#truefreshinfo

[onelinemanytimes]

Taking a Closer Look at Fresh’s Actions

Fresh does a lot of weird stuff, even weirder if you don’t know why he’d make the choices he does. The perception of Fresh amongst fans is all over the place, so knowing Fresh’s character is nigh impossible unless you’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to get ahold of it.

Luckily for you, I have in fact spent a lot of time and effort trying to understand Fresh and learn everything I possibly can about him, and I’m here to try and tackle explaining what the heck Fresh has been up to- because why he would act how he did in these combat scenarios is a delight to analyze.

So let’s get this ball rolling! For clarity, I’m discussing Underverse 0.7 Part One here, analyzing his actions in the animation and how well it suits his character, and this post is part one of multiple. The next part is posted!

Starting with the least surprising action taken by Fresh; 

1: Running away.

This one isn’t too hard to understand no matter how you slice it. Most interpretations of Fresh would have him run away here- but for those who may not know it, it will be explained nonetheless! Especially because he runs away multiple times in the various conflicts, showing that this isn’t just something he was doing because of Error, this is a regular response to any kind of confrontations like these.

Fresh running comes from a variety of places that tie into each other. The most important reason to run is the fact that he wants to live above all else- NOTHING is more important to him than his own life, and any choice that has a real chance of putting his life in danger he will avoid as much as possible. 

So obviously, a fight with Error is a situation he would just leave, especially given he now has everything he wants out of this place. Error is very strong, and Fresh was able to score a good attack because Error was distracted and he had help. Fresh does NOT want to get into a direct fight with Error if he doesn’t have to. So he gets outta there baby!

Fresh has another big reason to run away, however, and this reason ties into why he would choose to run away from Ink as well! That reason is his persona- being a super radical 90s broskie is also important to Fresh, and preserving the perception that he’s a harmless weirdo is a part of that. If people saw him fight, they would know he’s actually pretty powerful and worth being scared of, which is terrible for him!

He needs people not to be afraid of him. He needs people to trust him, or at least he needs them to underestimate him- and he succeeds, wonderfully.

Fresh IS regularly underestimated- you can see this actively in the way that Ink just brushes him off when he initially confronts him with a complaint about the gift. Ink doesn’t see Fresh as very important at that moment, and not a big deal- which at THAT point, is a detriment to Fresh, so Fresh starts to push the idea of the opposite. Getting in Ink’s way (and surprising ink as he does so) and telling Ink he’d show him “who’s really da weakest,” referencing the fact that people see Fresh as weak.

And that they’re wrong to think so.

But that’s getting off topic from his habitual running away! So I will offer a very important piece of insight that’s easy to miss if you don’t stop and consider it yourself, given it’s not stated explicitly.

Fresh DIDN’T run from Ink. He did run from Error in the start, but he did not actually run from Ink. He at best pretended to run from Ink, because he knew he had a reputation- and he knew it would work with his plan. 

How do we know he wasn’t running away? Because if he was running away, he would be gone. Fresh has more than enough ability to get away whenever he wants, if he actually wanted to escape he could have ran off into who knows where in the multiverse and hid via teleportation before Ink had a chance to blink. If he actually wanted to steal the vials, he wouldn’t have shown them to Ink, he just would have left with them.

“Running away” was part of a much larger manipulation of Ink on Fresh’s part.

2: The larger manipulation

You may be less aware of this depending on how big a fan of Fresh you are, but this guy is a liar and a manipulator of the highest order. He enters any situation he can with a fully thought out plan, and acts how he needs to in order to execute that plan. His motives are his own survival, of course, as far as the results he gets, but the method is fun.

He does enjoy having fun. His idea of fun is being successful, especially at other people’s expense, and he enjoys winning so much he’s likely made his persona a game in of itself, that he wins when he convinces people it’s real.

But today he isn’t focused on THAT game. The goal of the game today is to possess Ink, but there’s a catch here. Ink doesn’t have a soul, not traditionally, and Fresh needs to use the energy out of a host’s soul to survive and successfully possess them. Thus the goal of the game is revealed; He needs to make Ink drink as many vials as possible.

You may notice that he missed one! You noticed wrong- He couldn’t let Ink drink the last vial for reasons that I’ll explain in a moment, because I want to go through the first part of the interaction first.

The first thing Fresh has to do is upset Ink, which is VERY easy to do with a few things. Firstly;

Fresh stole Ink’s… inks. The sash- he straight up stole that. It may have fallen off of ink in the battle with Error, but he snatched it and was keeping it hidden on his person for use in his plan directly. Fresh knows that the vials are how Ink functions- he calls it out directly when showing Ink he has them. Look at how shocked Ink is to see him with them- Ink was wholly focused on finding the vials, only to see that Fresh had found them first and was keeping them from him intentionally. 

This is the start of making Ink upset with him, albeit not the first thing Fresh did directly to upset Ink. Fresh also used the “gift” he’d gotten from Ink, the unlimited vial, on Ink. He FORCED Ink to drink it.

This is almost funny! When you see it initially it’s so sudden that you might laugh as a first instinct, because it seems so out of left field. But it’s not. And then you realize Fresh genuinely made him drink it, and you realize when he shows the rest of the vials he knew what he was doing. He was making Ink be effected by something, and it’s important to note that while Fresh knows how the vials WORK, he doesn’t know what each one individually DOES. Especially not the unlimited vial, something that’s never been seen before.

Well, he needs to make Ink upset. And he also needs to find out what this vial even does, and he knows if he shoves the whole thing in Ink’s mouth Ink’ll have a reaction large enough that he can probably guess what it does and react appropriately. Thus this scene, and then the one after where when witnessing the state Ink was in, he makes fun of him.

He calls Ink out on trying to give him a gift clearly not meant for him, and especially trying to get him to drink something that would probably cause him distress if it worked. Making fun of Ink for it, and then revealing the rest of the vials, setting up perfectly for the next part of his plan. He’s underlined how important the vials are for ink, and shown that he has them. Now he needs Ink to feel desperate enough to drink them right now.

