves and he lunged over the table. The employee tried to run, but that only triggered his instincts to chase after the threat, his hunger stronger than ever before. He sprinted on all sixes, wings fluttering with the desire to fly but in too confined of a space to do so, making clicking sounds in frustration. All forms of context were lost as “threat” turned into the prey of his very first real hunt.
Before he could get his jaws around them, a zapper managed to step in, frantically flashing the “OFF” command at him. Utterly confused, Tenna paused, watching his prey escape down the rest of the hallway. As he calmed down, he started to think, and eventually his groggy mind came back to the surface. He was horrified to see all his limbs on full display. Tenna didn't remember what happened, but… he could certainly guess. Not wanting him to freak out, the zapper told him a half-truth: that he had gotten a bit too angry during a meeting, and… just ran off. As more darkners swarmed around him, keeping a wide distance and… flinching as he moved, Tenna felt like there was far more to it. He noticed how things in the studio had shifted after that. Employees that used to argue with him started agreeing. In general, they'd been weirdly supportive of his ideas now. It would've been nice if not for the fact that nervousness accompanied it. Why were… Why were they afraid of him? After everything he'd done to appear as the same ol’ friendly TV, a single incident he couldn't even remember (he knew what must've happened. He just didn't want to think about it) had tainted his reputation.
Tenna started trying to keep things calmer. He couldn't just turn off his tendency to have outbursts, but he tried to do damage control in the aftermath. Yelling that he'll dock everyone's pay while accidentally letting his mandibles show? He'll, uh…… give everyone a raise! To exactly what their pay was originally at! Yeah! Tenma did his best to keep himself under control, because he couldn't imagine how awful it would be if the lightners… his family, the kids… saw him like this. How would they feel knowing little Asriel and Kris were in the same room as a horrible creature like him? No, Tenna was better than that. He had to be. He found the thing that helped the most was his… wood chewing obsession he had tried to ignore as a larva. It felt so calming to carve through the wood and reduce it to a pile of shavings and sawdust. They had plenty of wood scraps from building sets that normally just got thrown away, so it wasn't hurting anything, even if it was weird. Still he didn't want anyone to know about it. Tenna started taking frequent “smoke breaks” where he'd run off to his office and shred a board of wood over the garbage bin or over the balcony to hide the evidence. He even tried to see if he could carve things with his mandibles once he got used to it, but hides all his little projects from everyone else for fear of how they'll react to what he's doing.
Tenna's Backstory: The Laptop
Aside from the TV programs changing as the kids aged, Tenna's life remained mostly stable. However, around 2007, Kris would first bring the stolen library's laptop over, and with it came accessibility to the information that TV World had spent its lifespan being cut off from. Tenna himself was swamped with “diplomatic” meetings (it was REALLY hard pretending he knew what Queen was talking about at any given moment. And, did she really need to host a party every single day!?), and (thanks to his ant side) rather distrusting of the new darkners at first. However, one fateful day, his employees managed to present to Tenna a manual for anTVs, eerily similar in style to his own manual that he originally came with. Except, rather than a perfectly normal humanoid TV, it had an “anTV” that… looked almost exactly like he did now.
As it turns out, his case of transforming into a terrible insect wasn't a freak accident. Well, it was rare, but it was explainable. AnTVs. CRTs with antennae. The inevitable result of an antennaless CRT like him gaining antennae later in life. As his darkners most trusted, the weather duo were the ones to gently explain it to him. The manual was an offer, a way to finally understand all the confusing behaviors, instincts, and biology that had been forced upon him that he had lived with for the majority of his life. After days of considering it, he finally took a look. It was written for darkners taking care of their anTV “monarch,” the book his employees would have gotten had he been born with or gotten antennae sooner. As he stared at the photos, he realized the pictured larvae were the exact same as he once looked aside from having a different TV model as a head. It felt strange to have the answers he had wondered about his whole life displayed so casually.
