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onelinemanytimes · 1 year

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Possession, PSAs, and his Shades

We’ve gone over a lot already, but man. I just keep on looking at everything happening and thinking about it nonstop. There’s so much to talk about where Fresh is involved and while analyzing the character directly in the context of underverse is absolutely still on the table, I can think of more things to talk about.

So I’m going to do that! This post’ll be about a bit more of a variety of things, especially in regards to stuff I personally enjoyed massively. Let’s go!!

The Possession

This part may be a bit scrambled and I apologize in advance, and I also warn that trying to find information on THIS in particular is fairly difficult. There are some things that are a fact, for sure;

Fresh is the parasite who’s possessing the body (that purple thing up there? That’s Fresh), and consumes the Host’s SOUL while in their body for sustenance. The Host does not have control while being possessed.

…And that is all the facts I’m 100% sure on. The rest? From what I could find briefly searching the records I know of, much harder to confirm. For Underverse, it’s safe to assume “The Host is Conscious while possessed” is true, given Ink responds to Fresh’s PSA after being freed from his control, and it’s been heavily implied that being possessed hurts a LOT given, yknow, having your soul slowly eaten away by a parasite cannot possibly be pleasant.

I will note that it probably hurt less for Ink because Ink doesn’t have a soul. BUT WAIT, if Fresh needs a soul to possess someone, and Ink doesn’t have one, how does the possession work?? I’m glad but also surprised you asked because Fresh explains it himself to Ink!

Fresh may not need the vials himself, but Ink absolutely runs off them. At the very least Ink’s emotions run off them, and for most other monsters having a SOUL is connected to having emotions (or at least, NOT having a soul is explicitly connected to NOT having emotions). That makes the vials a suitable substitute for the magic Fresh needs to consume from a host to live, at least for Underverse!

This would also explain why Fresh’ possession lasted no longer than a few minutes before running out completely- the material in those vials does NOT last long, not even for Ink! Ink has to refill them and drink them regularly, and Ink’s body is probably better at processing them. Fresh, meanwhile, is insatiable, constantly drawing on the magic for his own survival without regard to the host’s well being, and that would drain the effects of the vials even FASTER than their already short time frame.

I also want to talk about physically how Fresh possessed Ink. Nothing weird, but details about the battle that absolutely delight me.

Magically we know at this point Fresh had to trick Ink into drinking the vials so the possession would function. But PHYSICALLY, Fresh ALSO needed to get Ink into a position where he would be susceptible to possession!

A LOT of legwork was done for him beforehand. Error had done some damage to Ink already, wearing him down magically and physically for a bit before being interrupted, and that’s not even looking at the fact that Ink was already a bit roughed up before Error got to him.

Fresh forced Ink to drink the Unlimited Vial as well, which while he didn’t know it would do this, helped to wear Ink down further. Forcing Ink to feel something overwhelmingly oppressive that Ink could only think to describe as “Pain” in the moment. This may not have physically negatively affected Ink, but it did have a mental effect, and that matters just as much in this case.

Then, before Ink had any time to really recover, Fresh forced him to chase him- something that pushed Ink to start using magic and of course having to physically follow after Fresh. And this chase is FAST, based on how much the wind is whipping at their clothes in the animation, Fresh is making Ink WORK for those vials.

Ink is physically exhausted, as emotionally exhausted as he’s capable of being, and mentally exhausted as well (potentially also why he’s so quick to make foolish predictable decisions around FRESH, someone he’s obviously familiar with to SOME degree). After everything he’s been put through he’s tired, and in perfect condition for Fresh.

Physically, Fresh gets VERY close to Ink, very quickly. He’s in front of Ink before Ink’s realized what’s happening, and he only gets closer as the scene progresses. The view from Ink’s perspective is wonderful, Fresh absolutely looming over him (and the camera) with how much taller he is and how close he’s standing. Fresh also reaches out to Ink himself, nearly close enough to touch Ink.

Obviously, the physical process is Poof’d out in the animation, which I’m not surprised by at all because as has been stated by CQ and others, “It’s pretty gross,” and also probably pretty difficult to animate. We don’t need to see that, we understand what’s going on here and we have a battle flow to keep up because Error is there pretty immediately after. I ADORE how menacing it was the entire time leading up though, THAT is delicious.

And then we get to the actual being possessed part!