Obviously, he can’t just force Ink to drink all the vials like he did the unlimited vial. Ink would never let him pull it off, and he’s not about to try and pin down Ink, protector of the multiverse single handedly to even start attempting that. He needs to convince Ink to drink them himself- which is the next immediate thing he does. 

He tells Ink he’s gonna show him who’s weak, and then “runs,” initiating a chase. He knows Ink will follow him, because Ink is impulsive and upset with him right now, and needs the vials back. That means he can convince Ink to drink them himself.

Fresh starts out the chase poking at Ink’s fears and current concern, remarking “I bet ya’d hate to have nothin’ left.” Turning around to see that Ink is chasing him with a blaster, he can be sure that step one is complete without a doubt, as Ink has indeed decided to chase him, but he has to keep up the illusion of this being a “real” chase. The idea that Ink actually has to catch him and fight- so he pretends to be surprised at Ink being upset and chasing him!

But his smile and shades switching to say “OKAY” betrays the truth for us, only happening as Fresh turns away from Ink. He knows he’s in the clear and just has to keep up appearances long enough for Ink to drink the rest. 

His next comments also betray a secondary goal; Making sure Ink uses as little magic as possible. The plan is to possess ink: He needs Ink to have the maximum amount of power possible when he gets there, so he IMMEDIATELY reprimands Ink for firing off an attack at him. Warning Ink that if he keeps attacking he’ll run out of magic before he gets the vial back, and reminding Ink of the danger of that- Fresh has his vials, if he runs out of magic he’s hosed.

This is also why it’s important that Fresh is being CHASED by Ink, not FIGHTING Ink. He probably could fight Ink, but it’d be inefficient and dangerous. He needs Ink to be taking him seriously enough to drink the vials when getting them back, hence the threat of taking them and disappearing that pushes Ink to make sure he has the power he needs to grab them.

Then, he carefully starts giving Ink back some of the vials. Making it seem to Ink that this game of cat and mouse is going to be one he’ll draw out as long as possible- making it seem more important to Ink that he catches Fresh as soon as possible, otherwise he may actually lose some of the vials.

An interesting thing to note in this screenshot, by the way; Jakei’s attention to detail is astounding. The vials on the sash are in the same order as they are on the tracker- albeit while upside down now it’s reversed. But the order goes Orange, Yellow, Green, Teal, Blue, Pink, etc… And Jakei made sure to have the spots for Green and Yellow empty! Obviously, he’s throwing them out here…

But the slot for Blue is ALSO empty. We saw Fresh holding it earlier- but he didn’t put it back in the sash. He kept it on his person, likely because it’s the vial that’s most full. It’s also worth noting that he tossed out Green and Yellow- he doesn’t know what each colour does, but he DOES know those two are by far the emptiest vials at this point. Tossing them to Ink won’t make him too powerful, it’ll just make him hopeful enough in his success to continue the chase while Fresh continues to make fun of him for it.

He also is aware of Ink having magic at his disposal from the infinite vial from before, because surely if it worked like the other vials it’d work to power him as well. He uses it to his advantage here, calling Ink a liar again (something he saw firsthand upset Ink) and calling into question whether the infinite vial is even worth anything. Pushing the idea that Ink desperately wants the sash back by intentionally making fun of it.

It’s a subtle thing. But by making fun of Ink’s want to get the vials back, he’s introducing that idea to Ink again- that Ink needs the vials, that he absolutely has to catch Fresh ASAP to get them back.

Ink grabs the Sash and rips all the vials away from Fresh after. All but one…

He drinks all the vials he has immediately, as we see on the tracker. But Fresh stops running, which to Ink would be strange. Maybe he thinks he’s lost? But with the amount of confidence Fresh has, that’s clearly not true. Ink’s also definitely aware that Fresh has the Blue vial. But after playing keep away for so long, Fresh does something that absolutely baffles Ink.

He tosses Ink the vial.

This doesn’t make any sense to Ink and it shows. When Ink catches the vial he doesn’t drink it immediately. He looks at Fresh, trying to actually listen to what the other is saying now, trying to understand why in the world Fresh would hand it back to him after keeping it from him very intentionally before now.

And then in an instant Fresh is in front of him. Very close. And after having lorded it over Ink this whole time, calling Ink impulsive and foolish and lording himself as being smarter and better at this than Ink is, he reveals his hand.

He’s wanted to possess Ink this whole time. He just needed to use Ink’s impulsivity against him, and he succeeded with flying colours. Ink is also immediately aware of the fact he messed up, reacting in frustration at having been duped like that, which is quickly shut down. Because again, this spotlight is on Fresh, this is HIS success and Ink’s failure, and Fresh is having the time of his life with it. He is having so, so much fun being better than Ink.

Now I mentioned before and you can see it here, so as the last thought to end off this part of the character analysis; Why didn’t Fresh want Ink to drink the blue vial? If you look at only the goal to possess Ink, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Wouldn’t having Ink drink all of them give him more time?

It would! However there’s another bigger plan at play here that makes it worthwhile for Ink to have extra paint when he’s through with him; the fact that Fresh wants to survive.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but in Underverse the multiverse is doing pretty rough. The doodlesphere is in shambles, multiple AUs have been directly disrupted, the main timeline itself is under attack right at that instant and it’s getting worse, and Fresh can’t predict everything. He can tell it’s getting worse and worse though- which means he needs something from Ink.

He needs Ink to stop being an antagonist. He needs Ink to save the multiverse because he knows Ink actually can. That means he needs Ink to be emotional when he’s done with him- because while possessing Ink, he’s going to be consuming all the material that Ink had drunk up to that point. So there needs to be a little extra left over for Ink’s sake.

This is why he gives Ink the blue vial in a way that doesn’t prompt Ink to drink it. He’s the hero fighting an antagonist here, but he’s doing it by essentially out-villaining Ink. Forcing Ink’s hand and trying to make him realize he can’t keep playing games with X Gaster, he needs to fix this, and quick. 