As Tenna skimmed through the manual, though, his curiosity diminished. AnTVs didn't run TV studios, they ran literal ant hills. They didn't speak, or wear clothes, or file taxes, or host shows, or anything civilized. They were written about as if they were merely animals. Is that what he would've become if he hadn't fought against it so hard? Descriptions of an almost carnivorous diet, hunting and eating “intruders,” violently defending their nests full of a disturbing amount of smaller, yet still terrifyingly huge, worker ants. He imagined his own abdomen in horror like an egg would magically pop out of it. Maybe he just… couldn't do that because of his unique circumstances. Yeah! No need to worry! Tenna didn't finish the book. He barely looked through it, and had already seen enough. It was good he'd managed to keep his mind intact; he couldn't imagine living like that. Like an… ant colony. He wasn't anything like that! And, he was managing just fine!
THE MIKES
The laptop brought knowledge to more than just Tenna—there'd been so much questioning from employees that he outright admitted in an announcement that, yes, he is actually an anTV. He reassured everyone, like he always had, that the changes were superficial, and that he was still like any other normal CRT in all the ways that mattered. But… not everyone quite believed him, especially with the whispers and rumors of just how dangerous Tenna could be if the wrong buttons were pushed.
There was a bit of a conspiracy about what anTVs truly are, and it stemmed from the strange circumstances of their creation. The fact that TVs could keep their memories in rare circumstances implied that the antennae did not create an entirely new TV darkner, but took over the old one. Further evidence was reports of antennae actually growing out of the heads of some victims before the full transformation, like cordyceps blossoming as their brain is taken over. And, why else would anTVs retain things that humanoid CRTs have, like thumbs and the ability to speak, than if their bodies were stolen? While it remained as only a theory, that hadn't stopped regular CRT darkners from viewing anTVs with caution and fear. How could you trust something that surely must've killed and took over the body of another?
One green pippins, begrudgingly named Battat, became particularly obsessed with the concept. Why was their specific anTV so dead-set on presenting as something he was decidedly not? Was he resisting the parasite's control, or was it already too late? Regardless, it was extremely suspicious, and Battat wanted to get to the bottom of it. He recruited a zapper and shadowguy to his cause, though neither took it a fraction as seriously as he did.
Given Tenna's developing distrust for the relatively new pippins, Battat set about crafting a disguise and alter ego: Mike the microphone. However, the other two didn't really understand the plan, which led to what he thought would be disaster when all three of them separately claimed they were named Mike in front of Tenna. However, he somehow… bought it? Unknown to Battat at the time, Tenna was extremely lonely, with nothing but the weather duo that spent more time without him than with. So, he became instantly attached to someone showing any interest and kindness to him, even something as suspicious as a “shape-shifting” microphone. Tenna started using the Mikes as incredibly unqualified therapists. Pluey quickly became his favorite, a comforting presence that listened. Jongler wasn't mean, but just didn't understand what Tenna was trying to convey most of the time. And, Battat, well…
He frantically scribbled notes as Tenna spoke, observing behavior, pushing Tenna to spill more details. It wasn't hard—Tenna had spent so long isolating himself that it was easy to get him to start rambling, though it was difficult to get something more specific out of him. It became quite clear that Tenna was afraid of his own self. That, while he definitely had the potential to be dangerous, he clearly didn't want to be. It seemed to only strengthen Battat's theory that it was a parasite trying to take control. Was there any possibility of getting rid of it for good?
Eventually, Battat ended up bringing up the concept, which was almost… a little too convincing. Tenna was eager to separate his “ant self” from the rest of himself; he practically already saw it as a parasite in the metaphorical sense. And, although his body would always be stuck as it was, maybe he would finally be able to get rid of all those pesky instincts! Tenna was eager to try whatever it took. The first thing Battat expressed interest in was natural ant repellents like citrus, mint, coffee, and cinnamon. Tenna realized those were all things that he had gained an aggressive allergy to after being turned. Unlike his attempt to outlaw meat, his employees did actually make an effort to limit their consumption of the things he was allergic to given Tenna couldn't even handle smelling the stuff without his body freaking out. But, that was just the parasite freaking out, right? A sip of orange juice wasn't going to kill him!
