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Inverted Fate

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Inverted Fate (Webcomic)
* Still, much has changed.

Q: What is Inverted Fate?
Flowey: A VERY interesting mistake...
— FAQ

Inverted Fate is an Alternate Universe Undertale fan webcomic/multimedia project created by Dorked.

With a style that mixes sprite work in the style of the original game with the occasional drawn comic, the story follows the events of the True Pacifist route on the original game, but assuming that Flowey was successful in his plan of resetting the timeline, though not exactly as he expected. Waking up with his memories but with none of the powers he had by the end of True Pacifist, his meddling unintentionally created a new world in which the roles of the six main monsters have been changed, bringing with it some significant changes to the Underground.

Now in an unknown world, with the knowledge that his original plans won't do him any good, and with the human on their way, Flowey decides to take on a different "friendly" approach with the human to see just how much has changed, and if he can find a way to fulfill his plans with no mistake.

While taking inspiration from other role swap fan works like Storyshift, Inverted Fate takes a different approach to its role swaps by only shifting the roles of the six main monsters while keeping them true to their original character, and shifting its focus from sticking from the original events of Undertale with different characters in other's shoes, to showing the consequences that changing the roles of these wildly different main characters can have on the other characters, the world, and the story as a whole, all while the original events remain on the horizon.

As a result of this, changes are seen such as the Ruins becoming a lively garden open to all monsters under Asgore's care, Papyrus becoming the eager lab assistant of the now Mad Scientist Undyne, Sans successfully becoming one of the elites of the Royal Guard despite his utter laziness, the Underground as a whole taking on a much more wary disposition against humanity, Toriel and Alphys are the Queen and Captain of the Royal Guard respectively and Frisk takes on an active role on the events of the story thanks to the lack of a player to control them.

Inverted Fate is uploaded on the blog of the same name. The story in chronological order can be read here. In addition, an official roleplaying blog is found here. An official animated comic dub is also in production and can be found here. Now has an official website, and playable versions of some of the fights.

Due to the nature of the story, Undertale spoilers are unavoidable.

Inverted Fate provides examples of:

    open/close all folders 

    0-B 
  • 20 Minutes into the Future: According to Word of God, the events of Inverted Fate takes place in 2113. Going off of what is seen in Frisk's backstory and the very few scenes where the surface is shown, it's very similar to Earth today.
  • Adaptational Badass:
    • The Snowdin Canine Patrol are much more competent and harder to subdue this time around. Downplayed with Sans, who is now part of the Royal Guard.
    • Undyne not only retains her combat prowess and physical strength from the original timeline; as a Mad Scientist, she uses more complex variants of her energy spears, shoots lasers from her robotic eye and specializes in designing weaponry (utilizing a flamethrower in her first battle and a Humongous Mecha in her last).
    • Several characters come off as this due to their battles becoming more complex and difficult, such as Jerry and So Sorry. Bratty and Catty also become this by also being part of the Royal Guard, while they weren't fought at all in the original game.
    • Finally, there's Alphys. In this universe, she's the captain of the royal guard, and while she relies on strategy more than strength, she's still much stronger than in canon Undertale.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance:
    • Asgore is in the Ruins instead of New Home because he got cold feet about collecting seven human SOULs after killing the first human and left.
    • In Undertale, Bratty and Catty don't appear until late in Hotland. Here, they're part of the Royal Guard, so they appear in Fort Aquarius in Waterfall, and are later fought in the dump.
    • Mettaton is initially alluded to by Napstablook in the Ruins and hosts a news segment while Frisk is still in Snowdin. He appears in person in Waterfall after the fight with Bratty and Catty. In Undertale, there are only a few vague hints about Mettaton before he appears in Hotland.
    • Thanks to Papyrus asking for the human's name, Frisk's name is revealed much earlier (not that Asriel ever got to that point in the original Undertale).
    • The fight which requires Frisk to mortally wound the enemy and reset in order to avoid killing them was moved to Undyne's fight, which takes place in the CORE.
  • Adaptational Intelligence:
    • In this universe, Undyne is the Royal Scientist and Papyrus is her assistant, thus they are much smarter. Their inventions are testament to this.
    • Most of the monsters are this to some extent, due to Toriel focusing on education to try and give monsters a more balanced view of humans, but taught not just accurate human history but other subjects, causing the Underground to undergo a educational renaissance.
  • Adaptational Late Appearance:
    • Mad Dummy doesn't appear until Hotland (the fight in the Waterfall dump is instead with Bratty and Catty), and isn't even fought until later in the CORE.
    • Toriel doesn't appear in person until New Home, which she hasn't left in three years.
  • Adaptation Expansion: Several battles have been turned into playable self-contained games. To make them more interesting and stay more in line with the original Undertale, they have several alternate options and even altered endings outside of the canonical storyline depicted in the comic. Downplayed in the New Game timeline, since at that point Frisk is locked on the pacifist route, though various maneuvers can result in some additional dialogue.
  • All the Worlds Are a Stage: The CORE arc consists of Frisk and Chara traveling through four areas based off the Underground to unlock the final door and continue, all while the Mad Dummy tries to get in their way.
    • The final arc revolves around Frisk and Chara, now both fully physical, going back through the world they knew again, which has now under severe glitching because of Asriel's changing the world.
  • All There in the Manual: Additional lore about the story can be found on the ask blog and in some secret pages on the website, in addition to some of the characters occasionally appearing to talk in the official Discord server in the "specialhappytime" channel. Some of it includes what happened in the original timeline.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Frisk (post-redesign) has a tan skin tone, but their race remains unspecified.
  • And I Must Scream:
    • Word of God has said that the six humans are still conscious as souls, as are any other souls. Which means they were aware of being kept in jars and having their Determination extracted. Papyrus at least tried to give them comfort by reading to them while they were in the possession of Undyne and himself.
    • In the True Lab, this happens to Mettaton when the Memoryheads take over his body; parts of his dialogue during the ensuing battle are attempts at calling out for help, and one of the attacks that can appear in the playable version is the "Happy Breaktime" message, which re-arranges itself to spell out "Help".
    • It's implied in the end of "null_7" that the absorbed monsters are stuck in their feelings of despair. Not only that, but Papyrus seems to be more aware of what's going on than the others, and Asriel has taken Lilac's soul but not absorbed it, meaning she's fully aware of whatever he's going to do with her and helpless to do anything without a body.
  • And Then What?: As Sans points out, even if the Monsters manage to break the Barrier, continued aggression towards humanity is unlikely to end well for them, considering how much damage even a child can do if they wish to cause harm. Particularly since the Monsters themselves note that humans only grow stronger as adults. This is ignoring the fact that Flowey is the only non-human capable of utilizing RESET, which further tips things in humanity's favor.
  • Another Dimension: Papyrus actually created one for Sans in order to toss his sock collection. Sans being Sans he never uses it. Not for socks, anyway.
  • Anti-Frustration Features: A few of the playable fights have passwords revealed upon completion that allow you to skip to certain stages of them on replays.
    • In the playable version of Battle of the Ages (Mettaton's second show in part 33), you can't actually die to any of the opponents, nor do you have to fight through every one of them again; instead, if your HP ends up at 1, Mettaton will make an excuse for Frisk and Papyrus to have a break and recover before retrying against the current opponent. This also restores your healing items.
