Pipis

For the item, see Pipis (item).

I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A MAN OF THE [PIPIS]. A REAL [PIPIS] PERSON!

Spamton, Chapter 2

Pipis (JP: ピピス) (singular and plural) are "enemies" in the Cyber World. They appear as bullets during the Spamton NEO fights, and as enemies in Queen's Mansion on the Weird Route.

Profile

Appearance

Pipis first appear as oval-shaped blue objects, resembling a balloon or an egg. When they pop, dozens of tiny Spamton heads fly out in every direction. Starting from version v1.07, there is a 1/100 chance of a "Ms. Pipis" (JP: ピピスちゃん Pipis-chan) replacing a regular Pipis, which sports a simple pink bow, but is otherwise identical to Pipis.

Whenever a Pipis initially shows up in any of the two battles in the Cyber World featuring them, a scribbled gray quip pointing out their name (with an arrow) shows up as well.

Personality

In general, Pipis seem to be traps, bombs, and edible clams or eggs. However, Tenna's Pipis hidden in his drawer "chirps" and "clucks", and its noises become more frequent when in a room associated with both Tenna and Spamton. Tenna treats this Pipis like his precious child or creature, calling it "little darling" and using feminine pronouns to refer to it.

Etymology

"Pipis" resembles "bepis", a misspelling of "Pepsi", which was used by Toby Fox for multiple error messages inside Undertale, as well as written at the bottom of Deltarune's system requirements on the Steam store page. It is also likely to be a reference to the "Pipis room" meme, made popular by Griffin McElroy.

Based on their description as "An invasive species of freshwater clam", it may also be referring to Plebidonax deltoides (a saltwater clam, contrary to the Check text), which is known as "pipi" (and "pipis" when plural) in the eastern states of Australia. It could also be referring to Paphies australis, another saltwater clam, known as "pipi" by the native people of New Zealand.

"Pipis" is also a reference to a Mexican restaurant in Puerto Vallarta of the same name. The enemy's Check text (''The Original'') is a tagline in many of the restaurant's listings and advertisements, and the Spamton Sweepstakes references the restaurant's food, as well as the first half of their tagline, "Don't drink the water, Drink the margaritas!"

"Pipis" may be a reference to the Mega Man 2 enemy called "Pipi", a flying bird robot that drops an egg containing a flock of smaller bird robots. Pipis is egg-shaped, has a similar method of attack, and Spamton NEO's laser arm cannon that can shoot Pipis projectiles resembles Mega Man's Mega Buster.

Ms. Pipis, considering the bow, is likely a reference to Ms. Pac-Man, one of the first female lead characters in video games.

Main story

Chapter 2

During the Spamton NEO fight, Spamton gets a phone call, before saying the call is for the party, and throwing several Pipis as projectiles at the party. They explode and spread tiny Spamton heads if they are not dealt with using the Yellow SOUL's projectiles.

Weird Route

During the Weird Route, numerous Pipis are laid out as traps throughout the mansion, impeding the party's progress. First, in the room that normally contains a large number of platters, the floor is instead covered in a huge maze of Pipis that start a battle on contact and respawn if the room is reentered. The hallway directly adjacent to the room is constantly full of Pipis exploding on the map, which the party must avoid.

Later, during the final battle, Spamton NEO uses the Pipis as usual, and Kris gains a healing ability called "FriedPipis". After boosting his defense near the end of the battle, Spamton NEO changes to only use an attack consisting of three exploding Pipis, similar to the Pipis battle in Queen's Mansion.

Chapter 3

In Tenna's VHS intro, one scene features copies of Tenna repeatedly shooting what appears to be a Pipis, coupled with the line "You can't get this from an EGG!", hinting at Tenna's deep animosity towards Spamton. Despite this, Tenna kept a Pipis hidden in a drawer, which he refers to using feminine pronouns and was apparently a great source of shame for him.

Graffiti found on a vending machine in the S-rank changing room claims that Tenna grinds up Pipis to make TV Dinners. The description of the ExecBuffet mentions that it includes "blue caviar", with the implication that it was Pipis.

If Kris finds and opens the Pipis drawer with the Dealmaker or the PuppetScarf in the inventory without having completed Chapter 2's Weird Route, Tenna appears, becomes dismayed that his secret is out, and laments that he wishes someone were here for him, even "that little mailman". Just then, the Dealmaker or the PuppetScarf transforms into Spamton, who expresses his joy that Tenna kept the Pipis and believes that it was a sign that he did care for him. Tenna, apparently not recognizing Spamton, becomes greatly frightened and attempts to protect the Pipis by spraying Spamton with foam and taking it somewhere else.

