#ut scramble saga

[invertedfate]

Do you consider yourself picky when it comes to Undertale fanworks?

So picky. xD; Characterization is a big make it or break it thing for me on top of generally not being into a lot of things that are more popular in the fandom- e.g. your Sans AUs, most outcode stuff (though I do like the ALIVE comic), any geno-focused stuff is a hard sell for me, as well as most save Asriel fancontent (though I do respect Dreemurr Reborn, enjoy Ask Fallen Royalty, and mostly enjoy Growth Spurt, Alphys' characterization notwithstanding).

I'm not saying any of this to bash, mind you, but I have very particular tastes and the kinds of fanworks I enjoy best are ones with strong characterization that explore more than just the skelebros, Gaster, or Asriel, that are still at least somewhat grounded in UT's world/setting (e.g. not big on AUs that might as well be fully original IPs), and idk... Some of what I like is hard to put into words?

But the kinda stuff I LIKE is TS Underswap, Scramble Saga, Ask Fallen Royalty, Name the Fallen, Rupturedtale, Undertoad (the canon), etc. Stuff that feels true to the spirit of Undertale but still has its own creative identity or concepts.

[ut-scramble-saga]

Heya,are u guys okay or alive?

Yes, we are alive and well.  We had higher ambitions to get everything we promised done before everything that’s happened this year...well, happened.

The project is effectively on indefinite hiatus for the time being.  I’m so sorry to everyone who’s been patiently waiting for more information regarding how this project would continue, but the long and short of it is the weight of the world is a lot to bear right now, and energy to work on a project of this caliber is in short supply.

If you’d like to stay in touch with us and discuss some less spoilery parts of the AU more casually, you’re welcome to join our Discord server.  For now, I’m afraid that’s all we can offer.

- Chaos

[fmsdraws]

[Please do not Repost without permission. I seriously can't believe that's something that needs to be said.]

Merry Christmas, everyone!

As usual, I come here with the yearly ChristmAUs picture, however, this time I didn’t do it alone! A lot of people contributed sprites to this, so they’ll proceed to be credited below!

Yours Truly -

Made the whole building (which is Omega Timeline’s Grillby’s) CoreFrisk, Asgore, and Army by @dokudoki Poppy and Monarch from @ut-poppy-askblog Corrupt Chara from @ask-ut-corrupt-blog Void Frisk by Ghostie Mun Harley by Shadow Mikey by Trains Shame by Samario Paper Frisk from @ut-paper-story Dusted and Rust from @ut-impulse-break Undyne from @invertedfate Undyne from @ut-scramble-saga Undertoad Mario from @undertoad-au Royal Guard Frisk, MitU Frisk, and Detective Chara (which were made by me) CSS Frisk by Cerulean Mara from @bcrnt-petcls UT Mettaton, Napstablook, Sans and Temmie (albeit the latter two are edits of their UT sprites) Josh from @truegeno

Pixelated Engie -

Inverted Fate Papyrus Tubertale Frisk and Chara from @tubertaleofficial Integrity Papyrus Sans and Luna from @azunderswap and Clover from UT Yellow

Trezzy -

Care from CARE @trezzyflohrz Humphry from Humphrytale (I think)

@hatbeemo contributed Mopsy, Whimsy, Bonnie Snow and Gospel from Monster Friends!

TmntLeo15 contributed Gaster and Granpa Semi

Cerulean contributed Flask

Leo contributed several characters from @ut-sudden-changes

Beethovenus contributed TSUS Sans and Koffin-K from @tsunderswapofficial

@pinewsun contributed several characters from @ut-metal-and-magic

TylerBoomed contributed characters from @uts-human-busting-ghosts

Skulligan contributed Lucida and Papyrus from @tales-doubled

@cycloniccircuit contributed Eggman, Frisk and Araki from @sonic-adventure-grounded

Tile contributed Jack from @rupturedtaleblog and Frisk and Hera from @undert-a-le

Lastly, Swords contributed characters from @ut-fragmented-au

[undersprite]

Huzzah! The contest begins again!

