Why TS!Underswap Chara is Amazing (Analysis)

Chara in Undertale, is a character that has generated a lot of discussion and caused a lot of split opinions throughout the fanbase; This isn’t all that surprising though considering the role they play in Undertale. Although I’ve never really been satisfied with their portrayal by the general fandom or many other fanworks. This made their depiction in the fangame TS!Underswap a pleasantly surprising experience for me. So, in this video, I want to analyze Chara’s depiction in TS!Underswap and why I think it’s so excellent. And, if it wasn’t already obvious, this video will have spoilers for all of the main routes for both Undertale and TS!Underswap.
Play the game here: gamejolt.com/games/tsunderswa...
Chara Twitter Thread: x.com/wandydoodles/status/173...
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction
1:02 Past
4:13 Compassion
8:29 Ruthless
14:23 Evacuation
17:48 Conclusion
MUSIC USED:
Omori OST - Lost Library
Night in the Woods OST - Mallard's Tomb
Metroid Prime OST - Phendrana Drifts
Omori OST - I Think My Dad Shops Here
Paper Lily Chapter 1 OST - The Facility
Metroid Fusion OST - Underwater Depths
TS!Underswap OST - A Special Feeling
Daganronpa V3 OST - Despair Searching
Paper Lily Chapter 1 OST - Respite
TS!Underswap OST - Crossroad Chaos
Night in the Woods OST - Mae's House

[@MegaDude10]

In terms of Mettacrit in Ruthless, I actually "killed" him during my Pacifist route, where he pretends to die but later explains he really can't die to them. Chara then writes "Alive" instead of "Fabulous" and it doesn't abort compassion. I think they really were fooled in Ruthless.

[@kamera1890]

Honestly, after the video was finished I wanted to look deeper into it. A friend of mine, @slight5989, ended up checking if it actually raised the game’s kill counter, and similarly to crossbones Mettalot’s battle does not increase it. This doesn’t fully confirm anything of course but it does sort of imply to me that they knew they didn’t actually kill Mettalot, although either explanation is equally as plausible.

[@nobody..--.]

​@kamera1890 wait since crossbones doesnt increase your kill count then that could mean CROSSBONES IS STILL ALIVE

[@kamera1890]

@@nobody..--. clearly not, I think that one was a bug or something. Crossbones is clearly dead.

[@nobody..--.]

@kamera1890 what about the cardboard cutout it clearly implies he escaped just barely and papyrus didn't see him

[@kamera1890]

@@nobody..--. the cardboard cutout is there because, obviously, he tried using it to escape. But if you keenly pay attention you can tell he doesn’t actually get away, he fades to dust behind the cardboard cutout.

[@protol5683]

I agree with your assumption that Chara considers Crossbones “Eradicated” just to ease their own mind about ever encountering him again, but I also have this second, alternative theory in my head that makes Chara sound a little more in control of their mind. Perhaps Chara doesn’t mean that they killed Crossbones the person, but rather Crossbones the persona. As in, Chara assumes that Sans won’t ever assume the identity of Crossbones again after this, either because there’s no point in putting on the whole act in a time like this anymore, or because his reputation has been ruined by failing to stop the human. It’d match the superhero theming somewhat from a meta level, there’s tons of comic stories where the hero takes a huge defeat or gets humiliated in some way and stops being a hero for a while. Also it’s just really funny to think that Chara considers Crossbones eradicated because they destroyed him in the free market of ideas.

[@kamera1890]

Honestly this is a pretty interesting idea! I think both could be true to some degree.

[@yourfathersinferioritycomplex]

Thats gonna be super interesting to see develop later on, i just really really REALLY hope sans isnt the final boss of the ruthless route

[@kamera1890]

@@yourfathersinferioritycomplex To be fair it probably won’t be Crossbones for the final boss; It’ll likely either be Papyrus or maybe even the Temmies depending on how things go.

[@blazie42069]

I think Chara on ruthless will be aware of the player, as we can see them way more distressed in general in ruthless and their trauma regularly coming to light throughout ruthless, they regularly seem shaken up and it seems as if the actions we are potentially forcing them to take through killing and torturing other monsters on ruthless are really taking a toll on their mental state throughout the route. After all on other routes they feel far less distressed throughout the other routes. It definitely makes me wonder how Ruthless will end, because I could see Chara rebelling against us in some way at the end Also awesome video, I absolutely adore TS! underswap! Chara is portrayed so well in TS! Underswap, and I genuinely love their characterization. TS Underswap is among my favorite undertale fangames as well, so I am super excited for later updates!