Besides, he doesn’t need THAT much time to deal with Error. That’s just icing on top for him.

That’s all I think I can say in this part of my analysis without making this post REALLY stretch too long- so I’ll be making a part two!! Further discussing things like Fresh’s mindset while in this fight, more about his actions while fighting Error, and whatever else I can fit into that post. Look forward to it!!

[onelinemanytimes]

So, Underverse 0.7 Huh?

As you may or may not have heard, Underverse 0.7 Part One released on youtube and it was BEAUTIFUL, absolutely incredible stuff as always. I, however, am a freak, and while all of the episode was wonderful and a delightful next part to the Underverse story, there is only one thing I plan to talk about.

If you know anything about me you know what we’re here for.

Let’s talk about Fresh and his most recent appearance in Underverse.

For this post specifically, let’s talk specifically about him in combat- Magic especially. 

First off I’m making these for two reasons!! Reason one is because I’m incapable of being normal about Fresh and seeing him delights my heart immensely. Reason two is because I’ve seen a lot of people surprised or confused about things that I was so intimately familiar with that it baffled me people DIDN’T know!

And then y’know I remembered that most people didn’t spend weeks at a time hunting down every scrap of information about fresh from any source that was connected to the source material whatsoever (be it LoverOfPiggies herself, friends that interacted closely with her, or creators that had reached out to ask for information themselves). 

SO now I’m here to share what I know with everyone else!! With the fair warning that I am deep in it and also have very strong opinions and an ego the size of the sun, and also the warning that this is also my interpretation of what happened based on what I know and an analysis of Fresh’s portrayal in Underverse compared to the information on Fresh available. 

Let’s start with one of the most shockingly unknown facts I’ve seen people be surprised about;

“Fresh’s Furbies blew up!?? They were BOMBS?”

Yep!!!! This has been a part of his arsenal for a LONG time, along with the baseball bat- and this information was in fact straight from CQ, answered and public for the past 6 years

Fresh has essentially always been able to do this!! Or, more accurately, HAS been doing this? Same thing I think, you get the gist. Furbies rigged to blow and a bat (wiffle in the answer, but I’d say baseball bat is a fair substitute) to smack someone around with has been a weapon he uses for a long time.

This is also the best place to bring up how physically capable Fresh is. Fresh is FIT, and SKILLED, he knows how to move and how to use a weapon- or at least how to hit someone real hard with something. As seen in the first pictures he is using that bat beautifully against Error- but he does this twice actually!!

Fresh seems, at the very least, familiar with blunt weapons like bats, using them twice in the span of a single episode, wowie- and there are a lot of reasons I could see this being the case! All of his weapons are things he can easily explain away- the furby bombs? Little friends! Baseball bat? That’s just a sport objects, y’know, something for games! Stick of markers connected end to end? Honestly who hasn’t snapped those things together and pretended to have a very long marker or an epic stick when given the opportunity. 

This would be MUCH harder to do with something more traditionally recognized as a weapon. You think he can walk around with some kind of KNIFE?? Absolutely not! That’s dangerous! Someone could get hurt! Or suspect him of being a threat! He would never want to do that- and any physical weapons otherwise fall under similar issues. Sure he probably COULD get ahold of swords, hammers, tridents, or any other kind of weapon- but those are decidedly weapons and he is decidedly harmless.

There’s also the matter of his spacial awareness and body control

Look at the pose he has here. This is a pose he holds for multiple seconds, up until he’s counter attacked and physically pulled out of it. That’s INCREDIBLE balance, and potentially a testament to how strong or how lightweight ink is- but also, LOOK at that pose! That’s not just any pose to me. That looks similar to a handplant- a skateboarding trick that involves pausing upside down on one hand while you hold the board and other hand above you. Obviously, there are differences, including but not limited to a distinct lack of board…

But that’s also not what I’m getting at. I’m getting at the fact that physically, he’s OBVIOUSLY skilled. He TRAINS himself- and he likely pulls from the knowledge and skills around his “interests” in order to do some of the movements he has! We absolutely saw him doing little skateboard tricks when running from ink, this is very much so in line with that and completely in the realm of possibility for him. Don’t even get me started on how he manages to heely backwards at high speeds without absolutely wiping out.

This DOES bring up an interesting question though!! What about other magic?

The answered ask by CQ is a bit vague, honestly- and there are PLENTY of examples of Fresh using magic drawn by CQ herself that eludes to a higher capability than just physical objects set up for violence (Coloured bone magic attacks and the “FRESH POOF!” come to mind immediately for me, in art with Pacifrisk and comics respectively), so what CAN Fresh do?

It’s… hard to answer that solidly, honestly. There’s a lot of interpretations for this answer, from a variety of sources that were (at the time) in close proximity to CQ and Fresh especially- The most typical interpretation is that Fresh is able to at minimum use the same magic as his current Host, and this DOES seem to be the interpretation Underverse runs with!! You can tell based on the second (third?) fight scene, more on that when I get there in another post.

I will say! It does seem like Fresh has some abilities not explained wholly by his host, unless what he’s capable of is partially because his host isn’t sans, it’s some other kind of skeleton who may just be able to do those things.

Fresh has shown to be able to definitely use: Teleportation (Both with Fresh Poof and without if he chooses to). I think it’s also fair to assume he has access to other kinds of magic- Dimensional Magic being an option here given the retrieval/stashing of various objects throughout the episode (putting the furbies in place, suddenly having Ink’s sash visible, and suddenly having a skateboard being prime examples).

I would argue that the ability to censor people’s swears also falls under magic, as do his visual effects (like the question marks) and the word changes on his shades, but THAT is also dependent on whether or not you see “fourth wall shenaniganery” as a magic or not. There’s also a point where he jumps up and flips upside down in order to avoid getting blasted by ink that I could easily relate to the gravity-esque magic Sans has- y’know, that thing where he makes your soul fall in a certain direction? Like that! Food for thought.