In my various analysis posts, I haven’t talked about Fresh!Ink as a separate, 3rd character of some kind whatsoever, and that is VERY intentional. Fresh!Ink is not a character of its own, it’s a state of being, specifically Ink’s status as Actively Possessed. This isn’t a fusion situation where both of their mindsets and thoughts are contributing to their actions, this is exclusively Fresh.

This is something ESSENTIAL to keep in mind. Ink is nothing more than a body in the Fresh!Ink dynamic, Fresh is as in control here as he is in his own typical hosts. Trying to imply that Fresh!Ink is a separate character from Fresh somehow is completely misunderstanding how Fresh!Ink even functions on a baseline level- it’s largely an aesthetic change that, in this case, was only important because Ink needed to be unrecognizable for a while.

PSAs

Fresh loves addressing us directly. It’s a sure-fire way to ensure he’s the center of attention to what REALLY matters, the audience, even if it means being ignored in universe or confusing to other characters.

Nothing exemplifies this better than when he gets into a PSA (short for Public Service Announcement), a part of his 90s facade where characters would stop and address the audience in order to teach a lesson of some kind. Said character often being portrayed as cool and competent, or at least knowledgeable about the topic at hand, and using the situation around them to deliver some kind of moral message with the other characters.

This is good context to have on who Fresh’s dialogue is for and why in the world he would say everything he does. I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating that Fresh is a character that is not only 100% aware of the fourth wall, but is known for interacting with it himself to some degree. Fresh is meant to be funny, so this awareness is played as a joke in most cases, but you better believe there is some intense existential dread deeply baked into his character as a result.

Anyways! Let’s look at the dialogue during the fight and really pull apart what it means.

Fresh: Dude, dese days have been kinda on the wacko side for everyone, huh? I smell unrad vibes just all over da dang place.

Error: You're dead, Ink!!

Fresh: I think ya talkin' to da wrong broski. Our glitchy pal needs a chill pill. Let's learn how ta handle dis here situation. Sometimes when people get angry all dey get is a well-deserved time out. So- tell ya rainbow buddy- whats makin' ya so unhappy?

Error: Quit playing games, you fu[nking mu]stard!!

Fresh: Unrad, Bro! Nobody like it when ya rude! As ya can see, hostility can be challengin' at times. It's a sign dat they're all up in their head, fightin' a much harder battle dan da external. And most people aren't aware of it. Find out what it is dats tormentin' dem. And use dat weakness against dem ta destroy their life. let dem know dat nobody messes with you. ...And dat mah friendos, is how ya come ta realize dat you must care about yaself first and above anyone else!

Error: You're [Fun]king crazy!!! I'm wasting my time with freaks like you! Once I'm done with Ink, you're next, whoever you are!!!

This is the full exchange Fresh has with Error, and what Error and Ink witnessed on their end- with a reminder that Fresh was very rarely actually talking to Error, often facing away from Error while speaking in the battle. It’s also worth noting that in the episode itself, all of this text is in uppercase, I made the decision to put it in lowercase here for the sake of legibility- but it being in uppercase IS important, they’re both being loud here.

This is a message from Fresh about how to handle someone actively attacking you, based on context. He’s sharing what to do in a battle to get out on the other side of it alright, based on what he knows and thinks of course. His delivery here is patronizing and weird, but there IS real substance to this.

His first piece of advice is to force the opponent into “time out,” which he demonstrates is getting the opponent into a state of being less able to attack, via slapping Error out of the air and to the ground. The flow of Error’s attacks are interrupted now that he’s been disrupted like that, and Fresh moves onto the next step!

The time out is, apparently, intended as a way to get them to stop fighting and start talking, as Fresh immediately asks Error directly a question, something he would only need to do to get Error’s side during this little informational encounter. As has been said, he doesn’t care about actually talking to Error here, he’d just keep talking to us at home if he didn’t think it was fitting for his message to chat with Error.

Obviously Error is just furious more than anything, immediately retaliating against Fresh. This is fine, though- Fresh IS trying to give advice on what to do in a battle, and sometimes talking to someone doesn’t work! So of course, you need to be able to keep calm, and follow the next steps of success.

It starts off as a very typical “thinking of the other person” friendliness type thing, noting that someone who’s engaging in a fight with you has something going on in their head making them think choosing that violence is a good or worthwhile idea. That they’re fighting an internal battle that most people wouldn’t even know about.