    • Additionally, the only part of Battle of the Ages where you can die is the chase at the end. If you do, you'll just start at the beginning of the chase, so you don't have to go through all of the fights again.
    • In the Toriel fight, if you die after Papyrus tells you about the orange button, you'll be able to skip to the second-to-last phase of the fight (you'll need to damage Toriel enough to enter the final phase afterwards). If you attempt to fight Toriel as if you didn't know about the orange button, Chara will point out that you should have done it already and presses it themself via Demonic Possession.
  • April Fools' Day: "Inverted Jape" and its sequels. They all involve Sonic.
  • Arc Villain: Just like in the game proper, there are bosses who stand in Frisk's way of reaching the Barrier (though calling most of them villains is a stretch), though due to things being different, who stands in their way also changes.
    • Asgore for Ruins, once the ruler of the Underground, who ran away due to being unable to take another human life, and tries to have Frisk kill him to atone.
    • Sans for Snowdin, who leads Snowdin's Canine unit of Royal Guards, and tries to keep Frisk in Snowdin due to monsters beyond after their SOUL, just wanting for them to die naturally.
    • Alphys for Fort Aquarius and Waterfall, who commands Fort Aquarius and tries to capture Frisk despite her turmoil.
      • Dohj for Fort Aquarius itself, who's the most determined to capture Frisk and Papyrus, who've infiltrated the fort.
    • Undyne and Mettaton for Hotland, so that they can use Frisk's SOUL to break the barrier. Notable is that Undyne's determined in capturing Frisk and is so determined that she created her own SAVE points throughout Hotland and the CORE, and her mech fight as the Determinator serves as the Climax Boss of the story, while Mettaton, still owing them for being nice to Napstablook and Alphys, tries to make things easier.
    • The Mad Dummy serves as one in the CORE, as they're still pissed over Chara's commentary and Frisk's insults at them from before, taking control of CORE's security and the Season Dudes to fight you, and their final fight as Mad Mew Mew serving as the climax of the CORE.
  • Arc Words:
    • "Everything is fine!" Regularly said when things are very much not fine.
    • "But nobody came." Said most by Frisk.
  • Armor-Piercing Question:
    • At the end of Sans's battle. "SANS... DON'T YOU BELIEVE IN ME?" The battle box even shatters.
    • At the end of Toriel's fight, Flowey asks Sans if anyone in the room is happy with the state of the Underground. It's enough to get him to back off.
    • When Mad Mew Mew interrupts Mettaton's show in Forgespring and calls him out on humiliating Undyne during his shows and the end of the Determinator fight, Frisk asks her why she's here instead of trying to help Undyne if she cares so much about her. This causes her to run off to the lab.
  • Art Evolution: The comic starts off with edited versions of the original Undertale sprites, but soon changes to brand-new sprites. Frisk's dialogue sprite also improves in appearance. Earlier parts are currently being remastered to keep the art style consistent.
    • Cutscenes from Part 48 onwards that aren't in black and white portray Frisk with a less yellow skin tone. The artwork is also more shaded compared to the earlier cutscenes.
    • A more minor case, but from Part 63 onwards the text boxes have an added "growing/shrinking" animation for whenever they appear and disappear respectively.
  • Ascended Extra: Some minor characters from the original game have bigger roles, and even their own miniboss fights. Even the Dummied Out characters such as Doge (Called Dohj here) and Royal Guards 03 and 04 make an appearance.
  • Auto-Revive: The rainbow drink that Frisk recieves from Spamton in Rift 3 turns out to function this way; during the battle in Rift 6, they reach 0HP at one point, but the drink falls on them and immediately revives them.
  • Back from the Dead: One of the things Flowey wants to do is bring Chara back to life. In Part 61, he does so by permanently separating their SOUL from Frisk's, and then putting it back into their body, which he seemingly healed. This is permanent.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: The events of Inverted Fate are kicked off by Flowey successfully overcoming Frisk at the end of a True Pacifist Run and resetting the timeline. However, it doesn't work out too well for him, and he ends up without his godlike powers on an unknown timeline. By the end of Part 51 though, Flowey wins yet again and gets his hands on all six SOULs with no one the wiser.
    • This is continued in Part 61 when he takes the monster's SOULs again, and not only brings Chara back to life thanks to the power to separate their SOUL from Frisk's, but also breaks the barrier and heads out to the surface, with the implication that he's planning to get revenge on humanity for his and Chara's deaths.
  • Bag of Holding: In bonus part 6, Frisk buys a Basket Case, which allows them to hold an extra two items. Later in Hotland, Papyrus gives Frisk two extra-dimensional spaces to hold even more stuff.
  • Bait-and-Switch Boss:
    • Mad Dummy gets replaced as a boss twice. When they first reveal themself in Hotland, they are about to fight Frisk, only for Royal Guards 03 and 04 to send them away and start the fight themselves. Then during Mettaton's second show, Mad Dummy is one of the characters Frisk has to fight in the tournament, but then they get knocked away by a snowball containing Jerry, who is fought instead.
    • Mad Dummy manages to become the real boss during the CORE arc by possessing the season-themed robots that Frisk has to fight.
  • Bigger on the Inside: Napstablook's house, thanks to Mettaton insisting they have a better home and Papyrus using some kind of technology to expand it. Sans' room is also slightly bigger despite the house being the same size.
  • Block Puzzle: During the final dungeon, Frisk and Chara end up doing a co-op moving block puzzle in order to open a set of blocks in order to progress.
  • Boss Battle: Most of the Rift episodes aside from Rift 1 end with a stage boss:
  • A Birthday, Not a Break: The author has said that Flowey's betrayal and changing of reality happened on Frisk's birthday. This is later brought up in "Null: Part 6" when Lilac remembers that it's their birthday.
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs:
    • In Part 27A, about Alphys's house's wallpaper:
      Papyrus: I'M DETECTING A LOT OF PINK. AND HEARTS. AND PINK HEARTS.
    • Happens again in Part 36, as Papyrus cross-examines Dohj's witness testimony.
      Papyrus: HOW DO WE KNOW YOU DIDN'T JUST LOOK AT A COMIC BOOK?! OR A MANGO? OR A COMIC ABOUT A MANGO?! note 
  • Brick Joke:
    • In part 13, after Frisk flirts with Sans, Papyrus says that he's going to need an accordion. Fast-forward to part 18, during the fight against Royal Guards 01 and 02:
      Papyrus: I PLAY A SOOTHING MELODY, ACCOMPANIED BY MY ANGELIC VOICE!!!
    • During the date with Sans, one of the options Papyrus gives Frisk to "increase dating power" is to give Sans a gold pineapple... but it's missing. Later on, in the Artifact Room in Waterfall, the Annoying Dog drops it after absorbing said artifact. Later on in the CORE, the dog appears again and uses the power of the artifact to help Frisk when they're running from Mad Dummy.
      • The pineapple comes back again in the third interlude. It turns out that Papyrus wanted to give it to Sans because he said he would explain why he stopped being the royal scientist if Papyrus ever managed to give him a pineapple.
    • Earlier than both of the above, Frisk, Papyrus, and Flowey have to deal with Jerry when his phone signal interferes with a machine. The ensuing fight ends with Jerry being knocked away by a huge snowball that the machine made. When it comes to Mettaton's second show, the snowball unexpectedly crashes in and Jerry must be fought on live TV, much to everyone's annoyance. Eventually, Mettaton sends him away in another snowball.
    • In Snowdin, Snowdrake, Chilldrake, and Ice Cap mention that Papyrus caused an escalator to explode. Said escalator can actually be seen in the hotel in Hotland.
    • Spout, the spider salesman, says that Undyne has "Giant Ominous Ducks" in her closet (as opposed to skeletons). Frisk briefly encounters an exploding duck in the True Lab.
    • Very early on, Papyrus claims that the Scientific Spaghetti he gave to Frisk will make them taller and give them laser vision. A long time later, during the "Rift" arc, Frisk finally eats it to help get through to Papyrus when he's in a lost state, and it does just what he said. It's enough to bring him out of this state, surprised that it works (the laser vision was only temporary, though).

