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Sans (Undertale)

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"sans." redirects here. For the song, see Undertale Soundtrack.

Sans
Undertale character
File:Sans undertale.jpg
Sans as he appears in the final battle in Undertale's "genocide route"
First gameUndertale (2015)
Created byToby Fox
In-universe information
OriginSnowdin

Sans the Skeleton is a fictional character created by Toby Fox for the 2015 role-playing video game Undertale. Initially appearing as a friendly NPC with an easy-going and laid-back personality, he becomes the de facto final boss if the player chooses to complete the "genocide route" and go out of their way to destroy the game's race of monsters. His name is based on the Comic Sans font, which is used for most of his in-game dialogue. Critics praised the character for his dialogue and boss fight, which is considered to be one of the most difficult in the game. His popularity with fans inspired several user-created mods and other types of projects.

Sans appears in the related game Deltarune. His likeness also appears as a customizable skin for the Mii Gunner character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

History and appearances

In Undertale

Sans is a skeleton wearing a blue jacket, black shorts with white stripes, and white slippers. Prior to the events of Undertale, he had moved to the settlement in Snowdin from an unknown location with his brother Papyrus. Papyrus was hired as a royal guard trainee sentry and forced his brother to help in his quest to capture a human.[1]

Sans first appears in Snowdin, initially appearing as a silhouette approaching the player from behind before shaking the player's hand, setting off a whoopee cushion. He clarifies that he has no interest in capturing humans, unlike Papyrus, whom he describes as a "human-hunting FANATIC".[2] After helping the player hide from Papyrus, Sans follows his brother throughout most of the forest, commentating on his puzzles and even contributing a word search, much to Papyrus's dismay. As the story proceeds, Sans continues performing such antics as attempting to sell the player highly overpriced fried snow.[3] Later in the game, Sans invites the player to eat at a restaurant together. If they so choose, Sans explains how he befriended a woman, Toriel, behind the large door in Snowdin, who shared his love for puns. He reveals that he promised not to kill any humans who come to the Underground and states that if he had not made that promise, the player would have been "dead where [they] stand".[4]

Sans makes one more appearance in the "Judgement Hall", where he reveals the true meaning of the "EXP" and "LV" values that the player has accumulated throughout the game: 'Execution Points' and 'Level of Violence', respectively. He judges the player for how high their EXP and LV values are before disappearing and allowing the player to proceed and fight the king, Asgore.[5] After the player defeats Asgore and Flowey (if he has not been fought before) and they leave the Underground, Sans calls them to inform them of what occurred after their departure, having different dialogue depending on the player's actions in-game.[6] If the player does not kill any monsters, Sans appears alongside the other main characters after the fight with Asgore is prevented.[7]

If the player opts to kill every monster in each area, Sans's behavior will be different. Before the Papyrus boss fight, Sans threatens the player with a "bad time" if they proceed with their actions. If the player ignores Sans's warning and continues slaughtering every monster they meet, he eventually confronts the player in the Judgement Hall to prevent them from destroying all of the Underground, acting as the route's final boss. Sans is revealed to have supernatural abilities, able to somehow observe the various timelines created by the player's saving and loading (an action diegetic within the Undertale world), and wants to stop the player character before all the timelines are reduced to nothing.[8] As the final boss, Sans is considered to be extremely powerful, but can be killed by the player.[9]

In other media

Sans appears as a character in Deltarune, where, he can be found at his shop, a remodeled version of Grillby's Diner from Undertale.[10] In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a Sans costume for the playable Mii Gunner character was released as downloadable content on September 4, 2019.[11][12][13] In Among Us, Sans' hoodie appears as a cosmetic belonging to the Cosmicube event called "Indie Hour", also featuring other characters from Undertale.[14] Sans has also been the subject of many fan works and projects, being featured in numerous games, creations, and video game mods.[15][16][17]

Development

Sans is listed in the credits as being created by Toby Fox with "special inspiration" from J. N. Wiedle, author of the webcomic Helvetica, a series about an eponymous skeleton named after the Helvetica typeface. His first concept drawing was made by Fox on a college notebook,[18] and at this point in development the character was called "Comic Sans" after the font, described simply as the brother of the game's second boss Papyrus.[19]

He is one of the characters who does not normally use the game's default font in his dialogue; rather, it is usually displayed in Comic Sans. He only uses the default font if he is talking about the mechanics of the game.[20] He is often paired with his brother named Papyrus, also named after a font of the same name.

Reception

Sans was ranked as one of the best video game characters of the 2010s by Polygon staff; writer Colin Campbell particularly praised his appearance and how "[w]hen he makes a joke, the camera zooms in on him while he winks. It never gets old."[21] Its boss fight was praised by Dan Tack of Game Informer,[22] while IGN staff ranked it as the second best final boss in video games.[23]

Sans has also been well-received by Undertale fans, being the subject of many fan works.[24][25] During the Undertale Q&A, Sans and Papyrus were the characters that received the most questions from fans.[26] Professional wrestler Kenny Omega has expressed his love for Undertale, dressing as Sans for the October 30, 2019, episode of All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite.[27] His addition as a Mii fighter costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate garnered positive feedback from fans;[citation needed] they created memes and fan-art after the inclusion.[28]

On September 8, 2022, Sans was chosen as the "Ultimate Tumblr Sexyman" (referencing an online slang term for fictional characters who garner romantic and/or sexual interest from a large fanbase despite not being conventionally attractive) via a three-day tournament bracket of polls on Twitter. Sans was a finalist with Mob Psycho 100 character Arataka Reigen, whom Sans surpassed with 50.1% of the vote.[29] Toby Fox responded to the results by writing a short fan fiction comedically dramatizing Reigen's attempts at surpassing Sans in the poll.[30]