There’s also the possibility that Fresh has the magic of being funny. And that’s only mildly a joke- magically being able to do things that would be funny or amusing in a given situation IS very in line with the kind of character he is and could explain a lot of the nonsense he has access to- of COURSE he can just summon stuff at will, it’s hilarious when he does that and it makes him a delight to watch. Again, Fourth Wall Shenaniganery Magic in that case though.

By the way. Fresh is very, VERY aware of the fourth wall. This I’m going to be making its own post about.

ANYWAYS I think that’s all I have to say about the magic use on his part in underverse- I have NOT gotten into the possession here because that is it’s OWN thing but do be aware that possessing people is also obviously something he can do and you love to see that. Enjoy and look forward to my further upcoming posts about Fresh!

[onelinemanytimes]

hey! im yacub, a utau creator on tiktok (username: @yyy.cb) what i tend to post are canon information on sans aus. i honestly cant get fresh right since most of cq's stuff can be outdated or conflicting (ex: one post said hes capable of feeling romance just doesnt understand it, a more recent one says he cant feel at all). i was hoping you could make a post and ALL the stuff yk abt fresh or just correcting common misconceptions! (if u can ofc, i will 100% give credits) ty <33

Hey!! Nice to see someone take an interest in Fresh- I don't use tiktok, but I don't mind helping to spread some correct information about the Freshman himself to anyone who'd like to see it!

The first post I'll link is actually a Reblog addition I made to someone else's post; here! This post has an EXTREMELY thorough, well crafted video that tells you just about everything there is to know on Fresh at a baseline and getting into more specific niche details, AND shows a lot of the relevant posts on-screen while talking about different factors!! I added on additional information in my reblog of it, but frankly I'd say the video alone is a lot! (It is a long watch though so be prepared to strap in!)

The second post I'll link is actually the first post I made about Fresh, and while it has a lot of information in it and was made to clear up misconceptions, it's also... a bit aggressive in tone, so you super do not have to use it- it also additionally doesn't have sources linked and brings up other people's interpretations of Fresh which, while it's used as a way to illustrate a point, also kind of muddles things in some cases- BUT, it does have information, and I'm not one to be ashamed of my past! You can read that here!

Thirdly, this isn't quite what you asked for, but! I have multiple analysis posts on Fresh as seen in Underverse, through the lens of someone extremely familiar with his canon- so while what's happening in Underverse is not inherently canon to Fresh, this could be nice to see from an "Analysis and understanding of character" point of view! I'll link each part I wrote in order I wrote it; Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Fourth thing is, it's worth noting CQ has been inconsistent with Fresh for quite a while. Even years ago, the information about Fresh has ALWAYS been inconsistent, given CQ did a lot of character development mid-rp or highly improv'd elsewise. So... In some ways, what's canon is kind of debatable- even MORE so when CQ often was inspired by the fandom!!! Ideas kind of got echoed around back on themselves within the fandom in that time, and that's worth taking into account! A variety of people have contributed to how Fresh is portrayed, both officially and unofficially!

And, finally- I might try and make a proper post here in a while!! I've been pretty deep in the deltarune sauce atm (As you can see in my most recent post or so) BUT I love Fresh so much :D :) I would love to make a more proper informational post with links and such to source asks, I'm pretty experienced at finding them on CQ's blog (I've gone digging around so much by now XD)

Some info, it's hard to directly source. Some is told to people directly whom CQ interacted with- I know Alainaprana talked with CQ a few times, I believe Feth had direct communication at one point as far as the general species that fresh is went, Neon--nightmare was at one point in an rp server alongside CQ and was able to get feedback occasionally on the writing done in that server for fresh... and who knows how much more! I have been lucky enough to meet CQ in person, and ask questions directly- I have some information I know that I CAN'T source, because it was gained from an interaction like that!

So, Fresh is a bit enigmatic and difficult to get perfect information on- my biggest recommendation to people who want to know how to write Fresh, is to look at whatever you can find! Try and find the information you can, look at some of the things people have made, and figure out what you'd like to do with writing him! A lot of people have contributed to his character, and it's worth trying to keep that in mind! (This is part of why I'm not a huge fan of that old post of mine, hahah, I try to be a little nicer nowadays)

...Though, I do appreciate people trying to stick to details that have been talked about directly, personally. I'd say the most important details to Fresh's character are, by far, his existence as a parasite (and what being a parasite means for how he approaches relationships and morality), his nature as a low or no emotion creature (and what having extremely limited emotions means for his... everything), and how much he's affected by the attention he gets from... us! From the audience!! (He didn't have an existential crisis for nothing, after all!)

I could talk about him for ages- and I HAVE, hahah! And will again <3 just talking about the little I have here has already made me excited to think about him again- let me know if this helped, or if you have any more specific questions to ask later!

[onelinemanytimes]

Possession, PSAs, and his Shades

We’ve gone over a lot already, but man. I just keep on looking at everything happening and thinking about it nonstop. There’s so much to talk about where Fresh is involved and while analyzing the character directly in the context of underverse is absolutely still on the table, I can think of more things to talk about.

So I’m going to do that! This post’ll be about a bit more of a variety of things, especially in regards to stuff I personally enjoyed massively. Let’s go!!

The Possession

This part may be a bit scrambled and I apologize in advance, and I also warn that trying to find information on THIS in particular is fairly difficult. There are some things that are a fact, for sure;

Fresh is the parasite who’s possessing the body (that purple thing up there? That’s Fresh), and consumes the Host’s SOUL while in their body for sustenance. The Host does not have control while being possessed.

…And that is all the facts I’m 100% sure on. The rest? From what I could find briefly searching the records I know of, much harder to confirm. For Underverse, it’s safe to assume “The Host is Conscious while possessed” is true, given Ink responds to Fresh’s PSA after being freed from his control, and it’s been heavily implied that being possessed hurts a LOT given, yknow, having your soul slowly eaten away by a parasite cannot possibly be pleasant.

I will note that it probably hurt less for Ink because Ink doesn’t have a soul. BUT WAIT, if Fresh needs a soul to possess someone, and Ink doesn’t have one, how does the possession work?? I’m glad but also surprised you asked because Fresh explains it himself to Ink!