    C-F 
  • Call-Back: Upon listening to the Flowey copies in Rift 2 for the first time, Chara responds by telling Frisk strangling them won't do much good, a reference to Frisk strangling an Echo Flower in Null_2 after Asriel tells Frisk that they can change the world thanks to him.
  • Call-Forward:
    • After Frisk kills Asgore, Flowey asks them "Do you think you're above consequences?" This quote is a mirror of what Chara says at the end of a Genocide route.
    • Sans uses a few tricks from his battle in the Genocide route, and his getting serious is signified by him using his opening attack from said battle (with all but the first set of bones turned blue).
    • The golden cathedral in Rift 2 takes its visual design from the Judgement Hall seen later in Undertale, where Sans either judges your sins or fights you depending on route.
    • After reading the Book of Chara, one of the Flowey copies references a line from the Genocide Route:
    Flowey Copy: Let's erase this pointless world... And move onto the next!
  • The Cameo: Susie (known as Suzy in this world) makes an appearance in bonus part 6.
    • Along with Suzy, younger versions of Kris' classmates appear in the Victory Lap as well.
  • Cast Full of Gay: Every member of the main cast has a confirmed queer identity, alongside some side characters. Frisk, Chara and Napstablook are non-binary, Undyne is lesbian, Alphys is bisexual, Papyrus is pansexual, Mettaton and Mad Mew Mew are (binary) transgender, Sans and Asriel are aromantic asexual. Word of God also states Everyone Is Bi is at play with other characters, allowing them to be freely interpreted as queer. The only exception is Bassiere von Dohj III, who is confirmed to be heterosexual and (presumably) cisgender.
  • Central Theme:
    • The Chains of Commanding, and how the main characters suffer and deal with the Underground's hatred of humanity despite their position, as shown with Sans, Alphys, Mettaton, Undyne, and Toriel.
    • Bottling up your emotions never works out well.
    • The final arc Rift has a major one: Denial and retreating into an idealized past because you can't accept that people change only leads to alienation.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: Things get pretty dark once Flowey captures everyone (again), creates a distorted version of the Underground, and heads to the surface to get revenge on humanity.
  • The Chains of Commanding: One of the Central Themes of the stories involves this trope, and how characters in high positions are forced to do what they do to not cause turmoil in the Underground.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • In the "Null" arc, Frisk and Chara steal money from the empty shops, which coincidentally brings their balance to 1997G. Soon after that, they end up in a battle against Spamton and some of the robots, and Chara gets the idea to buy Robot 100 and Papybot's freedom with all their money, and the number is pleasing enough to Spamton for him to accept.
    • Early on in Snowdin, Papyrus gives Frisk some Scientific Spaghetti, which they keep and don't eat for ages. They finally eat it during the "Rift" arc in order to get through to Papyrus when he's in a lost soul state after being freed from Asriel. Turns out, it did everything Papyrus claimed that it would do, and it's enough to fully bring him back.
  • Clingy MacGuffin: In "Null: Part 4", Chara finds a picture of themself and Asriel that the latter left for them to put in their locket, giving them an extra 5HP, while Frisk was left with armor that resembles Flowey specifically to taunt them. Chara gets the idea to give the locket to Frisk instead, only to find that they can't take it off. Word of God says they can't unequip or swap out the dagger either.
  • Cooldown Hug:
    • In Part 48, Sans and Papyrus give one to Frisk after successfully talking them down from their despair over causing Undyne and Mettaton to become an amalgamate, giving them the courage to reload and prevent it from happening again.
    • During the True Lab, Papyrus does this to Mettaton when he's been taken over by the Memoryheads. Downplayed in that doesn't work instantly, but it does help to get through to Mettaton as well as keep the Memoryheads further from him.
    • "Null: Part 1" has Frisk giving Chara a hug when they're panicked and hopeless from Flowey winning again to the point of trying to scare Frisk away, believing that they didn't deserve to be brought back to life.
  • Contrived Coincidence: During the "Null" arc, the amount of money Frisk and Chara have after stealing from the shops just happens to be exactly 1997G, which just so happens to be Spamton's favorite number, allowing them to buy Robot 100 and Papybot's freedom.
  • Courtroom Episode: Part 36 is a trial in the form of two videos, in the style of the Ace Attorney games. The fact that recent media have included this kind of episode is lampshaded by one of the tracks being called "Another Gratuitous Courtroom Drama".
  • Create Your Own Villain: In Chara's own opinion, their plan of destroying the humanity ended up influencing Flowey's actions in the original timeline.
  • Creative Closing Credits: While most of the animated or playable segments have credits similar to that of Undertale's neutral routes, some of them also have different credits:
    • The credits section of the second part of Part 36 shows several scenes throughout it, as well as foreshadowing some of the CORE's enemies.
    • Part 47's credits shows Frisk running away and crying in the elevator to New Home.
    • Part 49's credits shows Frisk and Papyrus heading to New Home together.
    • In the credits of Part 50, we see fire attacks happening in the background, before it switches to showing some Hilarious Outtakes.
    • Part 60's credits show the various characters encountered during the chapter.
    • The end credits of Part 61 show an error screen based on newer versions of Windows, only the sad face is replaced with a smiley face and the text has Asriel talking about how he's won.
    • The credits during the first 5 parts of the "Null" arc show a view of the surface with something caused by Asriel happening in the distant city, with it progressing more in each chapter. "Null: Part 3" shows it happening on a TV screen, while "Null: Part 4" completely forgoes it in favour of showing an advert by Spamton on the MTT news set instead, with the credits being shown on the scrolling banner.
    • The ending of each part of the "Rift" arc has the camera pan through the rooms that appeared. If any other Undertale AUs made a cameo on any of the screens, credit will be given to them when they appear. If a Figment was defeated, the area it was in being destroyed will be shown.
  • Darkest Hour: Part 61 ends with Flowey having absorbed all the monsters (except Napstablook) again and broken the barrier while bringing Chara back to life and leaving both them and Frisk in the Ruins as he goes to the nearest city to get revenge on humanity, with the implication that he's going to take their SOULs as well and become even more powerful than he already was.
  • Deliberately Monochrome: When the entire Underground is changed by Asriel, it has a grey color palette, this also applies to the town the heroes reach and The Rift itself.
  • Developer's Foresight:
    • In the fight against Toriel, it's possible to make the transparent Spare button appear without having to damage Toriel by not pressing any of the battle buttons after activating Orange mode. If you wait long enough, Toriel will slam her staff so hard that the Mage's SOUL will fall off her neck, causing the Spare button to appear.
    • In the fight against Flowey, he won't ever hit Frisk once they're down to one HP (which is practically for the entire fight). Papyrus' Bone Barrage spell can technically do damage if it touches the SOUL, but if you use it, Flowey will shoot all of them down with friendliness pellets.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation: It's implied that the six humans to fall after Chara in Undertale were killed by Asgore. In Inverted Fate's timeline, only the Patience human was killed by him because he regretted it so much that he exiled himself to the Ruins.
    • Integrity was killed by Toriel, Gerson, and the Mage (who was also one of the six humans) after circumstances led to her killing anyone in her path.
    • Bravery was killed by Toriel by accident during an attempt to take her soul and leave for the surface; the Mage accidentally saved over their death.
    • Perserverance was Driven to Suicide out of guilt over the war and the Waterfall Incident.
    • Justice also killed herself after an attempt to leave for the surface resulted in the Mage being killed, only for them to reload.
    • Kindness lived the longest out of the six humans, becoming known as the Mage, and they died of old age.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: The Hot Leg requires five bars to be pressed, as opposed to the Burnt Pan and Clean Gun's four. However, nailing all five crits will yield huge numbers.
  • Dramatic Irony: Only the viewers and Chara know about Flowey's true nature, and by the time the latter tries to tell Frisk about it, Frisk has already put their full trust into Flowey and it's too late to change their mind, leading to Flowey tricking them into getting him the SOULs yet again.
  • Dual Boss: The final match of Mettaton's tournament is against both Undyne and Mettaton himself. Doubles as a Shadow Archetype towards Frisk and Papyrus's team-up.
  • Dynamic Entry: While in Fort Aquarius, Papyrus bails Frisk out◊ from being cornered by Royal Guards 01 and 02 by shouting "NYEEEEEEE", dropping in from the ceiling (breaking his own text box in the process), and performing a Three-Point Landing on a table.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • Some of the earlier chapters have titles that sound sillier than what happens in them, while later chapters with serious moments have titles that reflect the mood better.
