W.D. Gaster and the Fandom Mandela Effect

[@Dorked]

New Fandom Mandela Effect is out, about Red SOULs! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJK1fJ5qededi9E If you like what I do, here are some links to support me and my content: My Patreon: patreon.com/dorked My Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/invertedfate Go-Fund Me for Sewer Costs: gofund.me/6989ad02 Twitter Mirror for signal boosting: twitter.com/Derpisms/status/1... Inverted Fate: invertedfate.com/chapters Inverted Fate OST: soundcloud.com/megaflamehedge/sets/inverted-fate-ost Credits for content: Wrong Number, Sans Fight, and Gaster Follower #3 footage by anonymouse. Undertale Gaster Stats recorded by I'm an Issue. DR Failsafe Text: tcrf.net/Proto:Deltarune/Chapter_1_Demo_(2018)/Unused_Text#Failsafe_Text Goner Clam Footage: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZucY6yKprygfLs Redacted and Soundtest Footage source: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJOwepWCoqiihqs Gaster fan battle source: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3-yYXeripiJqJo Glitchtale: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKC9pYWtZtl7jLM Darker Yet Darker: sansybones.tumblr.com/post/134815764143/this-is-the-cover-page-im-trying-to-work-with Handplates: zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/139516306171/okay-i-get-a-lot-of-questions-about-what-order-the Dogs of Future Past: lynxgriffin.tumblr.com/post/145243002663/dogs-of-future-past-masterpost Call of the Void trailer: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYfZYmyvetmFmMU Ask Frisk and Company: askfriskandcompany.tumblr.com/ If you wish to see a more Deltarune-focused video, check out Misty Sparkles' video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKino4eCaM-bpbM All fanworks showcased were chosen mostly to emphasize how prominent Gaster is in the fandom. Please do not use this video as an excuse to attack the creators.

[@zimthefan6258]

I hope everything works out

[@BrownKirbyEpic]

you shouldve released it on the 66th

[@NymphaeumVA]

Just a heads up, the signal boost twitter link doesn't work

[@mk-aka-morgan8386]

Commenting for the algorithm 🎠

[@Dorked]

@Johnse We still have a lot of debt to pay off from it.

[@andrew_cunningham]

I've yet to see a more uninanimous yet baseless consensus in the Undertale fadom than the fact that Gaster wears a turtleneck sweater. Good luck redefining this character, Toby. Good luck.

[@Dorked]

...It only just hit me now how prominent the turtleneck approach is now. Watch Toby do a troll by giving him a shirt or something with a turtle on it.

[@kimjongunsucksbooty750]

ac@@Dorked or he can actually retract his head like a turtle

[@MarcyTheKindaCoolWizard]

@@Dorked Watch him make Gaster have no neck, just a floating head

[@tornadix99]

@@Dorked _Warning: Long comment about a theory._ Maybe gaster is really related to gerson. (and the tarot card thing is a big troll). (Which im observant of, because in deltarune there is the priest that is also a turtle, and spamton commenting on [communion] when speaking of the knight before mentioning "a vacation straight to hell", which is related to religion. ) Now this is a loose conection or too vague, but i don't think "hell" is hell, bur rather "undertale". I have reasons to suspect that Undertale's underground is this "hell" because of a methaporical connection with the underworld and hades. Since riverperson seems like a reference to charon... *Continuing with the methaphor theory about gaster* , if the references to 666 are to the devil, but undertale = underworld, gaster might be a reference to hades. But its nothing confirmed, since this is just maybe looking at the methaphors that "might" relate to gaster. ...Now, if sans and papyrus and "gaster" or "w.d" is a group of 3, would that make them an allusion to cerberus? Or is the dog that represents toby cerberus? dog's anagram is god, deltarune is anagram, gaster = god = maybe toby fox himself? Or maybe we are all wrong. Gaster is a surname. Maybe sans is sans Gaster, papyrus gaster, Windings gaster, and then even pheraps Spamton is Spamton Gaster Spamton. Or gaster is a ghost. singe ghast, or something. IDK.)

[@thevioletskull8158]

@@Dorked There was a Gaster Card but it didn't have him in a turtle neck,it was a coat with a long top but it was deleted witch is interesting. Imo Gaster could have a general style like sometimes he wears a turtle neck sweater,sometimes he wears a coat with a top and other times he wears just a coat.

[@nathamiell]

It's probably important to say that if Gaster ever does show up in any sort of fashion, don't get mad at Toby for not making him match what everyone's interpretations are.

[@flyingpiggles1034]

Knowing toby, hes going to purposefully make him as different as humanly possible

[@covereddonuts1279]

I’m honestly looking forward to Toby’s interpretation cuz it’ll give new things to work with!

[@leftygurl]

he’s probably had his own look for gaster already sorted out this whole time, he’s been basically having grasp at straws until he decides it’s finally gaster’s time

[@alexanderadams9058]

@@covereddonuts1279 Same! It'll definitely be exciting for the community and I honestly don't care if it's not what I imagined Gaster would be like.

[@alexanderadams9058]

@@flyingpiggles1034 Yeah and I'm also expecting Toby to get mass hate and threats because Gaster wasn't what the "fans" wanted which will be pretty sad. Honestly, I won't care either way. I'm just excited to see where Deltarune goes next!

[@wuhoh5274]

Dude the fact that him being forgotten is fanon is screwing with my head It's really weird how the thing I associated most with the character isn't even canon, especially after 7 years of believing it is

[@erimgard3128]

Meanwhile I had never actually heard that particularly fan theory, weirdly enough

[@NotALotOfColonial_SpaghettiToG]

He seems to be forgotten in the way you forget about that sourdough starter you left in the back of the fridge. Traces of him are still there and your roommates were pretty familiar with him, but you forgot to feed him enough and now he's dead

[@noizepusher7594]

@@NotALotOfColonial_SpaghettiToGthat makes Gaster sound like a depressing house plant

[@Ava-uq5dh]

@@noizepusher7594 Gaster the Snakeplant

[@vannyblutea]

but isnt it mentioned that all of gasters acomplishments were re-assigned to alphys after his dissapearance? and how she herself is questioning wether or not its true?? wouldnt that make gaster,, forgotted?????

[@ChristopherMoom]

You could say that W.D. Gaster as a whole is a pretty good example of how much influence the Fan-dela Effect can have I think it's very likely for Gaster to play some sort of role in DeltaRune, but I do hope Toby somewhat retains the mystery around him, because the speculation about Gaster makes him a very, very interesting character Overall this is a great analysis of what we actually know about Gaster, good work

[@Dorked]

Thanks! :) Glad you enjoyed. I spent basically all day yesterday trying to finish the editing. My brain was very fried by the end, haha.

[@sabianwatts8515]

We should to use the phrase "fan-dela" effect more often.

[@thevioletskull8158]

The mystery does make Gaster well Gaster bit I'll like to least know more about him.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

The simple fact of the matter is that the Fandom has double guessed Toby in some way, so Toby is having to go back and get rid of certain things he's done. When making DELTARUNE, Toby was heavily influenced by fanmade UNDERTALE games, which mainly pertain to Gaster and Sans!

[@thedistinguished5255]

I personally hope we get the mystery in earlier chapters but most of it will be solved by the end. It's nice if it will still feel mysterious after all the chapters are finished, but I dont want "can't sleep at night" mysterious

[@moon4236]

Man I hate the "Gaster made the determination experiments" theory, it really does Alphys dirty and is the main reason I like to think Alphys never actually worked with him lmao. That said is interesting how Gaster is basically an OC shared by the whole fandom where a large group of people just collectively decided a lot of things about him.

[@mr.cup6yearsago211]

To be fair, with the dialogue about how long Asgore took to hire a new Royal Scientists, there’s a very good chance that Alphys and Gaster didn’t even know each other, let alone worked together.

[@moon4236]

@@mr.cup6yearsago211 yeah that's another part of it but idk what the timeline is supposed to be lmao

[@D_YellowMadness]

Part of the reason people think Gaster did some determination experiments before Alphys is because the determination extractor resembles a Gaster blaster & so do the memoryheads. I always just figured he did studies similar to the ones Alphys did but either he didn't learn as much as she did or most of his findings were lost when he was lost so Alphys mostly had to start from scratch.