Fresh may not need the vials himself, but Ink absolutely runs off them. At the very least Ink’s emotions run off them, and for most other monsters having a SOUL is connected to having emotions (or at least, NOT having a soul is explicitly connected to NOT having emotions). That makes the vials a suitable substitute for the magic Fresh needs to consume from a host to live, at least for Underverse!

This would also explain why Fresh’ possession lasted no longer than a few minutes before running out completely- the material in those vials does NOT last long, not even for Ink! Ink has to refill them and drink them regularly, and Ink’s body is probably better at processing them. Fresh, meanwhile, is insatiable, constantly drawing on the magic for his own survival without regard to the host’s well being, and that would drain the effects of the vials even FASTER than their already short time frame.

I also want to talk about physically how Fresh possessed Ink. Nothing weird, but details about the battle that absolutely delight me.

Magically we know at this point Fresh had to trick Ink into drinking the vials so the possession would function. But PHYSICALLY, Fresh ALSO needed to get Ink into a position where he would be susceptible to possession!

A LOT of legwork was done for him beforehand. Error had done some damage to Ink already, wearing him down magically and physically for a bit before being interrupted, and that’s not even looking at the fact that Ink was already a bit roughed up before Error got to him.

Fresh forced Ink to drink the Unlimited Vial as well, which while he didn’t know it would do this, helped to wear Ink down further. Forcing Ink to feel something overwhelmingly oppressive that Ink could only think to describe as “Pain” in the moment. This may not have physically negatively affected Ink, but it did have a mental effect, and that matters just as much in this case.

Then, before Ink had any time to really recover, Fresh forced him to chase him- something that pushed Ink to start using magic and of course having to physically follow after Fresh. And this chase is FAST, based on how much the wind is whipping at their clothes in the animation, Fresh is making Ink WORK for those vials.

Ink is physically exhausted, as emotionally exhausted as he’s capable of being, and mentally exhausted as well (potentially also why he’s so quick to make foolish predictable decisions around FRESH, someone he’s obviously familiar with to SOME degree). After everything he’s been put through he’s tired, and in perfect condition for Fresh.

Physically, Fresh gets VERY close to Ink, very quickly. He’s in front of Ink before Ink’s realized what’s happening, and he only gets closer as the scene progresses. The view from Ink’s perspective is wonderful, Fresh absolutely looming over him (and the camera) with how much taller he is and how close he’s standing. Fresh also reaches out to Ink himself, nearly close enough to touch Ink.

Obviously, the physical process is Poof’d out in the animation, which I’m not surprised by at all because as has been stated by CQ and others, “It’s pretty gross,” and also probably pretty difficult to animate. We don’t need to see that, we understand what’s going on here and we have a battle flow to keep up because Error is there pretty immediately after. I ADORE how menacing it was the entire time leading up though, THAT is delicious.

And then we get to the actual being possessed part!

In my various analysis posts, I haven’t talked about Fresh!Ink as a separate, 3rd character of some kind whatsoever, and that is VERY intentional. Fresh!Ink is not a character of its own, it’s a state of being, specifically Ink’s status as Actively Possessed. This isn’t a fusion situation where both of their mindsets and thoughts are contributing to their actions, this is exclusively Fresh.

This is something ESSENTIAL to keep in mind. Ink is nothing more than a body in the Fresh!Ink dynamic, Fresh is as in control here as he is in his own typical hosts. Trying to imply that Fresh!Ink is a separate character from Fresh somehow is completely misunderstanding how Fresh!Ink even functions on a baseline level- it’s largely an aesthetic change that, in this case, was only important because Ink needed to be unrecognizable for a while.

PSAs

Fresh loves addressing us directly. It’s a sure-fire way to ensure he’s the center of attention to what REALLY matters, the audience, even if it means being ignored in universe or confusing to other characters. 

Nothing exemplifies this better than when he gets into a PSA (short for Public Service Announcement), a part of his 90s facade where characters would stop and address the audience in order to teach a lesson of some kind. Said character often being portrayed as cool and competent, or at least knowledgeable about the topic at hand, and using the situation around them to deliver some kind of moral message with the other characters.

This is good context to have on who Fresh’s dialogue is for and why in the world he would say everything he does. I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating that Fresh is a character that is not only 100% aware of the fourth wall, but is known for interacting with it himself to some degree. Fresh is meant to be funny, so this awareness is played as a joke in most cases, but you better believe there is some intense existential dread deeply baked into his character as a result.

Anyways! Let’s look at the dialogue during the fight and really pull apart what it means.

Fresh: Dude, dese days have been kinda on the wacko side for everyone, huh? I smell unrad vibes just all over da dang place. 

Error: You're dead, Ink!!

Fresh: I think ya talkin' to da wrong broski. Our glitchy pal needs a chill pill. Let's learn how ta handle dis here situation. Sometimes when people get angry all dey get is a well-deserved time out. So- tell ya rainbow buddy- whats makin' ya so unhappy?

Error: Quit playing games, you fu[nking mu]stard!!

Fresh: Unrad, Bro! Nobody like it when ya rude! As ya can see, hostility can be challengin' at times. It's a sign dat they're all up in their head, fightin' a much harder battle dan da external. And most people aren't aware of it. Find out what it is dats tormentin' dem. And use dat weakness against dem ta destroy their life. let dem know dat nobody messes with you. ...And dat mah friendos, is how ya come ta realize dat you must care about yaself first and above anyone else! 

Error: You're [Fun]king crazy!!! I'm wasting my time with freaks like you! Once I'm done with Ink, you're next, whoever you are!!!

This is the full exchange Fresh has with Error, and what Error and Ink witnessed on their end- with a reminder that Fresh was very rarely actually talking to Error, often facing away from Error while speaking in the battle. It’s also worth noting that in the episode itself, all of this text is in uppercase, I made the decision to put it in lowercase here for the sake of legibility- but it being in uppercase IS important, they’re both being loud here.