…Whether it was actually poisonous or not, the allergic reaction was dangerous enough. It felt like all of his senses were burning as he coughed the entire jug of juice back up. He was found laying on the floor of his room, groaning in pain, but otherwise safe. To his dismay, the stress had caused his ant features to come back out, and they decidedly did not want to go back in. The schedule that day was hastily replaced with reruns. Tenna tried again with far lesser amounts, but all it really seemed to do was make the instincts worse as his body reacted. Battat encouraged Tenna to take it slow, because, no matter what, their dark world would be far worse off if their TV darkner died. He didn't particularly care about how unhealthy Tenna was treating himself by doing it as long as Tenna lived. Still, nothing ultimately came of it aside from Tenna's new “coffee” addiction. He loads up his drinks with so much sugar, creamer, syrup, and milk that to call it coffee would be like calling the ocean a grain of sand. Still, the fact that it wasn't giving him an adverse reaction convinced Tenna that it was somehow attacking the “parasite,” not making the connection that it was just the sugar calming him down.
The disappearance
Tenna's endeavors with Mike abruptly came to an end with the sudden disappearance of Dess. He spent most of his time looking into the light world, unable to do anything but watch as the two families he loved were torn apart. He hoped that his shows could provide some comfort to Kris and Asriel, but his volume was never loud enough to drown out the screaming matches in the other rooms. The two started to watch less and less, until they never powered him on again. After months of watching him sleep on the couch, Asgore left for good. And then, Toriel, the only one who even used the living room anymore, fully unplugged him. Tenna remembered crying, screaming, smashing furniture and sets, repeating in a never ending cycle of grief. The days blended together. He was the most powerful darkner in his realm, but… he couldn't even speak to his lightners. He was completely and utterly powerless as everything he knew crumbled before his eyes. He struggled to keep his extra features hidden, and it became easier for his mind to slip. In his constant anger, he became extremely controlling of his dark world, ignoring even the Mikes’ attempts to calm him. Especially Battat, who got a special real world experience of how it feels to be hunted by a pissed off, stressed out, and starving anTV. Tenna felt awful every time something like it happened, but… at this point, he couldn't bring himself to care.
As reality set in, though, anger turned into despair. Three years of being unplugged, and nothing had changed. All his employees had was their god-awful boss, and all he had was nothing. How long until they got sick of looking at him and he finally got thrown out? He was getting old, screen showing signs of burn in and dust caked into his vents. Even his darkner body looked worse. His constant years of hiding his mandibles in his mouth had caused them to slowly push his front teeth out to the point that they were always sticking out of his mouth even when it was closed. He was extremely malnourished from avoiding meat and having a terribly unbalanced diet in general, unable to maintain a height larger than his usual 10ft when he was supposed to be at 20. He didn't know how to fly, and had no motor skills with his second set of arms because he never used them. After every single molt, he purposefully filed his mandibles and claws until they were dull in an attempt to make himself “safer.” He had to hold his mandibles in place with his hands as they fought against him with each scrape of the file.