[@moon4236]

​@@D_YellowMadness Personally I do think he investigated determination at some point but that either he only went so far as to make plans for the extractor and never built it or that he did built it but it broke and he never made another one since I'm pretty sure Alphys says that she built the machine from some blueprints she found in one of the entries. I also don't believe he intended to use determination in the same way Alphys did but that's pure headcanon territory. Also sidenote but another thing to note is that the first entries that people who think that way often attribute to Gaster don't match his pattern of speech and aren't even in Wingdings lol.

[@gallalameblook9911]

​@@D_YellowMadness I personnaly support the "Original machine" theory (made up the name, don't google it) The idea that Gaster created a Machine able of extracting and spitting Magic and Matter, and it inspired became several different things (that all have a shape of skull strangely) -The DT Extractor, a refined version that can extract and inject Determination precisely and has the shape of a Gyftrot skull, that Alphys made re-using Gaster's project (explaining the "using the blueprints"). But unlike Alphys who had Humans souls and could actually accomplish the damn thing, Gaster didn't. -The Gaster Blaster, that focuses on Spitting Magic to attack, and has the shape of a canine skull -And the Hyper Goner, shaped like Asriel's own skull, that sucked every monster of the Underground (exccept Napstablook) to absorb their soul/determination

[@matti.8465]

Unrelated, but maybe a lot of us misunderstood Sans' backstory early on. He talks a lot about not being able to "go back" and relates to Frisk' desire to return home. Sans almost seems...resigned to his current situation, even telling Frisk that sometimes it's better to just take what's given to you. Many speculate Sans and Papyrus come from the Deltarune universe. Perhaps while Sans never truly moved on, Papyrus was able to embrace his new life in the Underground (or maybe he keeps himself busy with projects and ambitions to avoid confronting that homesickness).

[@Dorked]

Yeah, I think there's a strong likelihood that the bros came from the Deltarune world, or at least some other world besides the world of Undertale. We'll have to wait and see, tho.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

We never got shown what was behind the shower curtain in Sans's secret laboratory. Also, why does Sans have 'Gaster Blasters'. Who are 'we' and 'our'?

[@celeryjelly1231]

Okay, but how come Sans' shop is just him erasing the Grillby's sign and replacing it with Sans'. That makes it seem he was in Undertale first but brought the sign with him.

[@anon.9303]

@@Dorked One small issue. Monsters are seemingly unable to use magic outside of the dark world.

[@Kjf365]

My theory is a little different than that. Sans has the badge in his basement, in his fight he talks about receiving "reports" on timelines jumping around, they just appeared one day, he very specifically knows about the time travel, but not who's doing it (he accuses us, but he was here long before Frisk, it was actually Flowey.) I think Sans and Papyrus are Loki's TVA style time cops who detect and look to rectify timeline issues but their machine broke and they became trapped in the underground. I imagine they would usually deal with small anomalies like someone taking the wrong turn and changing the future, but this was probably the first time they ever saw things jumping around because of saving and loading like that. I'm going to go a step further and say Sans being in Deltarune is probably because there's some variance in the intended timeline where the world is ended or saved (probably the latter) by the player. And that's how a repeat Sans fight would be justified in the weird route and not the normal route. You're changing the future, so Sans steps in to stop you. To clarify, I do think the weird route is going to be how we actually save the world in this game, and the default ending will be the world getting destroyed by the Titans that we can't beat with mercy and aren't strong enough to defeat with violence. And instead we need to use our powerful minions we grinded up throughout the game to actually win. That would be the greatest reversal of UT possible.

[@ness6714]

I will say this: If Toby officially reveals how Gaster really looks like, so much fan content is gonna be so outdated, and I will laugh. *Hard.*

[@goldenfoxy5788]

Unless it ends up being exactly the mystery man but with a less melted appearance as everyone makes it out to be, which seeing as it's so ingrained Toby most likely can't remove Gaster and Mystery Man from each other.

[@godsclown4419]

@@goldenfoxy5788 Toby is a HUGE troll, I wouldn't be surprised if he did make him look as different as possible and have a mystery man cameo somewhere else

[@emidemi7211]

Ikr. Waiting for Gaster to be in full color or something, completely different from how everyone draws him lmao

[@justaperson4656]

@@emidemi7211 well, there was this whole thing of "shyren is two different monsters" implying that something else is two different monsters, and mystery man has two faces in his design (the regular face, and flipping his sprite upside down)... He's probably not Gaster, and is probably numerous people

[@sptflcrw8583]

@@godsclown4419 Toby isn't the sort of person who changes their original idea of something to surprise people. That's how you ruin something

[@FestiveAngel06]

Yeah, its interesting to see how the lines between fanon and canon essentially blurred for a good few years, and how much influence fanworks have over people's views on canon. Overall, I really love the effort put into this!

[@Dorked]

Thanks! I do wanna stress that the fanon isn't inherently bad, but I think it's good to get a refresher from time to time on what is purely fanmade, haha.

[@josepholson324]

I mean with gaster its hard to not have generally accepted fannon

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

@@Dorked I think Toby is influenced by the fandom himself as he created a fanmade game of Earthbound remember! Also, before starting DELTARUNE, he did some research into the many fanmade games, indicating he wants to replicate some of them, possibly the ones with Gaster and Sans since so many feature them?

[@FestiveAngel06]

@@TheManInBlueFlames Wait, wait, he did? If it's true, I want to know more about it.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

I think he made a tweet about researching fangames a long time ago when Chapter 1 was released. When he made the Earthbound fangame, the final boss features a model that looks surprisingly like the 'mysteryman' sprite. Giyagas is also presumed to be part of Gaster's inspiration.

[@marnie364]

Omg!!! Realization!!! Gaster was replaced by Gerson in the tarot cards right? In Deltarune, Alphys was Gerson’s replacement as teacher. And in Undertale, Alphys was Gaster’s replacement as scientist. Just a thought.

[@Dorked]

Oh, huh. THat's actually a really interesting observation. I dunno if it was coincidental or not, but that is certainly funny all the same.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

Gerson is also an anagram for 'Goners', the greyscale followers/cult experiments of Gaster who know more about him. He is also dead in DELTARUNE alongside the characters that WOULD be in the UNDERTALE universe the Determination injected Amalgamates! In DELTARUNE, we also find out about a new character called Alvin who is related to Gerson. Gerson/Alvin's picture is also drawn in the room that we come out of which also contains things that represent the Dark World in chapter 1, the chess pieces representing the chess board, the stuffed cat representing Seam etc. So what does the strange closet with the picture of Alvin/Gerson represent? Alvin is also the local priest of a strangely familiar looking church that resembles the place we fought Sans in UNDERTALE. The church is apparently dedicated to worshipping the Angel's Heaven. Could Alvin/Gerson be the Bishop, one of the pieces yet to be introduced in the dark world alongside the King, Queen and what we know to be the Knight? We've only got the Rook and Pawns after that. Could Alvin/Gerson be the Knight? Or maybe Gerson's story in DELTARUNE is linked with Dess's who is either missing, dead, ill or gone off to university, we can't tell but it's speculated Noelle lost her sister Dess at some point, most likely when they were exploring the forests down south where that Gaster 666 bunker is. Since Noelle has all the 'Angel' connotations with the winged costume, the snow angel in Rudy's hospital room that she made and was being captured by the Queen, does that mean she is also connected to Alvin?

[@thedistinguished5255]

@@TheManInBlueFlames Alvin is a priest and the son of Gerson who has passed away. I'm sure noelle knows Alvin because her family seems very religious and church is important to them, according to what Rudy says. Wheres the lore that the church worships the Angel's heaven? I think I missed it

[@thedistinguished5255]

@@TheManInBlueFlames I'm also assuming its gerson in the classroom we come out of since he was a teacher. But in some countries religion is also taught at school (as opposed to going to church) so maybe that's Alvin's classroom, but that seems less likely to me

[@D_YellowMadness]

Gerson's name is an anagram of "Goners" & the genocide run shows that Gerson is one of the few people who have extra knowledge about the rules of the world since he says he knows you can't fight him on the shop menu.

[@roysparkizay]

in deltarune, totallynotgaster says "IT WAS AS IF IT WAS NEVER THERE AT ALL." when you erase a save file which probably plays into the whole forgotten thing

[@Dorked]

I feel like erasing a save file makes sense in that context, tho, whereas being shattered across time is such an abstract concept.