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to formerly welcome you to... The Undertale/Deltarune Sprite Comic fan contest! 

(… wait, haven’t I said this before?) 

That’s right! We are hosting yet another sprite comic contest this year! Due to COVID-19 last year, the contest did, understandably, not turn out as expected. But now that the waters have eased a bit, I feel comfortable in restarting the contest!

What’s the contest about?

I’m glad you asked, hypothetical member of the audience! This contest is about making your own Undertale or Deltarune (or any AU really) sprite comic, alone or with one friend, and competing for first place! It’s sort of like a Game Jam, but with sprite comics!

What’s a sprite comic?

A sprite comic is commonly known as utilizing sprites instead of drawn artwork to convey a story in a comic format. In the Undertale community, there’s several examples of Undertale AU sprite comics. Such examples would be preboot @ut-storyshift​, @invertedfate​, @ut-scramble-saga​, @rupturedtaleblog​​, and many others.

When does the contest begin?

The contest begins on February 1st, 2021, when people will be allowed to begin production on their comics.

Submissions will be closed on April 5th, and the contest will end in April 15, 2021. The server will be kept for archival purposes.

Who’s the head of the contest?

That would be me, @fmsdraws​. I have a relatively long history with making and contributing to sprite comic AUs, such as Frisky Caretaker, Tantamount, Inverted Fate, StoryShift, Omega Timeline: Poppy’s Story, etc.

Alongside yours truly, the winners of the previous contest; truedimentio, CHAOS_FANTAZY, and Subna, will assist me as the judges!

What are the prizes?

First place will get to request three fully drawn and shaded art pieces from yours truly. Or you can also ask for Undertale sprites/battlesprites as well too, but quantity will depend on what you ask for.

Second place will receive one fully drawn and shaded artwork or Undertale sprites

Third place will receive one Undertale Battle Sprite.

In case you wonder what my art looks like, here is some of my porftolio.

How do I join?

Before joining the contest, you must first read through the Rules and Requirements. 

Afterwards, you must join the Discord server to participate.

See you all there!

- Fms

[fleurdelynx]

Quick doodle for @ut-scramble-saga ! Been meaning to draw them some fanart for them because wowie! It’s a blast! And I love Undyne.

[skeletalscallybones]

Here is a WIP of a Deltarune X @ut-scramble-saga picture. So far it’s just only a total of 11 characters but I will keep on adding more characters onto this when future parts of Scramble saga come out. (UPDATE:Now added in some background.)

[argentdandelion]

Possible Health Problems of Hybrid Fanchildren

No, think of the children!...your hybrid children, that is. Contains lovely ideas for angst.

Hybrid fanchildren are common in the Undertale fandom. It is likely this is because the main characters of the game cover multiple "breeds" of monster, and there are in fact canon cross-breed couples (Undyne and Alphys, RG01 and RG02). Fanchildren are also a creative exercise where one combines the looks and personalities of the parents into a new, distinct character design.

In-universe, if hybridization is even possible, it's likely common. However, hybridizing could cause problems.

Where potential mates of their own species are rare, animals might hybridize with closely related species. Furthermore, animals might make hybrids if they're compatible species kept in the same enclosure (e.g., lions and tigers in zoos). In birds when one species parasitically lays its eggs in the nests of another species, the offspring might imprint after its host parents in looks or song, and so only be interested in birds that look or sound like its host parents.

All these things likely happened when monsters were sealed underground. While it’s unclear if different monster breeds interbred before the war, given monsterkind’s massive casualties it’s likely monsters’ options within their own breed were limited. (This would surely be especially true for monster breeds that were rare to begin with.) Staying underground, especially if they all stayed in just one city for a long time, would also work like captive conditions. Furthermore, the devastation might have meant a whole lot of orphans, which might have been raised by different breeds. Such orphans might, like the parasitic birds, prefer breeds like the ones they were raised by. It’s certainly clear monsters have variable preferences and can imitate other monsters (e.g., Papyrus catching a thrown stick in his mouth)/have variable behavior, after all.

