r/CharaOffenseSquad • u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender • Sep 12 '25

Discussion Big mistake

Chara's name is meant to be hidden for ambiguity like in merch portraying them and trailers, but their name is just straight-up here clearly and publicly for everyone to see. Twice. I wonder if it can be proven if Toby was the one who done the game screenshots too. If people are going to say their name is displayed because "it's the canon name," you're going to have to explain the Taco screenshot I found before.

Save 75% on Undertale on Steam

EDIT: additional important screenshots via the wayback machine -

Screenshot from Undertale's greenlight
Screenshot from 2013 interview of Undertale

Open this image in a new tab to see "aaaaaa" more clearly. With the "Taco" screenshot in mind, this may have been the original placeholder name for testing until it was replaced by Taco as the testing was more refined later.
This implies "Chara" isn't a placeholder to begin with if "Taco" is the true placeholder.

6 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

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19

u/Foxyops1 Sep 12 '25

you do realize chara is short for character right? and likely the default name used for testing because of that?

2

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

Toriel sounds like Tutorial. Does that mean her true name isn't Toriel?

Also, you ignored the whole taco thing.

5

u/Foxyops1 Sep 12 '25

i have came to the conclusion that talking to you is not worth my time

2

u/Pure_Noise357 Sep 15 '25

Well yeah, he won the argument so theres not really anything else to say.

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u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

I see you're entertaining a fair conversation and we can just pretend Taco never meant anything at any point in the game making process.

4

u/StarTrek238 Sep 12 '25

Here is Toby sharing some of his concept art for Undertale, in which he calls the first human "Chara": https://x.com/tobyfox/status/1334658043464781827

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u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

I guess when somebody wants to play this game for the first time, they need to go on Toby's twitter account first for spoilers and realize they have to put in Chara for the fallen human's name then their own.

6

u/StarTrek238 Sep 12 '25

Huh? No one has to put in Chara as the name; Toby has encouraged people to put in whatever they want, including their own name.

Also, if one were to hack the game and make the value of the first human's name contain nothing, then the game will default to "Chara". So Chara is the canon / default name, but it's certainly not mandatory that players use it.

0

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

I guess next time grandma should've stared at the screenshots for 20 minutes, deeply pondering whether or not the main character's name is Chara or Frisk, instead of just entering the name in the game and pressing yes because the game literally refers to it as "the true name" and "because the screenshots told me I'm this character in-game and not myself."

She should already be an expert in knowledge of a game she NEVER played. She should already fucking know the meta narrative because Toby is constantly chanting about names on his twitter! (SARCASM SARCASM SARCASM)

1

u/hectorheliofan Sep 15 '25

What are you even trying to say

0

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 15 '25

I believe I have been going back and forth a bit in opinion in these comments because wayback machine is a piece of crap to operate and just me plain contradicting myself so I am sorry for that part.

I just think Chara's "true name" being accessable since the stream greenlight via the same exact screenshot with the 3 monsters heavily implies the player's existence in Undertale is an interpretation of the game and not the absolute truth. 

Especially since I found "aaaaaa" and "Taco" as placeholder names for testing the game, which implies "Chara" being a potential placeholder name is not the case.

Or I guess Toby doesn't really care with about the serious misunderstandings that could happen with calling Chara "the true name" in the game on a first unspoiled playthrough. I don't know.

3

u/Several_Plane4757 Sep 12 '25

I genuinely don't see what this has to do with the subreddit

1

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

You wouldn't get a very different experience from first playing Undertale when you don't believe you are, infact, you and infact are this "Chara" person?

I am pretty sure being able to give them your name saved much Undertale worlds or something.

2

u/The-Mad-Gadfly Sep 12 '25

Do people know how naming an RPG protagonist works? Chara is their name without any input from the player, like how Red's name in Pokémon is Red.

If you name Red Hunkle McStinker then their name is Hunkle McStinker. Chara's canonical name is Chara until you put in a name in, then their canonical name is whatever you named them.

1

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

I am not sure how grandma is supposed to know that when entering said putting Chara in the game displays "the true name" ominously.

The game doesn't just tell you Chara's name either, there is only blank space to put in a name when you are going to enter something. It's not supposed to tell you, anyway.

2

u/The-Mad-Gadfly Sep 12 '25

Well here's the thing, unless Grandma's name is Chara, they are more likely than not to put in their own name. Chara's entry being called "The True Name" is just a little bit of confirmation for those looking for the first human's true name. Given that Chara is called Chara in the concept art, I don't think this is an outlandish thing to think either lol.

0

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

Apprantly it's more reasonable for you to think granny is looking at concept art of a brought game she hasn't played before she even played it then using what you'd could probably consider a using a rather weird name within that weird looking game they don't really know.

Also, please tell me what "Taco" is supposed to mean in reference to Chara. I assume you know what I'm talking about. I don't think it can be another place holding name. 

"I don't think this an outlandish thing to think" and you just contradicted yourself since you said before all possible names for Chara are true.

2

u/Fresh_Dimension6098 Sep 12 '25

What taco thing?