Events of Chapter 3 and Beyond
So, when Tenna was finally plugged back in, and Kris, now physically there in the dark world with him, told him about the Knight's plan, he quickly accepted. The events of Chapter 3 proceeded mostly as normal. His old fears of appearing as presentable as possible, especially in front of Kris, made Tenna do his best to resemble the normal humanoid TV he was always meant to be. The group did once accidentally catch him frantically destroying a block of wood into nothing but dust over the trash can in the corner of the room, but didn’t see his mandibles. Tenna was horrified, anyways, immediately putting up a technical difficulties screen and bolting. Aside from that, his claws come out a few times, as well as his mandibles peeking out, but he managed to mostly contain things, even during his fight. Susie's speech moved him, and a flower bloomed from his nose as he felt genuinely optimistic for the first time in years. And then…
Pain. Pure, white hot pain as numerous blades of pure darkness sliced through him like nothing more than paper. Tenna's vision crackled and soon went out completely as nothing but a garbled tone left his mouth. He fell to the ground, the weight of his body feeling off-center as he rolled down the hills of snow. His extra parts came out in a panic, wings buzzing as the arms he still had left uselessly pawed at the slippery wet ground. He was surrounded by his own pheromones calling out for help, pheromones that had no colony to listen to them. And so, Tenna sat there, slumped into the snow, occasionally twitching. His heat wasn't enough, and soon he felt the coldest he had ever been in his entire life. His body started to slow down in response, perhaps a good thing given how much pain he was in, and he lost consciousness.
Of course, Susie didn't give up on Tenna. She tore through the snow, barking orders at every darkner in her line of sight to continue searching for him. And, eventually, they found what was left of him. She feared the worst for a moment, but heard a tiny pained squeak from him as she prodded his cheek. Tenna's repairs were a blur of activity as his darkners raided the medical drama set for old stretchers and carefully pulled him out and back to the studio. Using the diagrams and schematics in the manual, the darkners who worked on the technical aspects of sets were able to use their knowledge to reattach the proper wires to hopefully fix Tenna's arms. The cells of his face grew fast, meaning that the stimulation of healing magic was enough to seal the cut slashed across his screen. Unfortunately, his dangling, barely-attached antennae couldn't be saved—it was almost fully organic, so they had no hope of healing it at that point, and ended up amputating it at the bend.
When Tenna eventually woke up, the first thing he noticed after the pain was Susie looking down at him. He didn't remember much aside from initially getting attacked, but it must've been bad given her relief and how terrible his body currently felt. Tenna freaked out when he realized his true self was on full display, but Susie wasn't bothered by it. If anything, she was kind of annoyed he had been hiding something as cool as having wings AND four arms. It took Tenna a bit off-guard. She… liked him better… like this? Gross twitchy abdomen, hairy limbs, segments, and all? She thought it was incredulous that he hadn't even tried flying. Regardless, Tenna was given the run-down of what happened, and was shocked that his arms had been completely severed, but even more surprised that they managed to reattach them fully, even if his shoulders were in a lot of pain. He supposed… if he was still his old self before the antennae, he wouldn't have arms anymore. He probably wouldn't even be alive. Being an anTV had technically saved him. He… didn't know how to feel about that, but… he was glad he was still here. Relieved that he wasn't going to be thrown away.
…
CASTLE TOWN!
A little what-if scenario of how Wormton and Ant might meet, given that I think they'd get along really well. Nothing super serious or concrete here, just a couple of ideas for fun!
(Do keep in mind their relationship is more so queer platonic because these guys are both asexually reproducing bugs that physically can't feel romantic attraction)
Castle Town was an adjustment from the moment Tenna got there. As a boss darkner, it felt like a part of him was missing now that his dark world was completely severed from him. His employees—err, former employees, had already started to move on now that they didn't need him. Physically, the worst part was that he was stuck in his true form, his body not wanting to get compressed when in a state of both injury and stress. Tenna supposed having extra arms was useful given he wasn't supposed to strain his upper ones, but… his lower arms had practically no fine motor skills due to their lack of use. He'd rather continue pretending they weren't there. And, even though all his former employees now knew what he really looked like, he didn't want any other darkners to find out. His reputation was already ruined enough; he wanted to at least keep some of it. But, he couldn't just hide in his room for the rest of time. Susie mentioned looking for someone who could keep him, but… he doubted anyone would want something as old and broken as him.