    • The earlier chapters initially used several sprites that were edited from ones used in Undertale. Many of them have been revamped to use original sprites, but the later half of the Snowdin arc still uses the initial art.
    • Before the comic got its own website, chapters would often be split into two or three parts so they wouldn't go over the file limit on Imgur and Reddit.
    • On the ask blog, Chara's dialogue sprites initially had their face filled in, which was changed after they started using sprites in the comic that didn't have it filled in to represent the fact that they weren't fully alive. After being brought back to life and having sprites with their face filled in, this will presumably return to the ask blog.
    • Earlier chapters that involve dodging in the overworld make use of Undertale's transition to battle encounters. Later uses of overworld dodging that were made after the release of the first chapter of Deltarune would instead make use of the new mechanic that game introduced with the SOUL appearing in the overworld. This includes the dodging segments in the playable versions of Part 33 and Part 45.
  • Easter Egg: If the reader is on the Inverted Fate website, and they're reading the NULL chapter, they can wait for a minute or so. Doing so will cause Papyrus to emerge from the side of the screen and then hide away if left untouched. Clicking on Papyrus allows the player to see a recording consisting of a preview of various pieces of dialogue for the final arc. Clicking the orange link after the recording finishes redirects the reader to GAST Os.
  • Enemy Mine: During the trial, Dohj gives out a well-structured testimony which would easily prove Frisk guilty. This would give Undyne a significant advantage... except Dohj's testimony proves Papyrus is guilty as well, so both Papyrus and Undyne gang up on Dohj to completely undermine the testimony through the use of Rule of Cool and Blatant Lies until Dohj gets so pissed that she wears herself out and is unable to testify anymore.
  • Enfante Terrible: The blue Integrity human was this, having killed and injured many monsters in Waterfall. While they may not have been this to begin with, they certainly were after gaining a lot of LOVE.
  • Evolving Credits: During the "Null" arc, the end credits for each chapter up to 5 show the same shot of the surface, with Asriel's takeover of the distant city progressing further each time.Except for "Null: Part 4," which instead shows an advert by Spamton on the MTT news set.
  • Exact Words: When Mettaton first barges in on Undyne's fight, she hopes he wasn't recording the whole thing. He complies with her request not to confirm it.
    Undyne: Don't tell me you were recording the whole time.
    Mettaton: OKAY. I WON'T!
  • Excited Title! Two-Part Episode Name!: The names of most of the chapters (seen on the official Tumblr) during the Hotland/CORE arc use this trope. This also extends to the names of most of the tracks that play during this arc.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: With Flowey having possession of the six human SOULs as well as all of the other monster SOULs (excluding Napstablook's), Papyrus is forced to surrender his own SOUL so that Flowey would at least smash the barrier and let Frisk run away.
  • Fantastic Racism:
    • Monsters have a much more negative view of humans compared to the main game. It seems part of the reason is that the monsters know how and why Chara and Asriel died, as well as the Waterfall Incident, in which the child of Integrity went on a rampage, killing thirty-nine monsters and injuring twenty-nine more.
    • Although the Underground had its own fair share beforehand, as despite Toriel's best efforts there was a great deal of tension throughout the Underground, to the point that Word of God says that it was anti-human monsters who attacked the Integrity Human.
  • Fighting Your Friend: Comes up a few times:
    • In the CORE, Mettaton ends up fighting Frisk and pretending to ignore their claims that he's their friend who has helped them, although he's clearly sad about it and even apologises shortly before the battle. While he was under pressure from Undyne, the main reason he went through with it was to either get enough of the Underground watching so he could reveal that he doesn't want to kill humans, or that Undyne's recklessness would be exposed.
    • After the pre-reload fight with Undyne in the CORE ends with Undyne and Mettaton melting into each other, Frisk ends up facing Sans again when they try to run straight to the Barrier, since he not only recognises that they're not thinking clearly but also doesn't trust Flowey. Papyrus also ends up facing Frisk and trying to get them to calm down, although they don't try to attack him.
    • In the True Lab, Mettaton's body gets taken over by the Memoryheads, while his friends try to get through to him as well as keep them away.
    • After Flowey absorbs everyone's SOULs and brings Chara back to life, Frisk ends up back in the Ruins, where Chara is in a bad mental state from not being able to stop Flowey, blaming themself for him becoming that way in the first place, and losing hope over being able to stop him now that his plans have changed. When Frisk confronts them about it, they start a fight to get them to stay away.
  • Fission Mailed: There appears to be no way for Frisk to spare Asgore without killing him first. They had to reset to save him. In the playable version of the fight, it is possible to spare him without killing him first, but it involves an opportunity that can easily be missed and lead to him committing suicide instead.
    • Similarly, there seems to be no way for Frisk to spare Undyne without fatally attacking her and causing her to melt first. This time, the fight almost certainly cannot be ended non-violently without a reset.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing: In Part 49, when various monsters are calling in to tell Undyne to stop fighting Frisk, the music uses motifs associated with Asgore and Alphys shortly before they join in. Also counts as a Musical Spoiler.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • There are a few hints that Papyrus is the one who created Flowey in this timeline. There's his reaction to seeing Flowey for the "First" time, a plant pot in his bedroom, and his dialogue in Bonus 4, as well as Mettaton and Sans' conversation in Bonus 5.
    • Throughout Fort Aquarius, there are records that talk about the Waterfall Incident and Chara's suicide by buttercups in vague detail. These foreshadow the reveal that in this timeline, thanks to Undyne finding the True Lab tapes, the Underground learned about Chara's plot with Asriel, and as such now is Hated by All compared to the previous world, as well as the reveal that the Integrity human's rampage in Waterfall has made monsters much warier of humanity.
    • Mettaton not being corporeal with his body is hinted at a few times during the second half of the Waterfall arc. During his first appearance in the garbage dump, everyone present is walking around in the water, but he can somehow stand on it. Shortly after that, his lights go out and his voice becomes quieter, but he can still move around just fine. His ghost form shows up during the credits for Part 36.
    • When Frisk and Papyrus enter the MTT Hotel in Part 37, they are greeted with the sight of a statue not of Mettaton, unlike the original timeline, but of Asriel on the fountain, with a jagged stump on the other side, rendering Chara speechless. However, Chara's statue is eventually revealed to not have been destroyed, but recovered and fixed up by Mettaton himself, kept safely in his own home in Waterfall.
    • Secret page 13 features random quotes which would be used later on up to the end of the Victory arc.
    • Asriel's true desires to [[spoiler:create a world where he and Chara can live happily while everyone else is an interchangeable puppet is foreshadowed by how other characters outside of the main characters and Asriel behave during the Rift chapters. In Rift_2, Asriel's followers all sing his and Chara's praises and Lilac's body is hijacked by Asriel just to hurt Frisk. In Rift_4, Asriel's killers are shadows who only exist to say hurtful things. In Rift_6, Flowey's later time loops in the Underground have the monsters collective faces replaced with Flowey's, and all of them repeat the same dialogue over and over. Rift_7 also showcases illusion Chara being far more agreeable than they actually were and the illusions of Toriel and Asgore existing only to praise Asriel and Chara.
  • Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: The "scinanigans" ask blog on Tumblr and "specialhappytime" channel in the official Discord server are both places where you can ask questions to certain characters who are available, although not all of them will be answered.
  • Frivolous Lawsuit: In part 56, Alphys talks about Mettaton trying to open a pizzeria and Undyne's hatred of the square pizza he planned to sell, to the point of trying to sue him for "food crimes". Mettaton won, and made the pizzas a fixture in the courtroom just to spite Undyne.
  • Funny Background Event: During fights that happen when Papyrus is with Frisk, he has a "status" at the bottom of the screen during his turns that will often say funny things.
  • Fusion Dance: Monsters being able to absorb human SOULs (and vice versa) is carried over from Undertale, as is monsters melting into each other if they have too much Determination for their bodies to handle. Specifically, Mettaton SPIRAL Amalgamates with Undyne as a last ditch effort to save her when she's melting.