[@Alt_DiegoBrando]

I doubt Chara will rebel against us for alot of reasons, instead I believe it will be quite the opposite, they won't rebel... They will comply.

[@kamera1890]

Personally, I think we’ll see a lot of this unfold in the next demo during Crystal Springs. Remember, In undertale, waterfall is the area that encounters start with a smile instead of “!”. Chara may rebel in some way although I think their mindset will be warped eventually to solely desire LOVE.

[@Alt_DiegoBrando]

​@@kamera1890Agreed!!!

[@blazie42069]

,​​@@kamera1890I'm excited to see what happens on every route, and what type of meta commentary ruthless will become

[@kamera1890]

@@blazie42069 I agree!

[@Flowermations]

With Kris in Deltarune, who is clearly a parallel counterpart to Chara more than Frisk, Kris is basically like showing more of who Chara actually is same with what TS! Underswap is doing, like their love for playing piano/music, being known as a mischievous prankster, having a dark and edgy sense of humor, being an introvert (we can see that with Chara shyly hiding their face in the golden flowers in Asriel´s flashback, which is adorable🥰), now it makes sense why Undertale makes you name the first fallen human and why their true name is said in quotation marks, considering that they have been dead for quite a long time and they were confused when they as a ghost got woken up by the absolute main protagonist power that is Frisk's determination from when they fell on, of course the kid would have a hard time remembering their own name since they've been dead for who knows how long (you know what they always say ¨the dead often forgets¨), hence why Kris is their real true name, everyone says how Frisk looks and reminds them of ¨Chara¨ with the same hope in their eyes, so they must have got pretty similar names too.

[@kamera1890]

I don’t think Kris is exactly something that should be fully compared to Chara, because although they share many traits they are also very distinct from one another in a lot of ways. Kris also has quite a bit in common with Frisk (Same skin tone and hair color, Vessel for our existence, Kris’s name literally being one letter shy of being an anagram to Frisk’s name) so I couldn’t write Kris off as mostly being deltarune’s equivalent to Chara, or that it’s fully elaborating on Undertale Chara.

[@Flowermations]

@@kamera1890 Yeah that's fair, I thought with Kris having a similar colored striped shirt and having a lot in common with Chara, that they could be Chara´s counterpart, though yeah, they could just be like a combination of both Chara and Frisk sort of fusion.

[@L1MBO12]

I think Kris is a parallel for both

[@BelBelle468]

Just a clarification, Frisk’s determination is not their own. Similarly to Kris, they’re a puppet for the player to pilot. This is actually confirmed in the art book, where it said Frisk isn’t actually that special. In geno, it’s implied that the ability to come back from death is an inhumane thing. Which makes further sense when we consider the only other guy to have this ability, Flowey. Flowey came to life cuz of the extreme injections of determination, which isn’t possible for a regular human or monster. The determination is likely coming from the player, and is also even implied to play a role in TSUnderswap. Not sure what you mean by the names in your last sentence. But other that that, I like how you talked about how much of a parallel Kris and Chara are to each other. Might be why Kris and Chara are so awesome as characters to me.

[@Flowermations]

@@BelBelle468 Ah, I see, thanks for clarifying that, I found it hard to believe that the mysterious red human soul/us was puppeting Frisk when someone else told me just without proof of where it was confirmed, and I agree Kris and Chara are cool, Chara´s plan to free the monsters may have not been the best, and it wasn't on the kid take on the responsibility in freeing them, but props to this child for having the determination in even attempting to save a race of magical creatures trapped in that mountain and having hope that the plan would work.

[@Bearman851]

I'd say what is pushing Chara forward is who they were swapped with. They were swapped with Frisk, and Frisk always persist. Frisk's determination to move forward is why Chara is always forced to move forward. Even when we, the player, are trying to choose options Chara wants, like the "I want to stay here" changing to the question of how to leave.