So, Tenna decided he'd just sneak outside at night. He did have good “night vision” that consisted of using only the infrared light of his screen to light the way. The color definitely wasn't red, but he supposed the ones who named it literally couldn't see it, so he couldn't complain. It let him hide in what looked like complete darkness to other darkners as he carefully explored the town. However, Tenna wasn't paying the most attention to where he was actually going, and soon got lost. His vision wasn't terrible, but he couldn't see far distances as well as he could when he was humanoid, and couldn't figure out what was the fountain and what was just the street lights, especially over the tall, curving buildings.
…
During his nightly hunting session, Spamton discovered Tenna walking around and decided to stalk him. He's curious about Tenna, because he could tell that he had the soul of a boss monster, but also that his soul was incredibly weak despite that. Eventually, he confronted Tenna, who struggled to figure out where Spamton was given he couldn't pinpoint sounds when he only had one antenna. He eventually spotted Spamtom on the roofs. Tenna freaked out over the creature saying vaguely murderous things to him, and took out the foam can, but didn't end up using it. The two had a very awkward sniffing session as they both smelled the only pheromones they've ever encountered outside of their own. Spamton abruptly offered to show Tenna the way back to the castle, not explaining his sudden change in interest. Tenna figured he'd have better luck following than trying to find his way back on his own.
Tenna asked questions about who Spamton was, getting his name. Spamton noted that Tenna doesn't know what he is, not elaborating why he was interested in that. From the weird glitches, Tenna was able to guess that Spamton was from Cyber World. Spamton said he was an “email,” and Tenna pretended to know what that was. He realized that a darkner who didn't know about him or his show was actually a good thing; he wouldn't have to worry about upholding his not-ant reputation to someone who just met him! Not that Spamton seemed like the type to judge given he was also some sort of… creature.
At some point during the walk, Spamton bolted off and Tenna chased after him. All he could do was stare in horror as Spamton lunged at some sort of mouse and snapped his teeth around its neck. Tenna’s functioning antenna twitched as the smell of blood entered the air, saliva starting to pool in his mouth as he grit his teeth. He'd… he'd… never smelled what it was like when… fresh. It wasS… SsssooOoO much worse……
Spamton was curious why Tenna was backing away from the maus in his jaws like it would explode when he also so clearly wanted it. He was intrigued enough to offer it just to see what happened. Tenna was just barely able to keep it together, sprinting away from Spamton and back to the castle now that he could see the fountain. He locked himself in his room, horrified that he was still drooling over the thought of eating that poor animal. He thought he had better control! Was it because he was stuck with all his limbs out? What was wrong with him?
…
Tenna got an unfortunate surprise when Spamton showed up in his window the next night and invited himself in. The two started to bicker, and it didn't take much prodding for Tenna to spill his life story. Spamton didn't see it as a good enough excuse to starve himself of basic nutrients. He knew what it was like to be treated like scum, to be trapped in a world that hated you. The answer wasn't to try and fit in; no matter what you do, they'll always know you're different. And, if they won't accept you, make them. Why are their lives any more important than yours? Why wouldn't you also deserve to be happy?
Over time, Spamton gets Tenna to at least try to embrace his new body. He doesn't admit it to Tenna, but the reason he's so invested is because the two had things in common he could never get out of the addisons. They were seemingly the only two sapient “bugs” in the entire dark world, and it'd be nice to be able to share things, like hunting prey, for the first time in his life. Unfortunately, he'd taken on quite the investment given how much Tenna needed to work on. He started out by introducing Tenna to processed meat to start working towards feeding him real food. He'd climb up and onto the rooftops, forcing Tenna to use his claws or even wings to follow. Tenna was… exceptionally bad at flying, but managed to kind of figure it out after shrinking to a size where crashing into a wall wouldn't cause severe property damage. Tenna never thought he'd be in the skies, but it was actually quite exhilarating. Spamton, of course, was primarily interested just so he could hitch a ride himself. Eventually, Spamton managed to get Tenna to eat a tiny bit of fresh maus, then a whole one, then multiple. Getting Tenna to actually try hunting something himself was another story, but he had still progressed a lot from where he started. Tenna was worried about what his employees might think of him doing this, but… this was probably the best his body had felt since he was first turned. It… it wasn't hurting anyone. It was just the cycle of life, like Spamton said. For once, he didn't have to worry about his mind slipping, because both sides of him had finally aligned into one.
