🌻 (sunflower) - What’s something your character has grown out of? Did it happen gradually or was it a drastic change? What caused this shift?
When Edge was little, he was actually entirely nonverbal! I always like to imagine most Papyri are quiet when very young, and took a while before their first words, but few to the same degree.
Id say it was both gradual and drastic, as he started offering a few sparse words to Red when he was around 6-9, but once they were on their own, there was more pressure to "act normal", so he wound up forcing himself to verbally communicate more frequently than he would've chosen.
Whiiich also sort of answers the next part! It was mostly pressure from "the outside world" (the rest of the underground). Pretty much anything can be perceived as a weakness, and since "quiet" reads more as "shy" for a child/teen, Red discouraged Edge from communicating predominantly in Hands.
And listen, I tried so hard to draw the hands that came with this expression challenge, but drawing hands is my worst enemy and even more so with traditional drawings agcdhbc
Spirit is so good!!! I remember rewatching it so many times on vhs as a kid. Was always mesmerized by the animation. It was also a privilege to have James Baxter to come to my school and have a talk with us!
Oh, wow! That's incredible! I wish we'd had animators come and give talks at my school! (All I can remember was someone who taught us the first 10 numbers in Japanese, and a group that warned us about the dangers of teen pregnancy 😅)
I've got the DVD of Spirit. It's fascinating to watch it with the directors' commentary turned on. Though, the only thing I remember from it now is they told Brian Adams not to make the lyrics to the music too direct, and then the first song he came back with was 'Here I Am' 😅
🍯 (honey) - What are some reasons someone would like or get along with your oc? Are these positive traits something your oc is aware of?
Well, Copper's a bit of a class clown, but in a more mean, grungy way. Some might find him charming, I'd think, as he likes to be antagonistic, but not aggressive at all. A brat, a bit of a punkass, if you will, so if someone's sense of humor or attraction aligned with that, I'd imagine those would be considered his stronger suits!
It's absolutely something he’s aware of, it's practically a badge of honor. It's taken him years to perfect the art of being someone just likable enough people want you around, while being just intolerable enough no one wants to get any closer.
He’s also pretty clever, and he knows how to read the room (usually), so I'd imagine he’s decently good at getting others to warm up (or chill out) a little, even if they don't expect to...
I don't know if I or another person have asked but what's your interpretation of Fell Papyrus?
I swear I'm going to try and keep this from becoming a novel but I can't be held accountable for if I fail.
Edit post-typing: I failed. Anyway
So, similarly to the US boys, I started off basically taking the UT boys (as I see them) and going all the way back to the beginning and seeing how the changes would ultimately affect them. This pretty consistently has a bigger impact on Papyrus than Sans because I've always seen Papyrus as very...sort of impressionable? Or reflective. A lot of his behaviors come from those around him and their expectations.
To me, he comes across as the type of character to try to mold himself into a specific shape because he sort of lacks his own sense of self. I've always headcanoned this as coming from my standard lore of being like, partially synthetic and receiving a larger part of Gaster's soul than Sans in their creation, meaning he takes more after someone with low empathy and serious issues with derealization, and only became even more sort of..."detached" from himself after Gaster shattered and it damaged his and Sans' "code" (Papyrus more so, again, because of having a larger percentage of Gaster's soul).
In UF, because of how Gaster was, and because of how much fear he semi-unintentionally instilled in Sans, that Sans then went on to try and teach Papyrus through the lens of, he wound up with a tremendously overzealous responsibility complex. Gaster had impressed on the boys how important they were to his plans to free monsterkind, all the way up until shattering when the boys were still young. And then Sans tried desperately hard to teach Papyrus how to be entirely self sufficient and survive in a world as cruel as theirs because he believed he'd get killed or Fall Down at pretty much any moment (Sans was a very, very stressed out kid/teenager).
So Papyrus essentially learned Anything can be an exploitable weakness, not to show emotions, do anything for the sake of surviving, and above all else, protect those that need protecting, with Sans, and eventually Undyne, at the top of the list. This is also where his deeply secretive nature really settled in, and also why he struggles so much to accept...really anything good that's offered freely. Kindness, friendship, help. He has to remain untouchable, unreachable, the one to provide and not take, because if he messes up, if he lets the wrong person in, he's not just risking his own well being, but by extension, everyone who's depending on him.
