Hi, I'm Blaperile, or Blap for short. I've been a great fan of Homestuck since December 2010. On this blog you can find a lot of update reactions, theories on things, and also me talking about other MSPA-related stuff.
I’ve gotta say, when I saw it would be “only” 11.5 minutes, I got really worried. Like, this isn’t going to get very far into the plot right? How is this going to give a good look at what Homestuck is like and manage to intrigue people who don’t already know about it?
But then I watched it, and was completely blown away. It was REALLY fast paced, but in a good way, in my opinion.
You can see there’s SO much love for the original comic in there. So. Many. Easter eggs.
Like. John’s retcon arm in the sky???? OH. MY. GOD.
But there’s so much more. Rose shoving the bunny box into her closet while she’s talking to John, Dave questionably looking at his apple juice (referencing the piss joke), hashmap shenanigans (the code “JU1CE” popped up for just a split second)…
And all the stuff in their houses were SO accurate, daaang! You could see the pogo ride in John’s backyard, the can of peanuts on Dad’s desk, Rose’s Grimoire, the Wise Guy and Sassacre books…
And I feel like they completely nailed the dialogue and characterisation. So many references, but it all felt so natural.
I know there’s complaints about Dave not being as stoic as in the comic, but honestly? I didn’t even notice during my initial watch. It just felt like the natural way to portray his dialogue.
The visual tease of Mom, and the textual teases of Bro and Grandpa were great too.
I love how when John was examining the SBURB game there were already references to the Consorts, building houses up, the Battlefield…
I had a feeling that WV would show up, but I honestly only expected, like, a post-credits cameo or something. Instead the pilot OPENED with him and Serenity. I love how his flag was planted in the sand, seemed like the flag that he had on the Battlefield.
I think it’s brilliant how WV’s basically an amalgamation of himself and the MSPA Reader here! What with naming John, and interacting with his environment.
I’m a bit curious about the narrator though. He was kind of booming the “Zoosmell Pooplord” which for a second made me think WV IS the narrator, but it’s probably more likely to be a separate entity.
Which brings me to Hussie’s self-insert, which was teased both in the trailer and here at the end of the pilot. Is the narrator’s voice supposed to be his? I’m leaning towards no, I’d think Hussie would voice his own self-insert?
Or maybe his voice just changes when he’s narrating hahaha
In any case, this does give a good taste of what later shenanigans could be like when various characters take over the narration.
And then the way they incorporated [S] Jade: Pester John into this, was completely unexpected but SO cool. That was the perfect way to end this pilot, showing the mysteriousness of Jade, and the visions of the future through the Skaian clouds.
I’ve gotta say, seeing Spades Slick and ALL the Trolls in this pilot was not on my bingo card!
I’m really, really impressed with what they came up with. If this becomes a full series, I think it’s in the right hands.
Ok I know I haven’t posted reactions to the last few Beyond Canon updates yet. I’ll see if I still get around to that.
But holy cow I HAD to post something about the Homestuck animated pilot announcement/trailer!
I’m INCREDIBLY excited for this. For like 15 years I’ve considered what adapting Homestuck could be like, and honestly I never saw any good possibilities other than an animated cartoon. But I never dared to dream it would actually happen.
And now it’s finally happening!!! Or well, at the very least a pilot is happening!
And it looks so, so very promising. I love how faithful the art style is to the original, while still being a bit different in a way that could work in cartoons. It especially reminds me of the cover art for the books or the final pre-Act 7 pages
I like that it’s not going to be a 100% adaptation of Act 1. I mean, for most audiences it would just be boring to see John messing around in his room the entire time.
So it’s a good decision that Rose, Dave and Jade already get involved. I’m guessing it will show some of their activities that were taking place simultaneously with John, which in Homestuck were only shown later (for Dave and Jade).
Seeing Karkat was very surprising!! But also a good decision I think. In Homestuck it was established that the Trolls were already in contact with the Kids long before they entered Sburb, so showing a little bit of Karkat now already is an amazing marketing move.
Interestingly, the glimpse we get of Karkat is not on the meteor but on Alternia, clearly just before he entered the session.
I’m curious what that means. My guess would be that Karkat will interact with John during the pilot but won’t be shown, or only glimpses of him, and that this scene of him on Alternia will be a post-credits scene to reveal him.
Actually, seems like this could even be in reference to how in Homestuck he was shown at the end of the Intermission, in his room with Crabdadsprite and all!
And if there’s 2 post-credit scenes my money would be on a reveal/tease of WV, similar to how he was shown in between Act 1 and Act 2.
