How Undertale and Deltarune Create Iconic Characters 

the character designs also have very distinct silhouettes which is impressive for pixel art!

I think it's funny that Toby is just... Doing his thing, and has been repeatedly surprised that his characters explode in the way they do. He's a true artist. Just making what he wants, hoping people like it... And gosh, do we ever.

protendo: *talks about how iconic sans and spamton are* jevil: I can't do anything

I also think we should point out their voice sounds they're all so iconic!

"The theories" Picture of Ness yes

The characters are so well made we can turn them any which way in AUs and they still feel like themselves. Now THAT is good character making.

When Gaster is revealed MatPat's going to have a fucking stroke

And these are some of the many reasons why Toby Fox is my all time favorite game developer

Best part about the games are the characters. Sans,Papyrus,Undyne,Lancer, Queen, Asgore, Undyne, and many others are some of my fav game characters of all time

4:38 me: the music protendo: they're just well written me: oh

Internet as a whole ight Crash when Gaster is officially revealed?........ yeah, sounds about right.

The secret is that they are pure character. They arent made to be hyper realistic characters, otherwise you get the boring drudge of the real world. The are exenuations of traits and heightened building on their story, lore, etc. They arent watered down or stretched into being a non-character. Most video games have non-characters, and it is draining. Especially in games where character matters a lot. For example, COD just needs plain realistic slightly exaggerated human encompassment, they dont try too hard to do caricature. Anime does caricature a lot, its what makes a character interesting. I think i got lost, basically its just a perfect balance of caricature and staying true to that caricature.

spamton's became a comfort character the moment i met him

Jevil also fits the same description as Sans and Spamton...

I also wanted to note that, in my opinion, one of the parts of what makes Spamton such a great character is that he, in addition to being complex and charismatic, is quite realistic. If you remove all fantasy elements, you will get a story of a man who worked hard to achieve his dreams, and then, after finally succeeding, he lost all his friends and everything he had - not because he did something wrong, but only because he was betrayed by someone else (at least, that's what we can get from his backstory for now). I mean, after being rich and famous, poor guy has to live in a goddamn GARBAGE CAN! (...but in all seriousness, homelessness is yet another scary thing that makes him more tragic and realistic). Moreover, if you count Acid Theory, he was possibly physically tortured… man, I can't even blame him for going insane after everything he went through. Speaking of losing friends, I also like the small detail that, even after Spamton became a 'big shot', neither the game, nor the characters say he got arrogant and started acting like a jerk to his friends. It were Addisons who left him because they were jealous of his success, not him leaving them. Even Metatton in Undertale kind of forgot about Alphys for some time (she mentions that in one of her her Lab entries), although he realized it and got better eventualy.

One of the first games I got into was Undertale, and my favorite character was always Flowey. He will hold a piece of my heart forever, being one of my main points of reference when it came to any other character I ended up enjoying afterwards, and he definitely HAS to the the one I have drawn the most. My sketchbooks are riddled with the little guy! And after that, with each deltarune chapter, the secret bosses always were my favorite right after a week or two of being stuck on Ralsei. One of my first tests on digital painting was Jevil, with Flowey being just before. All of Toby’s creations have left a huge mark on me and it definitely shows, seeing as my entire friend group sees me as “the Spamton guy”

You did miss something, THE CHARACTER’S UNIQUENESS!! Every character has very well defined traits ,and each character is built Upon a one simple characteristics. that the audience can easily understand immediately after meeting the character , that get played with in the story, while keeping the character consistent .plus the characters have all these random little quirks that don’t add much in terms of story or importance, but add in character. For example sans : First impression , lazy skeleton .who likes A̶m̶a̶z̶i̶n̶g̶ bad puns, and is carefree . Development, weird behavior such as teleportation (too lazy to actually walk) , gets really serious sometimes , and knowing way more than he should . Connection to original base trait that adds depth and consistency, despite him getting serious and giving the player a warning he doesn’t do anything , unless the worse possible outcome happens . He is too “lazy” to do anything until he absolutely should. His knowledge is interesting ,because it’s implied that the reason for his laziness is because he gave up , after trying hard to do something .presumably going back home wherever that might be. Random trait , dude drinks ketchup. there’s literally no reason for this but it adds a little quirk to the character . All that while giving the characters unique speech patterns , designs,themes, and sound. Make Toby’s characters so iconic. Ps: my favorite is flowery .I love high concept characters, and he treads the lines of being an annoying bitch , funny , and absolutely horrifying , while remaining consistent.

Not only are they well written, but they are relevant to the story at hand. That is the most important part. You can make a quirksauce epic gamer character that is destined for greatness, but if it's not relevant to the story, it won't sell. Spampton works because he is the perfect example of the theme in chapter 2, stating, "who is really in control here?"

