#spamton analysis

[evilspamtonology]

This is Evil Spamtonology

Hello! I'm mafa @rubsjuice, she/her, and I enjoy media analysis of all kinds, even more so of Deltarune. I've been relentlessly roleplaying Spamton for two years, and I've thought a lot about this little guy, things that after a long time of restricting them to my friends' discord server, I feel the need to share with the wider community.

The owner of @spamtonology is my friend and gave me their blessing to name my blog this way because they're nicey and polite and I'm fucked up and evil.

This blog will focus on Spamton, but it will also branch to other UTDR characters, concepts, and worldbuilding, because a good character is nothing without his world and baby, Spamton is living in it.

I'm not very sure how I plan to organize the blog yet, tag-wise. I'll edit this intro post when I do.

Feel free to send asks! I love talking to other people and sharing opinions. Please don't be shy, but in case you are, I'll make sure anon asks are open <3

DISCLAIMERS:

These are all my own analysis of the written text of UTDR, as well as making cross references with other media and concepts I've come across in life. I in no way am claiming that what I'm saying is the truth, nor that it is the only acceptable interpretation of the UTDR narrative. To do so would be intellectually disonest and honestly I hate that.

My posts are intended for an adult audience. While I won't be posting explicit content, nor am I interested in doing so, I might talk about things that are upsetting or uncomfortable. I cannot and will not forbid teens from reading my blog, and I will do my best to write my posts in a way that's accessible for everyone, but I will not go to lengths to make anything I say kid-friendly. If you're in middle school and onwards, you are well-equipped to follow an intellectual discussion that is not sugarcoated or advertiser friendly, and I will not pretend you aren't.

You are allowed to fuck or not fuck Spamton in any way you'd like, I don't care and that's not the objective of this blog. You don't need to ask me anything of the sort. Play clown games, win clown prizes.

[strawglicks]

big ass FAT ASS infodump i did on spamton and his trust issues and how he deals with them

[hazmatmaid]

I feel like people must’ve forgotten how objectively horrifying Spamton NEO is, like on a psychological level. Once he goes NEO, that’s the point of no return. The only way out of it for him is to basically die.

Not to mention Puppet Scarf’s flavor text:

Yes, Ralsei can no longer cast healing spells as effectively with it equipped, but think of the implication; that’s Spamton. By the time he goes NEO, he gave up on healing and making amends. By this point, he’d rather go out and kill everyone who wronged him (or he thinks they did) than seek forgiveness, or forgive them himself.

And in Snowgrave, he has no problem with letting (or even encouraging) someone commit mass murder if he can take advantage of the situation.

He may call you out on it, but by that point he’s mostly projecting his own self-hatred onto Kris.

But if we adhere more closely to the normal Ch2 route, it’s implied that he still had murderous intentions with NEO.

And even if you end the fight by sparing him and get the Dealmaker instead, it's already too late for him. He went NEO, and there's no other way it can end for him.

In other words, NEO spells his doom.

[alonzoarts]

Ok weird question: do you think his nose is flexible? Or rigid? Both seem like… interesting possibilities

My go-to answer for this is whatever is funnier in the moment. But, on further thought, what if it was like… non-Newtonian. It would be flexible or rigid depending on the speed of the force applied to it. For example, If you threw him at a wall, it would pierce through and make a hole. If you slowly pushed his face up against a wall then his nose would be bent up or down depending on the angle.

But! But! He is very weird, and does unexpected things. And there are so many possibilities for physical comedy with a nose like that!!

Hold on this is giving me so many animation ideas. I will reblog later with examples and experiments.