And hey! Internal battle in your head that no one knows about… just like the internal struggle of his hosts against him, that no one else ever thinks about, right guys? Making a little ominous tangent is something he does for us at home, because he knows there are a lot of people that enjoy that about him- and that it makes him interesting, having things about him that aren’t what you expect and make you want to look closer at him.

And he continues with that darker tone, because his answer to continued conflict is to fight back; specifically, to fight back smarter, not harder than your enemy. Find out what’s wrong with your opponent, what will hurt them the worst possible, what their weakness is- and utterly destroy them with it. End it in one decisive hit, striking at the weakest part of your enemy as hard as possible.

And of course, he demonstrates doing this! Lovely Error is someone he knows pretty well, well enough to exploit Error’s fears in this fight. When Fresh counter-attacks, Error actually runs entirely from that attack. If you watch carefully, you can see error make a portal out of the doodlesphere as the hands reach toward him, and back away into it to avoid being hit.

Which, guess what? Means that Fresh wins! Obviously, if your opponent flees from a battle, you can consider that a win, because they are now no longer fighting you- the goal of all this advice!

His final moral message to the viewers is his own personal standpoint, that you have to care about yourself more than you care about anyone else! Don’t pity the enemy or try to offer kindness when they’re fighting you, tear them apart and show them it was a mistake to try and trap you in a battle. NO one messes with you, or else.

And then the possession is over! With Ink telling Fresh that what he said didn’t make any sense at all, which is probably due to a mix of Fresh’s speech patterns, Fresh’s intended audience being us, and also Ink not having a lot of time to process and consider what Fresh is talking about (unlike us who can spend days looking at the same 5 minutes of animation and tearing it apart piece by piece).

Fresh doesn’t push it, likely because it IS a pretty significant insight into his thought process (not to mention the fact the message wasn’t mainly for Ink anyways). Instead he starts deflecting by pointing out that eating paint doesn’t make any sense either, but Ink still does that, putting Ink in a kind of “gotchya” position where he’d have to explain eating paint before Fresh explains his little message there- which Fresh knows Ink isn’t going to do, at minimum because Core is here and Ink’s only just noticed.

I did word my thoughts as “the message wasn’t mainly for Ink” intentionally though. Fresh had spent the lead up to the fight berating Ink on his thoughtlessness, and on his dramatic lack of planning ahead when faced with a situation in the moment (By comparison to Fresh, at least. I do think Ink is capable of planning ahead to SOME degree given his actions over the course of Underverse absolutely being planned in their own right, but Fresh is berating him for not planning ahead ENOUGH, hence the current state of everything right now and also his dramatic victory.)

I think to Fresh, Ink could also benefit from this message on how to stop having ridiculous fights (with error especially) that waste time and don’t end with a clear enough winner to make the opposing party back off. Ink wastes a TON of resources and gets into a lot of risky situations that could be avoided if he fought more heartlessly AND efficiently, so this advice could help if Ink ever plans to start ignoring his feelings again.

Right now, of course, the advice hardly applies at all. Obviously, Ink is presently emotional, especially after the battle and drinking all the vials (more or less). And, Ink potentially can’t succeed in this situation following Fresh’s advice, it may be more worthwhile to use some level of sympathy and kindness to dissolve the situation, something Ink specifically is in the perfect position to do as a friend of X Gaster.

That’s the delicious crux of this situation though, isn’t it?

Ink is in a very, very unique position as someone who knows a lot about X Gaster. A LOT about X Gaster, more than essentially anyone else in the multiverse that isn’t from XTale directly. There are a few routes Ink can go down in now, helping the “good side” to combat him. As an old friend, he could try to appeal emotionally, trying to work with XGaster for a different resolution to everything having seen that it’s gone too far.

Or… maybe everything Fresh said here just doesn’t make sense YET. Fresh’s message to us and to Ink could be foreshadowing for the future- that the battle is going to be ended because Ink, or someone else extremely close to XGaster, is going to reveal XGaster’s weakness. That with that weakness, they’re not just going to fight XGaster, they’re going to utterly destroy XGaster, so that there is no question whatsoever who won.

That’s just speculation of course… Can’t say for sure if it was foreshadowing when we can’t look to the future yet and see it play out. Cool as heck if it is foreshadowing though, could you imagine. I’d go crazy, again, and probably write like three more posts about how Fresh is a genius and the true hero of underverse and other equally ridiculous claims.