This is a message from Fresh about how to handle someone actively attacking you, based on context. He’s sharing what to do in a battle to get out on the other side of it alright, based on what he knows and thinks of course. His delivery here is patronizing and weird, but there IS real substance to this.

His first piece of advice is to force the opponent into “time out,” which he demonstrates is getting the opponent into a state of being less able to attack, via slapping Error out of the air and to the ground. The flow of Error’s attacks are interrupted now that he’s been disrupted like that, and Fresh moves onto the next step!

The time out is, apparently, intended as a way to get them to stop fighting and start talking, as Fresh immediately asks Error directly a question, something he would only need to do to get Error’s side during this little informational encounter. As has been said, he doesn’t care about actually talking to Error here, he’d just keep talking to us at home if he didn’t think it was fitting for his message to chat with Error.

Obviously Error is just furious more than anything, immediately retaliating against Fresh. This is fine, though- Fresh IS trying to give advice on what to do in a battle, and sometimes talking to someone doesn’t work! So of course, you need to be able to keep calm, and follow the next steps of success.

It starts off as a very typical “thinking of the other person” friendliness type thing, noting that someone who’s engaging in a fight with you has something going on in their head making them think choosing that violence is a good or worthwhile idea. That they’re fighting an internal battle that most people wouldn’t even know about. 

And hey! Internal battle in your head that no one knows about… just like the internal struggle of his hosts against him, that no one else ever thinks about, right guys? Making a little ominous tangent is something he does for us at home, because he knows there are a lot of people that enjoy that about him- and that it makes him interesting, having things about him that aren’t what you expect and make you want to look closer at him.

And he continues with that darker tone, because his answer to continued conflict is to fight back; specifically, to fight back smarter, not harder than your enemy. Find out what’s wrong with your opponent, what will hurt them the worst possible, what their weakness is- and utterly destroy them with it. End it in one decisive hit, striking at the weakest part of your enemy as hard as possible.

And of course, he demonstrates doing this! Lovely Error is someone he knows pretty well, well enough to exploit Error’s fears in this fight. When Fresh counter-attacks, Error actually runs entirely from that attack. If you watch carefully, you can see error make a portal out of the doodlesphere as the hands reach toward him, and back away into it to avoid being hit.

Which, guess what? Means that Fresh wins! Obviously, if your opponent flees from a battle, you can consider that a win, because they are now no longer fighting you- the goal of all this advice! 

His final moral message to the viewers is his own personal standpoint, that you have to care about yourself more than you care about anyone else! Don’t pity the enemy or try to offer kindness when they’re fighting you, tear them apart and show them it was a mistake to try and trap you in a battle. NO one messes with you, or else.

And then the possession is over! With Ink telling Fresh that what he said didn’t make any sense at all, which is probably due to a mix of Fresh’s speech patterns, Fresh’s intended audience being us, and also Ink not having a lot of time to process and consider what Fresh is talking about (unlike us who can spend days looking at the same 5 minutes of animation and tearing it apart piece by piece).

Fresh doesn’t push it, likely because it IS a pretty significant insight into his thought process (not to mention the fact the message wasn’t mainly for Ink anyways). Instead he starts deflecting by pointing out that eating paint doesn’t make any sense either, but Ink still does that, putting Ink in a kind of “gotchya” position where he’d have to explain eating paint before Fresh explains his little message there- which Fresh knows Ink isn’t going to do, at minimum because Core is here and Ink’s only just noticed.

I did word my thoughts as “the message wasn’t mainly for Ink” intentionally though. Fresh had spent the lead up to the fight berating Ink on his thoughtlessness, and on his dramatic lack of planning ahead when faced with a situation in the moment (By comparison to Fresh, at least. I do think Ink is capable of planning ahead to SOME degree given his actions over the course of Underverse absolutely being planned in their own right, but Fresh is berating him for not planning ahead ENOUGH, hence the current state of everything right now and also his dramatic victory.)

I think to Fresh, Ink could also benefit from this message on how to stop having ridiculous fights (with error especially) that waste time and don’t end with a clear enough winner to make the opposing party back off. Ink wastes a TON of resources and gets into a lot of risky situations that could be avoided if he fought more heartlessly AND efficiently, so this advice could help if Ink ever plans to start ignoring his feelings again.

Right now, of course, the advice hardly applies at all. Obviously, Ink is presently emotional, especially after the battle and drinking all the vials (more or less). And, Ink potentially can’t succeed in this situation following Fresh’s advice, it may be more worthwhile to use some level of sympathy and kindness to dissolve the situation, something Ink specifically is in the perfect position to do as a friend of X Gaster.

That’s the delicious crux of this situation though, isn’t it?

Ink is in a very, very unique position as someone who knows a lot about X Gaster. A LOT about X Gaster, more than essentially anyone else in the multiverse that isn’t from XTale directly. There are a few routes Ink can go down in now, helping the “good side” to combat him. As an old friend, he could try to appeal emotionally, trying to work with XGaster for a different resolution to everything having seen that it’s gone too far.

Or… maybe everything Fresh said here just doesn’t make sense YET. Fresh’s message to us and to Ink could be foreshadowing for the future- that the battle is going to be ended because Ink, or someone else extremely close to XGaster, is going to reveal XGaster’s weakness. That with that weakness, they’re not just going to fight XGaster, they’re going to utterly destroy XGaster, so that there is no question whatsoever who won.

That’s just speculation of course… Can’t say for sure if it was foreshadowing when we can’t look to the future yet and see it play out. Cool as heck if it is foreshadowing though, could you imagine. I’d go crazy, again, and probably write like three more posts about how Fresh is a genius and the true hero of underverse and other equally ridiculous claims.

His Shades

The last thing I want to talk about here is short and it’s about Fresh’s shades. This is mostly me just wanting to talk about them because I love them and the attention to detail in these animations is absolutely incredible and worth discussing. BUT HEY I bet people would like to hear about how they work and what they mean for Fresh and yada yada ok cool let’s jump in.