    G-L 
  • Game-Over Man: To follow the swapped roles of the six main monsters, the Game Over screen uses Toriel's dialogue up until the CORE, where Chara takes over instead to help encourage Frisk, and continues to be the regular Game Over person from then on.
    • In Part 47, Undyne taking over the Game Over screen is enough indication that the next death might be permanent.
    • In the playable version of "Null: Part 5", there is no usual Game Over screen if you die; Asriel will have some dialogue before reloading that changes depending on how many times you die.
  • Gaslighting:
    • Asriel does this in Rift_2 to both the main characters and the viewer by getting them to doubt their perception of Asriel's actions as being abusive, spiteful and self-serving by portraying himself as a well intentioned, self sacrificing hero who only wanted to make Chara happy.
    • Asriel does this again in Rift_7 with his illusions of himself and Chara based off of Asriel's childhood memories. Chara points that most of Asriel's portrayals of their past are embellishments and lies designed to make him look better than he actually was, though they admit that the memory in the basement of wanting to see the stars was real.
  • Guide Dang It!: Sparing Asgore on the first try is canonically not supposed to happen, so the MERCY button is destroyed if it is attempted. What players might not realize is that they can mimic the Spare mechanic in this fight by purposefully missing attacks. And even if they do figure that out, it's very easy to miss the window where you're supposed to ACT instead of miss one more attack; doing the latter will result in him committing suicide.
    • You can't press the transparent Spare button during the second phase of Toriel's fight. However, you can still trigger it by hovering the SOUL above the button for long enough, but there's nothing that tells you to do that.
  • High Collar of Doom: Undyne's labcoat has a rather excessive red spiky high collar that only serves to add to her Mad Scientist look. While she's not evil, it makes for an appropriate choice of accessory for someone so actively antagonizing against Frisk.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: The Stinger of part 50. With "Lament of the Last" still playing over it.
  • Historical Villain Upgrade: In-universe. Monsters seem to have a far more negative view of Chara than in canon. This is because unlike Alphys in the original timeline, Undyne shared the videos of Chara and Asriel's plan with the other monsters.
  • History Repeats: Several things happen during the story that according to Word of God and side material also happened in the original timeline:
    • Chara and Asriel's backstories play out exactly the same as in the original timeline.
    • Frisk ends up unintentionally killing the Ruins caretaker and then reloading to spare them in both timelines.
    • They also have to face off against a skeleton to go into Waterfall, and rather than dying, gets sent to an easily escapable prison when they're down to 1HP.
    • In Waterfall, Frisk falls from the bridge into the dump again and has a flashback. Except this time it's from their own past.
    • They also have to reload after facing a Climax Boss, with a change in circumstances leading to a different outcome the second time round.
    • Flowey absorbs the six human SOULS again. And later those of the monsters as well.
    • Napstablook once again avoids being absorbed by Flowey.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: The "battle" with Flowey at the barrier. Despite the best efforts of Frisk, Papyrus, and Chara, none of them are capable of actually taking or talking him down. Flowey himself gleefully mentions that the only reason he hasn't just absorbed the remaining monster's SOULs already is because he finds their defiance hilarious.
  • Hope Springs Eternal: null_4 is appropriately titled "Hope". This episode reveals that there are at least two other survivors than Frisk and Chara: the Riverperson and Napstablook. Just seeing them gives the human the encouragement that they can set things right.
  • Hostile Show Takeover: After Flowey resets the timeline, an opening similar to Undertale's plays out with him narrating, and the title credits "Asriel Dreemurr", which is also featured any time the menu appears during Frisk's reloads or the playable segments. The official Tumblr blog also has an in-character FAQ from him about the comic. Taken further in The Stinger of Part 61 where Asriel, having taken all the monster SOULs again in addition to those of the six humans, narrates about how he's going to take over the surface and doesn't understand why Chara doesn't want to be his friend again.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:
    • The second half of part 57 has Frisk, Alphys, and Papyrus try to reach out to Mettaton, whose body has been hijacked by a quartet of Memoryheads.
    • The final arc has this happen during Rift 5 when Frisk and Chara find Papyrus, who was seemingly freed from Asriel but is still in a "lost soul" state. After many attempts, they manage to get through to him by reminding him of the items he gave to Frisk.
  • Idiosyncratic Wipes: During the "Rift" arc, each area where a Figment is encountered features a different kind of wipe for transitions between rooms rather than the usual fade to black:
    • The area with the Effigy of Ego has silhouettes of the head of Asriel's current form, fitting with his god complex.
    • The Pawn of Possessiveness has lots of hands used for the wipes between the rooms of the castle, to represent Asriel's desire to keep Chara all to himself and not wanting them to run off.
    • The place where the Fiend of Fatality is encountered has the transitions in the shape of flames, tying in with this area showing memories of the day that Chara and Asriel died and how Asriel's death in particular affected him.
  • The Immune: Being pure A.I. without SOULs, the robots (excluding Mettaton, Mad Mew Mew, and any other ghost-possessed robots) are the only ones besides Napstablook to be unaffected by Asriel's absorption of the SOULs.
  • In Spite of a Nail: As Chara says at one point, "Some things never change":
    • Chara still poisoned Asgore with buttercups on accident and later their plan would tear apart the Dreemurr family. Unlike the previous timeline, however, the buttercup incident and their plan was revealed to all of monsterkind and destroyed Chara's reputation.
    • The Underground's ruler still collected six human SOULS, although the circumstances in which the humans died were different.
    • Even though Alphys isn't the Royal Scientist, she still has some skills in building devices, having helped with Waterfall's security. She also still has a machine that turns grass into ice cream.
    • Mettaton is still famous and still has a body consisting of a rectangular box on a single wheel as well as a more humanoid body in spite of Alphys not being the Royal Scientist.
    • Alphys was still the one to visit Mettaton's human fan club despite her different occupation. She still led Mettaton to becoming a robot, though here she recommended that Undyne helped him.
    • The Amalgamates are still made from the same monsters as before, who still fell down and were sent in for experiments.
    • Flowey was still created despite Undyne wanting to use something different as a vessel; Papyrus made him instead. He also took longer to wake up, partly because he was given less Determination than Alphys gave him, and partly because of the fact that he'd made this new timeline.
  • Interface Screw:
    • In the playable version of Asgore's boss battle, he'll break the "MERCY" button if you try to spare him enough times. It is still possible to spare him by missing your attacks.
    • Sans' boss fight has some points where splotches of ketchup get in the way of the battle box.
    • In the playable version of Alphys' boss fight, trying to fight her again after killing her three times will result in Frisk breaking the "FIGHT" button to prevent you from doing so.
    • The playable version of Mettaton's tournament show will have Papyrus block the "FIGHT" button with bones if you fight too much.
    • In Part 49, the rematch against Undyne in the Determinator has her destroy all the buttons.
    • Toriel's boss battle has the battle and dialogue boxes being made out of flames that the Orange Soul mode is used to go through, and there are eventually attacks that cause the buttons to move around the screen.
    • In Part 61, when Flowey permanently separates Frisk and Chara's Souls, the latter's buttons appear at the side of the screen with vines around them, and their name is at an angle as if it was dropped there messily, while Frisk has no name appear at all. Also, when Papyrus surrenders, he blocks each of Frisk's buttons except for "MERCY", and then blocks the "Spare" option so they can only flee.
  • Internal Reveal:
    • Flowey/Asriel's true intentions have been made clear to the viewer from the start, but no one (except Chara) figures it out until it's too late.
    • Frisk learns that "Captain Cryptic" (the narrator) is Chara when Undyne realizes that Frisk wasn't crazy when they were talking to seemingly no one and tells Chara that they can't fool her. Later on, this information gets passed on to the other major characters until Asgore and Toriel find out.
    • Chara tells Frisk that Flowey is Asriel after fighting Toriel, and Papyrus also figured it out.
    • Frisk tells their friends about their ability to SAVE late in the story.
  • In the Hood:
    • As the overlooker of the Ruins, Asgore wears a purple robe with a hood, complete with holes for his horns. It's more of a fashion choice than anything practical, as it doesn't really conceal anything, but he does note that it might make him look unintentionally intimidating when he first meets Frisk.
    • Frisk later wears one of Sans' hooded jackets throughout Waterfall to disguise the fact that they're a human.
    • The Mage, who was the Green soul of Kindness also wore a hooded robe.
  • Incoming Ham:
    • When Mettaton appears in the Waterfall dump after Bratty and Catty are conflicted at whether they should continue to fight Frisk or not, he announces, "SAY NO MORE, DARLINGS! YOUR HERO HAS ARRIVED!" To add to the ham, coloured confetti also appears.
    • Later on, there's also "DID SOMEBODY SUMMON THE GREAT PAPYRUS?!?!?!?!"
  • Irony: In the trio of troublemakers that Frisk dies to once in the Ruins, the Migosp appears to be the main influencer. In the original game, Migosps put up a malicious façade because the monsters they hang out with want you dead.
  • It's All My Fault: Appears to be a heavily recurring theme associated with several characters due to them either causing something bad to happen or failing to prevent it.
    • In Null: Part 1, after Asriel recreated the world, the newly reanimated Chara blames themself for not warning Frisk about Flowey earlier on. Frisk, likewise, blames themself for not believing Chara. After they both get over it, Frisk lampshades that they'd be going in circles arguing whose fault it is.
  • Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Undyne and Papyrus don white labcoats to go with their new roles in science. Papyrus still wears his "battle body" under it.
  • Last Chance Hit Point: In the playable "Null_5", if Frisk or Chara gets hit by a bullet that would have reduced their HP to 0, the other will deflect it, but only during that turn meaning they can still die if hit by another one. Downplayed as their HP isn't brought down to 1 by it, but it has the same effect.
  • Lemony Narrator: The comic takes the interpretation that Chara is the narrator of Undertale and runs with it. With Chara still hitching a ride on Frisk's spirit in this new timeline, all of the original quirkiness and colorful commentary of the narrator is still there. Kicking it up a notch, Frisk is aware of their presence, and at times responds to their commentary, or even tries (unsuccessfully) to talk to them until the CORE arc, where they have many conversations.
    • Interactive Narrator: After Sans tosses Frisk into the Socket dimension, Chara talks directly to Frisk to give advice. This happens again just before Hotland, and again in the CORE, where they take a more active role.
      • Just as in the original game, Napstablook can hear Chara and respond to them. Mettaton and Mad Dummy can as well, because it's an ability that ghosts have.
      • Chara even shows an ability to possess Frisk in the pre-Hotland interlude. They exercise this again (with Frisk's knowledge) to get through puzzles.
      • Even after being brought back to life in their own body, Chara still sometimes narrates things out of habit.
    • Papyrus gets his own narration during battles once he joins up with Frisk. It's about as hilarious as it sounds. Word of God suggests that he is even saying it out loud.