His Shades

The last thing I want to talk about here is short and it’s about Fresh’s shades. This is mostly me just wanting to talk about them because I love them and the attention to detail in these animations is absolutely incredible and worth discussing. BUT HEY I bet people would like to hear about how they work and what they mean for Fresh and yada yada ok cool let’s jump in.

SO Fresh is known for his awesome “YOLO” shades, of course, but they can change to display other text!! This is a cool fact that I’ve never seen so beautifully executed, but has always been enjoyed on my end- but the way Fresh’s shades work is a bit hard to pin down!

I think, to some degree, it’s safe to say Fresh has control over what his shades say. I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s in perfect control over what they say, though, moreso that they respond to him directly. I say this because of how they shift when he’s attacked by Error- during some of the impact frames they change to say “oof!” and react in perfect time with him expressing worry or concern over situations.

It is possible he controls them entirely and is just that good at it, but it’s up for debate, and either way he’s still using his shades to convey his intentions as much as any other form of body language.

You may have noticed that sometimes, however, his Shades don’t show ANY text. Specifically, three or four times that are notable (There are others but they’re during moments when Fresh is very VERY distant or when he’s in heavy motions, where it’s more likely his shades just aren’t big enough to have fit any kinds of letters on for the sake of animating, and I don’t think those count for here).

First, when he’s forcing Ink to drink the vial. Second, when he tells Ink that the both of them are very different and he’s smarter (they stay off until Fresh has possessed ink), Third for a moment before jumping up to hit Error that may just be another case of “animating the words here wasn’t worth it” but that I have trouble believing given other instances there’re words, and then after Error has them pinned to the ground tied up in strings for more or less the rest of the fight.

All of these moments are unique in that they also coincide with moments where Fresh is being MOST genuinely himself, and not lying nearly as much as every other time. Showcasing his lack of any feelings at forcing Ink to drink the unlimited vial, devoid of anything but cold curiosity. Tipping his hand in preparation for possessing Ink, blankly stating that he and Ink are very very different, and that relating them too much to each other is a dangerous mistake to make.

Again, with jumping up to meet Error in the air, it could be a moment of “animation dropping the text,” but to humor if it isn’t, Fresh is ACTIVELY accepting combat in that moment. The break in text is the break in his facade and active focus on us at home, he has to take a moment to actually engage in this battle- but it’s entirely unnecessary to display any text about it in that moment. He’s deciding his next move, calculating and waiting for the perfect time to jump.

It’s easy to assume the fourth instance where he’s tied up, the letters are gone because the visor is visibly broken. That could make sense, perhaps- but soon after it’s shown that no, the visor still absolutely works, and could be displaying a visual.

Not displaying any text here has just as much reason as not displaying any text any other time, and in this case is used for two reasons. It’s used for this moment of being very ominous, for one, giving us this excellent shot intended to be pretty frightening juxtaposed against Fresh’s usual behavior and atmosphere. But yet again it’s also a tell for when Fresh is being “most genuine” in his exchanges!

At this point is where he’s talking about how to defeat someone who won’t stop fighting, by taking advantage of any weakness they show and destroying them completely as a consequence for it. That’s very genuinely something Fresh would and probably did do to people, and he doesn’t need to sugar coat it with fun visuals and lies. After all, we know what he’s like, that he doesn’t care and that at his most truthful, there is nothing he is feeling to convey. He’s empty… Just like his shades are, showing nothing to us because there’s nothing to see.

Instances when his shades do have text still do bleed into his reactions, like I mentioned, and show his current state of being to some degree. Displaying “HAHA” at multiple times within the battle as he’s enjoying himself, showing to say “OK UH” when he’s looking at Ink’s vials to decide which to toss at him, and a ton of other fun little moments! It’s a delight to watch and fills me with joy every time I look at it, absolutely wonderful.

That’s all for this post though! I covered a lot of ground here and said a lot, but that’s kind of why I wanted to talk about this at all! I had a lot of thoughts that could do with being shared, and I hope you all enjoy this one as much as the others!

#fresh #fresh underverse #underverse 0.7 #underverse #ink #error #truefreshinfo #shocking no one I may have more to say even still #I have been watching the fights on loop just thinking non stop #I might take requests #if people have questions it could be fun #I get to talk about fresh more and you get to know more things #I would love to see it #x gaster #xgaster #not sure which is best #fresh!ink #tumblr put my post in the tags challenge impossible

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