[@roysparkizay]

@@Dorked although i don't necessarily believe gaster was forgotten, if someone were to have never existed, people wouldn't be able have any memories of them as they wouldn't have existed to be there and form memories with. (notgaster also foreshadows/implies stuff with other dialogue such as "PREPARATIONS ARE COMPLETE." when having 3 identical saves, which leads me to believe the save line could also be doing that)

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

Just think thematically for a second about save files and you see there is a correlation between the two words. Heck, we even had to 'save' people in the pacifist ending and Omega Flowey tried to delete our save!

[@IceFireofVoid]

I always took the change in grammar in True Lab to be indicative of Alphys’ deteriorating mental state.

[@penntopaper9305]

the fandom did alphys so dirty when she's literally the reason the plot of the game exists in canon. asriel would never have turned into a flower if it weren't for her and flowey is the fucking main traditional villain of the story 😭

[@somerandomdogontheinternet1338]

They really saw all the lore connected to Alphys and her starting Undertale and making Flowey and the Amalgams and shit. And saw some weird man in a door. And said “the weird man in a door did it”

[@tiddly5]

personally, i think goner kid's dialogue is talking about the fun value events and how most playthroughs wont encounter a single one of those characters, thus them not existing and the world functioning the same

[@Dorked]

Yeah, that's basically the conclusion I came to as well.

[@cawareyoudoin7379]

Gaster is a fascinating example of how much the fandom can squeeze out of a vague character idea. Even though it leads to some confusion, it still is amazing how much cool stuff has come out of this part of the fandom.

[@knight123x4]

Another mandela effect that's worth mentioning would be that Papyrus wears a ripped scarf... But no, he actually wears more of a cape. Or maybe a cape-like scarf? probably a cape- You can see it in his overworld sprites (mainly one facing up,) and if you look at the battle sprite after the overworld sprite, you will probably understand *why* this one happened.

[@Soonray09]

Why? I think I may be an idiot.

[@knight123x4]

@@Soonray09 In the overworld sprite, it's a lot more neat, it's not ripped at all. In the battle sprite, it's designed to look like it's flowing in the wind, BUT people saw that and assumed it to be a ripped scarf.

[@Soonray09]

@@knight123x4 OHH, now I see it! Thank You for noticing this.

[@Shythalia]

Damn. The whole fandom just discredited Alphys' hard work.

[@AoBaiGaming]

Toby: Releases an official appearance on Gaster that is far off from the fandom's interpretation. Fandom: Years of academy training (Gaster-emphasis fan-game/animation making), wasted!

[@ivythay4259]

We are basing our expectations of Gaster on the many things Toby has already made. You can't just think it's baseless.

[@PrismaticAngel]

I feel like Gaster is supposed to be some sort of abstraction of the concept of optional/hidden game content, because I think the DR ShadowCrystals might be pieces of him and once you get all 7(?) he gets reformed again and you get an extra boss fight.

[@Dorked]

Oh, I could totally see the Shadow Crystals tying into him! That and the eggs, potentially.

[@cowboymagpie]

i dont think the shadowcrystals are going to be that important to the plot since getting them is purely optional, but i hope im wrong, that would be awesome

[@goldenfoxy5788]

Except that Seam is going to apraise the Shadow Crystals into the Pure Crystals which have... Some purpose we don't know.

[@kevinm5940]

I love the idea that you go through the effort to reform Gaster and then immediately beat him up

[@dattos140]

@@cowboymagpie Its an rpg, good chance you have to do all the side stuff to get the true ending

[@shronut7733]

I would like to see an Alphys video, she’s pretty underrated and is also secretly one of the most relatable characters. Also, sorry to hear about your house situation, I really hope you get through.

[@Dorked]

I gotta do justice for both her and Asgore at some point. >( HUFF. And thanks! Fingers crossed for sure.

[@InternetVideos]

MTT would be fantastic too. I think not enough people see that him being a ghost in the past and his whole story with napstablook and the weird characterisation of him in the endings. . . as well as how he will in the future relate to DR. . . hopefully he will, but. . .

[@thedistinguished5255]

Alphys stans raise up

[@danieldavid3766]

Alphys and her entire arc always gets thrown in the trash by the fandom (and literally in the game)

[@themarvelousmikey3512]

@@Dorked An Asgore vid would be awesome!

[@protoplasm-1]

I already knew most of the things presented here were fannon or confused interpretations of things actually about Alphys, but I totally forgot the void is a fan concept, that blew my fuckin' mind

[@Dorked]

I think that just goes to show how heavily ingrained it is in the fandom. EVERY Gaster work has some variation of it, e.g. Handplates, DOFP, etc. That doesn't make 'em bad, but it's wild when you take a step back. Just how universal it became.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

I mean, Flowey fled to the void in UNDERTALE before a pacifist run.

[@mk-aka-morgan8386]

I feel like Toby's gaster is gonna end up being completely different to Fanon Gaster and I'm scared people are gonna be upset or disappointed about it.

[@AhmedSamir-v7t]

Honestly, I feel like a gaster should have stayed a mystery. Well. I don't mind topfox revealing some things about him Something about him What mix gaster?Such a fascinating character undertale.Is it's because Mystery Surround the character

[@mintyflores7378]

The censored name on the concept page could also be Grandpa Semi, a character that was supposed to be Sans and Papyrus grandpa.

[@Dorked]

Yeah, it's possible. It's also possible that Gaster was a later iteration of the character. I mostly brought up the concept art because the names are censored, which means that there's some ambiguity in terms of who it could be.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

I'm more than 100% sure Grandpa Semi and Gaster are interchangeable.

[@AlbiFlorus]

It's more possible Grandpa Semi because it's early concept

[@KyrieFortune]

the censored lines make sense if the words are "grand father" and "Semi Serif"

[@TheAdvertisement]

As glad as I am that Gaster is likely going to get some lore in Deltarune, I honestly welcome the fanon speculation around Gaster. What we're given about him is _so_ vague, that the actually canon stuff leaves us to try and interpret our best. That's why I like all the fanon ideas, like the void, or Gaster's normal form being the mystery man, or him being completely forgotten by the timeline (besides the fun events), or him creating the determination extractor, or him being related to/the father of Sans and Papyrus. etc etc. They're based in what little we know, and once again since we don't actually know and don't have much to confirm or deny it, these interpretations are all valid in their own ways. Should they be confirmed canon and be used to try and argue points about how you portray Gaster? No, of course not, and it's important to note the holes in each theory. However, popular takes like these are still valid, and I beleive it's fine that they're left to run wild. After all, all of the stories, comics like Handplates and Dogs of Future Past, or fangames like Last Breath and the multiple Gaster battles. All of them are awesome uses of Gaster, yet it all originated from fanon. No hard confirmation, but really cool ideas!

[@Dorked]

Oh yeah, just to be clear- when I made this video, I wasn't trying to do a teardown OF those fan concepts so much as dissect how many are tangibly in the game and where the canon may contradict or cast doubt on them (but also explain where the ideas sprang up from, since that's important to consider). Honestly, fan content is just folks having fun and exploring their creativity.

[@TheAdvertisement]

@@Dorked Oh I agree, obviously there is reasonable doubt for pretty much every theory the fandom has created, and I like how you went about it. Really well put together video to discuss everything in only 13 minutes!

[@funkydealerh]

Lol pó

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

I personally believe that Gaster and several other characters that do not directly appear in UNDERTALE _should_ be theorized and speculated on using the logic of the UNDERTALE/DELTARUNE universe. I think that's what we are supposed to do with them. I think Toby will end up confirming some of the theories. The theories ARE founded on some evidence if you look hard enough and think how Toby implied it.

[@TheAdvertisement]

@@TheManInBlueFlames Agreed, Toby didn't just put those fun events in Undertale for us to find them and then sit and wait for him to continue the story, he clearly wants us to speculate.

[@Asia_Mies]

Well this was an interesting video! Never have I stopped to think about the void and the lack of its appearance in the game. It is certainly weird to think about the fact that the void concept most likely is never going to be canon. It blows my mind that I haven't seen anyone else talk about this!

[@Dorked]

I think that goes to show just how cemented the void is. Just about every popular fanwork with Gaster includes it. I think Dogs of Future Past probably has the most creative take on it, at least, as it plays with the test rooms and dummied out content, but mostly I just wish more works tried other ideas. There's a lot of neat stuff you can do with the idea of being shattered across reality itself.

[@duane6386]

I don’t remember hearing about the void at all before this video

[@Dorked]

@@duane6386 It's used all over in Gaster fanworks. Any fanwork that is dedicated to gaster will generally have it, haha.