Biological Problems

For some breeds, even if hybridizing is possible it would likely cause health problems. This is especially obvious for fire monsters, such as offspring of the Sans X Grillby ("Sansby") pairing. Though skeleton monsters are apparently1 insensitive to cold, it's unclear whether they're insensitive or immune to heat too. Fan works often assume Grillby's fire is painfully hot, and becomes much hotter when angry. While (dry, human) bones can withstand greater temperatures than human flesh without (visible) damage, being on fire constantly might be a problem. Even if the hybrid children can withstand it, it's possible (and more likely) that they might hurt themselves from the higher temperatures if they ever get angry.

Pain can make people easier to anger, so being burned by their own flames might cause a self-destructive feedback loop of pain and burning. If they can't quickly heal burn markings from such events, they might become anxious about it, akin to obvious scars or burn wounds.

Environmental Unsuitability

Environmental unsuitability is also a problem. While a hybrid's parents might be well-suited to distinct environments, the hybrid may be unsuited for either or require unpredictable intermediate environments.

For example, the fish monster Undyne is vulnerable to heat stroke/dehydration when travelling through the dry, hot caverns of Hotland; Alphys is not. Evidently travelling through Hotland is enough of a danger to Undyne that Alphys installed a water cooler for her halfway to her lab, even though Alphys' lab is only a few screens into Hotland. While Undyne says she dislikes "snow", she's evidently not in danger standing outside Papyrus's house indefinitely. This might not be true for Alphys: while some fish can live in cold water, reptiles either die or hibernate in cold environments like Snowdin.

A hybrid child of the two might do well in an intermediate environment (e.g., hot but humid, like south Florida) or take after one or the other unpredictably.

Some assume Undyne can breathe underwater through gills; what if the child prefers most of their body to be dry but needs to keep their gills moist? What if the child prefers dry, but not hot, environments? With such a potential blend of preferred environments, they all might need custom rooms (e.g., humidifiers, pools) in one house.

Most dangerously, what if Undyne can breathe water through her skin, but a reptile-skinned but otherwise fishlike child cannot? One work, Scramble Saga, suggests Undyne sleeps in a water-filled bathtub rather than a bed. If a helpless baby that can't breathe underwater is put in a tub-crib, the baby might drown. The child might drown, too, if Undyne is playing boldly and aggressively in the water and mistakenly assumes the child can breathe underwater.

Psychological Problems

No Horns

(The picture is based on goat skulls; notice they don't have horns. Picture modified from here.)

In goats, horn buds don’t grow directly from the skull, but from a specialized patch of skin. Only later do they start to merge to the skull.

Assuming Boss Monsters’ horns grow like that of goats, a Boss Monster-skeleton hybrid might not have horns. (Many such fanchildren have no skin, after all.) While many monsters do not have horns, this might still make the fanchild self-conscious about not having horns. (Perhaps similarly to Kris of Deltarune, though Kris is a human.)

The Problems of Papyrus x Mettaton

“Us ghosts spend our whole lives looking for a proper vessel. Slowly, slowly, we grow closer to our new bodies... Until one day, we too may become corporeal beings. Beings able to laugh, love, and dance like any other...” - Mad Dummy

It is unclear whether ghosts’ desire for vessels (or “bodies”) is biologically or culturally driven. Either way, hypothetical fanchildren of Papyrus and Mettaton are likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies.

LordLaharl’s Vassal made a convincing point that Papyrus may have body dysmorphia issues. The Wikipedia article on the subject suggests part of the variation in body dysmorphia issues in the population (or “heritability”) can be explained by genetics. If this is true, and also true for monsters, a Papyrus x Mettaton child could have twice the body issues of either parent.

It’s unclear whether the child would be born/the equivalent of born a ghost fused with a skeleton body, a ghost possessing but not fused with a skeleton body, or be born separately as a ghost body and a skeleton body. If the Papyton child has a handy skeleton body from birth/the equivalent of birth, the child might not develop ghostly psychological problems, as the child could do normal non-ghost things with it.

Related Reading

Inter-Species Socialization

Do Monsters Have Instincts?

