Why the Sagaverse Out!Codes are a disappointment to me
I havenât made a post like this in quite a while, I believe, and it is finally time that I make another. Anyways, before you may have heard of Sagaverse. If you have not, let me tell you. All Iâm going to say is directly taken from the Sagaverse blog, and is not of my writing. In fact, itâs even from the first post on this Tumblr blog. It is this way to make sure that nothing stated here is wrong.
â[Sagaverse] takes place in an Alternate Multiverse where the truce that Ink and Error made had taken a completely different path from what most people have known before.
This series will also focus on the 5 Out!Codes (Ink, Error, Dream, Nightmare, and Core) to see their adventure and conflict after the truce has been made and half of the multiverse was erased by their own creators. They will also be supported by other casts old and new that will join in the shenanigans of the truce aftermath.â
For the purpose of this post, the five Out!Codes Sagaverse is focused on will not be talked about, as they have not been created by anyone in the Sagaverse team, and as such, I do not consider them âSagaverse Out!Codesâ for the purpose of this post, though they have been rewritten for the AU. DT!Undyne will also be disregarded due to the very obvious intent to not show inormation on her in her post. The Error creations are also going to be disregarded since none of the things Iâm going to say really applies to them, and their presentations differ from that of the others in regard of what they say.
Also, to be extremely clear, this post is in no way intended to criticize Sagaverse itself and its writing overall. I myself, especially when the first parts came out, was really excited to see the rest of the story. This enjoyment is, in fact, one of the reasons I believe I can allow myself to call them a âdisappointmentâ.
And to end this introduction, I would like to state that while itâs an entirely personal opinon, I tried my best to give a properly written explanation on why I have this opinion. That is, except for the digression below that is very personal and almost unrelated, as this is a digression (I just couldnât stop myself and I felt like I needed to talk about that, even shortly). Anyways, letâs begin.
The overuse of Undertale timelines
First of all, the problem a lot of Sagaverse Out!Codes, though not all, have, presents itself before the Out!Code is even properly presented. It is the overuse of Undertale timelines as an origin. Sometimes, it is timelines of a popular AU for a reason. It can be seen in no less than six cases, especially recently. While it isnât as used as I recalled, we can see how there are a few that use such timelines as a poor excuse for their origin that does not have more thought put behind it (which is especially true for Maya, Azael, and DDoS!Chara). Nothing in the presentation of any Out!Code feels like it isnât an AU of Undertale (or of Underswap for Maya). The only exception would be Terror!Asgore, that actually gets a bit of an explanation on why the events that made him an Out!Code happen. Though, in some cases, they could easily have created AUs for them. They have done it for other Out!Codes after all, and even with the Halving, there are more than enough AUs in that alternate Multiverse to be origins for the Out!Codes.
I personally find this to be the least important of the problems with them. Letâs continue.
The reasons they are Out!Codes.
A very common detail I noticed when reading the Out!Code backstories for many of them (less the recent ones) is the way they end, which are meant to explain why they are Out!Codes. Most of them end by the origin AU (or timeline, as stated in the previous point) being destroyed for a pretty random, and CORE!Frisk inviting them to the Omega Timeline (this concerns, just to make the list: Maya, Vocab!Asriel, Gladia, Olympia, Phoenix!Grillby, Luke, Azael, Demon!Napstablook). A few exceptions that are still similar, are Neil, who was an Out!Code before being invited by CORE!Frisk, and Mirela, who never got her AU destroyed in the first place, though was still invited in the Omega Timeline by CORE!Frisk. For some it also isnât specified in the end of the presentation.
Just to tell you all, out of the 15 Out!Codes that are talked about in this post, 10 use the Omega Timeline in their story. That makes two thirds of it. While I know the Omega Timeline is indeed important in the story of Sagaverse, especially more in chapters 2 and 3 than in chapter 1, I still feel like these ways of becoming Out!Codes (for those talked about in this part of the post, except Neil) is an incredibly lazy way to make an Undertale OC an Out!Code, and considering how they almost all got a nearly identical end, except for the smaller details, it feels like the Sagaverse didnât even feel like putting thought on why their Out!Codes are... Out!Codes. This seems to happen in less and less occasions, I must admit.
In fact, this is so overused in Sagaverse that it made me hate this backstory ending for Out!Codes due to how lazy it is. I would still like to say that I find that Terror!Asgore has a pretty terrible excuse to become an Out!Code, but thatâs more of an endless Undertale fandom debate about SOUL power beliefs than anything personal, so Iâm not going to tell more about it.
So this may be more of a problem related to the presentation posts themselves than the Out!Codes. It can be argued one way or another, and on a case-by-case basis. Anyways, one thing I find really lacking in the presentation posts is the lack of a part about personality. For some, there is no explanation about their personalities, though you can guess some parts with their backstories and base. However, it doesnât mean we truly know how they evolved since they are Out!Codes, and this would be a nice addition, especially considering Sagaverse has this as one of its subjects. Iâm not really asking for something as an Undertale OC Wiki article, but a bit of a glance on their personality would be nice. However, this may also mean the personality wasnât thought of, probably not in all cases, but at least some. What Iâm trying to say is that the lack of a proper glance at their personality really doesnât help me liking them.
