#all this said i absolutely love all the adorable gaster fanart that came out of it 😢🖤

[freakbullet]

so this video (it's pretty good, worth a watch) basically saved me having to clean up the big word salad post I was drafting but I'm gonna reiterate a few points -

firstly, this isn't mentioned in the video but I think it's so, so important: unlike the valentine author, Gaster has never, ever used a single contraction. Toriel is another character who never uses them, no matter how casual the context. for something like this to suddenly change for no reason makes no sense. Toby is meticulous. I genuinely believe this is a HUGE strike against it being Gaster, yet almost no one mentions it. next, the valentine author speaks as if they don't know us: "you seem reliable", "you are very odd". and as we know, Gaster's well acquainted with us by now, so it'd make no sense for him to speak to us this way. (but what it does lend credence to is this being a character we either haven't met before, or haven't extensively interacted with.) additionally, in all instances so far, Gaster's been keen, focused, sharp. why would he suddenly be so addled and confused? the author saying they forgot who they're supposed to help, and it possibly even being themself, doesn't point to Gaster either - in fact, just the opposite - because the idea of him being forgotten is pure fanon. the game explicitly states that Asgore took so long to hire a new royal scientist because Dr. Gaster's brilliance was irreplaceable. how would the king know that if he didn't remember? fictional characters, by their very nature, are presented to us in a deliberate and finite way; our interactions with them have specific purpose. this means that when we try to hold them to real-world standards like "I, a real live person, write differently depending on the occasion", it won't always hold up. we have to go by what precedents have already been set by the creator, in the context in which these characters exist. on occasions when characters in UT/DR have spoken in a different way than usual, the fundamental, anchoring traits of their speech still remain intact (see: contractions), which would not be the case if Gaster were the valentine author.

(and of course, this doesn't even touch on the Japanese translation highlighting how wildly different the speech styles are, which I personally put more stock in than they do in the video.) the last 3rd of the video is more opinion/headcanon-oriented but he makes his point well. even if you disagree with his perception of Gaster (I do to an extent), it's true that there's already no shortage of whimsical, silly, lighthearted characters in UT/DR, and surely, if Gaster were meant to be one of them, Toby wouldn't reveal it in a way that's so out of left field. I love silly goofy wingding man as much as the next guy, but I also agree that attributing this personality to him out of nowhere, when it's incongruent with everything we've seen so far, would only serve to undermine his character and the uniqueness of it. none of this is to knock anyone whose opinion differs from mine! I'm just laying my thoughts out, for whatever that's worth. I've seen an unfortunate tendency in the community to lump the valentine in with the tweets and gonermaker text as all being on the same level of "obviously Gaster", and then tout it as proof that their headcanons are real. (we all have our headcanons! just don't be a dick about it eh?) at the end of the day, personally, I try to absorb and cling to as much canon evidence as possible, scant though it may be. because what I really really want, is to know who Gaster is. in the truest sense, as he is intended to be by his creator.

(but isn't it wonderful how much we all love this character, no matter how differently we may see him? I mean ultimately if we're not having fun here, then what's the point, right?)

but yeah, give the vid a watch! it goes into more detail and makes more compelling points than my sleepless brain can atm. :p

[hotpinkboots]

Okay, so— (pulls out a huge-ass list) let's see, who should I rant about first...

Meta Knight. He's not that underrated, (similar to King Dedede), but Meta is like... like the Mettaton of the Kirby fandom. He's seen in a lot in fanart and fics, but he isn't the main focus often. And, there's like... 15 reader inserts of him? Possibly more? I know a lot of people find him to be hot (my self included), but there isn't a lot-lot of content on him taking all things into consideration.

And, speaking of Mettaton, I'd say that robot is more underrated than Jerry in Undertale lol. There's still a lot of content of Mettaton, but with a large fandom like Undertale, there's already going to be a lot of content of each character regardless. Mettaton is included in a lot of regular fics, but there isn't as many reader insert fics centralized around Metta than someone like... Gaster, or the other AU Sans and Paps.

Also, P.S, you've tooottally got me simping for Queen Vanessa. I actually didn't like her that much before I saw your blog, but I swear to god, it only takes one good fic to snatch someone's soul. I'm down bad for Vanessa now 💀 I'll like, think about her randomly, and turn into a puddle.

Ooh, and Fawful and Popple from Mario & Luigi (Dream Team, Bowser's inside story, Super Star Saga, and Partners in time) are underrated too! I love both of those bean boys, but there's really just so little content of 'em. Fawful has gained more popularity lately with some Fawful related blogs, but Popple... 😭 There's very little content of that bean.

Aaand then there's one of my personal favorites; King Boo. Main villain in Luigi Mansion games, but... like, I've made 5 of the 8 reader inserts of him on ao3. (I post again for him on Valentine's Day). I reeeally wish there was more content of this ghost, and even if Luigi's Mansion 3 came out a few years ago, there's still like. No reader inserts of this Boo. I've been attached to him for sooo long, and yet, there's still no content of him! That goes for another favorite Mario villain of mine: Antasma. Zero content! I'm staaarving out here.

Those are some of the underrated characters in some of the more larger fandoms— but I'm not done yet! I don't wanna rant forever, so now, I shall go into my next phase: characters in smaller fandoms that are underrated.

King K. Rool has been the main villain for sooo many DK games, but there's just absolutely ZERO content of that bastard besides Smash Bros stuff. Literally breaks my heart to see that yet again, there's no content of him. I've eaten up all the content of him by now, and I've even started to post about him too, but there's like... nobody else willing to write for him, beside one or two other people. He's one of the main reasons why I bend backwards to make so many fanfics of underrated characters— so that at least someone out there who absolutely adores an underrated character will have something to read about said character.

