#papyrus meta

[embarasseddragon234]

I think it's very important that we understand that Papyrus is a jokester

Like, "Oh, Papyrus doesn't know what a laboratory is!" "Papyrus thinks snow cones and snow are the same thing!" "Papyrus is LYING about-" NO!

He is a JOKESTER! He is making funny jokes and japes! He is just as much a funnyman as his brother! He's saying outlandish things ON PURPOSE to make you laugh!

[g0at0ad]

so you know how papyrus's only 3 friends in undertale are sans, undyne, and flowey?

flowey doesn't exist in deltarune

and the skelebros just moved in so papyrus doesn't know undyne yet

what i'm saying is, papyrus's only canon friend in deltarune at the moment is his brother.

[megaderping]

A long overdue video! This is a character analysis/breakdown of fanon misconceptions for Papyrus from Undertale. A huge shoutout to the Pap chat (and especially @insanelyadd) for providing helpful info and resources! :)

[pacifistofpatience]

This is literally just Papyrus Meta (With Some Papyrus X Reader)

“I PREFERRED SEEING EVERYTHING THE OTHER WAY INSTEAD OF THIS WAY.”

You paused from reading on the couch and looked up at Papyrus. He towered over you, brow bone tilted downwards. It was as close to annoyed as you had ever seen Papyrus get. You placed your book down on the armrest and asked, “What?”

“I USED TO BE ABLE TO SEE FROM THE SKY! AND NOW I SEE LIKE—LIKE THIS!” he waved his arms around frantically, as if trying to scatter something that wasn’t there.

You tucked your feet underneath you and asked, with growing confusion, “I don’t—I don’t get it?”

Papyrus stomped his foot, impatient, annoy—

“I KNOW YOU DON’T KNOW! BUT YOU KNOW!”

You loved papyrus, you really did, but there were times where you just didn’t get him. You rubbed your temples, glancing away from him in order to sooth the oncoming headache. In the new apartment you two recently bought all you had was a TV, a couch, and some old burgundy throw carpet. All of which were house warming gifts from friends. You knew Papyrus wanted to go shopping to make the place ‘homier’, and usually you would love shopping with him, but at this moment the thought of him running around in some store dragging you behind by your lanky human arms only made your head hurt more.

Sometimes, papyrus was something else.  

“Ok, ok, let’s say I know?” you said, “What do I know?”

“NO NO NOT YOU! BUT YOU!”

You picked up the book again.

“DON’T DO THAT!” Papyrus said, and something in his voice made you instantly drop the book “IF YOU DON’T LOOK, I CAN’T SEE!”

Papyrus gloved hand takes your face, and you follow his push easily. His face was leveled with yours, his eyesight’s focused solely on you, jaw locked in the same position it always was but almost seeming ten—

“I CAN SEE ME!” he said, and then- with the same gentleness he had used before- made you look at the T.V., “AND NOW I CAN SEE THAT!”

You… still don’t get it?

“OF COURSE, YOU DON’T!” papyrus said, “AS MUCH AS I LOVE YOU! AND ADORE OUR NEW HOME! I WISH I COULD SEE FROM ABOVE LIKE BEFORE! IM SURE THE APARTMENT LOOKS LEAGUES BETTER THEN---THIS!!”

You pulled away from Papyrus hand and took another long look around. You untucked your bare feet and pressed them down on the carpet, testing it. And then you ran your fingers down the couch cushion, testing the squishiness in a way you never cared to do before. The couch was an ugly green that Papyrus hated but Sans had insisted was too comfortable to pass up. You knew he had only bought it as a house warming gift because he intended to spend most of his time on it, but it was the thought that counted, no matter how self-indulgent the thought actually was.

You still didn’t understand? But, at the same time, you think you did?

 -

Oh jfc this is very confusing but I was trying to…well there was a theory that Papyrus actually saw things in game like how we, as the players, saw them. So I was wondering, what if that transferred over to writing, and Papyrus actually started seeing things as descriptions and no longer as an omniscient all seeing monster. 

It would probably be really Jarring, and frustrating. It must also be hell when the stories first person or something.  