SO Fresh is known for his awesome “YOLO” shades, of course, but they can change to display other text!! This is a cool fact that I’ve never seen so beautifully executed, but has always been enjoyed on my end- but the way Fresh’s shades work is a bit hard to pin down!

I think, to some degree, it’s safe to say Fresh has control over what his shades say. I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s in perfect control over what they say, though, moreso that they respond to him directly. I say this because of how they shift when he’s attacked by Error- during some of the impact frames they change to say “oof!” and react in perfect time with him expressing worry or concern over situations.

It is possible he controls them entirely and is just that good at it, but it’s up for debate, and either way he’s still using his shades to convey his intentions as much as any other form of body language.

You may have noticed that sometimes, however, his Shades don’t show ANY text. Specifically, three or four times that are notable (There are others but they’re during moments when Fresh is very VERY distant or when he’s in heavy motions, where it’s more likely his shades just aren’t big enough to have fit any kinds of letters on for the sake of animating, and I don’t think those count for here).

First, when he’s forcing Ink to drink the vial. Second, when he tells Ink that the both of them are very different and he’s smarter (they stay off until Fresh has possessed ink), Third for a moment before jumping up to hit Error that may just be another case of “animating the words here wasn’t worth it” but that I have trouble believing given other instances there’re words, and then after Error has them pinned to the ground tied up in strings for more or less the rest of the fight.

All of these moments are unique in that they also coincide with moments where Fresh is being MOST genuinely himself, and not lying nearly as much as every other time. Showcasing his lack of any feelings at forcing Ink to drink the unlimited vial, devoid of anything but cold curiosity. Tipping his hand in preparation for possessing Ink, blankly stating that he and Ink are very very different, and that relating them too much to each other is a dangerous mistake to make.

Again, with jumping up to meet Error in the air, it could be a moment of “animation dropping the text,” but to humor if it isn’t, Fresh is ACTIVELY accepting combat in that moment. The break in text is the break in his facade and active focus on us at home, he has to take a moment to actually engage in this battle- but it’s entirely unnecessary to display any text about it in that moment. He’s deciding his next move, calculating and waiting for the perfect time to jump.

It’s easy to assume the fourth instance where he’s tied up, the letters are gone because the visor is visibly broken. That could make sense, perhaps- but soon after it’s shown that no, the visor still absolutely works, and could be displaying a visual.

Not displaying any text here has just as much reason as not displaying any text any other time, and in this case is used for two reasons. It’s used for this moment of being very ominous, for one, giving us this excellent shot intended to be pretty frightening juxtaposed against Fresh’s usual behavior and atmosphere. But yet again it’s also a tell for when Fresh is being “most genuine” in his exchanges!

At this point is where he’s talking about how to defeat someone who won’t stop fighting, by taking advantage of any weakness they show and destroying them completely as a consequence for it. That’s very genuinely something Fresh would and probably did do to people, and he doesn’t need to sugar coat it with fun visuals and lies. After all, we know what he’s like, that he doesn’t care and that at his most truthful, there is nothing he is feeling to convey. He’s empty… Just like his shades are, showing nothing to us because there’s nothing to see.

Instances when his shades do have text still do bleed into his reactions, like I mentioned, and show his current state of being to some degree. Displaying “HAHA” at multiple times within the battle as he’s enjoying himself, showing to say “OK UH” when he’s looking at Ink’s vials to decide which to toss at him, and a ton of other fun little moments! It’s a delight to watch and fills me with joy every time I look at it, absolutely wonderful.

That’s all for this post though! I covered a lot of ground here and said a lot, but that’s kind of why I wanted to talk about this at all! I had a lot of thoughts that could do with being shared, and I hope you all enjoy this one as much as the others!

[onelinemanytimes]

The “Protagonist” of Underverse 0.7 (Part 1)

Now, this is an interesting one. This is also a hot take, potentially, and maybe a bad choice of words- “protagonist” typically suggests a main character and Underverse is a series where a true one main character is hard to pin down. I’d say Protagonist is definitely the wrong word actually, thinking about it- but I’m not sure how else to phrase this…

Maybe it’d make more sense to call them the battle perspective. That is, the person you’re meant to be rooting for in this battle, and the person who’s side is followed closest throughout the conflict once it gets rolling.

Let’s talk about why in the WORLD I would think the character in this role is FRESH, and not Ink. 

LET ME ALSO MAKE IT CLEAR NOW. I’m not about to suggest Fresh is the next main big character in Underverse or that he’s going to be saving the day or anything of the sort. If anything, I think now, he’s basically going to disappear until maybe the very end to show up in a final shot of some kind exactly the same as he was. (I would love to be proven wrong about that but I doubt it.)

I’m talking exclusively about the second half of Underverse 0.7 Part 1 that takes place in the Antivoid/Doodlesphere, specifically the conflict that happens in the doodlesphere. So just the parts Fresh is there for. Everyone clear on that? Yeah? Alrighty.

So, how could I possibly think FRESH is the main perspective on this battle and not Ink!?? Ink is present for all the conflicts much more directly as the focus, is the one who has a character arc in the episode, and has been super important for basically the entirety of underverse what with his connection to X Gaster and everything else. Ink’s TOTALLY main character material while Fresh is super background!! Surely this is me actually being out of my mind right?

Maybe. But hear me out, because I’ve got some interesting evidence for this.

Point 1: How Fresh arrives

Fresh shows up to the scene as one part of a duo with someone who is undoubtedly a main character, Cross. This still signs him up as a sidekick more than anything, on its own, but there’s more to this than that. Specifically; The Gift. AKA, Fresh’s Payment for the favor he did Ink, something Cross doesn’t know about, but has been used in promotion and as a symbol of this episode for a while now.

That Gift has so little to do with Cross that he didn’t even get told what it was in vague terms by Core, all Core said was “Don’t worry about it, just go,” even though Core could have answered that Cross was going with Fresh of all people because ink gave him a promise, or a gift, or a favor, or something of the like.

Cross is also kicked off into what we find out to be Aftertale within the first few minutes of showing up- I think it’s safe to say that for this episode, Cross is not a focal point for the part of the video I’m focusing on here.