Another character that is incredibly underrated is Krobus from Stardew Valley! I love little dark-blob characters like him, and yet there's literally zero fics of Krobus! He's sooo cute, and everytime I played Stardew in the past, I'd always choose him to stay in my farm house. I wanna give him a huuug.

Then there's Dimentio from Super Paper Mario. I know a bunch of people who simp for him, but there's maybe 5 reader insert fics of him total? Maybe? I know there's some people who make regular fanart of him, but the fanfic section is a little... lacking.

Metal Sonic is from a bigger fandom, I know, but while there's a lotta fics and art of him, there's sooo little reader insert fanfics of this sweet boy. Hell, I've gotten to the point where I'll read the same fanfic of him over and over again just so I won't die of starvation.

There's a lot more underrated characters that I could talk about, but I know this post is incredibly long already, so I'll just move onto the last phase: extremely underrated characters in microscopic fandoms

There's a buuunch of other characters that I love that are in the DK fandom, but an extremely underrated one I want to bring up is Mad Jack from DK 64. I've grown sooo attached to him, and yet. There's like. One reader insert of him? Maybe two? He's so underrated that I can't even find anyone who'd want me to write him. 😭 I'd love it if someone wrote like, a single headcanon of that boy.

Next, there's Professor Ratigan from the Great Mouse Detective. So incredibly underrated. H-H-He's so evil... I love him so fucking much. I wouldn’t mind writing for him, but I know maybe one person who would like me to try and write his underrated rat-- err, mouse ass. (Spoilers for the movie; despite being called RATigan, he doesn't like being called a rat.) Everytime I think of him, I just immediately swoon lol.

Another rat boy I often think about is Mad Rat from Mad Rat Dead. Sooooo underrated, and I know he's supposed to die or whatever at the end of the game, but. Seriously. There's so little content of him. He's easily top 20 on my most favorite character list.

...Okay, I know this post is so damn long, but I have one last extremely underrated character to talk about. Joka. He's from a game (series?) called Klonoa, and even the games he's in are so ludicrously underrated. I'm growing more and more attached to Joka by the second— and especially after I wrote that oneshot about him! I just said that it takes one good fic to snatch someone's soul, and I fucking wrote it. Joka is like. Top 5 for me right now. Probably higher on the tier list than Ratigan. I'll literally take some meek headcanons of that little jester just to satiate an ounce of my hunger. Also, by the way, it is so hard to write a character that has been written maybe twice in the entire known universe. I mean, I have a lot of freedom in that regard, and I hc that his face/mask got fucked up after his master, Ghadius, died (another headcanon lol), or in other words, when Joka got beaten by Klonoa... But. I-It's too much freedom, almost. I don't know what the norm would be for Joka, since I'm practically creating the norm... He's so underrated... I'd love it if someone else would write for him— even a 500 word oneshot will do. I will rant more about Joka if you'd like, but again, this post is too long already, so I'll end it here... (For now, unless prompted otherwise. Again, I can talk for daaays about the headcanons I have for Joka, or literally anyone else for that matter... but especially Joka. Did I mention that he's underrated? I did? Whoops lol—)

I ENJOYED EVERY SECOND OF READING THIS OMG YES

I'm legit determined to learn about all of these characters, play the games and stuff and just like sTUDY THEM so I can write fanfiction for you omg.

ALSO WTF AHAHAHAHAHA YES I KNEW I'D MAKE PEOPLE LIKE VAN-VAN ADKLJASLKDJASLKJD- She's a total precious bean in my eyes, and like, her yandere-ness? SHE'S THE BEST I LOVE HER HORROR SEGMENT IN THE GAME VANESSA'S JUST SO UNIQUE I ADORE HER. VANNY'S MY GORGEOUS LITTLE MONSTER I SIMP SO BAD FOR HER

IKR?? MTT IS DEF UNDERRATED. He's like, my husband smh wtf. Totally gonna write more of him, the man's my spirit animal. He's such a brat? LIKE??? HI??? ILY?? MARRY ME??????

Dimentio.

Dim.

Dimmy.

DIMWIT.

DIM.

WIT.

MY FRIEND (hi if you're reading this) HAS THE MAJOR HOTS FOR HIM. AND I'M STARTING TO THINK I DO TOO? HELP. I haven't even played the game yet and I roleplay him a bunch and Itotallydon'treadfanficofhim- BUT ANYWAY, yeah he's a hottie. I've def planned on playing SPM legit JUST to be able to write with him. Stay tuned, he's totally gonna be added to the list.

AND, AND, AND- AND.

AND.

YOU'LL BE ABLE TO REQUEST HOTTIE RATTIE ALL YOU WANT AFTER TOMORROW. I have these glam Disney movie days every Saturday where I just watch Disney movies. All. day. So I'll watch TGMD for you tomorrow :D I've actually been meaning to watch that one and The Rescuers, so I'm looking forward to it :D

AND JOKA? IDK WHO THAT IS BUT I'VE SEEN THE MANS BEFORE AND GOD IS HE A CUTIE.

OK IM SORRY FOR THE SUPER LONG RESPONSE BUT I JUST LIKE WHEN PEOPLE COME INTO MY INBOX AND JUST LIKE TALK TO ME LMAO

AND AGAIN,

I'm totally gonna work on being able to write with all these characters. THEY ALL SOUND SO FUN AND FAB.

~Love, PinkBoots