The not-so-friendly RPG where no one should have to die…
Negativetale is a Korean webcomic Fan Verse of the popular video game Undertale, created by ValenSealover. While the source for the original comic is lost, a partial English translation can be found on Reddit here
by Super_Freddy, while a completed French dub with full English subtitles can be found here.
Negativetale is similar in many ways to fellow Fan Verse Underfell. It inverts the morality of the characters, acting as a Mirror Universe, but it plays down the Darker and Edgier aesthetic for an emphasis on various forms of evil. Some characters are identical to their Underfell characterizations, while others go in drastically different directions. The comic portrays its universe as a hopeless nightmare, unable to move past its evil ways as Frisk the human wanders it in an attempt to escape, with the child’s only help being Flowey, a kind and soft talking flower, and Sans, the ever helpful con artist skeleton. To get home, Frisk will have to face the forces of King Asgore Dreemurr, ruthless tyrant of the Underground who wants one last human soul to break the barrier and conquer the surface world.
Since its completion, the universe has mostly received support through music and mash-ups with other Fan Verses, but the universe itself has largely been dormant since its conclusion.
Negativetale provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Asgore is implied to be this to his universe’s Chara, as Chara had falsely led him to believe they hated humans. When Chara refused to kill smaller monsters, they were murdered on the spot.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Rather than being a young monster who Asgore personally trained, Undyne is a living weapon genetically modified by Alphys, who’s now a ruthless killing machine.
- Adaptational Badass: Papyrus is no slouch in the original Undertale, but here he makes his power absolutely clear by beating up the entire Royal Guard as a response to being refused, the reason why being that Undyne was afraid he’d take her place as captain.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Flowey, even more so than Underfell as he is full of hope and actively wants to help you get to the surface, even if he is unable most of the time due to the bounty on his head.
- Downplayed with Mettaton, as the character was already a heroic figure in the original but started out as a Well-Intentioned Extremist and major Arc Villain. Here, Mettaton is, aside from Flowey and Monster Kid, the only helpful character in the game, and doesn’t even attempt to deceive Frisk with a facade of being a human-killer, to the point that the “fight” is a dance battle that becomes a staged fight and then an outright suicide. This Mettaton is also a Benevolent Boss to Burgerpants instead of the Mean Boss in the original game.
- Adaptational Villainy: Aside from Frisk, Monster Kid, Flowey, Chara and Mettaton, virtually every major character is now out for humanity’s and each other’s dust.
- King Asgore Dreemurr, instead of a kind and beloved monarch who loves his people and family, and at worst is forced to kill by his circumstances, is now closer to the Evil Overlord he initially seemed to be; a power-hungry tyrant who hates humans, wants to ruthlessly conquer their world, holds festivals where he regularly kills monsters for being weak, never shows the slightest concern for his wife when she goes insane, and is even willing to kill his children for disobedience or failure.
- Toriel, instead of a sweet motherly protector, is now more mentally unstable and willing to kill to keep the child trapped in her home forever.
- Papyrus, instead of a friendly Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain and loving brother to Sans, now flat-out abuses Sans and is a big believer in Asgore’s Social Darwinist teachings who openly wants to usurp Undyne instead of looking up to her.
- Undyne, instead of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold driven by a sense of justice to protect the Underground and her subordinates, is now a bloodthirsty killer who hates Papyrus and treats her fan, Monster Kid, with contempt.
- Dr. Alphys, instead of a quirky anime-loving ally who’s worst deeds were completely unintended and left her struggling with guilt, is now a gleeful and remorseless Mad Scientist who intentionally turned the monsters into her guinea pigs, sees Frisk as a potential experiment, constantly berates and bullies Mettaton, and desires only to satisfy her immense ego.
- Adapted Out: Muffet’s section of Hotland is skipped, leaving her status unknown.
- Alternate Self: Naturally, as it is a Fan Verse.
- Archnemesis Dad: Asgore is this to his son Asriel, as Asriel is currently on the run due to a bounty placed on his head.
- Benevolent Boss: In sharp contrast to canon, Mettaton is this to Burgerpants, always being friendly and accommodating, complementing him, and even reacting to Burgerpants threatening to quit by giving him a raise.
- Big Bad: King Asgore Dreemurr, who in this AU is far closer to the evil tyrant he was initially built up as in the original game, is the ruler of the Underground who wants Frisk’s soul to break the barrier to the surface and conquer the human world.
- Bittersweet Ending: One far heavier on the bitter than the original game’s True Pacifist ending. After Frisk absorbs Asgore’s soul to pass the barrier, Asgore takes over their body, and a regretful Flowey is forced to kill Frisk to stop his father from wreaking havoc on the surface. In addition, with the only main character left being Sans, the underground is in chaos and things are likely only going to get worse for the monsters going forward, but they have also become afraid of humanity and so sealed away the entrance in the Ruins, ensuring no human will fall in and be killed again.
- Blue Is Heroic: Flowey’s petals are green and blue, and he’s Frisk’s major ally throughout the story.
- Dark Is Evil: Many characters feature colors with lots of black and grey. The other half use inverted colors as the basis for their designs.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Many of the characters die through events completely outside of Frisk’s control, including Toriel being crushed by a boulder, Undyne exploding from Determination, and Papyrus being murdered by Sans.
- Driven to Suicide: Mettaton, in a desperate bid to become a celebrity, does this live on air… but not without taking Alphys with her.
- Gender Flip: Mettaton is explicitly female rather than male.
- Hates Their Parent: Asriel has forsaken his deranged mother and tyrant father, and has no regrets when killing the latter to save Frisk.
- Hate Sink:
- King Asgore Dreemurr, in sharp contrast to his canon self, is portrayed as little more than an abusive misanthrophic tyrant who murdered countless innocent monsters for being weak and turned the underground into a cruel dictatorship. While he is only encountered at the end, he shows himself to be unpleasant and arrogant. You can't help but feel satisfaction when he gets absolutely beaten to a pulp by Flowey at the end of the comic.
- Dr. Alphys, similarly, is portrayed here as The Dragon to Asgore and a narcissistic sadist who spends every bit of screentime being insufferable. Throughout the Hotland arc, she constantly insults Mettaton, her creation who just wants to be a TV star, and goes so far as to orchestrate Mettaton's suicide on live TV. She also enables her boss's cruel habits and helped make the monsters incredibly cruel with her inventions, and tried to experiment on a child. She is without a doubt, one of the most unpleasant characters to encounter, and it's incredibly satisfying to see her reach her comeuppance in the end.
- Karma Houdini: Sans, unlike a majority of the cast, actually manages to get away with his more morally ambiguous acts by the end, being one of the few monsters who managed to survive through the hellike world of the underground.
- Mad Scientist: Alphys created Mettaton as a loyal eradication robot and genetically modified Undyne to be a living weapon. Safe to say, that might not even be the least of what she’s done.
- Mirror Universe: Almost a complete mirror, as the majority of characters barely resemble their original counterparts in terms of personality.
- Offing the Offspring: Asgore did this with Chara, and now Asriel’s next.
- Only Friend: Somewhat. Frisk does end up befriending Mettaton, but it doesn’t last long once she’s gone. In the end, Flowey’s the only one you have.
- Only Sane Man: Among the evil monsters, Sans can be considered this. He’s shockingly still quite jovial, knows how to play the game of his world to keep himself alive and has no desire to kill you. Of course, he’s still a thief and murders his brother, but compared to everyone else he might as well be an ally.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Asgore is covered in these colors, in contrast to his canon self to emphasize how he is far more evil in this universe.
- Red Is Violent: Undyne, one of the most aggressive characters in the story, has red spears rather than blue.