I genuinely think it's the music as well. Because the music is good in these moments, people tie those two things together. Out of all the fanart and popularity of both games, I think it's safe to say that Sans, Spamton and Jevil (Until chapter 2) all have very good music supporting them and a difficult boss fight. I think, maybe even subconsciously, people connect what they deem to be the pinnacle of difficulty, music, intensity and character. And that pomp and circumstance isn't undeserved. All three of them have a decently built-up sense of tension before each fight. Toby is very good, possibly even unaware, (I doubt it) at a writing tip from Save The Cat known as "limp and an eyepatch:" where certain characters are distinct in some way more than the other characters for little reason other than "It makes them distinct." This is where Spamton's strange dialogue, Sans' puns, Asgore's trident, Long John Silver's voice, L's physicality, hell, even a contrast in color is sometimes enough. None of these qualities are essential to the plot or story, but they add immensely to character's overall presence. And Clearly Toby has mastered it.

The internet: Toby Fox is the best! No other can beat him! Toby: I just wanted to make a good game guys.

I feel that the mentioning of jevil has appeared too little. he checks all of the boxes - mysterious, iconic design, popular in the fanbase, etc.

It should also be noted that a characters popularity is greatly boosted by being the hardest (but not completely unfair) and/or final boss of a game.

I was wondering if someone had made a video like this! There's something about Toby Fox's characters that just makes people absolutely obsess over them.

I love ralsei so much he makes me happy

Honestly, I don’t think Toby could give us Gaster. I think it would ruin a lot of fans ideas and speculations. Although, he could PROBABLY do it under the guise of “DeltaRune Gaster being one of many different iterations.” Which would probably then mean that all the fan made AU’s are also canon, technically.

When 3, 4, 5 release it’s going to be interesting seeing what character is the new favourite. I expect a few new characters will be around to choose from.

You forgot one thing: Their theme. Sans has a laid back chill song until you fight him, where a song that doesn’t have any leitmotifs from his main theme or let alone any other theme to show how different it is from other battles or his normal personality. Spamton on the other hand has a basic theme that sounds like something you would listen to on hold until a phone rings and Spamton begins chanting. His next theme is just an amped up version, but in his NEO fight it’s this semi-orchestral track that not only has his theme, but the Shadow Crystal theme, the Dummy theme, and Power Of ~NEO~, Indicating the themes of that Spamton had possessed a body similar to Mettaton NEO and gained a Shadow Crystal.

And thoust can’t forget about thine’s stunning puzzles

"short garbage gremlin" may be the best explanation I've heard for spamton

Protendo: Talks about Sans and Spamton, but not the breakout star from Ch1 Me: **Sad chaos jester noises**

I think another large portion of their popularity for sans and spamton in general that their themes are very iconic, and recognizable.

all of toby’s designs and music are all iconic. everyone recognizes sans’ theme and dialogue; it’s just so distinctive. all of his characters are unique in personality aswell which makes them so memorable. every npc is remembered and you really immerse yourself into the worlds he makes. hes the goat fr

This video simplified: Toby is just a goated character creator

A pattern I’m seeing in these games are the fight characters. The monsters or darkeners who seem quirky, but have insane fights that everyone raves about. For example, I didn’t even know Undyne EXISTED until I checked out the game, but I knew about Sans years ago! It’s because Undyne has a tough fight, but Sans has a tougher and more memorable one. Also in Deltarune, Spamton is mainly known for his quirkiness and his Neo fight! While I think Queen is a much better character, she lacks one thing: A memorable fight that doesn’t last long. These are also what makes some characters popular, and what overshadows others.

3:13 Cause your bones create RBCs in a spongey like mess that is your epiphysis, which gets transported all over the body. Papyrus doesn't bleed cause you didn't cut a bone, you just cut his head off and his body becomes dust afterwards.

Not one word about Jevil, wow!

And a big shout-out to the official designer, Temmie Chang, who finishes the concepts and pixel looks of every character.

i cant believe you were talking about mysterious characters and didnt even mention papyrus! we literally know more about gasters backstory than we do his!