    M-P 
  • Mad Scientist:
    • With Undyne taking on the scientific area while remaining the same Hot-Blooded and anime fan monster fighting for justice and her people, it's only to be expected that she would go with the mad branch of science; donning a labcoat with a High Collar of Doom, and a lot of her work involves crazy weapons and traps especially built for humans. She's also been using Determination on herself...
    • As Undyne's assistant, Papyrus has rubbed off some of the madness, which is only amplified by his eagerness. He has a lot of inventions to his name, some more useful and more functional than others.
  • Maximum HP Reduction: Frisk ends up having their maximum HP reduced to 10 after Flowey permanently separates Chara's SOUL from theirs, with the author explaining that this could have been avoided if he was more careful, but he didn't really care about that and just wanted to split them already. Chara presumably had 20HP which is also reduced to 10, though they later recieve an item that raises it to 15.
  • Meaningful Background Event:
    • During the visit to New Home, when Frisk looks in the gift boxes in Asriel and Chara's bedroom, they're empty except for a note that says "I KNOW YOU'RE THERE". While this is happening, Flowey can be seen smirking in the background.
    • When Frisk, Chara, and Lilac arrive at Ebott City, you might notice some human SOULs floating upwards. Also, Lilac mentions feeling cold, and she becomes less saturated in color. As they travel further, Lilac's own SOUL is taken from her body.
    • In the same area as above, Spamton can be briefly seen in silhouette in the background at one point. The following chapter has him come across Lilac's body, and decide to go into the Rift to avenge her.
    • After Spamton goes into the Rift, if you listen carefully you'll hear footsteps. These are revealed in the next part to be from Asriel controlling Lilac's body.
  • Meaningful Name: The ACT button gets expanded upon as Frisk states they've only been ACTing nice and kind for the sake of others, and it's not their true personality. However, during the Papyrus date, they state that their "nice kid" act feels less like an "act" than before.
  • Mid-Battle Tea Break:
    • During Sans' fight, he takes his legally required break, complete with appropriate music and eating a hotdog. Which he later drops at Frisk.
    • During the battle with Mettaton SPIRAL, Frisk at one point uses some coffee, with Mettaton even giving them what they need to make it, and it playing out similarly to using the instant noodles in Undertale.
      • Speaking of the instant noodles, some side content reveals that Frisk used them when fighting Mettaton EX in the old timeline.
  • Mood Whiplash:
    • In part 21, Frisk and Papyrus have just escaped from Fort Aquarius, where the former learned more about the Waterfall Incident and why monsters are so distrustful towards humans. Then they go into the Artifact room, where the Annoying Dog absorbs the artifact while they try to stop it. And then Frisk's emotional state worsens as they read even more about the monster's prejudice against humans.
    • Part 48 takes place after the fight with Undyne in the CORE ends with her melting and amalgamating with Mettaton. During this part, Frisk is in an arguably even worse mental state than the example above, so much that they take damage from Karmic Retribution when Sans tries to stop them from going any further. Eventually, he and Papyrus manage to successfully talk them down and they all share a heartwarming moment... but shortly before Frisk reloads to face Undyne again, Sans gives them his password. It's the same as in canon.
    • Going on from above, Part 50 is mostly sad, as it involves Papyrus and Flowey telling the story of Asriel and Chara, with Flowey being unhappy at discovering that Toriel has adopted another human and thinking she'd forgotten about her original children, and Frisk reading the Mage's journal entries from various points in their life, which reveals more details about how the other humans died, before finally meeting Toriel. But in between those events, Frisk tells Sans his password in a dramatic, over-the-top fashion.
    • Part 54 ends rather ominously with Frisk, Mettaton, and Alphys heading to the True Lab to look for Mad Mew Mew, Papyrus, and Undyne, with appropriately creepy music. Part 55 opens with the three of them waiting in the elevator (which, unlike in canon, does not break) while an "elevator music" version of Mettaton's theme plays.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Napstablook, Mettaton, and Mad Dummy can hear everything Chara says around them. This is a reference to the battle with Napstablook in Undertale, in which they respond to the narration when the "Check" option is used (since this comic interprets that Chara is the narrator, and that they are able to be heard by ghosts).
    • In Hotland, Undyne forces Frisk to do a puzzle that involves a very fast conveyor belt and basketball hoops that they have to puke into - a reference to her puzzle idea in Undertale's phone calls.
    • Also in Hotland, Papyrus has labelled the elevators with the names of different types of pasta, referencing the phone calls where he speculates what "L" and "R" could stand for before Undyne is befriended.
    • The Dog Shrine from the PS4 port appears in the background of Mettaton's tournament show, and later shows up in Frisk and Papyrus' hotel room, where Frisk donates to it and gets the room filled with the same items seen in the PS4 game.
    • The human on Mettaton's "Human Club" poster has a strong resemblance to Kris.
    • Alphys' Electric Beam Spell uses the same sprite as Kris' "Big Shot" in the Spamton NEO fight.
    • During the battle against Snowdrake's mother, windows appear all over the battle box similar to those of the Poppups from Deltarune.
    • After Flowey has absorbed the SOULs of almost every monster in the Underground, Spamton (who in this version is a sentient email AI that was downloaded into a robot body) takes over Hotland and the MTT Resort, similar to how he took over Queen's Mansion in Deltarune Chapter 2's Weird Route. There is even similar music playing.
    • During the Rift arc, Spamton gives Frisk and Chara a Punch Card that can skip scenes much like the glitch caused by them in Undertale that was a popular speedrun tactic, with the reason behind its ability here being because it was created by the Memoryheads.
    • The Castle in Rift Part 3 is based on Ralsei's Castle in Deltarune, right down to there being music similar to "My Castle Town", Chara's room having some resemblance to Kris' room, and examining the wardrobe giving the same "You could wear whatever you want" dialogue.
    • When Frisk and Chara encounter Papyrus, who was freed from Asriel but is in a lost state, at one point Chara tries to get through to him by telling the same joke Toriel suggested telling to the Dummy, which she later told at the Barrier during the True Pacifist Route.
  • No Ontological Inertia: Averted. The author has stated that any changes Asriel makes with his god-like power are all permanent unless he consciously undoes it himself. The only thing he can't permanently change is him having his own Soul and keeping his monster form.
  • Noodle Incident:
    • One of Mettaton’s past concerts, as Napstablook mentions in Part 23.
      Frisk: So, you ever done a rave?
      Napstablook: well, there was that gig at tem village, but... never again...
    • Papyrus experienced an event that taught him that steam vents are awful if you're wearing a dress. The only thing known about it is that Sans was involved.
  • Nostalgic Musicbox:
    • This song, which plays when Papyrus tells Frisk about why he and Undyne are still friends despite their different views on humans. This is accompanied with sepia images of flashbacks.
    • This song, a theme for Chara, which plays when they decide to help Frisk through the Core.
  • Number of the Beast: Endogeny is known as K9-666 in this AU.
  • Ominous Visual Glitch:
    • The fight against the Memoryhead-controlled Mettaton in part 57 has glitchy effects all over the place. Menu text related to the boss and the characters behind them keeps flickering and their dialogue is mostly out-of-context lines from Undertale. The support enemies are made from parts of the sprites of the main characters, while Mettaton's face intermittently glitches out and the flame effect on his wings is drawn in a cruder fashion than it usually is. To cap it off, the music playing in this encounter is a distorted version of Mettaton SPIRAL's theme.
    • When Flowey destroys the barrier, the message "The barrier is destroyed" appears but the d trails off and covers the screen shortly before a blue screen of death appears.
    • The timeline which Asriel creates feature grayscale, glitched out versions of the areas from the first timeline.
  • Only Sane Man: Poor Sergeant Dohj. During the trial of Frisk, she comes with brilliant testimony backed with evidence, and it is all negated due to her not mentioning Papyrus' cool devices, Frisk dodging her attacks, and her being single, to mention just a few of the Insane Troll Logic moments. Not to mention how others casually mention incredible inventions like telekinesis helmets and dimensional transporters, when each would be considered the invention of the century. Her mental breakdown at the end of her testimony is completely justified.
  • Spotting the Thread: The heroes manage to progress through Rift_7 by either pointing that contradict Asriel's Rose-Tinted Narrative (that Toriel did have other children and loved them like she did with Asriel and Chara) or by choosing to accept reality instead of agreeing with Asriel's denial.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Papyrus presents himself to Frisk as "A PERFECTLY NORMAL HUMAN BEING!" by just wearing a set of goofy glasses; Frisk is confused at first, but then decides to play along with him to make him happy. Later on, when battling against Doggo, Dogamy, and Dogaressa, Papyrus pulls out this brilliant human disguise once more to confuse them. It somehow works.
  • Player Party: Unlike in canon Undertale, Papyrus can assist Frisk in battle, and is following them around. However, he is absent for the CORE and the Final Arc due to being locked out and having his SOUL absorbed respectively.
    • During the True Lab, Alphys is temporarily in the party for three battles.
    • Chara joins Frisk in person after being revived in the beginning of the Null arc. Unlike Papyrus and Alphys, they have equal leadership with Frisk, taking turns leading the party with them as well as having their own menu in the overworld.
  • Posthumous Character: As in Undertale, Asriel and all of the humans that fell before Frisk. The Blue and Green SOULs seem to hold the most importance, as the Blue soul killed a load of monsters, and the Green soul spent a lot of time in the Underground and is implied to have met the humans that fell after them.
  • Press Start to Game Over: At the beginning of the Ace Attorney parody, Undyne almost immediately states that Frisk is guilty. Mettaton follows that up by asking Papyrus if he has any closing statements before Papyrus points out that the case hasn’t started yet.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Sans appears to be this due to his laziness and how he lets Frisk stay at his house before the fight against him.
  • Put on a Bus:
    • Flowey is absent for most of Hotland because he wants to avoid being caught on camera, though at one point he does talk to Frisk and Papyrus while hiding. He rejoins the two after the Core, but then he stays behind at the Barrier after the fight with Toriel.
    • Almost all of the monsters get this when Flowey absorbs their souls again, since this time instead of going straight to a boss battle, he has other plans. However, the six human souls eventually free Papyrus and he rejoins the party during the "Rift" arc.