[huecycles]

jevil & noelle friendship post

hi, i want to talk about how noelle and jevil would definitely get along well or even be friends! also how their characters contrast nicely with each other and could possibly have a dynamic as interesting and engaging as spamton does with kris. this is quite a long post, so yeah grab a seat lol. first off, take a look at noelle’s reaction to both of jevil’s items:

noelle likes horror movies, and jevil definitely fits that scary clown trope. the description for jevilstail is “a j-shaped tail that gives you devilenergy”, and it can be equipped on noelle. considering her comment, and how she compliments susie’s tail later, this could mean she thinks tails in general are cute (perhaps longer ones? susie is often headcanoned to have a lizard-esque tail while jevil has his j-shaped devil one. noelle has a deer tail which is pretty small lmao, kinda unrelated but i’m sure it could be for a silly reason like that, and in susie’s case, highlighted by her crush on her).

the fact noelle can equip jevilstail and say she likes an item that gives her “devilenergy” is very interesting too, and kinda goes along with what she said in the ferris wheel cutscene, how she wishes she could break the rules and be more like susie who isn’t afraid to do that. compare that to ralsei’s “i’m a good devil, ok?” and susie’s “figured i’d grow one someday” and you’ll see how noelle likes the idea of being “devilish” but is pretty shy about it as she mutters it.

now let’s talk about devilsknife. devilsknife is a susie weapon, it is pretty powerful and the name itself is already scary sounding. of course, noelle can’t equip it since her weapon type is supposed to be rings, but she doesn’t seem that scared when presented with the item, unlike ralsei who says it feels “too evil”. this is what she has to say:

devilsknife, as in jevil, smiles at her. now, how could she be seeing that? most people interpret this smile as the blade deforming itself to resemble jevil’s face, or his own smile being reflected in the blade. however, there’s a detail a lot of people have missed (as well as this little moment altogether which is one of few the indicators of jevil’s actual and current presence in chapter 2).

this is devilsknife’s description:

there’s a skull symbol emblazoned in the blade (which is a hybrid between a scythe and an ax, aka what lets susie equip it due to her weapons all being axes). 

now, according to my own headcanons due to certain wording jevil uses in his fight, like “EVEN DEVILSKNIFE IS SMILING!” and “LET’S MAKE THE DEVILSKNIFE.”, plus how tasque manager has the exact same reaction to both of jevil’s items, meaning she knows it’s him/knows of his presence there - contradicting the common idea that jevil is not the jevilstail and thus not in the inventory due to his wording in chapter 1 - but still regarding the devilsknife with some strange familiarity which could imply she knows it is a weapon and has possibly not only met jevil but fought him before: “silly tail” vs “silly Devilsknife”, capitalized...

...make me believe devilsknife and jevil are not one in the same, and are only “fused” (metamorphosis?) in the inventory. while i know certain details are hard to portray in a tiny sprite, you can see there’s no skull symbol anywhere in the devilsknife’s blade which has more empty space, and given how it’s “emblazoned” it would mean it’s a printed/engraved symbol somewhere.

so my small tangent here is that the skull only appears once jevil and devilsknife are fused together and in your inventory. considering how scythes are often seen as a grim reaper's weapon and associated with death, having jevil become the actual devilsknife and clearly maintain his conscience would nicely translate into a skull symbol appearing. the “THIS BODY CANNOT BE KILLED!” line also gives this some more depth. given how jevil’s "mind" is chained to his "body", as he gives a lot of emphasis to his body (”THEY CRAVED TO IMPRISON MY BODY”) and the association of how his mind is “free” while his body stays locked up paints a grim picture on how he was deemed insane, yet found a loophole in that, and thus “freedom”.

scythes are also famous for beheadings. jevil has no neck, his head separated from his body. and bringing all that back to noelle, THIS is how he smiles at her. pretty morbid, right? cool as fuck too :o)

of course, these are noelle’s only direct interactions with jevil through his items, but i’d also like to bring attention to how her themes and symbolism go along so well with jevil’s, just like spamton’s go with kris’s.

kris is often likened to demonic imagery, aka their creepy red eyes, the use of the horns headband, how they have an interest in summoning demons due to their search history, and finally: king calling them "lightbringer" which is just what “lucifer” means in latin + that word itself is generally associated with lucifer, satan, what have you. noelle has obvious ties with angels: being called one by both spamton and pink addison while on a snowgrave route, her comment about growing big angel wings in the ferris wheel cutscene, the angel doll her and dess made which rudy keeps around as a good luck charm, and so on. spamton and jevil, respectively, are the opposites in that regard when compared to kris and noelle, so the contrast here is really damn fun to think about and explore.