There’s also what Ink is doing when they show up. Besides, y’know, being thrown around like a wet sock by Error.

He’s holding the gift and looking for Fresh.

He’s PROTECTING that gift very very hard. To the point of when error was throwing him around, his focus was on making sure he did not lose that gift, even despite losing his vials in a blast soon after this. Ink didn’t remember what it was initially! But when he realized that was singularly his focus; Get this gift to Fresh.

Error is obviously an antagonist here who is preventing Ink from delivering that gift to Fresh. Also not consistently present- definitely showing up multiple times, but not there the entire time. You love to see him throwing a fit about the lack of spotlight only to hilariously still be losing the spotlight to, of all people, Fresh.

We can tell that everything here is centered around Fresh and ceases to function without him here, but there’s a much more compelling reason why I think Fresh is meant to be the focus here and the lens through which we view these battles.

Point 2: The Vials

These are Ink’s Vials! Yes, I can hear the confusion starting again. These Vials, however, are what keyed me into the fact that Fresh is the one we’re watching, not Ink. If this graphic hadn’t existed then I wouldn’t have realized it myself- but they work in a very peculiar way in this fight/chase sequence.

Fresh, currently, has all the vials. He’s playing a game of keep-away with Ink, skateboarding away with them to keep them out of his hands, meanwhile Ink is trying to attack him to get them back, and drink them.

This graphic is pretty unnecessary if it was solid. You can know the colours of the vials if you look at inks design, so it’s purpose isn’t apparent until a few moments later, when Fresh tosses out the Green and the Yellow, which are then caught by Ink…

Who drinks them. Regular Ink behavior- but now we see what the vials are there for! Ink drinking them emptied them, marking them as no longer a piece in play, completely greyed out.

…That doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?

Ink is trying to get the vials back from Fresh. If the visual was trying to keep track of how many Ink had gotten back, then all of them should be unavailable until Ink has them. Especially given at this point, Ink is being actively taunted about a variety of things I’ll dig into more in other posts- but that needless to say are encouraging him to magically pursue Fresh. 

Perhaps they’re simply keeping track of how much material is in each vial..? But that would also be odd, wouldn’t it? Why would Ink need to keep track of which vials are full or empty? His magic isn’t tied to the colours he has access to, and the vials don’t change when magic is used by Ink, just when they’re drunk. Not to mention, Ink doesn’t have those vials yet- Fresh has them.

And you know who would profit from keeping track of their volume, and which ones have been consumed? Fresh would. It's VERY important that Fresh keeps track of which ones Ink’s drunk, for reasons that are made clear later. HE is the one that is making that visual matter- and it’s tied to HIS goal, not Ink’s. We’re seeing his side of this battle, the side where he has to know which vials are empty for the last part of this battle.

When the vials are no longer a checklist. They’re a timer.

These Vials, in the latter half of their fight, become a timer that goes down at a steady rate over the next few minutes. This timer is very very obviously for Fresh specifically, marking how much time he has to be in control of ink’s body. Anything he wants to do, he has to do it before he runs out of the material now in those vials- making this graphic undeniably one that applies to Fresh specifically, not Ink.

Why does this matter? What’s the point of knowing who’s perspective we have on this battle when we’re watching from the third person anyways? Well, for one it’s cool as heck to see this and ponder it, but for two; it’s so that the shift to Fresh!Ink isn’t that strange or jarring. Having Fresh take over the main character and perspective of the battle would be odd, and would mean forcing your main character to take a back seat. It’d mean Fresh was actively uprooting something planned and prepared before and causing a disruption.

That’s no good! But that problem goes away if Fresh was always the focus. No need to shift perspectives, no need to see how Ink feels while being possessed, none of that. Fresh is the one who’s in the spotlight- and this is further accentuated by how he acts while possessing Ink. He’s not talking to Error, that’s for sure, and he’s at best kind of talking to Ink, maybe.

That’s not actually it though. No, he’s talking to us, full on PSA mode, turned towards the camera and giving a guide on how he plans to win as he proceeds to. The spotlight on him makes overwhelming sense, with that- and it’s EXACTLY the kind of thing he would want, maybe even fitting payment that he decided to take for himself when Ink’s gift was so sub par.

He wants us to pay attention to him. He wants to be seen, to be remembered, to be adored and to exist without question. Because that’s what it means to be a character. That’s how you continue to be there, how you keep from fading away into irrelevancy- how you end up getting replaced, and written out of your own life.

And he is terrified of being replaced. He would do anything to keep himself important enough for us to care about.

Maybe the gift was the funniest thing in the multiverse after all. An opportunity for Fresh- ridiculous, overshadowed, often misunderstood and ignored Fresh- to temporarily take the biggest spotlight possible from one of the main characters of the series, asserting himself in legendary, radical fashion as an essential part of this otherwise very serious high stakes story that cannot be overlooked or replaced. Because you have to admit, THAT is hilarious.

[onelinemanytimes]

This is a very silly question, but understanding Fresh hurts my brain. Fresh is the parasite, right? Is he possessing a sans? In the Underverse stuff, when he possessed Ink, I don't understand how that worked since it would have meant leaving the body he's possessing behind to jump into Ink, right? I'm assuming it's just glossed over because that would have ruined the flow otherwise, but I'm not missing something about him am i?

Mhm!! He is indeed a parasite and I think it's safe to assume it was glossed over somewhat in order to maintain the pacing and also dodge some awkward questions- who knows, maybe that big poof of magic or ink (whatever the dust cloud was that had to clear to reveal Fresh!ink) was an intentional tactic used to hide the OG host skeleton somewhere Error couldn't find them for a bit.

That's a bit of a stretch to just go and assume w/o any real evidence though. I have thought about that before, trust me, but I've also thought about what I'd do about it myself, and what Jakei did makes the most sense to me from an animation standpoint. Fresh's got a lot of shenanigans and Ink has even MORE shenanigans Fresh would by proxy have access to, I think it's ok to gloss over the detail given what was meant to have focus in the episode at the time.