[@Alt_DiegoBrando]

I don't agree in all honesty, considering that everything seems to be rather implied that it's the player due to the fact that when you do Ruthless and approach Larry and Harry, they mention they don't have a soul, prompting Chara to question their own "Soul", it makes it seem that it's an outside force rather than Frisk themselves.

[@superlemonslicer1224]

YESSSSS, someone finally talked about this :D, TS!Underswap is amazing so it's nice to see people talk about it

[@kamera1890]

I agree! I love it so far and I hope other people will discuss other aspects of it too ❤️

[@Beethovenus]

Really cool video!! Love seeing in-depth analysis stuff like this.

[@BelBelle468]

Chara has always been the character from Undertale I’ve found the most interesting (kinda like how much I love Kris) and always felt like most fan projects have never explored them well (if there r projects that do, I’d love to see some recommendations!) This is the first project I really felt depicted Chara “correctly” by explicitly taking from their source material. It was wonderful to see a video analyzing them. Excited to see more from TSunderswap & you in the future

[@NotTSUnderswapChara]

Wow. I didn't know I had so many fans.

[@baxelbox313]

dunno about NotTsUnderswapChara but tsunderswapChara sure does have alot

[@NotTSUnderswapChara]

@@baxelbox313 I'm definitely them I promise.

[@itsniqilisitsme4701]

Did you live the fall at the end of the elevator

[@NotTSUnderswapChara]

@@itsniqilisitsme4701 The flower saved me.

[@TheHoppyOfHopscotch]

Holy shit Chara TSUnderswap??

[@roysparkizay]

haven't played it, but good video. from watching, i think ts!underswap handles chara better than almost all other fanworks, but i think some extensions of their character and personality aren't too accurate in the context of them in undertale. i still like how they're treated though, i'm surprised at how well they're written

[@mylam658]

Chara is my favorite UNDERTALE character. Playing through TS US myself was very enjoyable, seeing how well they handled characterizing them. I'm glad you share that same appreciation.

[@Guy-kr9be]

* You called for help... * But no one could hear you through your mic quality

[@kamera1890]

Subscribe and watch the video on loop to help get my channel monetized so I can afford it!

[@Emily-xk2du]

Thank you for the video! I went all chin-hands listening, love listening to thoughtful analysis of Chara (my favorite UTDR character) and TS!Underswap Chara (my favorite take on them in any fangame/most fanworks I've seen). You picked up on a bunch of cool details and presented some cool theories! What I really love about TSUS Chara is how they allowed to be a KID first and foremost, instead of A) a stabby stabby demon who thinks about literally nothing other than killing, B) overfocusing on making them a bad/flawed person, or C) making them a standoffish tsundere. Like... c'mon. Does ANY of that sound like someone Asriel would enjoy hanging out with and laughing with?? They have to have A Personality for all that. :P Team Switched did SUCH a good job on capturing NarraChara's voice (which I 100% believe for Undertale, it fits too well and it not being true creates some really weird unanswered question about odd things in the narration) and also for teasing out interesting, colorful ways to illustrate their personality and make them a really vibrant, goofy lil protagonist! I love the sketchbook and their drawing habits in the Sans fight and Koffin K's walls, golden flowers having such meaning to them as a place of peace, them being such a little dramatic troll, like all of it is so dang good!! We eatin' so good with this one! As a Chara fan, I couldn't be happier with the work they've done, it really feels like the fangame I've been waiting for for years! :))

[@kamera1890]

I agree!

[@matti.8465]

I like how Frisk's influence is portrayed here. Chara would be happy to stay with Asgore or with the skeletons, but Frisk's determination to leave is forcing them to keep going. Chara was swapped with Frisk. In Undertale Chara's influence is limited to the narrating. In Underswap that influence is based on the determination to leace the underground that defines Frisk.

[@kakogamer8792]

Great video! Really hope to see more

[@Alt_DiegoBrando]

You did amazing at this analysis! This has so much information that could be easily dismissed. I have to wonder if you had *any* kind of help with the analysis...? If it was, this person is truly just the most majestic human there is.

[@kamera1890]

They truly are the most majestic people ❤️

[@radiotikal]

Genuinely great analysis. Hope this gets more views.