[lethotep]

A weird thing I noticed: Magic attacks/bullets tend to disintegrate after hitting the target or when their summoner wishes them to. In short, they don't stay materialized for too long. Example: During the hangout's fake fight, Undyne's spear vanishes in thin air after she lets go of it. However, something that is out of that trail of logic are the bone attacks in Papyrus's room; They are placed in a box, can be stocked and stay tangible for a longtime.

That is interesting. It makes me wonder if Papyrus intentionally prevents them from disintegrating to keep them as mementoes, which could be inferred from his comment when you look at the box in his room. 

Or…

It could be possible that the bones in the box are the ones that missed Frisk during the fight, and as a result they don’t break-down on impact, resulting in them being scattered around after the battle.

Out of the main boss battles, Toriel uses fire magic during her fight, which can be assumed to burn out if not fed, same as regular fire. Undyne uses her spears which seem to be a mix of more physical a well as energy-based. Mettaton’s are electrical/mechanical (and further complicated by the TP ending showing that the yellow/electrical attacks are Alphys’s as well, which leaves room for the interpretation that the yellow magic MTT uses in his robot body may actually be Alphys’s. Although the mini-mmt bullets show a similarity to the bullets in the Mad Dummy fight, which shows a parallel in the family magic there, implying that that’s 100% MTT’s own magic). So the yellow magic at least seems more energy based as well. Asgore uses so many attacks and types of magic, which are reminiscent of Flowey’s (bullets), Toriels (fire) and Undyne’s (trident/spear) in particular.

So there are some very interesting and unique things going on with all the boss characters and their magic!

So where does this leave Papyrus (and by extension, Sans)? Their regular white bone attacks seem to have more in common with most monster bullets, both in colour and in how they work in battle, disintegrating on impact etc but they also seem more solid. Whereas the blue bone attacks (which is separate to the Blue special attack) also seems more energy based, seeing as you phase through them when you don’t move…

That makes me wonder if it may actually be a difference between colour magic attacks and regular bullets. With colour magic being more energy based and less tangible/quicker to vanish regardless of if it hits or not, while white bullets are more solid for all monsters, only vanishing if they actually impact on something.

Maybe there are bullets scattered all over the place after every fight and Papyrus is the only one considerate enough to pick all his up afterwards so that he doesn’t leave a mess!

[centipedelightning]

Hey. Hey psstttt Valentine you should totally tell us all the ways Papyrus shows his Autismcore Swagger(tm) 👁️ 👁️

This is gonna be a dissertation good god. Toni you don’t know what you’ve brought into the world. Also this isn’t really gonna be a “look at all the way’s he Is autistic!!” As much as look at all the correct reasons he’s autistic so I will be covering a lot of character misconceptions.

The correct and lore accurate reasons why Papyrus is autistic (and debunking some incorrect points bc I can’t stand misinformation) in no particular order. A whole lot more under cut.

Safe Food

a lot of people consider spaghetti to be Papyrus’ safe food or something but papyrus hasn’t even eaten his own food.

You might be able to argue that him making spaghetti all the time is a weird habit or missed social cue, but it isn’t a “safe food”. Hell, him not eating his own food is why he constantly misses social cues about how it’s actually super bad.

Face Blind

Is face blindness an autism trait? Tbh I’m not sure, but I‘m autistic and mildly face blind so I’m bringing it up. Papyrus seems relatively unable to tell the difference between faces. He does not recognize that Toriel is a different person from Asgore.

You might also be able to make a case about how he refers to Frisk as “Human” the whole time because he can’t differentiate than from others but that’s not really a strong point, so it’s being skipped.

Sarcasm/Humor

Humor is under this section for a very important reason: PAPYRUS’ MAIN SENSE OF HUMOR IS DEADPAN SARCASM. I’m not sure where people got the idea that he misses sarcasm tbh.

He’s joking here.

Another joke.

Listen, I am autistic and make the exact same types of jokes. Deadpan, obvious lies are so funny, but people usually miss that it’s a joke. That’s the case here. He’s just making jokes without making it clear with tone or phrasing that it’s a joke.

I just want to highlight some of his wordplay/puns bc people refuse to acknowledge that he likes puns too.