If Kris opens the drawer without the Dealmaker or the PuppetScarf in the inventory or obtained the PuppetScarf from Chapter 2's Weird Route, an audience appears and boos at Tenna for keeping the Pipis, disgusted and shocked that Tenna "was into this stuff". Tenna desperately defends himself to the audience, who gradually back down as he speaks. He asserts that "everyone does it" and that many have had a Pipis before. He then frantically runs off, leaving the Pipis on the ground. Picking it up baffles Susie and Ralsei.

If the Pipis has been in the party's inventory for a while, it will make high-pitch "chirp" sounds. Eventually, it will "cluck" like a loud horn. These noises occur more frequently in the Z-rank changing room, which has many associations with Spamton. Kris is the only party member who can consume the Pipis, as Ralsei and Susie express reluctance or refusal over eating it.

Chapter 4

According to Small Mike, Tenna asks Mike to sing "rock-a-bye biiby" to his cupboard, presumably referring to the Pipis drawer.

Outside of Deltarune

Spamton Sweepstakes

According to a holidaygirl1225 blog post from the Spamton Sweepstakes event (implied to be written by Noelle), she received a strange e-mail in her spam mail containing a string of random letters and numbers. She decided to put it in as a mod for the game Cat Petterz 2, and the game was surprisingly able to read it, producing a single blue circle as a pet with terrible stats. Most of her game's pets hated it, and she was amused at which pets liked it. As it could reproduce by itself. blue circles eventually filled the screen quickly until the screen crashed with "Congraulations" messages. Noelle ended up deleting all her pets.

Spamton confirmed in the Q&A that it was he who gifted Noelle the Pipis, as appreciation to her for reading his spam mail.

In the Q&A, when asked to rate how much he likes Pipis on a scale of 1 to 10, he answers "100,,000000,000,0,00000,0000,000000,00000000000.314!!!!"^[sic] In a question asking him his favorite food, Spamton's answers by seemingly advertising Pipis like a restaurant, referencing the real-life Pipis restaurant in Puerto Vallarta. In another question asking him how Fried Pipis tasted like, Spamton said only a "[Freak of nature]" would fry the Pipis, which he calls "'THE BOYS'", though said that Fried Pipis looks "DELICIS"^[sic] and "[Cheap]!!!"

Creation and development

The spr_pipis_egg_old sprite

Pipis has received at least two color changes over the course of development, although it is not known which changes came first.

There is an unused sprite that depicts the Pipis as yellow titled "spr_pipis_egg_old". The official interview of Chapter 2's developers revealed that the Pipis was beige in color while its introduction attack was being balanced.

In battle

Appears with

• 2 additional Pipis or Ms. Pipis

Attacks

• Pipis self-destructs into many Spamton heads, which fly outward.

Strategy

• As Pipis self-destructs on its first turn, any action ends the battle after the first turn. However, attacking Pipis can remove it from the battle before this and make the attack from remaining Pipis easier to dodge.
• Defending with Kris and Susie grants enough TP for Heal Prayer, so other healing items are not needed.

Flavor text

• ''The Original'' An invasive species of freshwater clam. [Check]
  • <number> liked this! [Small text; random number between 42 and 5555]
• Pipis. [Encounter with other Pipis]
• Nothing happened! [S-Action/R-Action]

Gallery

• 
  Pipis cracking when receiving damage
• 
  Tiny Spamton heads that appear whenever Pipis self-destructs
• 
  "Musical" Pipis from Spamton's SPECIL Fun Pak!!! sold on Fangamer
• 
  Pipis pin sold on Fangamer

Trivia

• Pipis are the only enemy from Chapter 2 who cannot be recruited.
• The Pipis enemies found in Queen's Mansion during the Weird Route are the only enemies in the game that can initiate a battle when they touch other party members' hitboxes; any other enemy can only initiate a battle when touching Kris's hitbox.
• Pipis and Titan Spawn are unique in that they do not run away if their health depletes, using a special death animation and incrementing the game's "kills" flag. This animation is otherwise used if SnowGrave is used on regular enemies.
  • This animation has existed since the original release of Deltarune Chapter 1.
• Noelle, who is not in the party when the Pipis can be obtained as an inventory item, has unused dialogue regarding it as a consumable, where she expresses a desire to keep the Pipis. This desire is likely due to her connection with the blue circle, presumably a Pipis, in her holidaygirl1225 blog post from the Spamton Sweepstakes.