Henlo! I had the urge to draw the main DR gang as children, so here are some concept designs I cooked up:
I made Kris's design somewhat based on Chara and Frisk's palette because well I guess in a way, Undertale is somewhat the "young version" or first introduction we have of Toby's work and what we may associate with Kris's design, who came after the first two kids. Ofc, Kris alr sorta looks like Chara and for Frisk, I made their shorts blue and also added bandages of Frisk's palette. Also, signature boots and a newer version of Seam. ^^
Susie is definitely taller than Kris forever lmao, not sure which one is older tho. I'd like to think she gets dressed with the standard cartoon kid girl outfit.
Both of them have bandages because their mentioned reckless behavior (Kris being a prankster and- I'd imagine- active; and Susie awakening some violent/aggressive behavior).
I mostly based Noelle on the young "Noelle" cameo on the Undertale 10th anniversary and her child self silhouettes in Chapter 2. I especially like the dress I drew and how it makes her look dainty.
Okay, now Berdly is the meme here, I kinda based him off of my younger sib and theorized that he as a lil boi developed obsessions on planets, dinosaurs, and all that jazz (bc for some reason all the lil bois I know like those). He's also notably short bc idk bluebirds are small.
I also made this alt headcannon where he gets like those headgear braces to adjust his teeth, but since bluebirds don't have teeth and I'm not rlly sure if bluebird monsters don't also, I just made it to adjust his beak which would need to have been crooked (there's no real reason, it's just peak cartoon nerd design idk)
Okay so for Ralsei, here's where all the concept stuff really was. I'll be basing it off of the fan-fave Ralsei is the red-horned headband theory, not necessarily as a bias but bc it just fits my fancy to draw DR as kids and it was interesting to consider what-ifs.
Like I didn't rlly think abt how the Dark World operates but a friend theorized the possibility of it happening real-time (like it exists even before when Kris and Susie were kids) or it only existed on the condition that Kris "created" a dark world or whoever made it first in the current time (this isn't rlly the point but just wanted to mention).
In this case, it's more of a parallel universe thing where darkners are premature (hence, in their primary/younger/child forms).
Anyway, whatever gets theorized in this post is just an excuse to draw some alternative child Ralsei designs lmao:
1. Red-eyed and Red-horned Ralsei: This one is the one I favored the most bc I'd like to think that if he was the headband, it would be quite new at this time instead of hypothetically discolored (hence "pinked out" referencing current Ralsei's pink eyes and horns) and worn (hence references Ralsei's "visual problems"). In this case, his eyes and horns would be a vibrant red, and if he wasn't "old enough" to "grow horns", then he would look more like young UT!Asriel. He would have no use of his glasses given the case.
2. Orrrr he could just be a headband in the lightworld: since Kris always wears it, as mentioned; then, if child Kris would have had access to the dark world at this time, they might have the horns as part of their armor?
3. Ralsei still has red eyes and horns but retains the glasses: not rlly favoring this one bc with the context, it kinda wouldn't make a lot of sense.
Unless, he alr has the visual problems despite the headband still being vibrant, which maybe points to his sentience instead.
4. Ralsei retains the pink features and glasses: basically og Ralsei but even babier.
Alr, finally, the height comps.
So Susie is the tallest, and Kris and Noelle will prolly be the same height. Ralsei is significantly shorter than them but Berdly may actually be the shortest one (head feathers? hair? makes him look taller).
Okay, I didn't expect this post to be this long, I sorta just rambled and composed this all on the spot. Again, I didn't have the best concepts and just drew them on the fly. If I had more time, I would prolly put more effort on the design and conceptualization. Thanks for reading if you're still here! 😭🙌🏼🌱🌸🍓