It's also a really good way to distract himself from the crushing loneliness. Saw a tumblr post the other day that resonated so hard w/ my ideas of him that said something along the lines of "if I cannot be wanted I will be needed, and if I am not needed then let me be used until there is nothing left". He was never really allowed to develop himself as a person, not fully, so he completely filled himself with what he thought he had to be. When those things are taken away, he has nothing, and he’s too terrified to let that happen.
It's also why I hc he, in some ways, winds up having a really really hard time after surfacing in some of my ideas/aus/stories. He was needed underground, Sans needed him, Undyne needed him, Snowdin needed him, and by extension the whole underground did, to keep the balance. Above ground, everyone calming and becoming happier, Sans and Toriel settling down, Undyne and Alphys settling down, being a replaceable member of the ambassadorial team, he's hit with this just...utter loss of self.
Getting carried away on the specifics. He and UT Papyrus actually align in a lot of ways it's hard to see at first glance. Both have their "roles", both have a specific sort of "bit" they do with their brothers, both let Undyne believe she knows what's best because they believe it's what best for her, both, despite knowing better, desperately want to believe in the greater good. Despite all the aforementioned problems, despite preparing his whole life to kill humans, he's the first to give up and try to help Frisk. They're just a child. A child who wants to help, who's scared, who doesn't even have a brother to look after them.
In reality he’s a nervous wreck. My man is TIRED. He puts himself under tremendous pressure and doesn't know how to express nor understand emotions. His schtick is so well rehearsed anything that goes off script completely blindsides him. The soft, silly, bratty goofiness is really only under a very thin layer of ice. It doesn't take much to crack it, but that only makes him that much more defensive and paranoid. He can't risk anyone knowing how "weak" he truly is, even if most anyone who's been around him any amount of time can see it clear as day, because he’s about as good at hiding it as UT Papyrus would be lol
At least they don't know about the [REDACTED]. That, he’s actually really good at hiding.
I do wish I'd given him a different nickname than Edge looking back, but back when I'd nicknamed my main guys I just went w/ the fandom usuals so now he’s forever cursed to be Edge bc I associate it too strongly lol
🔑 (key) - What’s something your character has never told anyone? Why have they kept it a secret? What, if anything, would make them reveal it?
I will give a boring answer and a less boring answer. Ghost never talks about what acting as Judge really entails. No one, not a soul, knows what the actual process is, how he does it, or how it impacts him. Not even Haze.
Mostly he keeps it because, well, he’s just not a very talkative, open person. But also because it's kinda horrible and he knows it would just be upsetting for others to hear, even if it doesn't bother him all that much.
As for what would make them reveal it...possibly endangering someone he cares about. It can leave some rather…unsavory after effects, and if he ever came close to hurting Haze or Chara in some sort of night terror or something, he'd seek psychiatric or medical help.
As for a more angsty answer, it's that he’s so, so scared so much of the time. He comes across entirely apathetic, unemotive, blank, that no one really realizes just how on the brink of snapping he is most of the time.
It's not even at the forefront of his own mind most of the time, something he can usually repress, but it seeps out around the edges, in little ways. Why he’s so viciously efficient, why he smokes, why he never sleeps. His control issues are absolutely as bad as Edge's, he’s just way better at hiding it.
I'd imagine it's probably obvious he keeps it a secret because of said control issues, as well as not wanting to worry Haze (or Chara and Asgore, if surfaced). But as for being pushed into talking about it...it would have to be something pretty bad. Something that would push him past the point he could keep it down and there wouldn't be any other way to deal with it than talking.
How do you interpret US Papyrus? I'm always curious how others interpret him because there's a good range of them!
Ooh, in general?? Hm, I guess mostly the way I try to interpret him is sort of like if you gave UT Papyrus chronic fatigue and issues tied to having to act as the judge in his world! Which, to me, basically makes him very silly, kind, sassy, but also very insecure and very lonely.
I should explain- ough this is gunna be an essay so there'll need to be a readmore soon aha, but I should explain how the whole "judge" thing usually works in my interps!
It's not an inherent thing, or some "angel given" power, there has always been an acting Royal Judge, someone the crown had appointed that they felt they could, well, trust the judgement of, who they could consult about crimes and justice and whatnot. The prior judge Fell some years ago, but since Toriel/Asgore had already left, Asgore/Toriel never appointed another, as a sort of self punishment as well as a promise they would continue with their task of collecting the human souls without the assistance (or interference) of someone else.
