Sans

Sans is the tritagonist from the video game Undertale, and a minor character in Deltarune. Though he's notoriously well-known for being one of the most iconic Tumblr sexymen, even being one of the only 3 Apollyon-class sexymen, in terms of being a sillyman he has a lesser yet still incredibly popular status as one.
==Basic Information==
Sans is a skeleton, and the first character the player meets outside of the Ruins. He has a brother, Papyrus, whose energetic and genuine personality contrasts Sans' lazy jokester personality. His role in Undertale's story depends on the route taken. In the game's Neutral or Pacifist routes, the player will never fight him, whereas in the game's Genocide (or No Mercy) route, Sans is the final significant boss. This battle is often considered the most difficult boss battle in the game.
In this battle, Sans has a far more aggressive and involved attitude than in the rest of the game and reveals a surprising amount of raw combat power. The dramatic tension of the scene skyrocketed Sans into being the fan favorite, so much so that he eventually represented Undertale in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a Mii gunner costume. The Undertale fandom was known to be disproportionately horny for nearly all the characters, but Sans' position as the fan favorite saw him as the most prominent subject of that horniness.
More information can be found on the Undertale Wiki.
==Archetypes==
===4th Wall Blurring===
It's not certain how much he knows, but some mysterious clues near his house, his comments about the timelines, his powers, and his actions all make it clear he has more awareness of what's going on than most. Enough that he states he's given up on a happy ending because he knows the resets (which no one but Flowey and his ripple effect proof memory knows about) will only set everything back the way it was. Fans often run wild with this and write him as being ripple effect proof himself through a strong connection with W.D Gaster, secret cutting-edge science knowledge that gave him unnatural powers, or both. The first chapter of Deltarune has also given rise to the theory that he's actually a traveler from the Deltarune dimension that has somehow become trapped in this world. It's also implied somewhat that his power may come from his greater 4th wall awareness, especially since most of his tricks rely on purposely breaking the rules of the battle interface and he seems to have some knowledge of the existence of the player.
=== Artsy ===
As evident by the performance sheet in the MTT Resort(and his overall demeanor): Sans is a comedian. He likes performing for people, and in a more meta sense, due to his acknowledgement of being a video game, he could technically be performing for you, the player. Further evidence is his tactical guilt tripping in the Genocide route, where he tries to get you to quit by showing how much your hurting these people.
===Chaoslord===
Sans is not above using his awareness of game mechanics and ability to exploit them to some extent - including teleportation through what he calls "shortcuts" - to play various tricks on the player and other characters, aided by a sharp sense of comedic timing and a penchant for skeleton-themed puns. As the designated comic relief of the game, he enjoys a bit of toon physics to aid him in this endeavor, such as stacking a veritable tower of hotdogs on top of the player character's head. He may also give the player a series of humorous passwords across multiple playthroughs - what amounts to him as timelines.
=== Controversial ===
While it's not wide within the fandom, there have been a rather unfortunate amount of people angered over Sans' popularity, to the point of bitter comments. Not only this, but he also has that unfortunate "so popular they get unpopular" thing that extends past the fandom, though that could reflective of Undertale as a whole.
===Creacher===
He is part of the "monster race" in Undertale.
===Distinctive Speech Patterns===
Almost all of his dialogue is written in lower case Comic Sans. Sometimes when he's trying to be scary, he switches to a Sans Serif font and uses actual abbreviation.
===Distinctive Voice===
Although Undertale uses a "voice grunting" samples and no actual voice acting, Sans' deep tone is iconic and easily recognizable. In fanworks that do give him a voice, he usually has a deep, laid-back and mischievous voice. Even when he is angry, his wrath tends to be subtle and hidden behind a veneer of cheerfulness.
===Ensemble Darkhorse===
All things considered Sans doesn't really matter at all to the main plot of Undertale, which is about Flowey, Chara, and the Dreemurr family drama above all else. The plot doesn't really involve him in any significant capacity beyond him being the final boss of the Genocide route.
=== Retro ===
It's been well documented that Undertale was widely inspired by Earthbound in its art direction and game format, giving Sans a bit of that retro vibe with his lack of shading and more simplistic design compared to other games of the time.
===Perpetual Smiler===
Sans is constantly smiling. It's unclear whether this is a choice on his part or just because of how his skull is shaped.
===Quotable Catchphrase(s)===
Like many Undertale characters, Sans has a plethora of quotable and humorous dialogue. In particular, he is known for the quotes "Do you want to have a bad time?", which he utters just before his fight, and "Get dunked on!", which appears on the screen after Sans betrays and kills the player character if the player attempts to spare him during his fight. "You feel your sins crawling on your back" - a piece of flavor text that shows up during his boss battle - is another quote commonly associated with him.