In January 2022, a rendition of Sans' theme, "Megalovania", was played in front of Pope Francis.[31]

See also

References/Footnotes

  1. ^ Cobbett, Richard (September 29, 2015). "Undertale review". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015.
  2. ^ Toby Fox (September 15, 2015). Undertale (Windows). Level/area: Snowdin Forest. Sans: i'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. but... y'know... i don't really care about capturing anybody. now my brother, papyrus... he's a human-hunting FANATIC.
  3. ^ Toby Fox (September 15, 2015). Undertale (Windows). Level/area: Snowdin Forest. Sans: want some fried snow? [...] 50000G. that's my final offer.
  4. ^ Toby Fox (September 15, 2015). Undertale (Windows). Level/area: MTT Resort restaurant. Sans: that promise i made to her... you know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything? [...] You'd be dead where you stand.
  5. ^ Toby Fox (September 15, 2015). Undertale (Windows). Level/area: Last Corridor. Sans: What's EXP? It's an acronym. It stands for 'execution points.' [...] When you kill someone, your EXP increases. When you have enough EXP, your LOVE increases. LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands for 'Level of Violence.' A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. [...]
  6. ^ Toby Fox (September 15, 2015). Undertale (Windows). Level/area: Neutral Route ending. Sans: so... it's been a while... [...]
  7. ^ Toby Fox (September 15, 2015). Undertale (Windows). Level/area: Epilogue (True Pacifist Ending).
  8. ^ Toby Fox (September 15, 2015). Undertale (Windows). Level/area: Last Corridor. Sans: our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum. timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting... until suddenly, everything ends. [...] that's your fault, isn't it?
  9. ^ Grayson, Nathan (October 30, 2015). "Undertale: The Kotaku Review". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020.
  10. ^ Grayson, Nathan (November 1, 2018). "Undertale Fans Already Have Theories About What's Going On In Deltarune". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020.
  11. ^ Minotti, Mike (September 4, 2019). "Undertale's Sans becomes a costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on September 5, 2019.
  12. ^ Lee, Julia (September 4, 2019). "Sans from Undertale joins Smash Bros. Ultimate as a Mii Fighter costume". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 21, 2019.
  13. ^ Walker, Ian (September 4, 2019). "Undertale's Sans Joins Smash Bros. As A Mii Fighter Costume". Kotaku. Archived from the original on September 5, 2019.
  14. ^ Innersloth, Chris D. (November 28, 2023). "Undertale and other indie video games in Among Us". Among Us. Innersloth.
  15. ^ Newell, Adam (September 21, 2019). "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fan creates functional Undertale Sans Amiibo". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Archived from the original on October 27, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  16. ^ Hernandez, Patricia (May 13, 2019). "Someone put Undertale's Sans fight in Fortnite, and it's amazing". Polygon. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019.
  17. ^ Gach, Ethan (May 13, 2019). "Undertale's Toughest Boss Fight Made Into A Fortnite Map". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020.
  18. ^ Hilliard, Kyle (January 9, 2017). "Toby Fox Shares College Notebook Filled With Early Concept Art And Ideas That Eventually Became Undertale". Game Informer. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017.
  19. ^ Fox, Toby [@tobyfox] (January 8, 2017). "(apparently) the genesis of papyrus" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2017-01-08 – via Twitter.
  20. ^ Elvery, Gabriel (June 2023). "Undertale's Loveable Monsters: Investigating Parasocial Relationships with Non-Player Characters". Games and Culture. 18 (4): 475–497. doi:10.1177/15554120221105464. ISSN 1555-4120.
  21. ^ Colin, Campbell (November 27, 2019). "The 70 best video game characters of the decade". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 30, 2020. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  22. ^ Tack, Daniel (December 2, 2015). "Does Undertale Live Up to the Hype?". Game Informer. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016.
  23. ^ "10 Best Final Bosses in Video Games". 22 April 2021. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  24. ^ "Undertale: 21 Creepy and Cute Sans Fan Art". IGN. August 19, 2016. Archived from the original on September 30, 2016.
  25. ^ Vas, Gergo (December 31, 2015). "Undertales Papyrus And Sans Have Dark Souls". Kotaku Australia. Archived from the original on June 12, 2016.
  26. ^ Frank, Allegra (September 15, 2016). "This Undertale Q&A is the best reminder of why it's one of the funniest games ever". Polygon. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016.
  27. ^ Crosby, Jack (October 30, 2019). "AEW Dynamite results, recap: Inner Circle wreaks havoc, inaugural tag team champions crowned". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on November 1, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  28. ^ "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fan creates functional Undertale Sans Amiibo". 21 September 2019. Archived from the original on 27 October 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  29. ^ Cryer, Hirun (9 September 2022). "Undertale's Sans wins Tumblr Sexyman poll, inspiring Toby Fox to write the event's lore". GamesRadar. Retrieved 10 September 2022. Then, finally, it was time for the grand final of the Tumblr Sexyman poll. With Sans Undertale vs known-chancer Arataka Reigan, voting was excruciatingly close, but the former just outshone the latter by .1 percent of the vote, taking the crown for the Semi-Annual Tumbly Sexyman competition.
  30. ^ Colbert, Isaiah (8 September 2022). "Good News, Undertale Fans: Toby Fox Just Wrote A Sans x Mob Psycho 100 Story". Kotaku. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  31. ^ Colbert, Isaiah (January 6, 2022). "The Pope Listened To Undertale's 'Megalovania' In The Year Of Our Lord 2022". Kotaku. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
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