Another joke. Also he has a style of humor where he just stumbles into what he thinks is funny and commits to the bit even if the joke doesn’t really work and he’s so real for it.

Difficulty Lying

I don’t have any screenshots for this section because I’m not actually sure where people came up with this. Maybe it’s that his lies are super easy to see through, but he actually lies All The Time.

This is jumping ahead a bit, but the reason Papyrus’ speech is all caps is because he’s lying. If you go back a bit and reference fighting Migosp, until you get rid of the Whimsum that fights with them, they’ll speak in all caps. Once you spare the Whimsum, the Migosp’s case goes standard because it is not putting up a front.

Papyrus speaks in all caps because he is constantly lying about how cool and confidant he is. In reality, he’s very lonely person with a lot of insecurities.

If I can find the post about case setting and lying that I saw years ago, I’ll link it here.

Special Interests

He absolutely has a special interest in puzzles/puzzle making.

he spends a lot of his time making, thinking, and reading about puzzles. There’s no way this isn’t his main special interest. He also gets annoyed that Sans doesn’t recalibrate his puzzles as often which is so reflective of someone that’s into your special interest but not as much, so you get really annoyed when they aren’t as involved as you are.

tbh he might be joking here but if taken as a fact, that’s not normal!! That is not a normal level of enjoying something! (If true) he walked his ass over to the cliff and spent who knows how long painting it to make it look like a rope bridge, all for the sake of one puzzle. That’s autism levels of liking things baby.

He also has a lot of robot action figures so I’m saying he likes to collect them bc I collects dolls. MTT might also be a special interest, but I think it’s more that Mettaton is like the only celebrity other than Undyne down there.

Misses Social Cues

This one is easy and the most obvious. Very often Papyrus will miss social cues and facial expressions.

We know that his food is practically inedible, so this would obviously not be a scrunch of pleasure.

And here we see that he completely misreads Frisk’s face. Maybe he’s intentionally being dense but I highly doubt it. This paired with the supposed face blindness is screaming autism.

Voice Level

…..

I think people aren’t gonna like this one but it’s so often cited as a reason he’s autistic that I need to acknowledge it. I don’t think Papyrus has a volume issue. I think if the theory about all caps=lying then we can pretty safely assume all caps are not inherently indicative of loud speaking.

Undyne is a loud character. A lot of her voice lines end with lots of exclamation marks and very expressive sprites. She specifically only has words in all caps for emphasis because italics (as far as I can recall) aren’t used. Papyrus, on the other hand, is always in all caps, but rarely has things like added exclamation points to denotaste loudness.

That’s all to say I don’t have a strong opinion about the matter. You can bring up how, psychologically, people tend to raise or lift their voices in volume or octave when telling lies, so Papyrus may still be a louder character than most.

Love of Organizing

This one I found while looking for certain voice lines so there’s not much commentary.

He greatly appreciates when things are organized in a certain way, and especially when that way is visual.

Echolalia/Making Up Words

Another small section.

small example of repeating words (echolalia)

One of a few examples of him making up words

Difficulty Making Friends

Yeah this is one of the few sections people so manage to correctly cite. Papyrus has a huge problem making friends. Hell, most of his voice lines are about how he wants friends and capturing a human/joining the Royal Guard will get him that.

Other than his brother, Undyne is the only person Papyrus can really call a friend. Even then, the only reason the two are friends is because Undyne pitied him and agreed to “train” him. That’s not exactly standard friend making.

When Papyrus does have the chance to make a friend a bit more normally, he gets a manual from the Library.

*note that this voice line is only from the hangout, if the player chose to flirt with him, i would be a dating manual*

Do you think allistics need a manual on how to act normal and make friends? No of course not. He also is very strict in following the manual closely as to make sure he makes a friend “properly”.

he’s flying blind here y’all.

Also, he’s very emotionally intelligent and I think people overlook that. In the hangout, he’ll tell the player that he doesn’t like how they’re speaking to him and gives them genuine (and good) advice about having more than on friend so you don’t obsess over/overwhelm said friend.

Routine

Unless Sans was joking, which in this case I doubt, Papyrus has been wearing his battle body every day. For weeks.