Another problem with this and is how the AUs (and most Undertale-based characters of those AUs) of these Out!Codes arenât touched upon. While this wouldnât normally be a problem for Out!Code presentations since itâs an Out!Code presentation and not an AU presentation, the AUs they originate from, if I recall correctly, are literally made for them to exist by the Sagaverse team. I know some have been developed about on the Sagaverse Wiki, but this still makes the AUs feel bland and have no substance whatsoever. What makes it even worse for me is that it doesnât feel like the AUs will get a true story anytime, and this is the part that makes me the most sad. I know that the backstories of some of them will be more developed upon one day though, so maybe that part will just be entirely oudated one day. I would actually find that good.
Okay, Iâll be entirely fair about this last part of the point. This is a lot of Undertale Out!Codes, and I know that very well. In fact, this even concerns some of mine (Aether and Erebus are a perfect example), so you can say this is hypocritical if you want. Itâs just that their story relevance may be little (I donât really know, but this is a possibility considering there are many Sagaverse Out!Codes, and still five main Out!Codes in Sagaverse)Â and that their AUs, as well as themselves, may not be as much developed upon as I would like to. None of it really applies to those that donât have origin AUs in the first place. I guess this can be considered a consequence of the first part of the next reason.
Some are also just, of course, more interesting than the others. For example, I just find Gladia and Luke to be two examples of Out!Codes that are outright bad.
The reason those Sagaverse Out!Codes exist in the first place
Iâll be truly honest with you, one of the bigger reasons the Sagaverse Out!Codes even exist in the first place is because it fixes one big issue with Multiversal AUs (AUs as defined by the Undertale AU Network), that is the authorizations to use AUs and Out!Codes. In fact, I entirely like this part of the reason they exist, and letâs be honest, itâs entirely justified. They donât have problems with such things as not being allowed to use them in Sagaverse, since the Out!Codes are theirs.
But another reason on why they exist is to not be Sans. I know that plenty of persons are just tired to see plenty of Out!Codes, especially the popular ones, to be Sanses over and over (with a few exceptions, especially a lot of Gasters). Itâs not my case, though It doesnât mean Iâm against having plenty of Out!Codes for other Undertale characters.
The thing is, the Sagaverse team doesnât fear to admit their true hatred of Sans Out!Codes. In fact, they did it in Chapter 1 Part 15. In this part, Ink!Sans states: âMost of these Out!Codes appeared after the Halving. Thankfully, many of the Sans Out!Codes got poofed because of it as well.â While Ink indeed explains just after that itâs because the amount of Sans Out!Codes made by the community that he feels that way, stating such a thing in-story and bashing the existence of Sans Out!Codes like that is a direct way to show someoneâs true hatred towards Out!Codes, in that case, the Sagaverse team.
Beginning of the digression. This can be tied into how Sagaverse mocks the community, as well as maybe other things some times. Examples I can think of right now is their mocking of non-Out!Codes beating Out!Codes, or some character names. There are probably others, but since itâs not part of the main subject, I wonât go too much further. I would still like to mention DDoS!Chara, that has âShe then met Hacked, became girlfriends with her, and lived easily through simps on livestream websites such as Twitch.â, which is directly a way to mock simps, and that in a mere Out!Code presentation. Easily the worst thing in Sagaverse for me, and it doesnât seem like it will become better anytime. End of the digression.
The true problem with the fact they are created partially due to the blatant true hatred of Sans Out!Codes by the Sagaverse team is that theyâre not even more interesting than your average Out!Code (Sans or not), and with only these Out!Code presentations, I would even consider them less interesting than a lot of Out!Codes Iâve seen. You would expect Out!Codes created for that to have a lot of thought and effort put into them, so the Sagaverse team could indeed be proud of them, then mock and insult Sans Out!Codes without too many negative repercussions on themselves, but those Out!Codes do not. Like, personally, thatâs what i expected. Those expectations put too high may be a big reason for this disappointment, and may be considered unjustified (though thereâs still reason three that exists), but this doesnât change the fact that the Sagaverse Out!Codes are, more often that not, not that interesting.
My conclusion, as well as a summary of this post, is that the big disappointment comes directly or indirectly from how lazy the writing of some of these Out!Code backstories are, how we donât know much except them, and just generally how theyâre less interesting that I thought we would be. It may also be because of the presentation posts themselves and how they donât present the Out!Codes all that well.Actually, there is a last reason that I couldnât put anywhere that made me disappointed in these Out!Codes. Itâs the fact that many of them, according to the presentation, have been created by the whole Sagaverse team. With multiple minds behind them, you would expect Out!Codes of an even better quality. Unfortunately, it doesnât seem to be the case. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this post, whether you agree or not with it.