another thing is how both noelle and jevil are incredibly powerful and involved in violent acts (though you know how snowgrave goes, of course), and how kris and spamton are in a very similar predicament as puppets who try to fight back. i believe just like how spamton and kris both managed to relate to each other’s despair and tried to help each other out (albeit in a very warped way in spamton’s case), i think noelle and jevil would have a similar thing.

lemme talk about something interesting in the snowgrave route. there is a pattern going on with noelle that is slightly overlooked, which is this:

1) a order is given by the player through kris, often “proceed”. 2) the screen goes black, the iceshock sound is heard. 3) noelle is completely confused about what just happened.

in the weird route, there are several times where noelle zones out, and while the moment people focus on is when she’s using snowgrave on berdly, the iceshock on the puzzles + the pink addison to get the freeze ring are very important. she comments later on how the battles are blurring together and how she cant remember a lot of details, she just followed "kris's" command and acted accordingly. a similar thing might have happened when she iceshocked spamton neo too, as the screen goes black again.

considering how she says “there was so much snow, i couldn’t see anything” after berdly is in the ice, i believe whenever she uses her power while aided by the player (and later, her own, as seen in the last puzzle where she does it by herself, leading to when she encounters berdly where she was just about to freeze him, completely on “automatic mode”, seemingly just waiting for the actual order) her mind goes blank, and she just acts as instructed. noelle might even look like this while the screen is black, which is a bit haunting to me:

going back to jevil, and knowing how prone to violence/chaos he is, i believe he would be able to sense her affinity for power and maybe even help her control it, likely for his own gain as he is hypocritical (strips the player of choice once you arrive with the key and refuse to open his cell), though similarly to spamton and kris, jevil could feel some kind of connection with noelle’s power and how dangerous it can be.

i believe jevil could help noelle get a hold of herself when using her magic and not just follow someone else’s commands, as well as keeping a clear head through it all. he’s pretty damn powerful himself, so he would instead help her come up with her own strategies and willpower, even if his teachings might fall flat due to his own insistence on having her cause chaos. i believe that can overruled by noelle's kindness and gentleness, and due to jevil's own influence on her (to be more bold and assertive, as she expresses she wishes she could be more like susie and break the rules like i said before), whatever "plan" he may have on turning her into this powerful killing machine backfires simply because she says no to him. lol his own strong personality boosts her shy and scared one so that itself is his own failure, i think that’s hilarious and a great character study for the both of them!

i headcanon jevil calls her "headlights" as a reference to how she's easily scared + a cruel nod to the “deer in the headlights” thing, which fits with his character who has probably a morbid sense of humor. noelle would definitely be intimidated by him at first, but i think she’d warm up to him due to her own interests in “scary” people, firstly her crush on susie and secondly her strange friend jevil who looks like a killer clown in the flesh. an easygoing, kind kid in jevil's life would also brighten it up :) he could definitely use a gentle presence in my opinion, i mean. guy’s said to be a loner, even if he had seam.

long post, but yeah! i know the susie and jevil connection is easier to make because of their brief interaction, devilsknife etc, but i feel like noelle and jevil being friends is very unique and more interesting to me personally. if kris has their scammer puppet uncle, noelle has the silly, slightly intimidating clown (also uncle coded) who helps pick out her fits for halloween and do her makeup. she also gets to wear out five hairbrushes on the wavy mess that’s under his hat, then braids his hair during the afternoon and shows him different hairdos, choosing the one jevil’s eyes dilated at. kris takes a picture of him looking handsome under noelle’s care and hits ‘send’ saying “ey uncle spamgton check out ur lover boy” while spamton tells them to “del3te THIS”.

it’s nice it’s cool!! let jevil and noelle be friends!!

[junegirl06]

Some spamton art and rambling

Spamton is a very interesting character. Anybody who had payed attention to Deltarune after chapter 2 would know this. And his sheer popularity makes sense. His odd way of speaking, the perfect mix of quirkiness and terrifying insanity, the tragic backstory. The elements are all there to make a insanely well written character. But uh- I'm not here to gush about how good of a character Spamton is. (I mean, technically I am) I'm here to look at his character specifically through the lens of him being a spam bot.

