Dusttale

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Fanwork
Title: Dusttale 머더 샌즈
Creator: Ask-Dusttale
Date(s): March 25, 2016
Medium: Fanfiction
Fandom: Undertale
External Links: https://ask-dusttale.tumblr.com/
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Dusttale is a Korean Undertale AU/AT where Sans kills monsters to gain LV (Level of Violence) so that he can kill the human to stop them from doing any more Genocide runs.[note 1]

It was created by Osteophile,[1] and Calvateyla[2], along with one other person[1] They are most commonly credited as Ask-DustTale in the Undertale fanbase.

Most of the fanworks for Dusttale are based on Evan Streblow’s fangame rather than the original fanfic, mostly due to a language barrier.

During the 2020s, there were a surge of fanworks based on the "canon" version of Dusttale.

About Dusttale

In Undertale canon, characters do not explicitly remember resets or previous runs, but instead allude to lingering senses of something happening before, a sense of deja vu, or observed patterns of behaviour that seem to indicate reliving the same experience. The premise of the Dusttale AU is that the player of Undertale - the human - has completed numerous Genocide runs, of which Sans remembers all of these in detail.

Determined to stop the human from continuing their runs, after numerous failed attempts Sans discovers that a single monster is not powerful enough to defeat the human. So, Sans decides to sacrifice other characters, gaining LV — also known as LOVE, which stands for "Level of Violence." — when he kills them. The LV increases both his HP and AT. In most Undertale fanworks, the more LV you have, the more powerful you become. By sacrificing the other characters, Sans believes he will become powerful enough to kill the human, breaking the cycle of genocide runs.

While the AU starts with Sans suffering with guilt and trauma from his actions, as it progresses, he become increasingly desensitised to his own actions and focused only on completing his goal of defeating the human player once and for all. Along the way, Sans experiences a breakdown and begins to see the hallucination of Papyrus, who he has killed during his attempt to defeat the player.

The creators of the Dusttale AU did not have a decisive ending for when Sans achieved his goal of killing the human; though they envisioned that the Underground could continue to be reset so that Sans could potentially restore the characters he had killed. However, as they had no set outcome in their AU outline, they encouraged people to use their imaginations or go with the outcome that they most wanted to explore.

[chocolate4567-blog[3]]
WAIT A SECONT!!!!! Sans is murdering so he has enough LV to kill the human for good, right? Let's say he wins the human, then what? There will be no one left !!! What will he do then?
[ask-dusttale]

They’re filled with determination to win him. Underground be repeatedly reset. Ever and ever… then? Endless repetition? Peace treaty without trust? Suicide? Other ways?

Actually, we didn’t decide ending of Dusttale. Sorry. As you know, we didn’t fix many thing. Think freely.

Characters

  • Sans, nicknamed Murder!Sans
  • Papyrus: Same as the original.
  • Phantom!Papyrus: A hallucination of the original papyrus.
  • The Player/The Human: They are Sans's driving force for gaining LV.

History

In February 2016, three pieces of character art for the Dusttale AU was posted to the Korean Undertale forum, 'Undertale Gallery'[4], which were linked on the Ask DustTale Tumblr in 2018 with the commentary:

These are literally ‘original’ paintings, so they’re very different from his present self. If you can read Korean, you can see his changing process. Even if you can’t read Korean, you can see the picture.

Ask Dusttale [5]

In March 2016, Osteophile posted to the r/Undertale subreddit, giving an overview of the Dusttale AU which they and two other authors had been working on. The Ask DustTale Tumblr and a Twitter account were also set-up around this time and were linked to through the Reddit post. At the time, the post received a small amount of attention with 15 comments. Many seemed to be making fun of how 'edgy' they felt the AU was, however a couple felt there was logic to the AU and saw the perspective from which Sans could become this kind of character.

People are saying this is edgy but I say that this is logical and thats what makes it not edgy. I could see Sans driven by desperation to commit this atrocity since he has knowledge of multiple resets and this could cause him to try and go gain determination.

[Deleted Author] at Sans KILLS: An AU called "Dusttale" at r/Undertale

On the Ask DustTale Tumblr, there was notably more interest, with many asks being sent in about the AU or from fans asking to use elements of it in their fanworks. The Tumblr page would remain active, answering many asks a month, up until October 2021.