It’s a comfort item and something that he clearly has gotten very comfortable having on all the time.

Whether or not the puzzles need recalibration, Papyrus makes it clear he has a set routine and needs it to be done. This specific screenshot is also an example of the “wanting people to be as into your special interest as you are” thing I mentioned earlier.

Strong Sense of Justice

Papyrus feels very bad telling a lie that conflicts with his friendships, and has to come up with a convoluted reason to eat around it.

I don't think this needs further commentary.

That’s all folks! I can’t say just how exhaustive this meta is, but it’s damn near it. I tried to pull up a list of basic autistic traits but gave up once damn near immediately. Autism Speaks I am hunting you down. Anyway, there’s more examples I could have pulled but I really dont want this to be a mile long post.

[nanenna]

To go with the Papyrus meta I reblogged this morning, I just called Paps from in front of Undyne’s house because that’s always fun. And then I called a second time, because you always gotta do that. Sometimes he just repeats himself, it happens, but this time I noticed something I have never noticed before.

Hi expression changed. This isn’t just a matter of him not having anything else to say so he’ll repeat himself endlessly, his expression changing means he is intentionally repeating himself. I’m not sure if he’s annoyed with me for calling more than once or what but this is just... weird. I think it does go along with the whole “Papyrus knows way more than he’s letting on” HC that I subscribe to.

[lethotep]

Papyrus Ramble VII

The Annoying Dog and Paps:

During his battle, when the dog steals his attack:

Then when the dog “helps” Paps out during then normal attack:

Then afterwards on the date/hangout, when the dog gets into Papyrus’ bones again:

On the abandoned genocide route, when the dog makes off with Paps Special Attack, and then Paps expands a bit on his interactions with the dog on the hangout. 

Namely; that it sleeps in his bed with him (cute):

Poff zone phonecall:

Papyrus: THE STATION OF GREATERDOG. HE LOOKS A BIT LIKE A CERTAIN DOG I DON'T LIKE. BUT GREATERDOG DOESN'T COLLECT ANYTHING. HE'S ONLY A KLEPTOMANIAC FOR AFFECTION!

The Dogroom:

Where Papyrus can sense the dogs existence in the room (the dogs, ah, residue. If I may phase it as such). And while he calls it annoying, he also voices affection. Similar to him letting it sleep in his bed.

Papyrus: HMMM... THERE'S SOMETHING ANNOYING ABOUT THIS ROOM.

Papyrus: BUT I CAN'T QUITE PLACE MY FINGER ON IT... THEN MY PLACE MY WHOLE HAND ON IT... THEN PET IT AFFECTIONATELY

Elevator l2 in Hotland:

Where he expands once more on things the dog takes without asking. First his bones, then his lasagna! But he also then gives the cute image of the dog sleeping (in a Garfield reference).

Papyrus: THE ELEVATOR SAYS L2. BUT WHAT DOES THE L STAND FOR? LASAGNA? I HOPE NOT. I DON'T MAKE LASAGNA ANYMORE. THAT GLUTTONOUS DOG ALWAYS EATS IT FIRST! FIRST MY BONES, AND NOW THIS

Papyrus: THEN IT RETREATS INTO A SHALLOW BLUE BOX. COVERS ITSELF WITH A BLANKET, AND SLEEPS

  Around the Hotel, with Undyne:

Papyrus: CAREFUL. I'VE HEARD THAT HOTEL HAS A DOG PROBLEM. 

Undyne: Oh? No pets allowed, huh? 

Papyrus: I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT PETS. 

Undyne: What's the problem? 

Papyrus: THE PROBLEM IS... DOG. 

Undyne: What's wrong with dogs!? 

Papyrus: NOT ALL DOGS. JUST THAT ONE. 

Undyne: What's WRONG with it!? 

Papyrus: EVERYTHING.

Conclusion: Anomalous characters just really like Papyrus... Flowey, Frisk, Sans, the Dog...

Other reality breakers all treat Papyrus as unique, and the arguable “god” of Undertale itself spends the majority of its time with him and getting Papyrus to focus on it. 

I just kinda think that’s important to note tbh.