Despite what the addisons said about Spamton being "like the rest of us," I think Spamton always was meant to be a little different. The way his appearance is very similar to the addisons but not quite the same - I'm pretty sure his marketing tactics followed the same principle. Whether it was because he was simply a bit more pushy with his advertisements, or that there was something a bit unnerving about his character even before gaster/the mysterious entity came into play, I'm sure there was a reason the customers ignored him. Just like how people ignore real life spam emails. They're annoying, unsafe, weird, stupid. Spamton was always meant to be ignored. To be that one email guy popping up at people with advertisements on the streets. People just DON'T LIKE SPAM.

Then the mysterious entity came into Spamton's life. Somehow, defying all logic, they made spam emails popular. They made Spamton popular. But they also gave him knowledge on the nature of their world. That everything is controlled by the plot and other such unseen forces, and that nobody can truly make their own decisions in this world. With this, Spamton knew his popularity really wasn't supposed to have happened in the first place, but everybody already loved him, (well, the addisons left him- but that was just because they were jealous! He didn't need them!) and he'd ride the wave as high as it'd take him.

But it all came crashing sooner than even Spamton expected. Without the entity's help, the world corrected itself, and everybody went right back to hating spam emails. Spamton would go back to being that forgetful email guy. No, it was even worse now. At least back then he had some people that were friendly to him. Now... he had nobody. He didn't even have a house.

He was always meant to be this way, wasn't he? No matter how hard he tried, the world simply wouldn't let him be a big shot. Spamton absolutely hated that. He wanted to fight back against this cruel world. Now, he didn’t just want his popularity back, he wanted freedom. To escape the confines of this story and his role as a personified spam bot, to become something… more. To truly become a [BIG SHOT]!

But that didn’t change the fact he was still a spam bot. And what do spam bots do? They just keep sending emails to as many people as possible, just in the off chance somebody will click that link. That’s exactly what Spamton does to try to gain his freedom. He latched on to a ray of hope- that robot in the basement- and repeatedly attempted to sneak inside the queens mansion to get to it without regard for exactly how good his plans are, in the vain hope one of those attempts would succeed at one point. He just kept trying. Over and over and over… slowly losing his mind even more in the process. There is evidence that he tries multiple times to get inside the basement, with Sweet Cap’n Cakes mentioning a “funny little man” asking them for help to sneak in the mansion, and Swatch mentioning an impersonator- which is probably Spamton. Which uh… the image of the tiny dude dressing up as this huge bird guy and thinking it’s a clever enough disguise to get past everybody in the mansion in a funny thought- but kinda sad at the same time. Seriously- did Spamton really think there was a chance that’d work??? But I digress.

Even with his repeated unsuccessful attempts to infiltrate the mansion- there was one attempt that worked. When Kris and the player came into the picture. But even with the help of a lighter and a literal god-being on his side helping him with his plan… he still failed. That neo robot didn’t do anything for his situation. He was still trapped. And so he turned against Kris, and by extension the player, in a last ditch attempt to get his freedom. That was what fully solidified his utter failure. He was going against us. But even if he hadn’t attempted to fight the player, he would’ve have failed in any other attempt anyways.

From the very moment Spamton decided to oppose the rules of this video game world, to try to become something more than a spam bot, he was destined to fail. Even if he managed to get Kris’s soul. Even if he somehow became as powerful as Asriel in undertale, he still wouldn’t get the freedom he wants. Because he is a character in a video game, and he will never become anything more than that.

[taralen]

💡 The significance of Spamton's character arc and connection with Kris.

Late-night thoughts and analysis by an actual crazy person.

[Warning: Some spoilers for Chapter 2]

Say what you want about Spamton, but at least he has the self-awareness to realize he's been a piece of @#$%. Not everyone can do that despite harboring negative feelings for others. He wants revenge but is internally conflicted and values Kris despite his selfish desires. If he wants to, he can easily cannon that little sucker the moment he gets his upgrade, but he doesn't. He hesitates, and even during his secret boss fight as SNEO, he still struggles and wants Kris to be the one to give up their soul.