[@ma.2089]

As someone who barely Interacted with the fandom, I’m interested in where his character will go. Luckily, whatever it is will be cool to me since I barely believe/don’t know about fanon content. I am worried about how the fandom will react to him though. I hope we do learn a decent amount about him

[@Dorked]

Honestly, I think not being too invested in the fanon is good because those who are super invested in the popular fan ideas are kinda setting themselves up for disappointment if Toby disregards it all and does his own thing.

[@rafa_d_vieira]

Fun fact that I found out a bit ago: Spamton’s laugh is similar to the laugh we got in the audio files in Undertale.

[@Missingno_Miner]

I think a big part of the problem is definitely how rare most of the stuff related to him is. It's hard to check for yourself if you don't know how to mess around in the files, so a lot of people will just accept things as true if someone claims it is since its hard to check for himself. About the thing about the gaster motif disappearing sound effect, I want to point out that that's about as concrete as saying that Muffet is Gaster because mus_smile is an edit of Muffet's laugh. And the tarot cards have been explictly stated by Toby to not be canon, the only bit of canon merch, according to him, is of Burgerpants. The (blank) named (blank) seems likely to reference the cut character Grandpa Semi. While I have seen people suggest that Gaster replaced Semi, haven't seen any evidence of this, it's just speculation.

[@Dorked]

To be fair, though, the disappearing sound effect is used specifically in goner/follower related contexts, and Toby already set a precedent of this with the cellphone notif being Once Upon a Time being sped up. While I didn't realize Muffet's laugh is mus_smile sped up, I think here, with the sound being used for a follower that is confirmed to have a piece of him, the npc with the fun value 66, and the goner clamgirl, there's more to go off of. I mentioned the Tarot cards mainly as proof that Toby didn't want to confirm Gaster's appearance, regardless of the status of merch in canon or lack thereof.

[@Missingno_Miner]

@@Dorked My point in bringing up Muffet's laugh is basically, we shouldn't read too much into sound effects being edited and reused, because it seems highly unlikely that there is a connection between Muffet and Gaster beyond that, which makes it equally possible that this, too, is just Toby recycling stuff.

[@MahNamJeff]

@@Missingno_Miner the thing is, its not the actual sound effect but edited, its a bunch of garbled noise with it thrown in there with a different soundfont entirely.

[@Missingno_Miner]

@@MahNamJeff it's a slowed down and reversed version of Muffet's laugh. If you speed it up and reverse it, you literally just get Muffet's laugh.

[@boo9781]

@@Missingno_Miner actually, it’s no only muffet’s laugh, the same audio is used for multiple character’s audio sounds. Still the leitmotif is still a valid theory since it has a usage with Gaster followers so even if it’s not a leitmotif for garbage noise it still relates mystery man and gaster. And gaster is indeed related to the garbage noise, we know thanks to spamton pretty much (and the fact that all FUN events and info related to gaster were added at the same time to the game, including entry 17 and the wrong number song)

[@jimmcknight13]

Alphys: You took everything from me. W.D Gaster: I don't even know who you are.

[@goinks]

I think I read some theory out there somewhere that Deltarune could have it’s own Gaster in it’s world. You know how Gaster is the royal scientist before Alphys? Well, since Alphys is a school teacher, Gaster could be a step above Alphys again and might be Asriel’s college professor. HOWEVER. Gaster in Undertale was shattered across space and time, so maybe by doing so he erased Gaster in Deltarune’s world? It’s kind of far fetched, I know. I mean, I’d be pissed too if some alternate version of me messed up big time and now I’M paying the price for it. Anyways, there wasn’t really a reason for bringing this up, I just kind wanted to tell you guys about being I find it very, very interesting. All that aside, this was a very good video! I hope to see more of these types of character inspection videos. Maybe you could do one for Sans, and how to portray him to his more canon self rather than the badass raid boss a good portion of the community saw him as. Alright, I think that’s enough rambling from me. Have a good one!

[@Dorked]

Sans would be a good topic to cover at a later date, for sure. I just wanna give Alphys and probably Asgore some love first. They deserve it!

[@goinks]

@@Dorked Oh, for sure! I’d love to hear whatever thoughts you have on Asgore. He’s one of my favorite parts of Deltarune, and I wish he was more prominent in Undertale. Anyways, have a nice day!

[@bloxxybox2576]

Gaster being Asriel's college professor would be an awesome & strangely fitting twist for Deltarune if he isn't the all-encompassing omnipotent entity the theories have made him out to be

[@keiyakins]

I always thought Alphys was building on Gaster's work, y'know, like any scientist does. She's not stupid, she'd read the writings of the person working on the barrier problem before her. He (or his predecessor, if applicable, the timeline is vague) probably had worked out that the Barrier was soul-powered, probably had a hand in the soul jars in the barrier room, etc. Alphys then studied that - maybe even before being the royal scientist, as part of building Mettaton - and built on his theories and experiments to devise her next experiments, which we know the results of.

[@RemnantCult]

I always had a feeling that Gaster was supposed to be this mysterious arm of Toby's, not meant to be at the forefront of the story. The character is like his hidden signature as he knew that there would be people digging through his game and fewer who would encounter events related to him.

[@iamadisgrace3154]

Y'know, after reading this, I thought to myself, "could Gaster and the Annoying Dog be connected to each other?" I don't know why, but it seemed interesting in my head. Anyone's thoughts on this?

[@alzhanvoid]

@@iamadisgrace3154 That's just cheating. For obvious reasons _every character in the game_ is related to the Annoying Dog in some way. The Annoying Dog sees all, controls all.

[@TeamSprocket]

If I remember correctly, Gaster events were some of the last things added to the game's files. I feel in Undertale at least, Gaster represented at a meta level the concept of scrapped and unused content in games, and sequel/prequel/sidequel bait for Deltarune. As an example, the fake sound test with Gaster's Theme is likely a reference to real sound tests and other hidden debugging tools that require cheats or specific inputs to access. It's possible or even likely that the cut "grandpa semi" inspired Toby Fox to think about what it meant for a character to be cut from the story in an in-universe sense: if you add a backstory to a character or world that involves a cut character, and you remove (not kill) them, how do those characters/that world reconcile it? Sans may want to go back to the time/place/universe where Grandpa Semi existed, but can't since he was cut from the game. Gaster is a font-based character as a reference to the cut font-based character, but is not that particular cut character, and was given the additional role of connecting the world of Undertale with Deltarune.

[@EpicGamer-fl7fn]

Im glad someone finally adressed this lol. So many interpretations really made the fandom trick itself into believing stuff thats not a part of his character at all.

[@auburned-phoenix]

here's something funny When I was much younger, around the age of 9 or 10, I was in the undertale fandom for the first time. This was atleast two years before deltarune chapter 1. Obviously, I made fanart, a crap ton of it, not exacly the best quality. Used to be a huge fan of(and still am) gaster, so there were a fair couple of drawings of him. The funny part is, I remember once I started by drawing his head, and didn't like it so I scribbled some funny caption and tossed it to start over on a new paper. Wouldn't you know it, the caption was "egg head/man". Just thinking about this now and connecting the dots, it's a little freaky with all the egg buisness in deltarune.

[@fantasticbirdblue]

that and the fact you discarded the paper ...

[@redactedinfo8557]

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE

[@jackmoseley4959]

Inb4 egg guy in Deltarune was a sonic crossover the entire time

[@anonymizationoverload9831]

@@fantasticbirdblue OP is toby fox confirmed?!??!?! (real) (not clickbait)

[@grape_protogen]

About The Creation which Gaster fell into, I believe that it might not just be the Core. Although the Core was the original speculation, it's might have been a red herring. Sense now that we have Deltarune, and "Dark, darker, yet darker" can refer to a Dark world, he might've been on his way to inventing the Dark Worlds in the Undertale universe before something went wrong.

[@jackmoseley4959]

…I wonder if the creation had anything to do with the Survey program. The method for bringing Players to Deltarune.

[@itap8880]

Actually, if you meet the "follower" who holds a piece of Gaster, you can clearly see that the piece is the one talking while saying "I'm holding a piece...". This might imply that this follower is actually Gaster himself (or rather some piece of him).

[@ivythay4259]

Pretty sure that's just the second body there.

[@SpadesNoir]

Ohh, excellent video! I'm glad that you didn't judge people who write AUs or use fanon when creating works, and that you brought up ways in which Gaster _is_ clearly related in some way or another to other stuff, even if it's not clear how. Great job!