i think the mystery of the characters is a huge aspect. i love gaster because I'm a natural puzzle solver, I love to solve things! seeing bits and pieces of gaster, spamton, and jevil (was never too into sans for some reason. he's definitely cool but his *overwhelming* popularity drove me away. if your on the internet, you know sans. if you don't know undertale/deltarune it's not very likely you'll know jevil, gaster, and spamton. although these characters are certainly very popular within the fandom) just makes me want to look at every little detail of them to piece together what happened to them spamton especially. with jevil and gaster, we know barely anything about, it's hard to come up with theories because there's so much stuff we don't know and it's hard to make connections (it's still really fun just harder). but spamton has a vaguely outlined story. he's seemingly an adington that was struggling to sell stuff, someone called him and helped him gain great success while seemingly trapping spamton in the process, spamtons sales begin to plummet again and he's cast aside, now just seeking freedom. it's a coherent story where we have a clear direction to go in, something to grasp at. it's clear, but so many details are vague it's like having a puzzle where the pieces are thrown about all over the room and you have to look around at every possible place to finish it, vs a puzzle where you have every piece, you just gotta put them together

Me before watching the video: how the hell did Sans turn into Spamton? Me after watching the video: I bet Spamton is Sans' long-lost cousin.

"why does he bleed if monsters don't bleed" it's ketchup.. Sans is just pranking us

0:00 Introduction: Characters build the game, grew larger in pop-culture 1:25 Sans design 1:48 Papyrus design 2:22 Spamton design 4:05 Gaster 4:40 Well-Written

honestly there is no undertale or deltarune character i hate, all of them are amazing and unique in their own ways

Ah yes, the incident of deltarune chapter 7 when the deltarune/undertale fandom makes so many posts about gaster that the internet just shuts down

Berdly:Papyrus Susie: Undyne Noelle: Alphys Kris:Frisk Ralsei:Asriel

Sans probably bleeds ketchup. His blood is the same exact color code as the ketchup he drinks

Papyrus is my fav

How do you call someone you love in the lore of the video game undertale fans: gaster

You forgot about the funny jester guy

I love how after Sans, Spamton and Gaster, there is an argument to be made that Queen is the most popular character, which is because she is LITERALLY a manifestation of the internet

And don't forget absolute BANGERS of soundtracks.

I still have a lot of questions about that Dummy in the Ruins. Who are they meant to be exactly?

4:55 Wait a fucking second is that Berdly?

3:14 monsters do bleed, like toriel does when you kill her. It’s just that only sans’ blood is actually red.

Short and white with yellow colored eyes and hard boss fights

Ralsei will always be best

4:10 the gaster's wingdings here says "subscribe" trust me

Toby confirmed that Spamton talks the way he (Toby) does

what if toby watches all the theories and just ignores them

Let's count the confirmed details about W.D. Gaster, actually. 1. His name is W.D. Gaster. 2. He fell into "his own creation". 3. Falling into said creation literally removed him from reality. WE DON'T EVEN KNOW W.D. STANDS FOR WINGDINGS! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THE MYSTERY MAN SPRITE IS HIM! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF HE A SKELETON! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THE CORE WAS HIS CREATION THAT HE FELL INTO! W.D. GASTER IS GOING TO DRIVE ME ACTUALLY INSANE!

Nail on Head indeed. I think his amazing brand of writing descends particularly well from his personal history. EarthBound and Homestuck still stand as pillars of quirky writing done right. UT descends from those projects, and ain't it a fine child for them to have.

Undertale and Deltarune character rankings

My favorite Undertale character is either sans, Papyrus, or Undyne. (I can't pick lol) and my favorite Deltarune character is Susie.

Sans and Papyrus remind me and probably everyone of Wario and Waluigi.

love the contrast between sans and papyrus. they're polar opposites, yet they're brothers

Monsters bleed . Sans is not the only one . Almost monsters bleed trow the genocide . It's just that Toby cloered only Sans's blood in red . You can see very well how most of the bosses and regular monsters bleed in white or black , before becoming to dust .

Every character deserves to be a [big shot]

The reason Sans bleeds is an easy one It's ketchup The ketchup he drinks

I want to say Spamton is the next Sans, but I don't think either Spamton or Deltarune quite have the same reach as Sans and Megalovania did... Maybe that will change over time, but who knows. Edit: The ironic thing is that both Sans and Spamton are interesting characters with a surprising amount of depth, yet all their known for most of the time is the memes associated with them, which is a bit of a shame because I feel it devalues them a bit, particularly for people who think that once something is a meme, it therefore has no intrinsic value.

people who know undertale/deltarune through fanbase... man, they sure have had a *Bad Time*

Amazing!!!

