Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27023843-20160708215629/@comment-26814804-20160709065645

First off, I want to say something. Picking my favorite character in Undertale isn't just hard because I love so many characters. It's hard because I love all the characters (Except for that bastard CHARA) and I MEAN it. When you play through Undertale and see each and every one of them fighting for their race, and yet giving up and leaving peacefully when you're kind to them- when you see Undyne recognize your act of MERCY in cooling her down in Hotland, when you see Papyrus laugh and let you go because he can't help but become friends with you, when you see ASGORE smile in disbeleif and offer to take you into his family after everything that had happened, you say "Wow. I really like these people." And I ''do. ''I've often likened Undertale to more of a movie or book than a video game. But that isn't true either. I've never read a book where I've felt like I'm friends with a character, nor has such a thing happened in any game I've played or movie I've watched. Only in Undertale can such a thing happen, and that makes it nearly impossible to choose between the cast of amazing characters. But I've gotta do it, and here goes.

BTW, sorry to ASGORE, Muffet, Greater and Lesser dog, and Shyren, but you're only honorable mentions this time. I've only got 10 slots.

10. Dogamy and Dogaressa- They count as one character, right? Either way, these two really impressed me, especially considering their status as lowly sub-bosses. See, here's the thing. Not only are they adorable (Identify yoursmelf!), but they also hide some real personality when everything goes down. When you kill Dogaressa, Dogamy loses all hope and will to live, slows down, and pretty much lets you kill him. When you kill Dogamy, Dogaressa flips and comes at you like Jason Vorhees at his mother's killers. She's a beast, and even if she gives up her will to live after she wrecks your shit, she's not going to let her soulmate's murderer get away alive. The difference between the two of them really does add more depth to their characters, something that their voice lines just don't. And the fact that you have no choice but to kill them one at a time actually adds some real pangs of regret to an allready emotionally shattering Genocide Route.

9. Mettaton- Oh, MTT's got his flaws, all right. I resent him for abandoning Napstablook, he's unbearably self-centered, and he was just about to kill you and leave the Underground ''alone. ''At the same time, his actions in the Genocide Route really change things. Just like the guy underneath him on this list, he earned my respect with one sentence. "Besides... there are some people I want to protect." When he throws himself in your way with what is essenssially a pre-alpha device that he knows won't work, just to save Alphys and ASGORE (and, in my headcanon, to avenge Undyne), and he lets himself die to buy time, he proved that he was more than a egotistical bastard. He was an egotistical bastard with a big heart. He should feel lucky. One voice line edged poor ASGORE out of this list and put him in it.

8. Grillby- Ok, this one is a little weird, and I can't really say much about it, especially considering he earns this place almost entirely with ''two words. ''But when, after the True Pacifist ending, Grillby stands up and says "good job." That's it. Those are his only lines in the ''entire game. ''When I was playing through the first time and Sans said "I'm rootin' for ya, kid," I really did think, wow, that had a hell of a lot more impact than most of the other's character's support, because Sans isn't prone to praise. And then, wow. Grillby gives that "good job." He's the kind of guy who never talks, who just serves, a steryotypycal bartender. But when he talks, just once, he has more impact than almost any other NPC after True Pacifist. It's also interesting to note that he's one of the few NPCs who actually know that it was you that broke the Barrier.

7. Napstablook- Ah, I love this poor little depressed, socially-awkward ghost. He almost got the #6 (or hell, the #5) spot on this list. He just floats around, trying to avoid people so he doesn't somehow hurt them like they constantly hurt him. They never mean to, so he assumes that he'll do the same thing accidentally as well. He lives to please people. Whether it's giving 30 GOLD to a snail who thought he got first place, kindly and quietly calling Mettaton, (Who'd abandoned him to live alone forever) leaving a FIGHT because he's afraid that he'll make things awkward, pretending he'd saved you from the Mad Dummy accidentally because he doesn't want to annoy you, Napstablook never wants to hurt anyone, because he knows how it feels. There is NOTHING more heart-warming in the True Pacifist credits than seeing Napstablook jamming out with Mettaton and his band. And even in a run where I didn't forgive ASRIEL, a run where I called Papyrus Uncool, and a run where I was a dick to Gyftrot, I don't think I have enough evil bones in my body to insult the Dapper Blook. I almost cried in my first playthrough when Blooky popped that little bugger out. It was just so sweet.