[@franksonatra]

Yeah, I love it when creators don't judge the fandom. Helps that Dorked is a huge part of the UT fandom too! Undertale theorists who call the fandom "cringe" really grinds my gears, they often end up mocking teens and minorities (especially fangirls and queer people).

[@scamuel1896]

Oh, thank you, THANK YOU for FINALLY noting that mysteryman isn't necessarily Dr. Gaster. I was about to lose my mind if someone made that assumption again.

[@ivythay4259]

Most likely Gaster, though.

[@concept5631]

​@@ivythay4259 lmao

[@squawk-box]

to further extrapolate on your point about the determination experiments, if someone else *was* involved, that would inherently make alphys' arc make no sense, given that it's supposed to be all about her *sole* personal responsibility i always thought it was fairly obvious that the shift in writing style across entries is a mix of alphys' mental state deteriorating, AND that the content of the entries was clearly something she no longer wanted anyone to know about, so there'd be no reason to format them anymore

[@mersonkrazyTV]

This was a great video! I love videos about unraveling/putting together Canon parts of gaster, and this video was awesome! I particularly liked the part where you talked about shifting the focus from Alphys to Gaster, as I think she's a pretty underrated character. Been really enjoying your videos, keep it up!!

[@Dorked]

Yeah, it drives me nuts how people like to attribute the Determination Experiments to Gaster when they're such a crucial part of Alphys' character arc. People really do not give Alphys enough credit.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

Because Alphys simply picked up where Gaster left off. And if you see the extractor in the true lab, it's very Gaster-like, with the skull, or moreso like Sans's 'Gaster Blasters'. If you look at that creepy lab, it's clear Alphys didn't design it. She's into anime, pink fluffy characters and girly stuff. That's a complete juxtaposition with the dark foggy and eerie lab that we see in UNDERTALE. It fits way more with Gaster's vibe.

[@raltsunlavendel9219]

@@Dorked The thing is, Alphys was promoted to Royal Scientist as a reward for competing Mettaton's body, right? But his diaries talk about how "Shyren's sister", AKA Lemon Bread, "fell down" before he even met Alphys. However, the True Lab didn't start gathering "fallen down" monsters until sometime between entries 5 and 6. So, no offence intended, but it's chronologically *impossible* for Alphys to have written the first five entries, and would still take a few big assumptions for her to have written the sixth.

[@Dorked]

@@raltsunlavendel9219 But Alphys' monologue lines up with the first several reports,. Like, her own word lines up with the reports. It's entirely possible that the fallen down bodies were comatose for a while and that MTT got his body relatively shortly after. Case in point: "As you probably know, ASGORE asked me to study the nature of souls." "This is it... Time to do what the King has asked me to do. I will create the power to free us all. I will unleash the power of the SOUL." "During my research, I isolated a power called "determination."" "I've done it. Using the blueprints, I've extracted it from the human SOULs. I believe this is what gives their SOULs the strength to persist after death. The will to keep living... The resolve to change fate. Let's call this power... Determination." It's very clear that Toby intended it to be Alphys who wrote all the reports. The continuity hiccup might be a small oversight, or there could be other explanations. True Lab is designed to cover Alphys' mistakes. It would be counterproductive to have someone else have written those reports. "ASGORE asked everyone outside the city for monsters that had "fallen down." Their bodies came in today. They're still comatose... And soon, they'll all turn into dust. But what happens if I inject "determination" into them? If their SOULs persist after they perish, then... Freedom might be closer than we all thought." It's never confirmed how long it takes for a fallen down monster to turn to dust, so the timeline doesn't really fall apart.

[@raltsunlavendel9219]

@@Dorked @Dorked I considered that we don't know how long monsters remain in that state for, but on the other hand, it would have to be longer than it took Alphys to build something as complicated as Mettaton's body, *plus* the time between his very first and last diaries. As for Alphys describing the project in a similar way to the notes, even if she didn't write them, she would've obviously read them. And all that aside, Alphys only taking charge around Entry 9 (when the capitalisation shifts) wouldn't really have any impact on her character arc with the True Lab? No matter who started the experiment, she was the one in charge when it all went to shit, and she's the one who has to live with the guilt of grieving families calling her to ask for their loved ones back. Anyway now that I think about it, we're kinda overlooking an obvious possibility: After Gaster's disappearance, Alphys was the closest thing left to a Royal Scientist, but Asgore probably didn't want to give her the title until she produced some results. The Mettaton project just turned out quicker (and better) than the DT experiments, since he apparently "made it big" by Entry 11. I'm not too certain how much I like this theory, since it seems a bit odd for Asgore to not just give her the title first, but that's the only thing I can come up with right now that fits the timeline lol

[@sadbread7261]

Great video, Great editing. These videos always feel so informative and really helps educate people on Undertale as it's original state, as fan content and media can make you exited and get lost in the sauce. Learning more about the game that inspired so many even today is a nice sight to see for sure.

[@Dorked]

Ah, thanks! I think it's fun to look back on these things and make connections and contemplate their meaning. It's a lot of work putting together videos like this, but worth it, I think.

[@zacharycoleman1117]

I may be misremembering since I was like 15 but I think the “gaster is sans and papyrus’ dad” thing might have also partially spawned from that like twice ever mentioned cut character “grandpa semi”

[@ArtsyPuppy]

this really got me thinking about just how much of gaster truly is fanon like, even his appearance is up in the air and will probably never be known canonically, and most of his past and lore probably won't be known canonically, and i didn't even consider that the void was a fanon concept, it's been featured so heavily and is basically apart of a majority of AUs that it really went from feeling like fanon to feeling like canon there's genuinely so little yet so much about gaster, it's the perfect middle ground for fans to run wild with whatever concept they want, which ultimately i think is a good thing, there's so many interpretations it's really cool like, there's au's where they forget him, others where they don't, sometimes he's in fragments, sometimes he's not, i think it's really cool i'd love to see someone make gaster a giygas like entity at some point, just some broken, incomprehensible, overpowering nightmare, i think that'd be a cool interpretation of what being shattered would do to a character like him

[@Dorked]

Yeah, honestly, a part of what motivated me to make this video was my own realization of how much is just accepted without digging into the original game. When I started changing my approach to Gaster in Inverted Fate (e.g. not forgotten, no void, just in pieces and more of an ascended consciousness), people began to question why I deviated from the accepted status quo. So I was like, "okay, why not break down what really IS said in UT, versus what is popularized in fanwork while still exploring where the fan concepts originated from?"

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

I think it's implied Mystery Man and Redacted are some forms of Gaster at least in UNDERTALE.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

@Carver Ze Derp You're actually right, Toby DID look at the fandom games for inspiration, and what does the fandom have the most, Gaster and Sans games!

[@usernametaken017]

​​@@TheManInBlueFlameshow do you know that he was inspired like that mr internet man

[@ggjade]

ultimately I hope gaster just kinda ends up being like the school principal or something and quite literally just lives in his office the type of guy to have scheduled daily walks

[@axthxrn]

I've always interpreted, "He was scattered across time and space" in the same way that "everything, everywhere, all at once," handles Jobu. She can see across and access every world and timeline, but is never fully in one world. She's constantly living through every experience the other versions of her are going through. THAT'S how I think gaster works, just that it's one guy across all these timelines (although I don't have evidence, it's just my personal interpretation)

[@ivythay4259]

I think the concept of Gaster being forgotten has more precedence than the existence of The Void. Not only for the examples you listed, but also for Asriel's Hyper Goner attack, being very reminiscent of the Gaster Blasters, even having the same/similar sound effect. Asriel even intended this to be his big finale before his further transformation, as he explained that every Reset makes the residents of the Underground forget Frisk little by little. In all his time as Flowey with all his resets, it wouldnt be surprising to me if he came across any of the Goners (being the ones outright labeled as such and/or the Gaster Followers). Edit: Ok, there's yet more stuff since I commented this, as well as one I forgot. There's the fact that Noelle knows the Man Eggs have a name, but cannot remember what it was no matter how hard she tries. There's Onionsan who heard the 'old song coming from the sea' that River Person spoke of, but is very insistent that they absolutely cannot remember anything specific about said song. Furthermore, and most recently, there's the Unknown valentine, who is not only very Gaster-esque in their own right (if probably not Gaster themself), but is also saying they've been wanting to help a particular person with something, but has completely forgotten who that person is. Definitely more precedent than some more cynical fans give it credit for, even if it was lacking nuance in the old days.

