u/vexingpresence

https://www.tumblr.com/shapaghh/824031898747764736

tails are clearly a metaphor but im struggling to decide what metaphor i think applies the most :B

"Love is made of eggshells, and should your love be true, you would already know what lies inside"

If you are gentle with Miss Mizzle and show her affection, her shell still 'breaks' but it reveals her true form. If you are violent, she chastises you for trying to break her in a 'quest to make me yours'.

how interesting

included the bonus mizzle line for low HP because it mentions hats, might not be related but I couldn't not include it

https://bsky.app/profile/apollysabyss.bsky.social/post/3mnxwjf3iz22q

I don't have a proper outline for all of this theory yet but once it occurred to me I HAD to share it, if only to get to name the theory.

I think that Seam was a previous body that Mad Dummy possessed. (MAD SEAM THEORY!!!)

Some baseline facts/relevant assumptions:

• The cliff shopkeeper is Mad Mew Mew.
• Seam uses they/them pronouns, or perhaps a set of pronouns that aren't known to the party/player at this stage.
• Seam tells us at the start of chapter 5 that shadow crystals contain "the power of lost dreams." and that Seam can do something very interesting with them.
• Mad Mew Mew is a metaphor for the trans experience, BUT SIMULTANEOUSLY they reflect the theme of "Jealousy" and the feeling of someone close to you being 'taken away' by others that runs throughout chapter 5.

The more direct parallels/connections between Mad Dummy/Mad Mew and Seam:

• Shopkeeper Mew asks the party if they have tried having 'soft, fluffy ears' and tells them to try it. Seam's ears are very soft and fluffy looking compared to the Mew doll's ears.
• The Mew doll insists on 'going back to school' a few times during the boss fight. I have a feeling this is because Mad Dummy was previously possessing Seam but unable to do so once they had graduated from school since Seam is school property. Going back to school here is kind of literal kind of metaphorical, it's about returning to 'how things used to be'. (Which reflects Asgore's goals this chapter) and also literally because Mad Dummy would want to go back to their school days where they had a body they identified with.
• Shopkeeper Mew repeatedly mentions the sunset, and even says that their name depends on the colour of the sunset. This seems out of place if their only connections were to Dummy and the Doll, but it does connect their dialogue to Seam's - they warn us to not stick around after the sun sets.
• They have similar dialogue when buying and selling items, similar mannerisms. Shopkeeper Mew even says "hee hee" at one point like cmon
• In japanese, Seam uses personal pronouns that are now a bit old fashioned, (atashi) and mostly used by women while being more gender-neutral in the past. This both characterizes them as older but also possibly feminine leaning non-binary of some sort.
  • This might be a stretch, but in JP Seam says their name is pronounced like 'inu' (dog) backwards. In the Shopkeeper's dialogue when they say the party should try having fluffy ears, the line that is implied to be replying to Kris (who is frequently associated with dogs / dog behavior) is 'Yes, you're nodding. You obviously agree.'
• Seam's line "You find ways to pass the time...or go mad like everyone else" may be lampshading the connection to Mad Dummy. (Also this characterizes Seam as someone who feels lonely, and the Shopkeeper was very insistent on how they had found friends in the CH5 dark world and was going to keep them no matter what.)
• Seam says 'You will get the last shadow crystal today' and then asks Kris if they kept 'the mannequin'. The mannequin is from chapter 2, and shows a Spamton body with a dress that is pretty much identical to the blue dress Mettaton wore in Undertale.
  • I think Seam was hinting to Kris that Mad Dummy would be looking for a feminine body to possess, and if they needed to they might be able to convince them to possess the mannequin.
• In Undertale, Mettaton gifted that dress to a Lion, who later shows up wearing it aaand there's a cute lionness waitress (with a mane) in deltarune that looks just like her in a blue apron! :)

To summarise these points and the thematic relevance of this connection: I believe that Mad Dummy, in the past while a student, possessed the object that is Seam. Seam's body would have had the same limitations as the Mew Doll, being unable to move. (Mad Mew Mew's body is only separate to the SOUL while inside the dark world due to the Dark World giving the body its own personhood, after all)

I think what some people have misinterpreted is Ralsei asserting that 'Your body should have a choice, too' - this line isn't about bodies VS minds, it's about the Darkener that is the Doll having their own personhood so long as the Dark Fountain exists, and Ralsei relating to them as a darkener themselves who feels they have no say in their fate and must follow whatever lighteners tell them to be. (Yes, I do also think this is transfem Ralsei evidence.) (If you haven't seen it yet, the climbing minigame in castletown at the start of chapter 5 contains very VERY relevant ralsei characterisation relating to this https://youtu.be/bWWTfhjcPkk "It's fun to try new things, isn't it? ...as long as it's....what other people want...of course!")

Now, I believe this is leading to a collective theme of self-actualization. What it means to be real and to live as your authentic self. How does Seam fit into this?

Seam....represents the lost dream.

When Mad Dummy graduated from school, they were unable to possess the body that they had found and identified with. Their personhood was taken away from them, and as a result the Darkener that was that body (seam) is left with their broken dream. Mad Dummy cannot live as their authentic self. In Deltarune, in the light world, there is no magic to make inanimate objects into suitable bodies for ghosts to self-actualize. Seam is a lost dream for Mad Dummy to become the soft, fluffy eared woman she always wanted to be.

>So you are the "heroes" who are going to seal our Fountain? Ha, good luck. It makes no difference to me. Neither Light nor Dark hold a future for a Darkner in my condition.

When the flower shop Dark World ceases to exist, Mad Dummy will lose that opportunity again, they will no longer be able to live as their authentic self and will go back to being non-corporeal. (This also ties together Mad Mew/Shopkeeper into Chapter 5. People are saying she feels out of place, but is she not also grieving for something that is already lost? Just like Asgore, when this darkworld disappears and they return to normality, their hope of attaining their dream will be gone.)

There's a lot of other far more cohesive theories out there about how the theme of 'Freedom' is being woven into trans metaphors throughout Deltarune, I'll link my favorite here: https://youtu.be/Dwd12r8kuro

But just to drive the point home, some more instances where Seam's dialogue itself links together 'Freedom'/'Fate' and 'Identity'

>That salesman had found the crystal in the old machine...? I wonder... if perhaps, long ago, that old machine was very important to someone. A certain Lightner, perhaps... or maybe it's just a hunch. Haha! At any rate, it's truly unfortunate a Darkner decided to steal that power... Or, is it fortunate? Because of that, you found a new Crystal.

This of course is referring to the Neo body, which is the lost dream of Mettaton in the Deltarune universe...Since we know Mettaton is hiding themselves inside their house, it's all but confirmed that they are non-corporeal currently. They have not self-actualized.

These two examples make sense if you consider Seam's purpose to be helping Mad Dummy self-actualize with a body that felt like 'them'.

>Long ago, the Darkners lived in harmony with the Lightners. They were like Gods to us. Our protectors. Our creators. Those who gave us purpose...

>And I wonder, if I hadn't been asked to lock him up...Would I have found a little more purpose in my life...?

Obviously it would be ideal to not have the bird swooping our visitors and workers, but they've been hanging around our door every few days for a while.

(Reposted because reddit image uploading SUCKS)

who the fuck asked for this. who wanted this.

Saw this posted in another subreddit and oh boy is it satisfying to see someone else talking about what a piece of shit this tram line is. Every horrible decision you could possibly make rolled into one waste of taxpayer money.

He doesn't mention it til later in the video, but keep in mind that prior to this tram line there was a train that ran the same length into the city, and you could also take buses inside the CBD for free.