From April 2016 to June 2016, the creators of the AU posted 7 one-shot Dusttale fanfics to Archive of Our Own; a multi-chapter fic would later be posted in March 2018:

In August 2018, Evan Streblow released a fangame for Dusttale which went onto receive 1,541 comments, and this game drew more interest to the AU, which would eventually lead fans to the Tumblr and original works. Many fanworks for the Dusttale AU were influenced by or inspired by the game.

Criticism and responses

Dusttale is commonly disliked by some people in the wider Undertale fanbase because they view it as 'too edgy,' and the AU doesn't make "any sense," because Sans won't remember Resets and Sans is very out of character.[6] [7] Fans of Dusttale defend the point that Sans is very out of character by using the information from the canon that Sans's option of Genocide is his last option. [8] Fans also state that "Not all ATs and AUs should be Canon Compliant".

Some Undertale fans thinks that Flowey being The Murder would make more sense than Sans being the murder because Flowey can remember Resets and is willing to kill.[9] Fans argue that this contradicts Dusttale's central themes, which is tragedy and despair, while Flowey being the murder is about becoming stronger to become the controller of timeline again.[10] Some Dusttale fans view it as disrespectful to Osteophile, the original creator of the AU.[11]

Fandom

As of December 5th, 2024, Dusttale has over 453 Works on AO3[12], with works for the AU also on FanFiction.Net, Quotev, and Wattpad. Dusttale has hundreds of fanart pieces on DeviantArt[13] and others are frequently shared on Twitter.

Shipping

The creators of Dusttale do not like shipping. They used to prohibit Murder Sans x Frisk and Murder Sans x Classic Sans[14] Since July 21, 2020, restrictions on shipping were lifted because Dusttale became way too well-known, and you can't control fans.[15]

Common Tropes

  • Phantom!Papyrus being a ghost of the original papyrus rather than a hallucination. This trope originates from Evan Streblow’s fangame.
  • Dust!Sans nickname, this was later accepted by the creator.[16]
  • Sans wearing Papyrus's cape or scarf.
  • Sans using Purple Bone Attacks
  • Murder Sans' Location Encounters: A trope that was popularized by the Roblox Undertale fangame, Undertale: Last Corridor.
  • Sans copying other Monster's magic. in the Canon, Sans only can mimic other Monster's attacks

Trios

Murder Sans is commonly a part of some trios. The most popular trio that features him is the Murder Time Trio, created by Touken-Kamui. The Murder Time Trio includes him, Killer Sans from Undertale: Something New, and Horror Sans from Horrortale. Other trios that include him are Mad Time Trio (Murder Sans, SwapDust Papyrus and ShiftDust Chara), Former Time Trio (Last Breath Sans, Murder Sans, Insanity Sans), Heroes Time Trio (Murder Sans, FellDust Sans and OuterDust Sans), and more.

Takes

Art by MaxXD featuring the Sans from some popular takes

A "take" in the Undertale fandom is when a person other than the creator does reinterprets an AU, adding on their own changes. Dusttale, like many other AUs, has multiple takes based on it[17]. Some notable examples follow:

SP!Dusttale

SP!Dusttale is a popular take of Dusttale created by the Bilibili user, springs (反正是sprins就对了). springs created sprites and music for this take. This take is very popular in China and surprisingly also in the English-speaking Undertale community.

  • "SP!DUSTTALE" INFORMATION:

. www.bilibili.com/opus/966524270472593416 . www.bilibili.com/video/BV1nT4wecEBm/ . https://soundcloud.com/sp_dusttale - SoundCloud link , a repost of album music made

  • PROFILE/ALBUM ART POST by: _楠渺_

. www.bilibili.com/opus/967630525259841543

  • BANNER ART POST by: Dislike510

. www.bilibili.com/opus/987469988477534214

Recursive fanwork examples

In particular, fans have made short fangames of parts of the AU:

Evan's Dusttale

Evan's Dusttale is the modern name of the version of Dusttale that features in Evan Streblow’s fangame. The modern Undertale community treats Evan's Dusttale as a meme.

A remake of Evan Streblow’s fangame called Dusttale: Remastered is in-works created by Robin and was greenlit by Evan.

UT!Dusttale

UT!Dusttale is a sprite animation created by Yuti. It is the most popular take on 'Flowey being the murderer' in Dusttale. It is very well-received.

Spin-offs

Like with almost every Undertale AUs/ATS, Dusttale has also produced its own AUs, with their own fanbases.