He knows Kris is someone he connects to on a deep level, who came into his life without warning, as if by happen-chance. They don't know each other long, but they have an instant bond, and both see eye-to-eye in their struggles, at least in the main route. In Snowgrave, we see what happens when Spamton is indulged too much. He caves into his selfish desires because he comes to see Kris and Noelle as tools rather than friends. Ultimately, he admits that he manipulated them the whole time and only cares about himself.

The player's soul is selfish in the Snowgrave route, indulging Spamton to be cruel and power-trip. Spamton has garbage self-esteem, but when the opportunity comes for something to feed his fragile ego, he takes it without thinking about the consequences. Spamton, at his core, is not evil, but he's not necessarily a good person. He has what it takes to be one, but it takes one person (Kris) to see this light in him and not give up on it. Now, imagine if, at the end of the extra boss fight, Spamton remains indignant.

Imagine how different the perception of his character would be if, instead of lending his strength, he chooses to die on this hill about how he is always right and that his ambitions matter more than anything else. 🤔

He'd probably bounce around in his wires and insist he'd "WIN" if only Kris's friends didn't interfere. Where would he end up? Probably in a cage like King, humiliated and alone or forced to become a weapon like in the Snowgrave route.

I'm glad Toby did not end his character arc in a predictable way that lacks growth. I would surely not love this character as much if he turned out that way. Sure, he would still have his charisma and be an interesting character, but he wouldn't be the Spamton we know and love in this fandom. He wouldn't be a character so many of us can resonate with and feel happy for once he finally realizes his pride and greed are not what matters most. He teaches us a valuable lesson in empathy.

Allowing himself to be vulnerable to Kris gives him this strange spiritual awakening that no one else has given him in his entire life. Rather than run and shun Kris, he values them until the very end and realizes that even though they cut his strings, they don't do it to hurt him. They do it to make him realize that his self-serving mindset truly holds him back. Humility, empathy, and being able to admit to his deepest flaws make him such a fantastic character. In the end, he learns to forgive them and himself. 💛🩷

[movedtodykedvonte]

The fact that Jevil is a jester but has an active refusal to make others laugh and simply lives for his own merriment and amusement compared to the fact Spamton canonically hates clowns and jesters yet has a burning desire to be loved and adored with/through the express purpose of catering to others.

[fexarii]

Dude, , I just gotta ramble about Jevil and Spamton's character designs and how genius they are in a shape language sense..

(this is completely impulsive and I haven't played the game in like a few months by now so don't mind it if I misinterpret their personalities a bit. They're very blorbofied in my brain but I will put my biases for these literal criminals aside.)

First of all,, what is shape language? In short, it's a meaning we've attached to shapes in art, specifically character design in this case! Square is tough and reliable, triangle is dangerous and pointy and circle is friendly and approachable. There's more shapes and more theory but yaaawn no one's here for a lecture.

So onto the actual deltarune stuff, the secret bosses, Spamton and Jevil both have clear use of shapes throughout their design. Spamton relies very heavily on triangles while Jevil does so with circles.

Peep these examples , ,

((His nacho body type is so funny to me sorry </3))

Yet this seems to contradict their behaviour!

Jevil is in no way friendly, well, he was at some point. As a court fool it makes sense for him to be squishy and friendly, he's a walking squeaky toy meant to entertain. We don't know what exactly he looked like before being thrown in his prison, but we can assume that his body probably didn't change that much since he had no body morphing shenanigans going on like Spamton did.

But as he devolved and his games only got more and more violent, that squishiness is all gone. Yet when you walk in, you still see him like that,, luring you in a false sense of security until uhoh!! He's kinda fucked up in the head and wouldn't mind turning you into slices!!

Spamton on the other hand, is way less inclined to violence than Jevil. I mean, the way to unlock his secret bossfight in the normal route is by bartering with him, he even berates you for beating him up.

He prefers using his words over his fists to lure you in instead, and even offers you items with... Varying quality. But despite his insistence on being friendly and helpful and allat, his shape language betrays him, feeling almost dangerous to be around. He could poke you with that sharp nose and hair.

This only gets more clear with NEO, where he does resort to violence to get Kris' soul. His hair and armor are all straight up triangular shapes, he's no longer using reason! Attacking his strings is the only way to get through to him.