That was until Sans/Papyrus came along. The "judging" effect was caused by one of the many methods Gaster used to make the brothers, involving the justice soul trait. This is where the KR came from, as well as the unique ability to "see" the sins in others' souls. After discovering this unique ability, eventually the king/queen asks Sans/Papyrus to act as the new judge (as well as some other reasons that vary depending on AU).
Now, the kr and "judge" ability manifested in Stretch much later than the sanses in non-swapped AUs, which made it a much more difficult transition that only made it much harder for him to socialize with others. He basically couldn't "turn it off", which, on top of feeling incredibly guilty about the invasion of privacy, made him feel anxious and stressed out and couldn't help but put the negative thoughts front and center in his attention, making him also feel like those were the most prominent thoughts and feelings of those around him.
So like, you know how anxiety and self image issues make you feel like everyone secretly hates you or finds you annoying or etc etc etc, basically, he had "proof" that was true, and despite trying his best to ignore it, things are already hard enough for a pre-teen/teen, on top of his physical health taking such the dip it did around that time, too, he quickly became anxiety riddled, isolated, and miserable.
Before then, he was actually a lot like Rus (UT) when he was a kid! And it was hard on Blue, too, since he was practically just a teen himself, so for all of that to land on his brother as well as needing to work harder to take care of him when he had bad health flares, things were rough for a while there.
That being said, Blue did help in keeping Stretch's mental health from completely plummeting, always trying to keep his mood up, encouraging him, trying to find him friends (how he met Undyne aka Sylv!), etc etc, and the brothers grew a lot closer in that time, as Stretch had always admired Blue, and it meant a lot to him.
That was until, of course, things never got any better. His health continued to decline into older teendom/young adulthood, and there was some personal drama here and there, especially involving Sylv, and when Blue joined the guard, that was the last straw. Stretch was sick of feeling like such a burden on everyone, so even though he'd initially turned Toriel down to act as judge (knowing his brother absolutely hated that she'd even asked him in the first place), he went back to her and accepted. That was really when the distance between the brothers started, which wasn't helped by the resets starting up soon thereafter.
(Quick aside, as he got older, he did get the hang of controlling his "judging" ability, and "turning it off" is no longer an issue for him later on)
So in his efforts to become more independent, he worked a lot on his social life and how to interact with others and make himself well liked. Sure, maybe he doesn't really have any real friends, and people forget his name all the time, but he'd finally learned how to utilize his heightened intuition to get along with people, rather than weird them out.
He’s still riddled with anxiety and self worth issues, but he’s gotten incredibly good at masking, and typically comes off as very relaxed and friendly. He’s a big fan of wordplay and very mild practical jokes (like those types of gags where you put on Groucho Marx glasses and pretend to be someone else. Blue always plays along for the bit), but he has a tendency to hold people at arms length, and tries to avoid others actually getting to know him.
Very few people know he’s the judge, and he prefers it that way, he'd rather everyone underestimate him so he never disappoints. That being said, he does still make quite an effort to help those around him without their knowledge, and he’s still lowkey very interested in engineering and computer science. Him and Rus are definitely two peas in a pod when it comes to interests, they could talk about comics for hours on end, but the primary difference is that Stretch tries much harder to hide how much he cares, where as Rus will shout it from the rooftops.
I'm not a big fan of the characterizations that make him a huge brat, sometimes even an outright jerk, I don't really understand them since neither Sans nor Papyrus are like that, but w/ my guy, he’s definitely a huge dork and sweetheart, who just also happens to be very sassy at times ahdjfjsksk
He also still holds on to his belief in others, like Rus. Even despite literally knowing better, he’s also been proven right too many times to lose that hope, which is why, in his fight, as opposed to UT Sans, he gets very quiet and looks miserable. He genuinely doesn't want to hurt them, but he knows he’s out of options. When he offers an out before the fight, he won't spring a surprise attack, and just offers a genuine hug. The player doesn't get a choice after accepting, they kill him, and his final words are pretty similar to Rus' about knowing they can do better, and he believes in them anyway, though he makes a comment about that sounding pretty stupid with a laugh before he collapses off screen.
WOW this got longer than I meant it to I'm sorry huge lore drop instead of just general facts ough BUT ! Idk, hopefully this gives a half decent feel for how I interpret him! I love him a lot I'm mixing him into a salad like a crouton <3