SwapDust

SwapDust is a combination of the alternate universes Dusttale and Underswap. SwapDust, or DustSwap as the creator called it, was created by Whelth. SwapDust was thought to be by Legcorn, who transferred the ownership to Kurbo0, Keanechiii, and JesterBones4150. They renamed the AU to SwapDust: Rage and Nightmares. Rage and Nightmares was once considered the canon version of SwapDust by the Undertale community before the discovery of Whelth's DustSwap.

There is a debate about whether to call the AU Dustswap out of respect for the author, or Swapdust to make the setting and design easier to understand for some people who used "modern" AU Logic. "Modern" AU logic follows the idea that the first AU in the name is the base, while the second AU adds effects like role swaps or events.

DustSwap

DustSwap is a roleswap AU of Dusttale. The difference between SwapDust and DustSwap is that SwapDust is UnderSwap going through Dusttale events while DustSwap is Dusttale Swapped.

The most popular take on that idea is Dustswap: The Butterfly Effect, created by laura10211. Ownership was later transferred to D4niztic and Flambeworm370, and now it is solely owned by Flambeworm370 due to D4niztic leaving the Undertale community. [18] The Butterfly Effect has got a lot of fanart and some fan themes.

Dustbelief

Dustbelief is a combination of the alternate universes Dusttale and Disbelief. Dustbelief was created by aude-javel as a web comic. Dustbelief has many different takes, the most notable being Halo's Dustbelief and Disbelief with Dust. The Underswap version of Dustbelief, Dusttrust is also very popular.

DustDust

DustDust is a stack AU of Dusttale created by Carno-Power.[note 2] Carno's DustDust is commonly dubbed as the "Canon DustDust." There is also a popular take, which is more popular than Carno's, created by TheFlameLord, which the fanbase has dubbed "Fanon DustDust." Most fanworks of DustDust are based on Fanon DustDust, but there are a few fanworks for Canon DustDust.

Felldust

Felldust is a combination of the alternate universes Dusttale and Underfell.

Outerdust

Outerdust is a combination of the alternate universes Dusttale and Outertale, a space AU.

Example Fanworks

Fanfic

Fansong

Fangames

Fanart

Links

Gallery

Fananimation

Meta

Notes

  1. ^ A Genocide Run in Undertale is one of the possible ways to play the game, focusing on deliberately killing every encounterable monster in each area of the game even when they pose no threat. The tone of the game becomes much darker. Characters react differently, often fearing or loathing the protagonist. Certain areas become eerily quiet or devoid of life. Completing a Genocide Run drastically changes the ending of the game, making it bleak and unsettling. It will also affect future gameplays. Failing to kill every enemy in an area before progressing locks you out of the Genocide Route.
  2. ^ A Stack AU is an AU where the same AUs are layered on top of each other. For example, SwapSwap is where Underswap swapped roles again.

References

  1. ^ a b Sans KILLS: An AU called "Dusttale" : r/Undertale
  2. ^ calvateyla's tumblr
  3. ^ "Ask from chocolate4567-blog to ask-dusttale about the end game of Dusttale, 1 August 2016". Archived from the original on 2025-01-13.
  4. ^ "머더샌즈 관련 글들 링크 모음(AU, 스압) (Collection of links to articles related to Murdersans)". Archived from the original on 2024-12-30.
  5. ^ "I was wondering where I could find the original Dusttale fanfics?, Ask on Ask Dusttale Tumblr, 23 June 2018". Archived from the original on 2024-12-30.
  6. ^ Why does everybody hates Dusttale? : r/Undertale
  7. ^ Why is Dusttale so beloved if it doesn't make fucking sense? : r/Undertale
  8. ^ Misconception revolving around Dusttale : r/Undertale
  9. ^ It was brought to my attention that it makes more sense for Flowey to go insane in Dusttale and not Sans. I decided to fix this. : r/Undertale
  10. ^ It was brought to my attention that it makes more sense for Flowey to go insane in Dusttale and not Sans. I decided to fix this. : r/Undertale (Comment)
  11. ^ Dusttale (My honest take on regarding "Fixing" it by making Flowey Do it instead of Sans or any characters.) : r/Undertale
  12. ^ Alternate Universe - Dusttale (Undertale) - Works | Archive of Our Own
  13. ^ Dusttale tag on DeviantArt
  14. ^ It's time to get organize.
  15. ^ Notice for restrictions
  16. ^ https://ask-dusttale.tumblr.com/post/624149261898088448/in-the-korean-fandom-dusttale-sans-popular-name
  17. ^ Long list from a Reddit Comment(archived)
  18. ^ DANIZTIC'S ARCHIVE
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