I’ve also got to talk about the strife with Dad. MAN that’s going to be so action-packed. Again, makes sense to make it much more dynamic for a cartoon, and would make it a bit more like Dave’s strife with Bro!
I love that Dad’s wallet sylladex modus was featured here. Which also confirms that sylladexes will be a thing here, hell yes!!!
Seems that the typical Pesterchum chats will be replaced with voice and/or Facetime-like chats. Absolutely makes sense, just watching the characters type all the time would NOT be interesting in a cartoon.
And getting these silly cartoony bubbles of the characters interacting, like how Dave is grabbing John’s head here, will be so much fun.
But Pesterchum will still be around, as evidenced by the frame around Dave. It makes me wonder if Pesterchum will be a hybrid text/voice app and chumhandles/typing quirks will still be a (limited) thing
And then we’ve got all the easter eggs! I especially love John coming from a hole in the wall that looks just like his Sprite Mode, that is absolutely genius.
We’ve also got a bunny keychain, John’s movie posters, and the Betty Crocker box. All clearly recognizable for the Homestuck fans, but their links to Con Air and the other movies or the Betty Crocker brand are not made explicit.
I think that makes sense, I assume featuring them in a cartoon could turn into a huge legal mess. So I could perfectly understand if the associations are never made explicit in the cartoon to avoid that, but that still makes them excellent easter eggs and I love the creators for doing that.
Also holy shit, if there was anything I didn’t expect to be adapted, it was Hussie’s self-insert. That’s going to be hella amazing.
Finally, I’ve GOT to talk about the cast and crew. I mean, Toby as John. Hell. Fricking. Yes????
I find it amazing that despite how mainstream Toby’s become, with Undertale and doing music for Pokémon and all that, he still comes back to his roots like this.
I mean, I’d understand that if the pilot gets picked up for a full series that Toby doesn’t stick around, but still. This is amazing.
I was absolutely blown away that they got Colleen O’Shaughnessey for Jade?? I mean, that’s a pretty dang huge name for this!! They got THE voice for Sonic the Hedgehog’s Tails, daaaaaaang!
The other names didn’t ring a bell for me, but if I look them up it seems they’ve all got plenty of experience, so this sounds very promising.
All in all, I’m REALLY looking forward to this pilot. I don’t want to put TOO much hope on it getting picked up for a full series. But I could already imagine it: pilot episode for Act 1, Acts 2 to 4 as the rest of Season 1, Hivebent and Midnight Crew as special/double episodes, Act 5 Act 2 as Season 2, Act 6 as Season 3… yes please!!!
While I was a bit harsh on [S] 8r8k, I've got to say that I've really, really enjoyed the content we've received since.
Let's walk through it a bit.
719: I'm really, really curious what these visions of John are supposed to be. It reminds me a bit of his mysterious cloud visions when he was first waking up as Dream John back in SBURB.
On one hand we see a white rift in a black empty void. I assume this is supposed to represent the rift that Vriska opened between Meat and Candy, and that this is some foreshadowing of what is going to happen in Meat.
A few of the visions are real simplistic, reminding me of some Homestuck Act 1 panels that would just show one or a few objects with little other details.
But it's all so vague, lol.
A pumpkin that is also a pie? An empty table with one chair? What could those even mean?
Then very intriguingly, a female figure on some kind of stage with curtains... and John's Warhammer of Zillyhoo?? I can't link it to any existing character, could it be someone from the new SBURB session?
Or is Meat John going to become a Sprite Squared, combined with something/someone else??
Because there are some very strange curves in the hair, but the top right part looks a bit like John's own hair, hmmm. Mysterious indeed!
Like, is this foreshadowing for Candy John's own future, a peak into Meat John's future, or something else entirely? Hard to say for sure.
720: Always fun to see the old Sprite Mode returning. And bonus points because it also references earlier moments in Hometuck of John waking up.
The meteor though. Too bad that it's actually gone :(
But discussing it with abundantChewtoys, he had a really interesting and good point. This is the biggest evidence so far that Calliope and Caliborn's original timeline is in fact Meat Earth C and not Candy Earth C, seeing as there is now no meteor left for them!
722: Honestly, this made me laugh out loud. It's like it now says "THANKS FAG", which sounds like an insane and deep-cut reference to Karkat referring to Vriska as FAG
724: Oh wow, on my first readthrough I honestly completely missed this was a page that could scroll to the right!
So many fun details here: Tavvy comforting Yiffy, Karkat getting Jake some clothes, Kanaya comforting Vrissy, Harry welcoming John and Roxy... OMG JOHN IS CARRYING THE STUNNED ROSE AND DAVE'S CORPSE, THAT IS PERFECT.