[@tornado4376]

That would explain why there's so little reaction to and talk about Asriel/Flowey after the battle too, even from Toriel and Asgore. Have they been forgetting him little by little over every reset he does?

[@W.d_Gaster]

11:12 I have a personal headcanon on this. Alphys used the blueprints to understand how the machine functions and then did her own thing with it, while Gaster had a diffrent goal in mind when creating it (something like using fire to cook food, while someone else uses it to purify water)

[@Greatwolfpearl123]

I love these theory videos, these are SO underrated. Keep it up! I get so excited when you release a video! It makes my day so much brighter. :D

[@Dorked]

Thanks! Glad you enjoy them. They're fun to do, haha. Alas, I'm not as clickbaity as some channels so they are a bit more niche.

[@felixir3776]

This video is great! I'm very glad you also didn't degrade, insult fanworks and fanmade ideas on what Gaster could be. Honestly, as long as others don't force their own depictions and opinions on others and are respectful, I think it's fine. ( honestly, I'm a bit scared on what others could've thought about my au's gaster. he is basically most fanon thing ever.)

[@mrmerakmerak4183]

Great video! I've always headcanoned Goner Kid as that mean "sister" Monster Kid mentioned once when asking the protagonist to say something mean.

[@prowers2623]

I would really appreciate a video that covered everything about UT and DR that's outside of the games themselves. Like the tarrot cards, Toby's interview where he turned into a dog, etc.

[@kailastnam9793]

Nice vid! This put a lot of the mystery into perspective! (Also, the Hierophant arcana was Papyrus, the HERMIT arcana is the one that was originally Gaster.)

[@Dorked]

Yeah, I'm a big dummy and got my arcanas mixed up. Alas!

[@thevioletskull8158]

Like you said while fanon ideas aren't bad,the original cannon idea needs to be held too. A equal balance is important. Though what is cannon is hard to tell.

[@lovelovemiraclesunsetgirl]

i have to say, i do also think toby would omit gaster from the tarot deck regardless of if the mysteryman design is spot-on or not - beyond the fact his portrayal is built on assumption from fans to begin with which means any number of things about it could just be off from who he is, including gaster in _any_ merch feels like it really goes against everything regarding his nature and status as a, well, mystery of course, the card itself was amazing with a beautiful illustration! i just felt like saying since it's hard for me to imagine toby giving the a-ok to an official "gaster" card at this point in time or any previous, despite the fact you covered it totally well! more importantly, this was a wonderful video with a lot of thoroughness and i would _love_ to see that kind of video on alphys down the line if you would be up for it! she's a great character who definitely resonates a lot yet she's often shunted or at least treated in a polarising way, and i'd be super duper excited to see you cover her! thank you for another wonderful video, and i really, really hope everything regarding the plumbing situation improves as soon as it can!

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

Remember Toby himself made a fangame of Earthbound using his own assumptions about that world.

[@Dorked]

Alphys really does deserve her fair shake. Too often she's just shelved because Gaster is the "cooler" science character. I think the only Alphys-focused fanwork is the A L I V E AU, over at tatatale.tumblr.com. I do try to give her time to shine in IF, and I'm sure there are other works that do her justice (Xtale at least has her decently involved), but it is criminal how little people do with her. o_o

[@noyz-anything]

please do an alphys fanon video. i love these fanon debunkment videos so much and alphys, being the scrunkly genius she is, has far too much that's misinterpreted and outright ignored.

[@AceSpadespoken]

Yes!! As a little add-on, I feel as if the Goners/Gaster Followers mentioning the Core and _then_ Gaster "falling into his own creation" was a deliberate red herring. I believe it to be a cover-up to lead us into the wrong direction of the mystery surrounding him, as we have to remember a couple things; the Goners are people who actively praise and follow his lead, and we don't know Gaster's true motivations yet. Seeing as he's likely the one speaking in the beginning of Deltarune, he would likely not want the soul, the player, to know what they're getting into.

[@BrownKirbyEpic]

i think the black boxes on papyrus' old concept thing might indicate the barely existent grandpa semi more than gaster though i feel it could maybe be like intentionally done like that either as a hint or a way to throw people off

[@Dorked]

Grandpa Semi is definitely a possibility, too (semi is a font), but it could also be that Gaster and Semi are iterations of the same character concept. It's hard to say, and ultimately Toby censored it regardless.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

I'm pretty sure Semi and Gaster and the same person but the original Grandpa Semi song was converted into a Temmie song as the two rhyme. The UNDERTALE wiki seems to theorize this.

[@society1876]

i find it weird that almost nobody made the connection to grandpa semi, i mean hes practically confirmed to be related to gaster (wheter he IS gaster or if his removal sparked the idea for gaster isnt really known), yet nobody talks about it.

[@beanie_baby_snail]

I really appreciate how you point put objective facts and how they differ from fanon without going the “urgh those weird fans who just make stuff up” route, and instead acknowledge that a lot of it is just fans having fun! It’s super interesting to see how much the fandom has come up with versus how little we actually know, great video!

[@tricktheorists]

Awesome video Dorked! Love your editing, that always seems like it can take some time to really get done!

[@zachshark2901]

THANK YOU for this video. I've always found Gaster fascinating as a character that the fandom has come up 100% on their own, mostly. Very neat video!

[@karstb8830]

Personally I feel like Mysteryman has to end up being or inspiring gaster's appearance, just because Mysteryman is so iconic in the fandom when relating to him and has a very interesting and vague design you could do almost anything with, especially if Mysteryman is only a simplified or incomplete version of Gaster's true appearance. But that's probably just me being overly attached to the Uboa bootleg thanks to the 7 years of being familiar with Mysteryman as Gaster.

[@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

Wait holy crap. I played the game just a couple weeks after it released and I always thought Gaster was completely forgotten too... That makes the Goner Kid talking about being gone and the world functioning as normal even more depressing because it will happen to all of us one day... Oh my god. That's dark.

[@goplaypofbydylanbuildarnot7550]

Honestly Dorked, your one of my favorite Deltarune/Undertale content creators. I dunno what it is, but its great. I like how you always sound confident and while your theories are serious usually theres always one or two parts to make me laugh. Its fun to watch and when you do sometimes go on rants i dont mind (Honestly i wish more people went on rants, it makes you think). All in all, keep up the great work!

[@12DAMDO]

thank you so much!! people not understanding the difference between head-canon, theory and canon is exactly what ruined Gaster.. i played so many Gaster fangames and watched so many fancontent where they reference each other more than the source material, and it makes him kinda overrated and takes away from the original appeal... it is also interesting how most Undertale fans didn't actually play Undertale, so it is my understanding that this might be why people don't know most fan-content aren't based on canon

[@Dorked]

I think some fanon concepts can be fine in fanworks (I use Dadster in Inverted Fate mostly for simplicity's sake- but that's basically it), but nothing is confirmed canon beyond what the followers say, and I do think people try to use the Gaster fan lore as the rules when they're just one possible take.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

@@Dorked Oh it's far more than that if you read through the lines...

[@Dorked]

@@TheManInBlueFlames Well, yes, you can infer a lot based on what is said explicitly, along with the twitter takeovers, Deltarune's intro and save menu, etc, but what I meant to say is that the only *explicit* facts about Gaster are what are stated by the followers. Anything else is just interpretation and (at least to an extent) educated guesswork.

[@CyanicCore]

After seeing you in so many comments on other videos, I guess I should have seen this coming... Man, that introduction was a trip down memory lane! After a year or so of being in the 'Mystery Man isn't Gaster' camp I moved back after trying to reverse the sound... only for this to prove via the others that's not a guarantee. If nothing else, catching the mystery man misconception makes this video appreciated, though this summary would do well in introducing others to the character! Nevertheless, if you want to be 100%: The donut follower claims Gaster was shattered across time and space, but it could be an exaggeration or whatnot. Maybe he was even shattered through some dimension? Similarly, "taken hold of others" isn't the best way to frame that situation, as we have no idea in what ways he/it can influence. I meant to drop in a while earlier, but life isn't life without setbacks! Good job on this one, and for the next project - stay determined! ...God that sounds cheesy...

[@Dorked]

Yeah, there's a lot of ways to read into it, but since the only tangible Gaster lore comes from the followers, we kinda have to take their word at face value, y'know? Appreciate the well wishes, btw!