When the time for Tenna to finally molt came, he was happy to not be spending it alone. Previously, Spamton had found out about Tenna's routine of filing his mandibles and claws and had already thrown out every last file from Tenna's room, but Tenna didn't find himself missing them anymore. Even as his shoulder wounds healed and his severed antennae grew a little in length with the molt, for once he wasn't looking forward to hiding his features again. And so… he didn't. He commissioned new clothes that embraced his real self, with more than two arm sleeves and strategic metal clasps so that he could put them on over his wings and abdomen. If his previous self found out that this would be his new normal, he would've been horrified. But, all current Tenna felt was optimism for a world where he was finally starting to feel like he belonged.
Although Spamton still wasn't fully honest about everything, it was the most someone had really cared about Tenna in a long time. The weather duo were nice but… of course they were; he was the boss darkner, and they wouldn't exist if it weren't for his studio. Mike was… perhaps not the greatest giver of advice, even if he was nice when he was in a Pluey mood. Spamton didn't have any previous connection, though. He just… genuinely liked Tenna for who and what he was. And also as a personal heater, apparently. Not that Tenna minded. He started inviting Spamton to places, and Spamton in turn showed Tenna his nest. The two laughed together as Tenna played commercial clips for Spamton to copy back, the novelty of it never wearing off to Tenna. He had been through a lot since that pair of antennae was first installed. He'd tried so desperately to cling to what he had, but, in the end, fighting against his body made it worse. And, here in Castle Town, he felt better than he had in a long time. He could never be a humanoid TV again, and he'd never be a proper anTV either, but that was okay. He was just… himself. Whatever that entailed.
Ah welcome to the bottom my friend I do not know how this got so long but I've rewritten it three times and am happy to finally be free
(Text transcript below with fixed grammar so you don't have to read my handwriting)
Top right head drawing:
- Compound eyes with extremely good night vision. They emit light, which can be controlled.
- Segmented nose. Hairs on it act like antennae
- Black markings around nostrils
- Thin hairs on proboscis used to “taste” souls
- Proboscis. Sits inside mouth, can extend up to 6 ft
- 36 teeth: 28 canines, 8 molars, attached to muscles and can move freely. The gap in the front teeth allows the proboscis to flick out even when the mouth is closed.
- Blade-like teeth for tearing
- Cheeks are scent glands used to spread pheromones
Bottom right front body drawing:
- Nictitating membranes act like sunglasses to protect the eyes from light. They don't blink, and don't always close their eyes when sleeping.
- Teeth folded inwards
Top left body drawings:
- The fur is part of the exoskeleton and does not shed. It is attached to the exoskeleton structure underneath. The segmented structure of the body makes the malworm highly flexible.
- Feathery hair (setae) structure of the malworm's fur
- Opposite legs in the opposite positions when walking
- 3 fronds on tail like a fern
Bottom left leg drawings:
- Last legs bend differently
- Scopula pads on the bottom of the feet. Dense setae allows their feet to stick to walls.
- Claws have a round, curved shape for puncturing flesh
- Only the first and last set of legs have thumbs
- Walks on their toes when on the ground with the thumb claws curled back. Walks flat footed on walls/ceilings.
Oh yeah I was replaying ch3 and got uuuuh shadow Noelle???
Think this is the inverted sprite for when you stab her in the room you find her? Stayed this way until abruptly turning back to normal in the final door cutscene
Theoretical minimum cost (based on seamstress wage): $2,524
(Progress photos and commentary below)
I'll be referring to my life-size wormton plush as "malworm" for convenience sake.