===Smol===
He is shown in overworld sprites to be the same height as Frisk, who is a child.
===Theme Song===
Sans has several theme songs. The most famous of his theme songs is "MEGALOVANIA". It slaps so endlessly hard and so many remixes have been made of it that it's actually a meme to remix it. While strongly associated with Sans because it plays during his boss fight, it has been argued that it is more the player's theme, because in Toby Fox's past projects, it was associated with megalomaniacal villains, and in Sans' boss fight, he is not the megalomaniacal villain in the situation - you are, he's just trying to stop you. There is a playlist on YouTube of over 500 MEGALOVANIA remixes. A new official remix of MEGALOVANIA was also added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate along with the Sans Mii Gunner costume.
The other song associated with Sans in Undertale is simply titled "sans.", which plays in the overworld in areas where Sans can be found as well as places he likes to go to, like Grillby's. This song reflects Sans' laid-back, easygoing personality much more than MEGALOVANIA, which reflects the intense boss fight and the situation at the end of the no-mercy run much more than Sans himself. A more mellow version of sans. is "It's Raining Somewhere Else," which plays in the Hotel restaurant in front of the Core, where Sans takes you to dinner, which reflects the more somber side of his character.
There was also an unused song called "Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans", presumably for a fight versus Sans in the Pacifist route of the game, which never ended up in the final version. This song is also more upbeat and whimsical than MEGALOVANIA, and shares similarities with Papyrus' fight music, "Bonetrousle".
A parody of "Stronger Than You" from the animated series Steven Universe, sung from Sans' perspective during the fight with him in the No Mercy run, is also commonly associated with him. It currently sits at 80m views on YouTube, 21m more than the original song it was based off of. Since the parody popularity outgrew the original, there are a few people who don't even know it's a parody of a pre-existing song. It also sparked a trend of "Stronger Than You" parodies being written for other Undertale characters, with Frisk and Chara parodies also gaining a lot of popularity.
==Fanon Tropes==
===Fanon Splintering and Self-Shipping===
Undertale had a LOT of fan AUs, or alternate universes, with different versions of the characters with different designs. The sheer amount of AUs is probably at least partially the result of Undertale's narrative playing with the idea of alternate timelines. With Sans being the most popular character, there's also an incredible amount of effort put into developing the different Sanses and their dynamics that you can't not be impressed.
===Flanderization===
There are three main traits people flanderize with Sans: his laziness, sense of humor, and angst. People will hone in onto these with laser-focused intensity to the point that in many fanworks he is unrecognizable to his canon self and lacks any other characterization. Many people also commonly depict him as being addicted to drinking bottles of ketchup like alcohol when he's only seen drinking it once.
=== Humanization===
Going far back to ye ol' times: Sans, as a human, was unfortunately commonly designed as a pale, white haired, white skinned and rather skinny male, tending to go for a look that tried to recreate skeleton Sans rather than truly bring the character to the human realm. This trend however, has recently died off.
==Fanon==
Undertale gained massive popularity after it was released in September of 2015, and Sans was the most popular character among fans, so he had more fanart and dedicated AU characters than everyone else. There are many, many AUs for Undertale, most of which have alternate designs for the characters, but there are many who focus solely on Sans (and sometimes his brother, Papyrus). Down below is an attempt to make a list of the most popular Sanses here, however there is a wiki with over more than 7600 pages of different Undertale AUs.
*Undertale: Canon Sans. Usually depicted with a blue motif.
*Underfell: AU where the characters are more hostile and bitter than they are in canon. Designs have a lot more red and sharp edges, Sans being no exception; notably, he has shark-teeth and a gold tooth, and a red motif. 
*Underswap: AU where several major characters swap roles and personalities. Sans is swapped with Papyrus, and wears an armored outfit similar to canon Papyrus, with big blue irises, and a very optimistic and outgoing personality. Meanwhile, Papyrus is depicted as the more chill and lazy guy who also smokes and knows more than he lets on. This Sans is usually referred to as "Blueberry" by the fandom.
*Swapfell: Mishmash of the previous two, with an edgy bitterness being added onto a role swap. Basically a 'Fell' version of Underswap. Sans is depicted like a loud villainous bastard, delighting at violence. This Sans is often depicted with a purple motif.
*Fellswap: Also a mishmash of the second and third, with a role swap being added onto an edgy bitterness. Basically a 'Swap' version of Underfell. Similar to Swapfell, Sans depicted as a villainous character that likes violence. This Sans is usually drawn with a red motif.