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

The thing I don't get is that if Mystery Man isn't Gaster who is it? It's face looks like a skeleton. W.D.Gaster is WIng Dings + Aster as Sans and Papyrus are fonts. The naming scheme seems to link them to Gaster suggesting he is a skeleton. In addition, and probably the BIGGEST piece of evidence, Papyrus's original notes that Toby leaked a short while ago, reveals that in addition to Sans, he has a [Redacted] named [Redacted], the [Redacted] parts being deliberately BLACKED OUT by Toby, as if to tease something coming in DELTARUNE in the future (which had been partially released at that time). Is it such a jump to assume this is Gaster? Given the bits we do know about him and the fact that he is still the character we know the least about yet we want to more about?

[@CyanicCore]

@@TheManInBlueFlames Though certainly possible, sometimes it's useful to remember this was still a game made by one person. While there are tons of secrets by now, and potentially some to come, there's still stuff that just happened to be that way, or was an accident (like being able to spaz out on upward walls, or Asriel not locking you into his fight).

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

@@CyanicCore I would argue that's more of a reason for two or three things, 'coincidences' as some sceptics say, to be more of a link to a wider theory. Because Toby KNEW what he was doing, that can be more of an argument to the opposite of what you are saying. He put these references in for people and knew how'd they would react. If he was working as a part of a large team like Nintendo or Microsoft, we could say its possible that different people made these references but when it's Toby, he's going to hide things in that MAY be relevant. I think the biggest example is the music motives thing.

[@CyanicCore]

What I'm saying is that while all this could be related, it could also be just about anything else. For example, the blurred part of that paper could have gaster notes, a new character, or account details for something Toby needed to do.

[@ohohoho249]

oh my goodness imagine if Spamton is the one singing the wrong number song that would be such a big brain move holy moly (also Alphys is underrated and she deserves more)

[@salamapoika7604]

I like that when you put GASTER in the invertedfate comic terminal pc you get weird symbols and gaster noise

[@Dorked]

We love putting funny spooks like that. ;)

[@lilmushy5187]

Yeah I’ve noticed how big the Undertale fanon is surrounding Gaster, I honestly just hope it doesn’t affect Toby’s original intention in the long run, or cause too much drama among the Fanon community if it is all proven false

[@usernametaken017]

what if it affects toby positively

[@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

2:53 I'm sure someone has already commented but I think the "creation" is the DT extraction machine. It's even in the shape of a Gaster Blaster.

[@lgam3r920]

About 7:20 we have to say that the entire Undertale world is for us to be hacked really, might as well be a real pieces canon that Toby put there as a challenge to the hackers to find.

[@Dorked]

Yeah, we can't rule out redacted, but I do feel as though the rooms blocked by dogcheck shouldn't be treated with as much weight as the fun events due to being test areas.

[@fred8774]

you're one of my favorite undertale theory youtubers, and I would love to see the alphis video you mentioned!

[@Dorked]

Alphys is definitely a character I wanna tackle soon, though I'll need to replay UT first, haha.

[@thatoneguywhoworksatjoespl9701]

I think the fanon concept of the void originated from the line “shattered across space.” cuz it was like the space between space, at least that’s how I’ve always interpreted the void concept. Good video though, it helped me remember some things that slipped me over the years, like Clamgirl being necessary to access the lab.

[@Spubbily01]

I'm still very sold on mysteryman being Gaster because I can't come up with literally anything else it would be that would make sense.

[@rafa_d_vieira]

I would like to add something that I don’t see people acknowledge that much: entry number seventeen is an entry that belongs to the old labs other entries, due to it being the only number missing in those entries. So it would be mostly correct to assume that Gaster might have worked on the determination project with Alphys. Also, based on the entry, that leaves one more person that he addresses, which could be Sans or someone else we don’t know.

[@Dorked]

I do wanna note that Alphys has her own entry number 17 that was cut, though, likely for being redundant with her final monologue. All of the reports, if you look at them chronologically, are definitely from Alphys, with any lowercase ones coming from moments of severe stress. I'll probably cover this more in the eventual Alphys video. Gaster's entry number 17 is fascinating, though, since it's the only gaster entry that exists.

[@rafa_d_vieira]

@@Dorked Actually I didn’t know that Alphys’ entry number 17 was cut, thanks for bringing that to my attention. I look forward to your Alphys video!

[@toonlinkluke]

Thanks for the video and also mad respect for finding the motivation to make this with your current house situation, I’m sorry about that

[@Dorked]

Ah, thanks! It's gotten a tiny bit better since they plugged in the holes, but we're still kinda hanging in terms of how much we'll actually have to pay, haha.

[@leritykay8911]

2:29 Hey, get his name right! It's not "Undertale Gaster" silly, it's Gaster Undertale, just like Sans Undertale

[@GarlicBredArt]

3:30 Gaster doubters be like "Must've been the wind!"

[@ViewerEm]

i feel this a lot around any new reinterpretations of undertale. a lot of the story in the game is peft vague on purpose for players to read into, but the fandom made certain readings "right" and others "wrong"

[@krysidian]

I think what makes Gaster so insanely intriguing is that he has so many clearly tracable connections to many aspects of both games, yet those connections never indicate or confirm a clear meaning and are all open to interpretation. Like, we know that there a lot of ties between him and phones yet are left with the question of "why?". There a lot of things that are almost "confirmed" to be tied with Gaster but even with so much confirmation of his presence, the actual meaning behind it stays just as dark as 6 years ago. He is the ultimate theory inducing being and I could see him staying like that somewhat for the remainder of Deltarune. Always in the peripheral but never clearly seen or explained. Enough to give him some weight in the story and the lore but still vague enough to remain a mystery for the most part.

[@jargalo0098]

Thank you!!! Finally somebody acknowledging how weird it is the fandom forcibly turned mystery man into Gaster! Personally I felt the redacted sprite is a better connection because it speaks in wingdings but i hadn't really considered the whole "shattered" thing...

[@ivythay4259]

If you ignore the nigh countless connections that Mystery man has to Gaster, then yes, I'm sure you can lie to yourself enough to believe that they can't be the same person.

[@Kjf365]

@@ivythay4259 Explain what exactly these "countless" connections are to this? Rewatch this video so you don't confuse Fanon with Canon :)

[@Corviidei]

@@Kjf365 alright so im not ivy but i can say, most of the signs do strongly point to mystery man being gaster, so much so that I genuinely think it would be weird and make less sense if Mystery Man _wasn’t_ him. Lemme explain. firstly, MM only has a chance to spawn at a fun value of 66, a number heavily associated with Gaster in the game’s code. The tiny chance of the room spawning naturally, plus at that a specific fun value, already implies the MM sprite is very significant in relation to Gaster. like, it’s even harder to find than his followers, who are basically the only source of everything we can cite as hard fact about him. Very notably, the room itself is internally named “gaster_room,” which is arguably conformation in and of itself, but I’ll go on. If we infer that the first part of his name “W.D” stands for Wing Ding, we can then assume Gaster is a skeleton. It’d make sense with regards to the “skeletons named after and speaking in fonts” convention. MM’s design in turn can be interpreted as a skeleton, especially considering Papyrus and especially Sans’ skull shapes. Speaking of Wingdings, let’s look at entry #17. The entry #17 sound file is called “mus_smile.” Smiling? Sounds like a pretty random thing to associate with Gaster, unless we again assume this references MM and his own seemingly permanent smile. It’s also possibly worth noting that the game’s tendency to refer to Gaster with the nondescript title of “man” yet again lines up with Mystery _Man._ The last thing that comes to mind is that the “doodly-doodly” sound that plays when MM nopes out is literally just Gaster’s theme but backwards and sped up a bit. So we know Gaster is associated with the number 6 and, to a lesser degree, smiling, is referred to as “a/the man,” might be a skeleton, and is connected both to the name Gaster and to Gaster’s theme (shocking, I know). All traits shared by mystery man. The only major “maybe-not-gaster” flag popping up is that MM doesn’t seem to be immediately connected to the Wingdings font, unless you extrapolate from the “mus_smile” connection and say _that_ could then connect him to entry #17 and Wingdings, and even I admit that’s a bit of a stretch. But hey, [redacted] uses all lowercase, unlike pretty much every other voice which could reasonably be assumed to belong to Gaster, so we’ll call that one even. Also, consider that MM just doesn’t seem to have much of a purpose outside of being Gaster. sure you could say he’s a red herring, but on the part of Toby Fox, that would read as an uncharacteristic loose end at best, and at worst an actively malicious fake hint set up just for the sake of yanking the rug out from players, which would honestly be kind of a dick move. Subverting expectations is only a good thing if the subversion is better than the alternative. this got long so uh, TL:DR no, Mystery Man, regrettably, has not yet appeared and said “hello, it is I, dr wing ding gaster, former royal scientist, here in the flesh” however he is currently our most likely candidate by a long shot, and to pretend that the fandom just unanimously latched onto a completely irrelevant sprite for no good reason is inaccurate. ...but hey who knows, maybe DR chapter 3 will immediately confirm gaster as having been [redacted] all along and make me look like a fool ;)

[@personexisting123]

@@ivythay4259 Lmao they are not countless, there’s like 2 connections.

