We all heard of how Asgore in his battle sprite, his eyes look like a smile and his mouth like a beard. So he looks like he's smiling and his eyes aren't showing. But he's actually looking down. Could Toby have done this illusion on purpose? I never thought of that so I have no idea if that's obvious, but if this "smile" is on purpose it's very cool. The fallen children have most likely all seen Asgore as a pure evil monster with that smile.
I've NEVER in the entirety of my life percieved his face as a smile. I always thought he was looking down upon us as his eyes were shadowed. Idk what u're on blo
This isn't just OP being weird. A large percentage of people originally interpreted the sprite as a smile. It being an intentional design choice is an intriguing question I think. It does line up with the way toby fox typically draws smiles. Would not be surprised if they reference this in chapter 5 after friend takes over asgore or some shit
We're going into the big '26 and people still think that Toby did the art for Undertale
I thought Undertale's artwork was more so of a mix work thing between Toby and Temmie in it more then anything else. (Though I'm willing to give on the idea that Temmie was the main artist for the game, if that is indeed true)
It was almost entirely Temmie with a couple of guest artists every now and then, and rarely Toby
Art isn't really Toby's strongsuit
….no? He frequently does the roughs and Temmie “makes them good.” as he puts it. A lot of the battle sprites align with his design sense (more pointy/angular, strange but expressive poses). The overworld sprites are much more straight Temmy-esque.
His stuff can be super rough scribbly line-art, but a lot of the bones are there, especially in composition. As someone who has handed their own roughs to more competent 2D artists (my skills lie in sculpture), compositionally my doodles still carry all the info they take forward into a polished piece, so I can relate to this.
...that's still Temmie doing the art, I never said he doesn't do the character designs
Yeah dude and a characters face and mouth looking like a maniacal smile while looking down and actually feeling a different emotion is 100% in the category of conceptual design that Toby could have intentionally wanted in the game that Temmie then gave more proper form. This is absolutely something Toby could say “I’d like it best if you could make it an optical illusion where from one focus he looks like an eyeless smile ready to cut you down but he’s actually looking down because he can’t stand what hes doing”
Thank you for understanding what I thought was clear in my statement. I don’t even believe the smile is intentional, its a frequent aspect of simplified and sprite artwork for it to be visually misinterpreted, even by a large chunk of the players. The Agahnim sprite that can be misinterpreted to kinda look like Picky from Earthbound comes to mind. But suggesting that the art process is entirely the work of the person who does the final design rather than developing from another’s concept is reductive to both parts of the process.
Edit to add: Toby definitely had notes all over with his concepts and he has a great understanding of facial expression, which is why some of his stuff has made it wholesale into later parts of the production. These would have definitely informed Temmie’s interpretations of his ideas.
...so he doesn't do the art lmao, he does the "designs" or "conceptual art", but not THE art that you actually see in-game
Ah, good to know then.
he did a decent amount of it what are you on about. definitely not the majority or even half but he did do a decent portion, especially during the later segments while temmie was more busy with school
Toby fox draws the concept art. This IS how toby draws smiles. It's HIS artstyle being translated into pixel art by temmie
Similar except I thought he was hiding his eyes from us over the guilt about what he's done and has to do. He's a good person and doesn't want to harm you but believes his hand is being forced.
But he's also a coward who is too afraid of go back on the order he made in his grief, too afraid to cross the barrier and do it himself, so afraid that he has everyone that do it and stays in the back as the last resort.
most likely, that's the correct explanation. definitely fits with everything we know. I interpreted it the same way.
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Can't be that many schotzos in this subreddit, because I've seen this same post of "Asgore smiling" twice or thrice at this point.
the game we are waiting for is made by a dream, i dont think we are far off
max i've seen was his face being interpreted as ERAM lolz
??? This is an incredibly popular misread of the asgore sprite. I think you're out of the loop a little
Please don't use disabilities as slurs :/
No fr I’m so fucking sick of schizo being used as a quirky tiktok insult
I had the exact opposite perception of yours 😭 I always saw it as a smile and only now saw it as a him looking down
That’s crazy, even with it explained to me I could never really see it any way besides the smile. Up until like this year or last year did I ever realize it wasn’t meant to be a smile.
Same here, but i always thought the crown looked like a smile at this angle
I'ma be honest when I first played I didn't realize he was looking down and thought he put on a cool helmet with his armor.
Even after your whole analysis I cant see this face position as a smile im ngl
something like this i guess: https://imgur.com/a/FuglOi4
That's the first time I've been able to perceive this at all.
I mean, it's still super obvious that he's looking down to avoid our gaze, given the story context and his characterisation, but still.
I still can't see it any other way. I can't figure out how it's SUPPOSED TO be seen as
It is clearly him looking down in guilt and self-loathing as his hair obscures his eyes.