Dialogue from Papyrus is contradictory; he explains how he can live in Snowdin's cold environment saying "I have no skin" but complains about the Annoying Dog having cold feet. ↩︎

[tsunderswapofficial]

OH. I know what the person meant by preview image! They thought the UT Scramble Saga thing was a preview for Gaster (Since he's swapped with the river person i guess) XD

Ah, that makes sense!

Yeah, that’s not a TS!Underswap related thing. Occasionally we like to reblog posts from fellow AU creators to give them the exposure and attention they deserve for their hard work. One of them being Scramble Saga!

If you haven’t already, make sure to check them out at @ut-scramble-saga! There’s a whole comic, and it’s really neat!

- Beethovenus

[thecoolestaround]

(It do be Scramble Saga hours.) Anyways, here are two sprites I made of Chara and Gaster respectively from @ut-scramble-saga​. Very great AU. Highly recommend reading it.

[ut-scramble-saga]

A Belated Happy New Year, and What’s Ahead for Us

Yes, another year has come and gone, and many of us celebrate to leave 2019 behind us.  According to society, it is a good time to start anew, a good time to make amends...a good time, perhaps, for us to stop lying to ourselves.

Yes, many of you have probably figured this out if you’ve kept a close eye on how development’s actually gone, but only now are we finally willing to admit it to ourselves:  Scramble Saga cannot continue, at least not in its current form.

We both had more time to work on Scramble Saga when we first started—I was unemployed at the time, and Chaos was in the easy part of his college education. As time has gone on, though, our available time to dig in and work on ScrS has decreased significantly.  Chaos and I both have jobs now, and it's been hard to take what little time we have left to turn around and keep working on something we've admittedly slowly been losing passion for.

We couldn't leave you all empty-handed, though. We've been sitting here behind the scenes trying to come up with the best way to tell you about all our plans, and—considering if it weren't for your continued patience and unending support, we probably would've quit sooner—we'd appreciate your input on the matter. We’ve opened a Google Forms survey to collect your feedback on what you'd like to see—be it specific boss fights, looks at as of yet unreached locations, or just the bits of re-written lore we had worked out—as well as how you'd like to see it.  Gutting parts of the journey will probably do this regardless, but we'd like to preserve as much of the emotional context as we can, we're just not sure what the best way to do that is. -Clare

The Google form can be found here.

[fmsdraws]

Behold! A bunch of sprites I made in the style of Frisky Caretaker. I made Chara in royal clothings, since that’s what they start wearing if they stay with frisk aka the best timeline. As for the other four: The taller Chara is by @ut-scramble-saga, and the other three belong to @invertedfate

[ellisbros]

Some people really hate Aus because of Underswap or Underfell. But I think if they saw these aus, their opinion would change. Because they are awesome. Undertale by Toby Fox twitter.com/tobyfox?lang=es

Undertale Fragmented by @ut-fragmented-au

Just a design Fmsdraws did, not an au XD. But it's Outertale so...tecnically by @fmsdraws and @outertale

Rupturedtale by @rupturedtaleblog

Scramble Saga @ut-scramble-saga

Metal and Magic by @ut-metal-and-magic

[cycloniccircuit]

So how ‘bout that Scramble Saga, eh? Good stuff.

Have a magic Chara.

[rainbowsans]

I love that your Underswap isn't just a full personality swap, and there are some legit awesome ideas here. Sans trying to protect his bro is SUPER sweet. By the way, have you seen any of the more story-driven swap AUs? Stuff like Storyshift, Inverted Fate, Scramble Saga, and Altered Destiny. They're pretty cool! Gotta be careful with Storyshift, though, because the fandom's taken it and twisted it from the creator's original vision. The ut-storyshift blog has all the official content, tho'!

although swap sans wants to protect his brother the irony is he has 1HP and 1ATK, but unlike sans he doesn’t give up and keeps trying to push himself to be a royal guard which worries papyrus. but he supports his brother needless to say, oooh I’ve heard of storyshift but none of the others you had mentioned! I’ll check em out when I can and also thank you for the heads up! I really appreciate it!