726: I've got to say... I wasn't expecting this. xD
I was expecting Vriska to either cut off an arm from Jane, or kill her entirely, but not cutting off her head and muzzling her and Jane still living, pfffffff
Very understandable that Roxy looks uh, kind of upset about it
727: I love how this implies that her "hell-tier" looks in the past pages wasn't just a dramatic aristic rendition but actually a form she can change to/from, kind of like she always did with her wings.
Also, that's an interesting new "normal" outfit. A gray jacket and red sneakers kind of like she used to wear in Hivebent, but also a long red 'scarf' along her middle just like Terezi.
KARKAT: BY THE BY, WAS TELLING ME VRISKA WAS BACK ON ANYONE'S AGENDA?
I find it hilarious that Karkat had absolutely no idea yet that Vriska was on Earth C at all. I could've sworn he did address it at some point but I guess I'm misremembering?
I love John, Karkat and Jake briefly talking about movies. Great throwback to their old interests.
728: I love how John and Jake are completely done with Jane's shit after everything that happened.
And seeing Karkat and Sollux argue is always a highlight.
729: I wonder how right Vriska is about this universe being played out. Is everyone truly going to be leaving this universe and go into the Meat universe, never to return to Candy?
Also, finally real confirmation that the Candy Kids will be playing SBURB!! I'm intrigued what their Classes and Aspects will be.
And... what is that session even going to look like? I mean, you'd assume all adults will also be entering the session, and you'd think they'd be WAY too overpowered for this game.
I mean, what could the Black Queen, Black King, Jack Noir or Denizens possibly do to them? Unless some REAL fucked up shit gets prototyped before entry, but what could that even be? They've already faced Gl'bgolyb and First Guardian prototypings, so what could possibly be worse and still pose a challenge?
...If Meat John gets prototyped, could it be that enemies gain retcon powers?? That would be absolutely insane.
VRISKA: No offense, 8ut isn't that what you're all stuck doing anyways? At least this way you could all see what an actual game looks like instead of the crapshoot you got stuck with.
This seems to imply they'd want the Kids to face all challenges of Sburb themselves, but... it seems unlikely to me the adults would just be doing... nothing? Or like, skipping to the end.
730: Honestly, when I first saw this panel I thought Vriska was using her new powers to basically just fuck off out of Candy by walking out of the panel and walking straight into Meat.
That would have been absolutely hilarious haha
VRISKA: Dude, whatever, I'm not doing this anymore. I have places to 8e and seers to see.
Seers multiple! I suppose she's aware that both Rose and Terezi are over there in Meat with Dirk?
I mean, she IS apparently aware of what Dirk did, and that Candy Dave made the jump over to Meat. Looks like her new powers also granted her some meta knowledge? Or did the Sprites give her some knowledge about this?
731: Who even is narrating this "YOU ARE COMING", I wonder? It's not in Alternate Calliope nor in Dirk's style of narration in any case.
742: I love how John can only ever be either blisfully unaware of everything, or ridiculously aware/ok with things you wouldn't expect, hahahaha
Like the "revelation" about the Condesce being Betty Crocker wasn't a huge deal for him, now he somehow immediately figures Dirk is the new bad guy, I love it.
This page is an absolute goldmine in interactions between all the characters, but at the same time... man, it hurts to see just how conflicted they all are with each other.
I'm really curious what Meenah meant that they all don't have to worry about Karkat not being around forever. Is Meenah planning on giving him the Ring of Life? Increasing his lifespan with the life of others like how The Condesce expanded the lifespan of the Ψiioniic? Cloning him? A blood transfusion??
Either way, it sounds kind of ominous.
743: Yeah, these pages with Candy Dave's corpse are kind of freaky xD
I love how his eyes still look identical to Baby Dave, and at the same time the black/white motif reminds me of his records.
I'm honestly surprised how NOW of all times John spills the beans to Roxy about having secretly talked to Terezi for such a long time.
744: It's really scary how in dead Dave's eyes, John and Jade almost look like skulls.
Karkat ranting about how he feels he needs to run this world reminds me of how Meat Karkat also came along with the journey despite having the least investment to go after Dirk and Rose.
But yeah, Candy Karkat seems to have even less reasons to come along, so I'm really curious where this is going. Is he going to get motivated to come along somehow after all, or is he going to stay behind? And if so, who else? Just Meenah?
746: Sweet callback to John flooring Vriska.