I need like a guide to see it this way, I still can't
the small patch of white is his mouth, the large patch is his face, the lines in the large part is the nose, his hair covers his eyes.
Idk even with this in mind I still can't see it
its him looking down
Holy shit john mantle
OH? but that's still wrong tho
as much as anyone tries to get me to see it i cant see anything other than this
https://imgur.com/a/19XruRU
i never saw that as a smile
Now that you mention it, it could be referencing that Asgore is forcing himself to look evil and kill kids even though he's actually a peaceful king. But there are also high chances that his face looking like a smile to some people is not intentional, not everything is a metaphor.
It was foreshadowing for his battle in DR Chapter 5, where he gets possessed by Mike and his teeth cover his eyes like some sort of parasite attached to his head.
That would be sick ngl.
Mike becomes a friend inside him.
Mike is a dark matter theory?
Even after reading your comment, it's still hard to see a smile there, mainly because of the nose
i always seen it as a covered eyes frown face
to anyone who can't see the "smile" its like (END OF DELTARUNE CHAPTER 3 SPOILERS) the knight's visor, as in, around where asgore's eyes are, the part under his covered eyes
If you want to cover up spoilers, enclose your text with > ! ! <, but without spaces between the exclamation point and the greater/less than symbols. Like this
Like This?
We? Who’s we? Are oui speaking French now? Nintendo Wii?
i highly doubt it because it is made abundantly clear that asgore does not enjoy killing children literally why would he be smiling
No one is saying asgore is smiling, they're wondering if it resembling a smile is intentional. So they a player might THINK he's smiling like a typical evil video game hoss but he's not
I kinda wonder if its a metaphor for how some of the other fallen humans see/saw Asgore as. Or if even Toriel thinks of him like this now
Its symbolic, he obviously doesn't want to kill you, but he "has too", the game intentionally tries to make you have confused feelings about Asgore, some people say he's ruthless and will not hesitate to down you instantly, and some say he's a dopey pushover, in his battle he's very reluctant to actually harm you, but he still does, and his eyes are hidden so you can't tell what kind of face he's exactly making, it can either be interpreted as him looking down solemnly or smiling evilly
This can have an explanation. Think of it as Asgore smiling to become an actual monster and forget what he doesnt like doing. It's like putting on and forcing a persona to do your job (kill the player).
For years I thought he was actually smiling, took me a while to realize he wasn't
I can see how Toby would do something like that
Bet you think Steve Minecraft's goatee is a goofy smile too huh
is the smile in the room with us ?
If you look deeper into the dark, you may find it, my friend.
Would you say Deep into Dark deeper into darker deepest into yet darker?
I can hear this image
driving in my carrrrr
right after a beeeeeeer
I actually think this is a rare instance of subpar spritework in Undertale.
I’ve personally never seen a smile, and it obviously wouldn’t make sense contextually. But with that said, it’s ambiguous enough that many people HAVE seen a smile, which I think really undercuts Asgore’s character and that fight’s emotions in a serious way.
Additionally, it has some other weird elements to it. What in the world is that big white circle underneath his crown? At first, you might think that it’s supposed to be a part of the crown itself, but Asgore’s pre-battle screen-facing sprite (during Bergentruckung) has no analog to it whatsoever.
exactly
How are you guys so bad at reading sprites
I never ever saw a smile since my first time playing it and istg I never will 😭
Mike, make a digital slide of of Asgore's battle sprite being compared to ERAM and the Roaring Knight's laughing sprite.
I have never seen it as a smile, but I did at first think he was wearing a helmet.
I had to try really hard to see what you were talking about. No. The smile is obviously not intentional, bc you have to really fail at seeing the face to see it.
Genuinely how does one see that 🥀
For me he was always looking down
...that's the top of his head.
I cannot see his smile as eyes no matter how hard I try
tbh i have no clue how to interpret his face at ALL in his battle
he looking down
yea but like are those lines in the white his eyes? if so, why are his eyes different lengths and why does he have the sonic the hedgehog eyeball where both pupils are in one eye? and why his mouth look like that
The lines are his nose. His eyes are obscured by his hair cause he's looking down
i am trying so hard to see it but i can’t
lines are nose
the mouth looks like that because thats the mouth area with no beard
his eyes are covered by shadow, followed by his goatnose then his mouth with an almost pensive-like frown. he knows what he has to do but he doesn't want to go through with it
I might be stupid. It’s taken me 8 years to realise he’s looking downwards and that it’s NOT a smile
He’s looking down
Given what we see literal minutes before this fight, it always looked like he's looking down. Like obviously he doesn't want to do this but feels he HAS to. I dunno where people get an "eye" from.
What are you talking about bro, he is looking down
That’s not his eyes, it’s the end of his snout. This wasn’t intentional.
I thought I was the only one who saw a grin in there.