[@ivythay4259]

@@personexisting123 Also, please don't ignore what kjf 365 said.

[@Lundcraft]

Really good video! People tend to kinda forget what is in the games and what is from fan made stuff. Gaster is interesting, because he is a character that is both in the lore of the game but mostly fan made, when it comes to details about him. I love everything related to the character and I have a strong feeling that stuff about him will be answered in Deltarune. As much as I can't wait for that, part of me kind of don't want it to be solved, because I enjoy the mystery.

[@finnjager1510]

Gaster is a meme, a reference, something to fool people with, a little fun thing and a way for people to invest in the game more and longer. I honestly think that DR's mystery man isnt the Gaster, but a Gaster, or rather a Mystery man, that exists for the same purpose and to interconnect the ways UT and DR work.

[@Dorked]

I think it's more likely that the fun events were always going to foreshadow Deltarune. Toby alluded to his next game being "shrouded in darkness" as far back in 2013. The deltarune.com site existed in early 2016 with wingdings messages. The fun events were patched into functional order in early 2016. Gaster, if anything, is a Deltarune character teased in Undertale, I figure.

[@finnjager1510]

@@Dorked That is very true as well, Toby did mention he had the idea for Deltarune way before he had the idea of Undertale.

[@ivythay4259]

Dude, what is your problem?

[@finnjager1510]

Huh?

[@AnthemOverload]

5 years later and history repeats itself completely as ppl talk about Gaster again

[@Dorked]

Gaster discussion has never gone away, but I made this video mostly because I got tired of certain fan concepts being mistaken as canon ones, haha.

[@AnthemOverload]

Good point, so many little children were too young to know gaster when Undertale first came out

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

Toby doesn't seem angry with people talking about him, like he's real?

[@redbird3236]

I Believe instead of falling into the "Void" that he fell into the darkener world, due to it literally having dark in the name. And Gaster's Entry in the code has the words "Dark, Darker, yet Darker" which could be referring to the Darkener world.

[@GeorgeCowsert]

Given how Undertale and Deltarune are deconstructions of videogames and how people play them, I feel like a safe theory is that Gaster represents cut content that was repurposed into the rest of the game. Their presence is effectively everywhere, yet the concept that makes them up is broken up and spread across the rest of the content. Deltarune even makes an effort to quote Gaster's theme all the time, as if it's supposed to reference a character we've already met and gotten to know properly.

[@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

Wish you'd also mentioned his name being a combination of Wingdings and Aster, the latter of which only appears once in the game on Sans' Z's just before you kill him. Also the fact that we know Grandpa Semi was an abandoned character concept for Sam's and Papyrus' grandfather. I think it makes a good case for Gaster being a skeleton.

[@starsscapes]

the aster thing is a total misconception, if you know anything about fonts you can see they're nothing alike (the serifs are too sharp and angled differently, the line weights are wrong etc), it just seems like the fandom made it up to tie more things to their specialest boy

[@johnwalsh3396]

The closest comparison I can make for why I think the mystery man is gaster is that gaster could be sort of like the gun devil from chainsaw man where his soul/body is in multiple pieces but some pieces are bigger than others and have more presence.

[@naydra_6169]

i hope toby goes his own route, i think it would be a boring reveal if gaster turned out to be exactly what the fandom expected him to be; a mild mannered turtleneck wearing skeleton. the idea that mysteryman is just one fragment of gaster is very interesting and makes me wonder what the pieced together gaster would look like

[@caramelcupcakes]

yeah this literally gave me a great idea for a fancomic, or maybe even my last breath reimagined Good luck on the house problems and Inverted Fate btw!

[@Spikel3t]

With the effect allowing full creativity for the fans, its possibly best he stays a mystery man. As long as they realise their ideas are fanon (which most likely do know) I think its cool that these ideas can generate. Allows them to fully flesh out a canon character

[@Dorked]

I think Toby should just do what he wants, really. The fanworks were always gonna have a speculative element, working from incomplete information. If that means Mysteryman is just a piece, or not even related, well it is what it is. I think there is a connection, but I also think him simply being Gaster doesn't jive with being a shattered entity. others might disagree, and that's fair.

[@Spikel3t]

True

[@insertnamehere1398]

one of my favorite fan theories (and one i think might actually be cannon) was that "the creation" gaster fell into was the determination extractor which is why when he fell in, he SHATTERED across time in space. which I mean... determination.

[@SomeGuyWithaFez]

I really wonder if there's any way to "put Gaster back together", whether that be in Deltarune or some related media. I also like the idea that Gaster wasn't a malicious person, but just went a little mad / unstable from being shattered to pieces; must be a painful experience.

[@TheMarioBBB]

i feel like the term "the void" started as a joke, then the fandom thought "hey what if we made that a place"

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

Another Fanon that I take issue with is that Gaster is a villain. There isn’t anything really suggesting that he was a bad guy. Do I want a boss fight with him? Absolutely, and it should be one of the most memorable boss fights ever, but i don’t want it to be contrived. What’s sad is that there is a character who could shed light on Gaster, we just never ask him about him, Asgore. As the Followers say that Ashore took a long time to replace him. Meaning that either Gaster was so smart it was hard to find anyone as smart as him, or that Asgore was close to him and it was emotionally hard to replace him.

[@hybridvenom9]

Yep, but the big reason why that is popular is because of GLITCHTALE

[@Zwodder29]

7:19 what if Gaster just has really long hair and that's his back-side

[@Spikel3t]

In canon he's forgotten but not to the fans but with the amount of work out there, people started to pretty much make his backstory. Some of these stories e.g handplates even line up with the evidence found in the game so as people have said, the line between canon and fanon are blurred

[@Dorked]

It's not ever confirmed in canon that he's forgotten, though. See: Gaster follower dialogue and how Asgore took a long time to replace him, plus the followers remembering him. The forgotten thing was always just fan assumption. And while handplates has a lot of work put into it, even it falls into some fan concepts that aren't explicitly in the game (e.g. void). Not to diss these works- I just think it goes to show how widespread the fanon is that it's mistaken as canon. Doesn't make the fanworks bad, tho.

[@Spikel3t]

@@Dorked sorry ._. Forgot about some of the details like the followers for a moment

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

But the followers are all greyscale and vanish after you go into another room. Mysteryman disappears immediately after you talk to him. And if you round asking everyone in UNDERTALE you'll get a few answers but really only small tidbits. It's implied only a handful of people actually met him.

[@juiceinabucket5289]

i think that mystery man is just doing the finger circle, and when you interact with him, he laughs at you for looking

[@TheAdvertisement]

11:42 Using Big Shot for the section where you talk about phones, I see what you did there. ;)

[@Dorked]

It felt very appropriate. ;)

[@TheAdvertisement]

​@@Dorked Oh at 6:40, one part of the video I don't really agree with. Gaster's leitmotif is really simple, and on top of having to reverse and slow down a sound effect to hear it, it's not even that close. I also remember hearing somewhere that the sound effect is derived from Muffet's laugh. 7:25 I personally beleive the REDACTED room was simply a test room for Entry #17 and the mystery man room.

[@Dorked]

@@TheAdvertisement mus_smile is the one that muffet's laugh was apparently made from. The g follower sound is only done for the followers and meestaryman. also goner clam.

[@TheAdvertisement]

@@Dorked Oh yes I know the g follow sound is only for Gaster related situations I'm not debating that, it just feels like saying the Gaster leitmotif is in it is a bit of a stretch. Though you are right about Muffet.

[@Axquirix]

I'm writing a series that sorta-maybe involves Gaster (specifically the Vessel Maker from the beginning of Deltarune, but they go unnamed so far) so this was helpful. Didn't realise the being forgotten bit was all fan creation, though.

[@Dorked]

Yeah, I think it's one of those things that's taken for granted, tbh. When something becomes universal in the fandom for so long, folks just kinda treat it as fact.