Unlike my Spamton NEO, Caine, and Fake Peppino plushies, I didn't spend a lot of time on concept art. Since I planned to make the malworm plush as close as possible to its 2D design, I didn't have to add much stylization, other than simplifying some details (no way in hell was I going to make 104 separate embroidered stitches for the segments of his toes, sorry). I mainly used the planning stage to calculate how wide the body pieces needed to be, plotting it out in 1/4 in : 3 in scale and using circumference formula to find the values I needed. I planned to make it around 10 feet long, the length of a young adult malworm. A lot of this project was improv, but, I mean, it wasn't my first or second or third time making a spamton centipede.
The head was quite a complicated shape, so I carved a tiny model out of craft foam, covered one half of it in masking tape, then cut the masking tape mask (hah) into flat pieces. I then traced the pieces onto graph paper and manually scaled them up by using the fact that I wanted the nose to be 1 ft long as reference. The rest of the pattern pieces were very simple, as wormton's teeth, body, legs, etc were very easy to translate into 2D shapes. I used old school notes as paper for the body, as I needed a lot of it. It was entertaining cutting exerpts of Moby Dick and English Renaissance biographies into body parts. I ended up making the body significantly longer; I had to spend $100 dollars on fur anyways, so why not make a maximum size one?
Making the pattern pieces took around 8 hours. While waiting for the fur to ship, I started cutting out the teeth, legs, and eyes. By the time the fur arrived, I had already sewn 36 worm teeth. I did an 11hr all-nighter to cut all the fur in one sitting the day it arrived. After a long vacuuming session and an uptake in the amount of polyester fiber in my lungs, I finished cutting the pieces, taking about 18 hours and 40 minutes.
As usual, the head was the first thing I worked on. It was...kind of wonky once I flipped it inside out. I trimmed some of the fur so that I could actually see what was happening. The main issues were the lack of any forehead, the nose being way too wide, and the cheeks being too flat. I did some ladder stitching as well as modifying the thing from the inside, and eventually made the head look much better. The cheeks still don't stick out that much still, but I'm happy with how the head looks now. I think it conquered the sopping wet owl resemblance. I inserted wire into the nose and jaws to help them keep their shape.
When I started this project, I wasn't sure whether to make it based off of Wormton or just a copyright-free malworm; I decided to do both. I went with red for the non-Spamton version, as I think it really fits the cartoony fly/mothman-style cryptid look malworms are supposed to have.
I sewed a square pouch into the throat and put in all those teeth. I used hot glue to wrap blue squares around a wire for the proboscis, because I think I would've gone bonkers cuckoo bananas if I had to hand sew that entire thing. The throat pouch holds the proboscis when it's not extended, as well as anything else I wanted to shove in there. I never measured it, but it's around 4-5 ft long. I finally made the Spamton... eye patches(?) and a pair of eyelids, though I didn't end up using them in the photo shoot. I also made a new pair of nostrils, as the old ones kind of got swallowed up from all the plastic surgery I was giving him
Now that the head was finished, I got to work on the body. I sewed the white belly and segments of the body together. I left most of the tail open, as the fur was too thick for me to flip it out at a certain point. I worked on the legs, next. After living out my cosplay dreams by putting the claws on my fingers like bugles chips, I grouped the claws together and sewed most of each leg and foot together, leaving me with many pairs of charred drumsticks (did not taste good)
I attached an extra long wire structure into each set of claws, then threaded the wire through each respective leg and stuffed them. I ladder stitched the claws to each foot, then stuffed each with some plastic beans in order to give the feet weight. I then finished sewing each foot shut. I now had a pile of disembodied limbs and one very long scarf.
I wound many long pieces of wire together to create an armature for the body. While the plush's body is way too heavy to be properly posable, the wire does still give some structure. I wrapped the extra long ends of the legs' wires to the metal spine, using the body's leg holes for reference. I then pulled the body up the metal armature like a sock.