The fact that he doesn't show his eyes has to be some hint towards deltarune or something
its just him not wanting to look at you
I always saw it as the shadowed sad face of someone who was doing something he really didn't want to do...
You'r the last person who still see this as a smile, I think he's actually looking down because he doesn't want to kill frisk
More importantly is that a bald spot?
I may have false memories but I think I remember someone on the Undertale team saying it was not intentional. Maybe i'm wrong and it was. But either way I find it very cool that in Undertale we're having this optical illusion and in Deltarune the mouth and eyes of the Knight are switching roles on their sprite very clearly
I always saw it as a sort of anime shadowing of the eyes, showing how he's regretful of his actions but knows that he has a duty to his people.
A duty HE forged himself for his kingdom. A duty he hates himself for pledging in such a blind rage.
But, I could see that it looks like a smile as well. Maybe he's smiling because no matter how the fight ends, only one is going to survive, and the end of his unholy crusade is at hand... Maybe he hoped that in denying any mercy on himself, he is guaranteed to be absolved of his reluctant sin if he dies for his people and what he has done.
I love asgore honestly. He's my favorite twist villain in the sense that he's such a subversion of expectations... And you can't help but feel bad for the fluffy guy once you put yourself in his shoes.
Don’t worry, OP. I always thought Asgore was smiling too. It’s the angle of the horns that makes it look front facing to me.
Now that I’m looking at it in the context that he’s looking down, is Asgore bald? I’m trying to look at it, but my mind always defaults to this being a smile and I can’t look at it right.
Though, I don’t think the smile is intentional. Asgore is kinda seen as a big softie, or a good king. He’s not really meant to be scary like that. Combined with his feelings on the matter, I don’t think the smile was intentional.
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I legitimately never have and still can't see it as a smile but I guess i can see how people misinterpret it? It's really just the context I think, why would Asgore be all sad and mournful before fighting you but suddenly have an evil grin when you fight him? It just doesn't fit his character or the fight at all so I never got the "smile" interpretation. He's very clearly looking down in shame
Ngl man, literally never saw that as a smile bc I always saw those lower pixels as his mouth, not the curved upper part.
Believe it or not, people can have a perception of reality that is different from yours. That includes not seeing an imaginary smile in an ambigious pixel art.
Yeah it's not how I saw it but like it does
it doesn't look like a smile if you can read the sprite and tell that the lowest white portion is clearly supposed to be his mouth.
You sound like a very angry person
I only see it at this exact moment and that shot is creepy as fuck
I don’t think it’s intentional but I definitely saw it too when I was younger before realizing what it was supposed to be
Oh god no i cant unsee it..
I never thought thats what it was, but now that im looking at it it is an interesting coincidence that his hair and eyes kinda looks like Eram.
I see ERAM with a crown… cute:)
NGL before I knew anything about Undertale I genuinely thought his crown was a lil face :3
Oh my god his head looks like ERAM/shadow mantle if you look at it that way!!
i always tought he was smiling
What “smile”?
Dw bro you're not schizo that's how I used to see it
Friend has brain rotted this community
Eram is Asgores beard theory
I always saw that as a smile
he is not smiling
Normally imof the belief that Toby does things like this a lot on purpose, but in this case...nah.
Ive literally never seen it as a smile, and i can't even force myself to see it the way i can with a lot of other illusions
I can kinda see how people would see it like that, i just can't
Is that eram
I think thats regret, not a smile... Asgore isn't like that. Man's a big pushover.
His face kinda looks like a knight's visor
I'm seriously trying to see that "smile," honestly I can't see a damn thing lol
Looking at that perspective of him smiling, his face kinda looks like John Mantle with a beard.
I feel like it's less the humans seeing a smile but rather the player. If someone doesn't have the context of his introduction they would (maybe) interpret his sprite as a smile, but with context you would know he's looking down
I've NEVER seen his face like his eyes were hidden in a shadow, I always see a face, the two lines are eyes and the white thing(?) is a mouth, since the beginning I've never been able to comprehend what is the sprite supposed to be till I played bits and pieces
I mean i didnt see it like that but now that you point it out I can see it, looks unsettling to me imo BUT still a fun thing to think about
yall… just no 😭i mean it’s just his face & i’ve never seen it as a smile? lol. i highly doubt it was intentional
We? I never heard of it.
I just realized that like It kinda makes it look like his face is ERAM if you look at it like that. Kinda neat.
maybe I'm trippin too hard rn but why does it kinda look like the chapter 3 secret boss fella smile? like asgores beard is the rest of the mantle
play the game instead of looking at an image, you can literally see his head move eg. at the begining of the battle, its obvious where his eyes are.
You've just made me realize this isn't a smile
If you take just the hair and ‘mouth’ it looks a lot like ERAM
i thought it was entirely intentional, now I can’t look at the the same ever again 😭😭 makes more sense tho i was always confused why he was so giddy
Dawg are you high or what i literally dont see no smile besides his frown and shadowed eyes
im kanako ketsukane, what is OP smoking to come to that conclusion???