Also, people have known about this for years, it's not exactly a spoiler or anything

2

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

This taco thing:

Chara's TRUEST name : r/WaterfallDump

And this mistake has possibly been on the Stream website since at least 8 years or even longer. I have used the wayback machine to go back the farest I can to 2017 May the first and it's still there.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

Did people know or were supposed to know at launch Chara's true name before the game was spoiled? This error could of been here since Undertale was first available on stream.

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u/[deleted] Sep 12 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

It really isn't a minute detail at all if you get a completely different interpretation of this game when you think you are a pre-established character instead of believing you are supposed to be you.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

You really think Flowey telling Chara to not reset but believing they will anyway wouldn't confuse people if they never thought they existed as their own identity?

I am pretty sure the game is more emotionally constipated (in some areas, it may be more painful in others) in general if you don't think you exist. Asriel calling out the player's actual name in the hyperdeath fight hits much more then calling out the name of some character you don't really know much at the time.

1

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1

u/Emelie__ Sep 12 '25

Isn't it a good thing though? It would be confusing if I kept talking about Emelie's cool villain arc and how great her relationship is with Flowey/Asriel. It is much easier to say Chara lol. 🤩

1

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

According to most undertale fans, you are supposed to put in your own name then Chara's regardless if you're new to the game. It's a main argument to the player's existence when I am not sure if Toby really payed attention to anything.

2

u/Left_Foot_Man Sep 12 '25

I am of the opinion that Chara is a placeholder name so fans wont have to call them "First Human" or something, if the name didn't exist tho the fandom probably would've came up with their own name like we did with Eram (it would've been Togore)

1

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

My post still shows a glaring oversight with whatever Toby intended with Chara. This isn't intentional at all and I don't know how long this mistake has been here.

1

u/Left_Foot_Man Sep 12 '25

Pretty sure this has been up since 2015 only

Considering how "Chara" has been used here and in concept art and other related works, I am willing to bet the Taco image was an oversight

1

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 12 '25

Have you looked at the screenshot on stream with the Froggit and the Whimsir? There's no name there at all. This is a mistake.

1

u/Altruistic_Mirror_63 Sep 14 '25

When you pick the name "Chara" it says "The true name" or something similar

1

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 14 '25

Well aware. My point is that, and it would lead people down a completely different path in Undertale when first playing without realising their existence as the player.

I don't know what Toby was intending with the character if that's the point (or he just doesn't know what's the point ...), especially since I used the wayback machine on the Undertale website and found the same screenshots on extremely early interviews (along with a another testname besides taco "aaaaaaa") about the game and the successful stream greenlight of the game AGAIN. Then again, I never saw anyone in the comment selection of the green light mentioning "wait, wtf does Chara mean?" Then again, it seems impossible to access more then one page of ancient comments.

Either the Undertale fanbase shares a collective brain cell and don't actually look at the games they purchased, or people subconciously knew were they originally gotten the name yet somehow mentally blocked out where they gotten it for a decade.

1

u/SquashPurple4512 Sep 16 '25

Chara is a placeholder name for the one you choose, Chara or TrueChara are the variables name. It's like saying you're Age years old, or your name is Name

0

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 16 '25

Try reading the last paragraph.

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u/SquashPurple4512 Sep 16 '25

What I mean is that Chara is not a default value, but the True name. You can name a character "character" and it can't be more correct

1

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 16 '25

Are you telling me there are 2 important different placeholder names for Chara? Why are there 2? Why can't Chara mean something else then character?

I also found out on really ancient post before mentioning "Taco" and Toby's "playthrough" of Undertale.

Taco (Name of Chara in toby's Playthrough) : r/Undertale

1

u/SquashPurple4512 Sep 16 '25

Toby wouldn't spoil an easteregg like that because there is no reasons to, "Chara The true name." is mostly a funfact and not really important, nor too unimportant

"Chara" is not the canon name, "Taco" is not the canon name, there is no canon name. Toby is just another player in that stream, it's not because he does something we don't it's more canon than our playthrough

In conclusion, nice search and solid evidences if there was a name to pick in the first place, because the truth is there is no real name for "Chara"

1

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 16 '25

It literally it important if it can completely change people's first playthroughs and never make them believe they are their own person then Chara if that is Toby's definite intention.

Acording to the poster of the Taco, they have Toby's save file. I think it is them streaming, not Toby. Especially since I have never found a stream in 2015 Toby even did. And I never said Taco is a canon name, I said before it's a placeholder name.

1

u/SquashPurple4512 Sep 16 '25

I didnt get all the taco stuff but, undertale is kinda ambiguous on whenever you are playing as "Chara" controlling Frisk or your very own entity (unlike deltarune)

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u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 16 '25

I don't really get why you're trying to argue against me then. I am trying to argue for the ambiguity here in the comments. You said before in the first comment "Chara" is a placeholder and implied it didn't mean anything.

1

u/SquashPurple4512 Sep 16 '25

Oh wait yeah sorry we're circling

Though I believe Chara was the only possible name in the first demos of undertale

1

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 16 '25

You mean the extremely ancient may 3rd demo in 2013 that apparently Toby wanted to refer to Chara as "Mugsy?"

0

u/No-Permission590 Chara Offender Sep 15 '25

Should I repost this on the main Undertale reddit? Or is there not much point and I am just going completely insane even if nobody arguing against me isn't properly pointing that out?