I pulled the legs through their respective holes and stuffed the body. It was the first time the malworm was huggable! It's sort of like an oversized body pillow, in a way. I had to ladder-stich all the limbs, the head, and the rest of the tail, as it would've been completely impossible to flip inside out. It was quite difficult to do on furry fabric, and my thread frequently broke from the force I had to pull with to keep the stitches tight. Eventually, I got everything attached to some degree.
The last details I worked on were the mane, tail tufts, and scopula pads. The mane and tail tufts were ladder stitched onto the body, but I decided to use glue to attach the pads to the feet. I think the extra blue details make his proboscis fit much better, and who doesn't love spider paw pads? I also glued some velcro to the eye patches so that they stay attached better. They slide under the black eye rings.
My malworm was finally finished! I tried to put a lot of effort into the photo shoot so that people who don't know about the AU can enjoy it. I wanted to make it seem like some weird entity whose only goal is obtaining more Spamton brainrot. Hence it making Spamton on Mario Kart DS under the bed, obsessing over the Spamton Plush, inspecting the Spamton Shrine, and just generally harassing the photographer (me, I guess?). I wanted to capture the silliness, creepiness, and lack of respect for personal space that Spamton is known for. I thought about giving him a bag of doritos under the bed like that one image of the isopods eating them, but went with the DS instead. I thought it would be funny to see this thing playing Super Mario 64 DS (or Super Spamton 64) and here the "buh bye!" sound effect when it closes the DSi XL.
That's all from me, for now. I have other Wormton related matter to attend to.
Just a quick public service announcement, do not engage with a message like this, even if it's from an account you trust, and ESPECIALLY do not click on any links it might send you. I got this message from an account that had been hacked, who clicked on it from another account that was hacked, and so forth.
Assuming it's fully automated, it's some sort of computer worm, don't know what exactly it does with your account aside from trying to spread itself under your name maybe using your follow list, but uuuuh yeah my fellow wormton enjoyers do not follow the disembodied voice in the alley telling you it has important info
But hypothetically,discarding most of the rational sense,
Is it technically possible
To maaaaybe domesticate a malworm
Like very very theoretically, throwing away the lore theoretically
The only thing I'll change is the fact that malworms are darkners. In this hypothetical scenario, they live in our regular human world.
Hmm, well, there's a couple… problems when it comes to keeping a malworm in captivity, even if they were domesticated. Malworms live in groups, and would require easily 2,000 cubic feet or more of space for the nest alone, as well as a temperature between 70-80 degrees for their comfort. While they eat practically anything, they require a daily diet of maybe about 6+ pounds of fresh meat, bones, and organs. Not to mention that they are strong enough to lift a car, and would require a reinforced and fully sealed enclosure for your safety. Also, they’re nocturnal.
You couldn't really tame a wild malworm. They're incredibly paranoid and aggressive, attacking anything that gets too close to their nest. Malworms see any gesture of kindness towards them as a sign of a good host, nothing more. The logic is that, if you’re not running away in fear upon seeing a malworm, then you probably don’t know what it can do to you. And, you won’t notice the influence of the brain-altering venom, or seek medical attention.
The other idea is to raise malworm larvae from “birth.” But, larvae instinctively avoid anything that doesn't smell like malworm pheromones, and they would likely try to eat their human foster parent alive.
All of this is to say, there's a lot of good reasons the addisons ditch Wormton the moment they realize he's a malworm.
But, uh, if you could befriend a malworm, they'd be very sweet! They like cuddling and physical contact—perfectly content simply silently sitting next to their nestmates. They're very clean, and their saliva even has some healing magic (don't know if that'd work in our universe tho). Living with one would probably involve getting your hair licked and getting dead animal “gifts” on your porch. Their fur is based on tarantula hair, which in my experience is very soft. They're very vocal and like when their nestmates repeat their chirps, warbles, and croons, even if their human's vocal chords can't quite replicate malworm language.