*Horrortale: Angsty aftermath AU of the Queen Undyne neutral ending. Sans has a huge hole in his skull and one glowing red eye, he's very jaded and only cares about Papyrus, due to the starvation, betrayal by people he trusted and cranial trauma, he has become a psychotic, often violent and sadistic skeleton.
*Reapertale: An AU where everyone is a Greek god/goddess. In this AU, Sans is the god of death, and is often shipped with Aftertale Sans.
*Aftertale: An AU where Sans uses Determination to prevent his death when Frisk commits genocide and gets stuck in the SAVE screen.
*Dreamtale: A slightly different AU where instead of taking place in the Underground, the story is presumed to be on the Surface, and there are two Sanses, one being the guardian of positivity and one being the guardian of negativity. Dream!Sans, the guardian of positivity, is the protagonist of this AU; Nightmare!Sans, the guardian of negativity, is the antagonist of this AU. Dream!Sans has a mainly yellow outfit, and Nightmare!Sans is dark and goopy, and has a mainly black outfit.
*Dusttale: An AU where Frisk repeatedly commits genocide until something is different and Sans remembers every Reset. Sans then kills all of the characters to gain enough LV to have more Determination that Frisk. Sans always uses his hood, and his clothes are stained with monster dust. Sans is schizophrenic and often hallucinates his brother, Papyrus, as a ghost with only his scarf, hands and head, who encourages Sans to keep killing to stop Frisk from repeating the timeline again.
*Outertale: An AU where instead of the Underground, it is set in space. The designs are space-inspired, usually utilizing star patterns, with a lot of yellow and blue. Sans has the same personality as canon, but a different aesthetic.
*Xtale: An AU where X!Gaster keeps overwriting the timeline trying to create a perfect world until X!Chara goes insane. In this AU, X!Sans (often known as Cross!Sans) and X!Chara share a soul. As of Underverse season 2, Cross!Sans wears monochromatic clothing and carries around two knives.
*Echotale Gaster!Sans: A fusion between Sans and Gaster. Taller and skinnier than normal Sans, with cracks above his right eye and below his left eye, and often drawn with more humanoid proportions.
*Errortale Error!Sans: An Aftertale Sans that accidentally got stuck in the anti-void, went insane and got corrupted, he destroys other AUs to fix "glitches" in the multiverse. This Sans is easily distinguishable by his black, blue and red color palette, red eye sockets, and blue strings on his face that look like tears. He is often depicted with "glitching" effects. He can create portals to travel to AUs.
*Ink!Sans: Opposite to the previous Sans, a Sans that protects other AUs and encourages 'Creators' to make them. Ink!Sans has an inkblot on his right cheek, wears a brown scarf, and often carries around a paintbrush that he calls 'Broomie'. He doesn't have a soul and therefore cannot feel emotions, he drinks paint to feel artificial emotions. He can also create portals to travel to AUs. Ink!Sans comes from an unfinished and abandoned AU which he escaped from by destroying his soul, and along with it, his emotions.
*Undertale: Something New Killer!Sans: A Sans from an AU where Chara offered to help him repeatedly commit genocide, to "feel something new". Killer!Sans is insane, and probably has a personality disorder. Killer!Sans has a target shaped red soul and black goop dripping out of his eyes.
*Fresh!Sans: Often referred to as just "Fresh", this AU (along with Error!Sans) is a prime example of an AU being created just for Sans. Its lore is that Fresh is a parasite, almost always depicted as possessing Sans. He's portrayed as fun (with a colorful design and a constant use of outdated 90's slang) but also angsty in regard to him being a parasite. This character was inspired off of Dippy Fresh.
==References==
*Know Your Meme page.
*Sans on The 700 Club.
== External Links ==
* Sans on the Sexypedia Wiki.
Category:Characters
Category:Sillyman
Category:Keter
Category:Creacher
Category:Fanon Splintering
Category:Flanderization
Category:Theme Song
Category:4th Wall Blurring
Category:Ensemble Darkhorse
Category:2015
Category:2016
Category:2017
Category:Quotable Catchphrase(s)
Category:Undertale
Category:Perpetual Smiler
Category:Toby Fox
Category:Distinctive Speech Patterns
Category:Goo
Category:Humanization
Category:Artsy
Category:Retro
Category:Parental Figure
Category:Parental Issues
Category:Unkempt
Category:Chaoslord
Category:Smol
Category:Deltarune
Category:Cosmic
Category:Cipherization
Category:Controversial
Category:Sexypedia Overlap
Category:Creacher