This video is a real [[Big Shot]]

I'm 7 seconds in I'm gonna say the secret is good writing lol Called it

spamton cuz hes a [BIG SHOT]

The only negative thing I can really say about the character design is with the humans. We only know about 4-ish humans. Two from Undertale and Chris who I guess may be the replacement for Chara or Frisk. Either way they are all basically the same. They all look kind of generic and similar. Which works in a world with only one human, and works with the story in Undertale. But to me it always kind of felt like there has only been one human the whole time. Don’t get me wrong it’s not that big of a deal. And Toby made the Chris design great with is light and dark versions. I’m more talking about how Undertale kind of was confusing with the humans. It was on purpose, but still just confusing. With that said, Undertale is still one of my favorite games. Bot Undertale and Deltarune have such great characters, writing, atmosphere, and music. I don’t actually hate the human designs, I am just writing out my only complaint I really have with the characters. Since we only see one human the entire game, the design works great. It’s just when you get into lore bits the humans looking the same gets a bit dull.

I loved him for some reason I cannot explain.

3:10 Didn't Susie say in chapter 1 that everyone bleeds!!!

Toby makes truly amazing characters, even the less important ones like characters you speak to once are more interesting than important characters from other games. The only character that is bad in my opinion is the chaos king, he is the only character i can think of with no depth, he's just evil for the sake of being evil. Every other character is so good

gaster: ima go get officially revealed! internet: TIME TO GO TO BACK TO THE STONE AGES!!!!!!!!

I don't believe. "Know Sans?" "Oh, you mean science? I hate that subject the most."

the key: funny little fucked up men with god power

Deltarune has an even bigger story and even bigger potential! Only during Chapter 1 you have a lot of options to do on the street. Temmie is my favorite character. Guffy, small and unpredictable. I was so confused at the end of Chapter 1, I won't spoil it for you, but you won't expect what happens when you lay down in bed

I like the fan made AU like underswap and underfell. Sans from underswap is pretty cool and wacky

It's upsetting, but too true when you hesitated saying "The fanbase" at the beginning

I’m pretty sure sans bleeds because bones still have blood vessels inside. Papyrus didn’t bleed because you separated the bones from his spine and head, you didn’t cut them open

5:57 . . . *if* gaster is revealed, I still doubt that Gaster has a major role in Deltarune (maybe for Undertale yeah it would)

I like hathy

I have never played either of these games but have been exposed to them secondhand through friends. Yep, I love the characters despite never having actually played

HEY HEY DON’T YOU WANNA BE A [BIGSHOT]

I think the TV boy will be the least known character from deltarune (just feeling)

hello everyone else wanting to spice up your oc's

I... honestly don't think Gaster's backstory will ever officially be revealed? I think Toby Fox will give us a jigsaw puzzle, say, "OKAY GUYS, PUT IT TOGETHER!" and then 40% of the pieces are missing. That way, we have an idea of what the picture will be like, but in the end, we still won't know some of the most important details. To answer some of the questions that no-one was actually expected to answer: I think one of the most important things about the characters is the music! For example, "His Theme" is used many times throughout Undertale to represent Asriel. Any time there is an emotional yet lore-heavy part of the game that has something to do with Asriel or Flowey, the theme plays. Another important thing is the relationships between characters. The reason Sans is so popular is for many reasons: the memes, his music, his mysterious side, etc, but another thing is that he has secretly made friends (or enemies) with a lot of the main characters. One of the more obvious friendships is Papyrus, duh, he's his brother. But one people don't talk about too much is Sans and Alphys: they OBVIOUSLY know each other, but any time it's implied they're friends, Sans changes the subject or just ignores it. (For example, Papyrus asks something like, "DOES THAT MEANS THERE ARE DOGS IN THE LAB?" and Sans answers with, "well.. i wouldn't rule it out." implying he knows about the Amalgamates. People have made theories on how he knows about them, most of them tying back to Gaster for some reason (cuz he used to be the royal scientist or whatever and some people don't even credit Alphys for the Determination experiments and it kind of annoys me at this point this whole paraghaph is just me being annoyed because i love Alphys and she's underrated as adwkjfoiwed) anYWAYS oh yeah another one of the questions is what is my favorite undertale or deltarune character. Uh, my favorite Undertale character is probably Asriel or Alphys, and my favorite Deltarune character is probably Noelle or Queen. (I love their theme songs brooo. though my favorite theme in deltarune is definitely My Castle Town its awesome) anyways byE

A big smile

Sans and Spamton are both tiny. I guess small characters sell

I only subscribe because Gaster told me to jk great video I'm actually sad/scared about Toby revealing more about Sans' cause I think that would "kill" the character.

Don’t get me wrong this is a good video but… Didn’t talk about Jevil once??

My first (and still true) reaction to Spamton is: I don't like his presence and it makes me very uncormfortable the second he has anything to do with whatever is happening. cool character tho

0:44 My mom: Im 4 parallel universes ahead of you

Sans... has pupils, wears clothes that doest reveal much other than his head, bleeds, and wants to go home... Is sans a human?

Simple answer: all boss enemies have slippers on