I have always seen a smile on the top of his head but just now i realised that it is a crown
WAIWAIWAIWIAWAI THAT "SMILE" LOOKS LIKE KNIGHT'S VISOR
For my first ~6 years of being an undertale fan i couldnt interpret asgore's sprite correctly lol
You know what's funny, I always saw the crown as a face, with the bottom of it being a smile. But now I'm realizing... does Asgore just have a giant bald spot around his crown?
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I didn't see a lot of people getting angry. But also the part above his mouth is his nose, his eyes are covered
It’s not a smile, he’s looking down and is sad
We all have what now?
Like, I get that we are years beyond the hotakes-about-tobey-foxs-work-event-horizon, but you really need a negative media literacy in the triple digits to read this into Asgore, the fight or any perspective of the scene.
Hes a coward, a bad husband, father and king. But an pure evil monster? Pahaha.
for a second i thought this was about the crown cause it does look like it's smiling with that big ol chin
but no, i don't really see it as a smile, it was clearly the common trope of hiding eyes in the shadow thingy
I doubt it was intentional but I can see it.
i can’t stop seeing the nose as his eyes
FRIEND but no eyes
Anyone seeing a smile must lack object permanence or something because you'd be looking at an entirely different person
HE WASN'T SMILING????
I see the vision. But now, i see the Roaring Knight there, too.
If that's what the kids saw they must be idiots
I've never ever seen it as a smile. I thought he's looking down, eyes shadowed and the two lines are his nose
Every time I see 56 different faces
Isn't that his nose and his eyes can't be seen from this image? Am I the only one?
That's what it is, most people see it that way except for some who misinterpret it as a smile
The whole head really looks lime that deltarune secret boss, that dark cape with a smile
reminds me of ERAM
edit: ch3 secret route spoilers
You know who else has a smile like that, ERAM
The only thing i see is him looking down at his feet in shame. The hair line covers his eyes as it flops over and the little white spot under there is where his mouth actually is, showing the mustache/beard wrapped around it.
Holy shite it's tenna
Damn I’ve never seen the smile illusion, I love that idea now
I didnt know it WASNT a smile.
I just thought people smiling through pain was just a big part of undertale, as chara smiles, flowey smiles, sans smiles, even toriel smiles at you if you kill her.
idk
??? How high were you when you wrote that? What smile? I mean, I think it's obvious from the contrast that you can't see his eyes (or his face) because of the shadow, Furthermore, the context would also be wrong; Asgore doesn't enjoy trying to kill you. In earlier dialogues, he literally shows his regret at having to kill children, but it's what must be done, jeez.
I cant see it, phew 😮💨
I've never seen it like that, but now it's making me think of Eram..
Yeah no absolutely not. I’ve never seen a smile and can barely see it now.
i've never seen a smile
I can't help but see a smile.
I know he's not smiling (as many say, it doesn't make much sense given where we're at in the story)
But I don't see any eyes or a mouth. They always look like a smile and a beard...
Can someone help me see the eyes and mouth? Pls?
I can't fucking see it.
I still see a smile, i've been seeing a smile since the release of the game, a lot of people from back then probably used or still sees a smile, that's what a lot of people used to mention.
After all i know it's not a smile but i still see it like one and maybe the sprite was intentionally made like that to have 2 interpretations.
No, it's not.
What are you on and how do I find it
I just realise his head looks like eram
King fluffybuns doesn't deserve this kind of slander
Never thought it was a smile, but the bit below the smile part actually looks like a bit of the bottom row of teeth
Like how the Smile Friend laughs
That's just a case of pareidolia. Which is ironic since it's a portion of his actual face
i have never ever saw that as a smile, like genuinely, it's clear that he's looking down, idk about you
I saw this as well. I didn't realize it was anything else until I watched an Undertale Essay when the YouTuber described the Asgore sprite. I was like "Oh that makes more sense"
I went 7-8 years thinking it was a smile. (I was 12 when I first watched someone play Undertale)
He's looking down
no?
Its supposed to be asgore looking down with messy hair.
We see where his mouth is below the eye area
Hah, probably just some crack the-- IS THAT THE ROARING KNIGHT VISOR????????
I always saw his crown as a smiling face for some reason
naw
what smile
He's clearly looking down
Nah, his head is down and he’s grimacing if anything. That smaller white patch under the big one is his mouth (framed by the beard) which makes me think the big one’s just his forehead lol. I’ve never seen a smile till now
it looks like john mantle
W-what about the nose though???
That’s his nose bro…
HE'S NOT SMILING????
At that point, he resembles John Mantle
I don’t think so. It’s Asgore looking down but it always looked like he was wearing a helmet to me