6. TORIEL- I don't even know what to say about TORIEL. She meets you, she loves you, and she tries to protect you, no matter what. I'm confident that if ASGORE and Undyne came busting down the door to the RUINS to kill you, she'd fight to the death to protect the kid she just met a few hours earlier, because she ''cares. ''She's the ONLY being in the Underground that isn't racist in some way toward humans. Papyrus lives to capture you, Sans causally taks about killing you just for your race, Alphys fangirls over you just 'cause your a human, Undyne and ASGORE try to mercilessly kill you, Mettaton wants to rip out your SOUL to get to the Surface (Something I'm confident he wouldn't do to a monster) and all the others try to kill you on sight. But TORIEL doesn't. She treats you like she would her own child, from the very beginning. She only FIGHTs you to protect you, she refuses to actually kill you, and if she somehow does, she gives you the only truly horrified look (from anyone) in the game. Even if she doesn't get much focus, she makes the most out of it, and she's the only character in the game you can't claim to have killed in self-defense.

5. Papyrus- Oh, Pappy. So kind. So naive. So innocent. So trusting. Y'know, Papyrus is the only one in the Genopcide Route who doesn't give up on you, unless you count the apparently brain-dead ASGORE. Papyrus looks at CHARA and sees Frisk, and wants to help you. EVEN WHEN HE'S A HEAD ON THE GROUND. But the fact is, even if that particular scene is just his naiveté showing in full-force, you can't argue that he always sees the good in everyone, no matter what. He's a character that's impossible not to love, and I'm not great at doing the impossible.

4. ASRIEL- Oh, goatbro. I really shouldn't like you this much. I really didn't, at first, when I first joined the UT fandom (before I'd played the freaking game). But once I did play the True Pacifist route, it really hit me. ASRIEL was not only the only one in the game you can't SAVE, (unless you count CHARA and Gaster) but he's also the only one who has a guity concience to bear. Flowey and ASREIL are the same person. The only difference is Flowey's lack of emotion. ASRIEL knows that he was responsible for actions nearly as reperehensible as Chara in a Genocide Route- multiple times. And this crushes him. Sure, he only mentions it as doing "some weird things" when he was a flower, it's evident in his every quote that he is as wracked with greif as he is gripped with fury and sadness. And as much as I hate to say it, Undyne, ASRIEL was the only one in the game that made me cry. On top of that, has anyone noticed that ASRIEL's final attack (The one that reduces you to fractional HP) doesn't get stronger as it grows in intensity. It gets weaker. ASRIEL is trying so hard to hurt you. But he can't make himself. Monsters are weird. He barely knew you, but it felt like he really loved you. I guess humans can be like that too.

1-3(?) Sans- Ok, Ok, I know this is the boring, steryotypical answer, but to be fair, I'm tying him with two others. Either way, Sans is ''amazing. ''Not only is he the strongest of all the monsters by far, but he's the only character in the game who is kind and trusting enough to beleive that you have good in you and keep his promise up until the Genocide Route, but still smart enough to fight back when push comes to shove. Really, think about it. Undyne tries to murder you no matter what, Papyrus spares you no matter what, ASGORE just kinda gives up in the end, but Sans can befirend you or kick your ass depending on the circumstances. He's way up there on the badass list. But not quite as high as someone else tying him for #1.

1-3. Undyne- Holy shit, a wild badass appeared. Undyne is ''incredible. ''She's a great character with every character attribute in the book that I love. She's brave, dutiful, and cares more about protecting the world than her own safety. Her romance with Alphys is incredible (OTP, baby), and she is possibly one of the most emotionally deep and varied characters in the game. But it's in the Genocide Route where she earns this #1 spot. She will fight an impossible uphill battle just to save her people, and in the Genocide Route she's willing to die twice just to try to take you down. Think about it. She jumps in the way of your hit to save a little kid, and you slice her in half with a single blow. The average person, even if they were strong enough to come back from the dead, would give up at this point. But Undyne says "Hell no!" and comes back regardless, becoming, STAT-wise, the strongest enemy. Her transformation and inevitable death are, in my opinion, by far the feelsiest moments in all of Undertale, ASRIEL be damned. But there's still one more #1 spot left.

1-3. Alphys- Anyone who knows me would see this coming. Alphys is literally me, so I can't help myself but like her way more than almost any other character in the game. She's so weak, so cowardly, and so feeble, and yet somehow she still manages to pull her shit together in time to cockblock a genocidal maniac, make two of the most glamourous robots of all time, and win the heart of the #1 badass of all time. While she's sitting in her lab, sipping ramen and listening to Gaster turn over in his metaphorical grave, she's also managing to kick your ass from a distance using Mettaton, and when push comes to shove, she saves most of the Underground in aborted Genocide Routes, and manages to become a competent queen of an entire nation in the Queen Alphys ending. Undyne and Sans both manage to turn out great and powerful and will kick your ass over and over, but Undyne was obviously powerful, and Sans was always mysterious and clearly more than he appeared to be (dead where you stand) but Alphys was always hopeless. That is, until you realize that Undyne and Sans both failed to do what Alphys succeded at- saving the Underground from you.