[@xSkysilver]

TS Underswap is the chara before UT cannon

[@slight5989]

10:57 this is truly a "L + ratio + skill issue + you fell off + do better + cope mald seethe harder + the gun is worse" moment (...that part aside, this video was absolute PEAK!!! it even showed me cool stuff i didn't realise about the game before! get subscribed :D)

[@kamera1890]

The gun is the better weapon and you know it. Regardless, I’m glad you liked it ❤

[@slight5989]

@@kamera1890 bro's really coping like chara lmao (im not surprised about the quality since you and everyone who helped put a lot of effort into the vid! you really cooked (with the pan ;]) for this one 🔥)

[@MikeJoe-jy5kp]

Clover moment

[@devaramed]

the gun in undertale with red and yellow mod:

[@slight5989]

​​​​​@@devaramedI didn't see anyone using that weapon in the mod so idk Also, me and Kamera are talking about TS!Underswap's Toy Gun, not the other guns. "Toy Gun VS Dented Pan" is something we've been arguing about not long since we've met each other, and it's like an inside joke for us to start arguing about it whenever either weapon is brought up. Sometimes one of us purposefully does that just for the sake of it lmao

[@darklessman]

Man you're way too underrate!

[@AmbrosiaMooshine]

This is a great video I loved it :)

[@kamera1890]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@user-ur4bb6qf4t]

Simply Amazing

[@someoneandsomeone3251]

8:06 i think i find it obvious that it's Frisk, maybe not all of our actions but were definetly not the ones overwriting Chara's options, remind you that it was Frisk choice to leave the Ruins in the original undertale. While Chara just wants to stay. Maybe it's both Frisk and the Player, but Chara is mostly bothered by Frisk as were just moving Chara forward. Ah and, it's pretty much easy to say that the order of the fallen children was swapped, Justice was the one before Frisk in the original, and TS!Underswap we find their gun and cowboy hat in Ruined Home. So it's easy to tell they were the second after the first one. Who was the before Justice? Frisk.

[@kamera1890]

I can't deny the idea although I haven't seen much backing to it. For the argument of it being Frisk's choice to leave the ruins, I mean I guess? But also, so did all of the other fallen humans. So if we use this argument then the patience soul is equally as likely to be influencing Chara's actions as Frisk is. As for the second part of this comment, that Frisk is the first fallen human... I agree that they are the first, that is strongly implied; This doesn't have much correlation with if they're influencing Chara's actions though or even have a similar role to them as Chara did in Undertale because their origins are basically unknown to us at this point. There's no hard proof for anything but I just think it makes the most sense to be the player, all of the dialogue options that can be overwritten currently are aligned with what the player would say. The compassion route choices always focus on the entity's desire to move forward, like how any player playing a video game would. The ruthless route's overwritten dialogue has focus on the entity's need to see what happens, which again, is in line with how most players play these darker routes in the first place.

[@someoneandsomeone3251]

@@kamera1890 i mean, there's the whole "re-awaken by your determination thingy" so who knows if Frisk is taking the role of the original Chara in a different way in this au, just because the other fallen human wanted to leave it doesnt necessarely mean they're spooky ghosts that are following Chara. -tho i would definetly love that one day when the full game comes out there will be a TS!Underswap Cyan-

[@L1MBO12]

I love tsunderswap :)

[@usermcskull4713]

4:54 i've played through this game so many times and yet this is the first time ive seen this phone call lol

[@kamera1890]

There’s some other cute phone calls both in Ruined Home and Starlight Isles

[@Seriyklynok]

Very interesting analysis! Considering the pressure memory, I think that Chara went through traumatic experience.

[@kamera1890]

That is very likely yea

[@dylanzlol7293]

You can also start the evacuation neutral run by doing pacifist/neutral in ruined home and going geno mode during starlight isles, so how does this variation of the run fit with the "change" prevalent theme?

[@kamera1890]

Admittedly, it doesn’t fit into the theme the same way the aborted version of evacuation does. The evacuation route is pretty open-ended though in triggering it so I just focused on discussing the most popular (and probably intended) way of activating it.

[@L1MBO12]

lol chara would be changing for the worse

[@BelBelle468]

I hope when they write more they keep this sort of variation in mind. Cuz either Chara is getting better or worse.

[@darkcode4044]

Ive gotta try that evacuation route

[@atuliyengar9638]

OMG it is kamera. Unless this is the kamera that didn't do speedrunning. Also cool video.