[fleurdelynx]

Featuring more fanart for the Undertale AU @ut-scramble-saga They recently opened up a discord and the people seem pretty neat-o!  Feat a scene from the newest update. :>

[argentdandelion]

Adult Chara Consistency: Similarities in Design of an Adult Chara

From left to right: Ask Drunk Chara, Rainy-poppy, Underpath-AU, Azany-ut, Min-min-minnie, and Kage-ni-hikari.)

1. Similarities

In contrast, depictions of Asriel as an adult are more variable. Sometimes it’s his god of hyperdeath outfit interpreted literally in black-and-white tones; sometimes the same outfit but in purple, sometimes an outfit like Asgore’s, sometimes an outfit that blends elements from both his parents, and sometimes something totally unrelated. Adult Asriel is also more variable than Adult Chara physically, in variables such as eyebrows, eye color, snout size, and horns.

Why is there more design convergence for Chara than for Asriel?

2. Furries Are Easier to Draw1 (And Other Reasons)

There are several likely explanations for the design convergence: species perception, trait palette, maturity, and androgyny. Chara, obviously, is a human, while Asriel is a monster. Humans are famously difficult to draw correctly, for humans' brains are exquisitely tuned to minor details and differences in the human form. Humans’ immense familiarity with what humans look like compared to fictional monsters just makes this worse, for it magnifies any flaw in human depictions. Monsters, however, can get away with flaws (or simply variations in appearance) that would be rather conspicuous on a human.2

Furthermore, for Asriel, that he's a Boss Monster with associated traits is practically a facial feature for recognition’s sake. Big variations in snout length, eye color, horn shape, and so on don't really matter; he still registers as “Asriel, but an adult”. Humans, though, vary less; one has less design wiggle room to make an adult Chara that's still recognizable as Chara.

Obviously, an adult Chara must look like both an adult and like Chara. So, some body and perhaps facial changes are necessary.3 This is complicated by Chara's androgyny, which happens to be one of their most remarkable traits by general human design standards. This is one of the biggest design constraints: androgyny is easy for cutesy children, but harder to achieve for adults due to body and facial changes associated with body maturation.

3. What If They're Copying Each Other? (But They're Probably Not.)

One might argue that design convergence comes from artists copying one another. One might suggest, for example, people were inspired by Caretaker of the Ruins' Chara (by Double Venus) for it's a lovely design within the aforementioned constraints and comes from such a long-running, popular fan comic.

However, this is unlikely. Some “Toriel-esque” designs were actually made before the first page was made featuring the Caretaker of the Ruins Chara. On the whole, the design convergence in clothes and hairstyle is better explained by people drawing from the same well, so to speak.

To clarify, some of Chara's mannerisms resemble Toriel's. In works where Chara grew up in the Underground (that is, works with a “Toriel-esque" Chara), it's plausible Chara took after Toriel's fashion style out of admiration, formality's sake4, a desire to fit in with their loved ones, or some combination of those. In the same sorts of works, adult versions of Chara are sometimes depicted with a hairstyle resembling Boss Monster ears, likely for similar reasons. Notably, in works where Chara didn't grow up in the Underground (e.g., Ask Drunk Chara), Chara doesn't wear Toriel-like robes or sports a Boss Monster-esque hairstyle.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, there are fewer ways to make an aesthetically pleasant, human-looking human than an aesthetically pleasant, monstrous Boss Monster in general, and because it’s an adult version of Chara specifically, there are even more constraints and antecedents. It’s not the artists’ fault, but that of the human brain: humans are just hard to draw.

For more information, see the TvTropes page of the same name. ↩︎

Some depictions of an adult Asriel lengthen his snout; doing equivalent lengthening for Chara would result in an obviously, inappropriately apish look for Chara. ↩︎

In this situation, Chara is often considered royalty in fan works. ↩︎

Some go to greater lengths for this than others; Scramble Saga goes for a simple, pixellated look like canon Undertale, so Chara basically looks like they do in canon, just taller, with a visible neck, and with Toriel's robes. ↩︎