    R-U 
  • "Ray of Hope" Ending: The Angel's Promise ends with Flowey/Asriel not only assimilating the Underground's population, but breaking the barrier, attacking and assimilating several humans (as shown by their souls floating during the new intro) and taking over reality, plunging it into an apocalypse. However, Lilac recovered from her wounds and isn't one of Asriel's victims, Chara has risen from their grave, and it appears one monster escaped assimilation. Frisk managed to escape too, but is implied to have fainted from running.
  • Retraux Flashback: Any scene which shows flashbacks from the original timeline (excluding the one were Flowey recalls the trouble Sans gave him) uses footage from the original "Undertale," down to the exact same sprites regardless of how different the characters looked from their original designs.
  • Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory:
    • Flowey remains with all of his memories of the previous timeline, being the one that caused the reset in the first place, making him aware of all the strangeness going on and that trying to follow his original plan will just end in failure.
    • Same goes for Chara, but they share next to nothing until it's too late.
    • Interestingly, Papyrus seems to notice when a LOAD occurs, though he doesn't seem to remember previous iterations of the timeline.
    • Undyne is also aware of resets. That's because she once had the power to reset as well.
    • When Frisk reloads after their fight with Undyne ends with her melting and becoming an amalgamate with Mettaton, it's implied that he can remember what happened before.
  • Role-Reversal Boss: According to Word of God, The second "fight" with Sans after the fight with the Determinator is not a fight with him so much as it's a fight against Frisk.
  • Role Swap AU: Heavily downplayed. While some characters such as Asgore and Toriel swap roles with each other, several characters have almost the exact same role in the story (with Asriel and Chara's backstories playing out exactly the same as in the original timeline).
  • Running Gag:
    • And early one has Chara commenting on several of Papyrus and Undyne's inventions with some variation of "Science has gone too far."
    • Papyrus mispronouncing words related to anime and manga (the latter of which he calls "mango").
    • There's a subtle one involving Spamton's nose extending, either on himself or on depictions of him.
  • Sad Battle Music
    • Regret, Asgore's battle theme is both tense and melancholy, reflecting the fact that he is secretly trying to goad Frisk into taking his soul so they can return to the surface without killing Toriel.
    • Wavering Spirit, Alphys's fight theme, while not as somber as the other examples, does have a somewhat melancholy feel, reflecting Alphys's going against her own beliefs and trying to kill the human, as the Captain of the Royal Guard is expected to do.
    • Confrontation! The Killer Robot’s Final Stand!, the theme that plays during the first part of Mettaton's CORE battle, plays as Undyne forces Mettaton to turn against Frisk and try to kill them on live TV, just as his audience expects. The sad choirs and the tense notes make it clear the pain Mettaton feels in attacking his friend, both physically and verbally.
    • Ultimatum and Everything Is (Not) Fine play when Papyrus and Sans confront an emotionally distraught Frisk in part 48 to calm them down and help them get back on the right track.
    • Fallen Crown, Toriel’s boss theme, perfectly reflects the poor queen’s inner turmoil. Word of God states that the song represents Toriel’s very complex emotional state.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Inverted with Sans, who wears an absolutely non-threatening nor awe-inspiring striped blue winter scarf. He's shown wearing it while using his "battle body" and even with his actual Royal Guard uniform.
  • Seasonal Baggage: Just like in Undertale, the areas you travel across are based on the four seasons; Fall for Ruins, Winter for Snowdin, Spring for Fort Aquarius/Waterfall, and Summer for Hotland. This becomes more apparent in the CORE, where Undyne forces Frisk to run a gauntlet of puzzles and bosses based on both the four seasons and the areas.
  • Shipper on Deck:
    • Papyrus for Alphys and Undyne, even more so than in canon.
    • Frisk seems to have started shipping Papyrus and Mettaton as of Part 53.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns:
    • Part 39 has Papyrus be separated from Frisk, leaving the decidedly more somber Chara as Frisk's main form of support for the CORE arc. Downplayed and justified because Papyrus has been in some of the more important and emotional scenes, but Undyne doesn't want him around Frisk, especially since she plans to kill them.
    • Zig-zagged for the final arc. Papyrus is absent for "Null" and the first few chapters of "Rift", but returns and rejoins the party after the six human SOULs free him from Asriel.
  • Simple Solution Won't Work: In Undertale during the reunion scene, Toriel tells Asgore that if he wanted to free the monsters so badly, he could have taken one SOUL, then crossed the barrier to get six more. Here, she told him this again in the new timeline when he found himself unable to go through with waiting for six more humans to fall after killing the first one, but he pointed out that this was exacly what Asriel tried to do with Chara's SOUL, only to be killed.
  • Sinister Surveillance: Implied to be the case when Flowey gets the six human SOULs, being able to tell when Frisk is using the save points and tricking them into thinking they still have that power by saving for them. Taken even further after he gets the monster SOULs and changes the Underground, as there are holes in the walls that flowers with faces occasionally appear in, and the eyes in the images of him occasionally move to look at Frisk and Chara, and he is also shown to save at various points.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Side content for Undertale reveals that Rudy Holiday died of the illness his Deltarune counterpart currently has. Here, because Toriel made sure the monsters had better education, he survived his illness due to the underground having more advanced healthcare.
  • Special Edition Title: Happens twice in the Null arc. The credits for "Null: Part 3" show the same view of the surface as the other parts, only this time it's viewed on a television screen. In the following part, these credits are replaced by an advert from Spamton.
  • The Cameo: During Rift 1, there are several TV screens showing an image referencing other universes such as RESURRECTION, Tales Doubled, Fracturedtale, Underswap, Gonerdweller, Beneathstory, Undertale Humility, Undertale: Bits 'n Pieces, Sensetale, Undermyth, Altered Destiny and Rupturedtale.
    • Rift 3 has cameos from Video Game/Deltarune and other A Us such as Monster Friends, Robotic Destinies, Furtherfell, Union of Two Hearts, Tale's End, Pure Dawn and Modtale.
  • The Stinger:
    • The playable versions of the boss battles will usually have some dialogue from certain characters after the credits, which changes depending on your choices, or how many times you've died or reloaded.
    • Part 36's credits (in the second part) ends with Undyne looking at her Humongous Mecha in the CORE.
    • The credits for part 48 end with Undyne and Mettaton post-reload both having vague memories of being merged with each other before.
    • Part 50 has its credits end with some outtakes and jokes from production.
    • At the end of Part 51, there is a scene where Mettaton tries to talk to Undyne, only for her to angrily tell him to leave.
    • After the credits or Part 57, Mettaton wonders just what the Memoryheads were trying to show him.
    • Bonus 8's credits ends with a few seconds of the beginning of Interlude 3. Meanwhile, Interlude 3's credits end with Lilac, Frisk's old friend from the surface, on her way to look for them.
    • After the credits for Part 60, Flowey talks to the audience, telling them to remember all the times that happened in the previous chapters.
    • Part 61 has two. Firstly, Lilac arrives at Mt. Ebott. Secondly, there is a new intro that shows Asriel going to the Surface, while Frisk is back where they first fell, and Chara is back in their body.
    • "Null_2" ends with Robot 98 and 100 wondering where everyone except the other non-monster robots went, before being greeted by someone unknown.
    • The post-credits scene for "Null_3" has Lilac finding the door to the surface that Asriel left through from the outside.
    • After the credits of "Null_4", Spamton wonders if anyone is going to show up and buy things from him, before Lilac arrives.
    • At the end of the credits for "Null_5", Asriel expresses his annoyance at Spamton ruining the hotel's fountain, before deciding he can just make a new one in the new world he's making. Then the circle above the city expands and seemingly swallows everything on the surface.
    • The post-credits scene for "Rift_1" shows Spamton finding Lilac's soulless body and declaring that nobody takes his customers or their {=[Heart Shaped Object]=}. He's then seen at the entrance of The Rift before going into it, likely to retrieve Lilac's soul.
    • "Rift_2" ends with the six human souls planning to do something with Papyrus' soul.
    • The very end of "Rift_3" has Asriel return Lilac's soul to her, only for her to call him out on his loneliness and taunt him, making him remove it again.
    • At the end of the credits for "Rift_4", Asriel refuses to believe that Chara has changed, thinking that the way they peacefully defeated that chapter's Figment was just an act. Meanwhile, the six human souls manage to free Papyrus.
    • In the post-credits scene for "Rift_5", Asriel is surprised that Papyrus somehow got away, but decides not to reabsorb him, beliving that he'll agree with Asriel's plan to create a new world and that Chara will listen to him.
    • Rift_8's post-credits has Asriel conclude that the previous Rift worlds were too heavy handed and decides to create a softer world for the "new" Chara, and Lilac points out how predictable he is despite his insistence otherwise.
    • Rift_7's post-credits scene has Asriel allude to the other Figments before monologuing to Lilac that he's been busy creating his new world, and it will serve as the final set-piece for the heroes to go through before their final fight. Frisk, Chara and Papyrus are seen falling into an unknown area as Asriel states that anyone outside of his new world is "worthless garbage".
  • Suddenly Speaking:
    • While Frisk was a Silent Protagonist in Undertale, here they have full-fledged dialogue and interactions with the other characters, developing the personality that was implied in the original game and giving them more traits, not being under the control of an external player anymore.
    • While the entire comic can/will be watchable as a series of animated dubs on YouTube, the prologue, part 36, and part 47 are only available in dub form.
  • Take That!: Papybot incessantly talking about spaghetti and Chara calling it "a shallow misrepresentation of something far more complex" lampoons fan works that boil Papyrus himself (and other characters) in such a way.
  • The Thing That Would Not Leave:
    • Jerry, as per the original timeline. Only this time he needs to be fought twice to progress the story; once in Snowdin due to his phone interfering with a puzzle, and again in Hotland, serving as a Switch in a Bait-and-Switch Boss with the Mad Dummy during the Battle of the Ages tournament.
    • Rift 3 has Chara deal with a sepia illusion of Asriel who won't let them leave the castle they're trapped in. When Chara gets out, "Asriel" follows them every step of the way until he eventually drops his face and is revealed to be the Pawn of Possessiveness.
  • The Unfought:
    • In Snowdin, a fight with Snowdrake, Chilldrake, and Ice Cap is about to start, but then Flowey attacks them and they run away.
    • Shyren is not fought, but instead found playing the piano with Napstablook.
    • Inverted with a lot of other characters who are not fought in the original game, such as Bratty and Catty.
  • The Unmasqued World: Downplayed, of course, since the population of the story's setting consists of magical monsters, but in this timeline, ghosts possessing vessels is much more common knowledge than in the previous timeline, where very few characters seem to be aware of this fact. This is most likely due to Mettaton publicly revealing his familial connections with the ghosts in this timeline.
  • The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The Rift. A monochromatic castle with a purple moving background, with several TVs showing off images from the previous timeline and even other Undertale AUs. It also has demonic heads and runes on the walls that absorb energy and fire projectiles, both based on Asriel's attacks in Undertale.
    • Furthermore, it has several illusionary rooms that can take on various forms. Rift 2 takes place in a golden cathedral, and Rift 3 separates Frisk by putting them in a tiny room while Chara gets a castle.