((This is not mentioning snowgrave btw, , Spamton is straight up a villain there, but funnily enough you don't even see him there until he's NEO, ,))

Okay that's all . I'm typing this while my head hurts like shit so I hope it made sense uhmm👍👍yywah

Toby is a genius, thank you for always subverting our expectations as the media critics say.

[evilautismcrusades]

i think ppl underestimate just how MUCH lore the spamton sweepstakes gave us and theres stuff that i still havent seen anyone talk about yet, like especially the description for spamtons fate

like.. to me this sounds a LOT like smth the addisons would write, especially the beginning, considering what we know about spamtons history with them

[ultimateempath]

With the July newsletter approaching and new chapters on the horizon, I figure now might be a good time to list all the easy to miss/forget tidbits we should keep in mind moving forward!

According to the Spamton Q&A and sweepstakes, future character Tenna did something terrible that lead to Spamton losing his good friend Mike.

Finding Dess is one of our main goals, it was hinted at in a secret Spamton sweepstakes page as well

The mysterious entity trapped in the code will likely have two new sets of lines for the upcoming chapters. The entity could even be Dess herself, but it's unclear for the timebeing.

Something happened at the bunker, MK and Snowdrakes conversation in chapter 2 implying that Kris was involved in the incident. The mentioned event of Kris, Asriel, Dess, and Noelle exploring the forest when they were younger may also be connected to this event.

Asgore was originally the chief of police and got removed from the force, likely because of the previously mentioned event and how it may have been what caused Dess's disappearance.

the shadow mantle thats needed for Seam to craft something important with the shadow crystals is currently missing, likely stolen.

Come chapter 3, we'll be able to find the entertaining item that Metta requested.

and lastly, more of a reminder than anything forgettable:

There may be weird routes in the upcoming chapters like with chapter 2, so keep an eye out for them when said chapters are finally released!

[agentravensong]

another thing tumblr theorists (at least a certain collection of them) Get that i don’t remember any big youtube theorists ever really getting into (so far): The Existential Horror Of Being A Darkner

[monofazz]

Idk i feel like being spicy tonight 💅

[nerdy-autistic-things]

Spamton is so uniquely depressing to me in a good way. The need to transcend the narrative. The belief that violence is necessary. His intrinsic fallibility. The fact that the game will not let you forget that he is homeless. The parallels to the homelessness epidemic that mentally ill people face. The way deltarune takes a caricature of a delusional homeless man and forces you to understand them for a second. The game screams at you “I want to escape this situation, I want to transcend mortality, but I am just a man. I am just a man. I am just a man. My hands are tied by the game.”

[tristyndaroo01]

Oki I did it (NEO is coming later >:])

[aybri]

I'm gonna talk about this proper since I haven't seen as much of it as I want to.

Kris, our favorite enby/unwilling "protagonist," is awfully terrified of us. Spamton really seems to hit them hard, reminding them of how much of a puppet they are. Not to mention, the creepypasta-esque Weird Route (as defined in the code) making them even more terrified of you because of how you extended your metaphorical marionette strings over to Noelle. Most would assume, yeah, Kris really wants to get rid of us.

I don't completely think that's the case.

It's been implied through Kris's behavior (and the presence of that cage for Gaster-knows-how-long) that, despite us having only recently gained control over Kris, they've been like this for a while. Without a doubt, Kris is scared of us. Without a doubt, they're trying to gain more control over their life. They see us as a threat.

But I feel like there's something else they're scared of at the same time. They're scared that they need us. And I don't mean literally, like how they have to limp everywhere without us. I mean that they have relied on the force that is their SOUL controlling them for so long, that now that they're finally trying to stand up to it they won't know what to do when finally free?

After all, who wouldn't want to have all their decisions made for them and not have to think about anything? Who wouldn't want some unseen force to get them out of bed and through school so they wouldn't have to do it themselves? Kris has relied on us for so long that, without us, they're lost.

Or at least, that's what I think. There are plenty of holes in my interpretation, but I mainly just want to see more fan writers/artists doing stuff with this concept lol.