[@kamera1890]

Yea, it’s the same me :)

[@AlexIsHere001]

Underated

[@AlexIsHere001]

You deserve way more subs

[@basedguy.4229]

PEAK!!!!

[@kamera1890]

Thank you Mr KZbinr, your content is also great ❤

[@zorlex9668]

I still don't believe the one changing Chara's dialogue is the player as there is just certain things that don't make sense to me. If it is us, the player, changing the dialogue then wouldn't we be aware that we are the ones doing it? Many players (including myself) are going to go through the whole game wondering what the entity changing the dialogue is and, if it is revealed to be the player, it would be kind of strange. I get the whole 'curiosity' thing but, what about the players who are curious about what happens if you stay with Asgore, or if you want to say, "I don't know" to Sans' question? It would kind of be immersion breaking and take away that sense of choice that players love in Undertale fangames if it was revealed that you were the one changing the dialogue. Not to mention how none of the changed text is in first-person when it would be better if it was. I don't hate this theory; I just think it would make much more sense for it to be Frisk so that they have at least some role in the story. Plus, I think the player being in control of Chara's actions, not their words, is enough control to still have the player be relevant. Sorry about the rant, just wanted to share why I don't think it's the player doing this.

[@kamera1890]

I’ll go through this point by point to say why I think it’s the player influencing Chara. So for the first point, a lot of players may be ‘unaware’ because the game doesn’t want to explicitly confirm who it is, likely for mysteries sake. The main reason I like Player theory though is because the player themselves has to choose the overwritten dialogue, and this action is done with the red heart (something that in basically all of Undertale and Deltarune is directly linked to the player). If it was Frisk then I don’t see why these dialogue options exist at all, Chara would just something out of line independent of the Player choosing an option. As for the second point, if someone wanted to stay in Asgore’s home or have a more uncertain response to Sans, the left dialogue option exists for a reason. The last thing here is about wanting to give Frisk a role in the story; Firstly, I think it’s kind of weird to want Frisk influencing Chara’s solely to have a role in the story is kind of weird narratively. Secondly, they will very likely have a role in the story that is dependent from being the entity, since they’ll likely either be the main Temmie or Flowey. I Hope this comment helps!

[@Bengt2509]

15:12 I didn’t get this muffet encounter, I got the crossbones and papyrus one but still fought sans at the end. How do you get that muffet fight?

[@kamera1890]

If you do the ruthless route or just an early evacuation route this fight should appear.

[@Bengt2509]

@@kamera1890oh so the reason I got sans and papyrus is because I did a late evacuation route? I started ruthless in starlight isles instead of ending one in ruined home

[@kamera1890]

@@Bengt2509 Yea if you start evacuation in starlight isles you won’t get the unique muffet encounter

[@justunder2765]

8:04 I think is Frisk

[@kamera1890]

It’s definitely left pretty vague currently, but I don’t think it’s Frisk. All of the current overwritten dialogues are about either progression or “needing to see” what happens, and these line up extremely well with the player.

[@notpearl3590]

Just curious, but why do you call Mettacrit "Mettalot"?

[@kamera1890]

There's no official patch for this yet but the name has been changed by Team Switched, and this should be in the 2.0.6 patch of the game when that is released. If you want to know more about it read here: x.com/TSwitched/status/1770208769428906053

[@notpearl3590]

@@kamera1890 Thanks for letting me know. I really like the video BTW!

[@sambuujargalsaihan6101]

What about undertale red and yellow

[@kamera1890]

I don’t really like how Undertale RnY portrays Chara. The pessimistic personality they have, especially in the pacifist route, just doesn’t really work for me.

[@shiro_3611]

=w=

[@therealestcupheadonyt]

chara in nihilism:

[@BunnyAndAstorus-rx3vq]

what about undertale yellow?

[@kamera1890]

I don’t have too much to say on it compared to TS!Underswap but if I do make more videos I might try to create something for it :)

[@BunnyAndAstorus-rx3vq]

@@kamera1890 Thank you!!!!!!

[@thejester4130]

Man love the analysis, really in depth and interesting, also love that ts!underswap is getting more attention and videos for it.

[@kamera1890]

Thank you!