    W-Y 
  • We Cannot Go On Without You: A variation. When Chara joins the party after being resurrected, they have their own HP bar. Unlike Deltarune, if either Chara or Frisk reaches 0 HP, it's an automatic game over due to the lack of "knockout regeneration," necessitating Asriel to rewind time.
  • Wham Episode:
    • Part 21 has both Frisk and Papyrus have a heart-to-heart discussion of their flaws and the facades they put up. And Frisk reveals their name (much earlier than in canon), taking Flowey off guard.
    • The Trial in Part 36 also counts, because the Underground becomes publicly made aware of Flowey's existence.
    • Part 39, when Frisk is separated from Papyrus for the second time since Fort Aquarius, and Chara's talksprite starts appearing in their narration boxes.
    • Part 45, where Mad Mew Mew's Soul mode causes Frisk and Chara to be temporarily separated, revealing to Frisk that "Captain Cryptic" is a human, and also revealing to Flowey that Chara is still around and is the unknown person Frisk has been talking to. It's also implied that Undyne, who has been watching Frisk in the Core, now knows who they are talking to, and recognizes them as Chara.
    • At the end of Part 49, Frisk and Papyrus finally get Undyne to back down, and Papyrus reveals that he is aware of Frisk's SAVE powers. Afterward, Chara warns Frisk not to trust Flowey, but the latter disregards them. Flowey hears this.
    • At the end of Part 51, Frisk finally manages to convince Toriel to stand down and give the SOULs to Flowey. Papyrus reveals that he's worked out that Flowey is actually Asriel, and since Frisk is there, that means they learn this. It ends with Flowey winning and using all six SOULs for his plans.
    • Part 53, where Papyrus finds out about Chara's soul being attached to Frisk's.
    • Part 61 has Flowey finally revealing his true colors, absorbing all the monster SOULs again, permanently separating Chara's SOUL from Frisk's and using it to bring them back to life, and breaking the barrier so he can use his god-like power against humanity on the surface. Meanwhile, Frisk's old friend has arrived at Mt. Ebbot and is soon to arrive in the Underground.
  • Wham Line:
    • In part 39, after Undyne separates Papyrus from Frisk and makes the latter almost have a panic attack....
      Narrator: Because even though Papyrus isn't here... (the text box shows Chara's determined face) I am.
    • And at the end of Part 45, after Chara is temporarily separated from Frisk:
    Flowey: I knew it.
    • During the Climax Boss in part 47, Frisk learns who "Captain Cryptic" really is...
    Undyne: You can fool the world, but you can't fool me, CHARA.
    • Papyrus referring to Flowey as "PR...MY FRIEND" in part 50. Followed up by him openly deducing the fact that Flowey is Asriel in the next part.
    • And in Part 53, when Chara laments about Mettaton defending their actions, Mettaton throws out one of these in response:
    Chara: (while possessing Frisk) But why? I don't deserve...
    Mettaton: I'm going to stop you right there, Chara. And yes, I know it's you, darling.
    Flowey: (grinning) Golly, Chara. You're absolutely right! (switches to Asriel's face framed in shadow) But how could you forget the best part?
    Flowey: Is it because you STILL don't trust your own BROTHER?!
    • At the end of Part 63, the text: "File saved" appears on screen. This not only gives an explanation as to how saving will work from now on (with Asriel saving at various points), but it also suggests that the humans will find themselves in danger.
    • The playable version of Part 65 has an optional one if you have Chara talk to Lilac:
    Chara: And you're... here.
    Lilac: And you're... alive?
    [...]
    Lilac: You look a lot like the statue in the park. It's kinda uncanny.
    Chara: ...
    Ah.
  • Wham Shot:
    • The aforementioned appearance of Chara's face in part 39.
    • In Part 45, the SOUL mode from Mad Mew Mew is shown to have made Chara visible while temporarily separating them from Frisk, who looks at them in shock over the fact that they're a human.
    • In part 48, when Sans wants to prevent Frisk from running straight to Toriel after they ended up causing Undyne and Mettaton to amalgamate, it seems as if there will be another fight against him. But then when it gets to Papyrus's turn, the battle interface switches over to Frisk, and continues to do so for his turns as he tries to talk them out of it.
    • At the end of part 50, the transition screen into the Toriel fight sees the green human SOUL appear in Toriel's spot.
    • In Part 53, Mettaton leads Frisk and Papyrus to the conspicuous covered object sitting in the corner of the house. He pulls off the blue sheet, revealing a golden statue of Chara; the one that was missing in the MTT Hotel.
    • Towards the end of Part 61, after Flowey absorbs the SOULs of the remaining monsters, he breaks the barrier. After the credits, a new intro plays that shows him leaving for the surface, and Chara's hand is seen coming out of the ground, revealing that he brought them back to life.
  • Would Hurt a Child:
    • During the Waterfall Incident, the Integrity human killed and injured many monsters, some of which were children.
    • Most of the monsters have no problem with using violence to capture Frisk or even kill them because the Waterfall Incident was caused by a child. Undyne in particular stands out, as she won't let Frisk's age stop her from trying to destroy the Barrier.
    • The first human to fall after Chara and Asriel died was killed by Asgore. His guilt over doing this, and the feeling that he had done so before due to the human resetting after each death, is what caused him to hide in the Ruins, unable to go through with killing six more humans.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: In the Trial, Dohj is under the impression that she's in an actual court of law and not a show, and thus acts accordingly, and proceeds to utterly destroy Papyrus's defense, since everything she says is technically true. But she is so focused on Papyrus, it ends up looking like he would be found guilty of treason, so Undyne steps in, telling Dohj that she has forgotten to include all of Papyrus's Rule of Cool antics. Papyrus then uses a mix of Insane Troll Logic and Blatant Lies to destroy Dohj's testimony.
  • You Can't Thwart Stage One: Flowey pretends to be a friend to Frisk and Papyrus so that they'll unwittingly help his plans. Chara hesitates to warn them about it, and it eventually becomes too late for anyone to believe them after he earns Toriel's trust, and allows people to find out that he is really Asriel in order to gain even more of their trust. As expected, Flowey succeeds in his plan to absorb everyone's SOULs again, and not only bring Chara Back from the Dead but also break the barrier so he can use his power to take revenge on humanity.

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