747: Honestly, I'm really curious where this story is taking Candy John. What is it going to take to make him feel better? Will he have to merge with Meat John at some point?
748: This is a really epic page. Full-on Guardian mode for the adults.
750: I love how Jane was the only one paying attention to what was going on.
752: Talking about epic pages! It's really interesting how Vriska's holding all of them with the red scarf.
And the portal kind of looks like an eye, but it also looks similar to the portal that Aradia, Candy Dave and Alternate Calliope escaped through earlier, I like that.
755: JOHN, NEVER CHANGE
756: I love the little details here. Jane's throwing her head down, similar to how back in Homestuck she threw her hat on the floor when she was frustrated. I wonder if the next time we see her she'll have been able to re-attach her head or something?
John has a big smile on his face, Rose is still messy in the head, and Meenah doesn't give a flying fuck
But yeah, I really wonder what the implications of this are going to be. The Kids have ties to most of them: John and Roxy are Harry's parents, Rose and Kanaya are Vrissy's parents, Jane and Jake are Tavvy's parents, and Rose and Jade are Yiffy's parents.
But that leaves Karkat and Meenah. Are they staying behind to run this world, similar to how Meat Jane and Meat Jake remained behind on their world (well, at least at first)?
But it kind of seems like the story wants to shift focus to the Meat timeline and bring along the people of the Candy timeline, so what would that mean? I think it's unlikely Meenah's getting completely written out of the story, and she's definitely got some plans with Karkat we still need to hear more about.
And what about Sollux? He left the conversation a little while ago so doesn't even know about the last developments. I suppose he'll go where Karkat goes?
Anyway, wow, we've finally reached the end of Act 1. What a wild ride it has been already!
It's interesting, Homestuck: Beyond Canon has now reached 756 pages, and in the original Homestuck that's about how many pages it took for the entirety of Acts 1 and 2 together.
Alright, time for some (belated) thoughts on [S] 8r8k! Poetic that I found the time to do this on 4/13, hahaha
My honest first thoughts? I thought it was a bit messy and chaotic.
I'm hardly ever negative about anything, but I really, really had a hard time following it in my first watch. I mean sure, in old Homestuck flashes I of course missed stuff on my first watch but what was going on in general was pretty clear.
Now there was just too many things happening, in overlapping scenes, way too fast after each other.
I only got a pretty good feeling on just what happened on my third or fourth watch, and that was only when I watched it on 50% speed on Youtube.
So yeah, for the first epic Homestuck flash in forever, that was unfortunately a little bit of a letdown for me.
But anyway, I really liked all the references to old Homestuck:
Meenah walking just like the Condesce did in [S] DD: Ascend more casually (or the Black Queen in [S] Jack: Ascend)
Meenah, Karkat and Kanaya being drawn in an art style similar to the Ancestors in the showdown of Vriska, Eridan and Gamzee
Tavvy jumping like Rose did in [S] Enter and doing a youth roll (bonus points for the song being Aggrievocation)
Karkat struggling with the corpse of Dave like Dave did with Bro/Lil Cal
The rocket heading for Yiffy like the meteor heading for John in the end of Homestuck's Act 1.
Jake being a big damn hero and saving Jade was pretty darn cool.
Jack Noir's return in the Imperial Droid / Bec Noir style robot and facing off with Karkat was unexpected but awesome… it was really unfortunate how short it was though. He got killed of very unceremoniously there. Plus, to be honest with how fast everything was going and the fact that tere was no real close-up of him I hadn't even realized it was Jack until the moment he was killed.
I was relieved to see that Rose's predictions about the future were indeed wrong and Vriska could stop the bullet from hitting her.
Speaking about Vriska though, holy shit hell tier looks awesome. And the way it ended with her fucking shit up and heading straight for Jane reminds me a bit of the end of [S] GAME OVER where it ended with the Condesce and Aranea.
Sorry for being ridiculously late with these reactions! It's been a really busy few months
I did keep up with the updates but didn't have much time to write anything down yet
695: I loved reading this letter, it's a fun reference to the early Homestuck birthday letters and Jake's letters to John/Jade.
It's also interesting rereading this in the present after [S] 8r8k already happened because it shows Tavvy and Yiffy did pretty much exactly what Tavvy said they would on this page haha
699: Yeah… at this moment I honestly believed for a while that Jade was a goner. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was kind of fearing we were getting into an [S] GAME OVER type of situation, and Jade's apparent death here only enhanced that feeling
I was so relieved later to see that she did survive after all haha
703 - 705: The interesting thing is that this fake Act 1 ending is pretty much exactly how the Act 1 of Homestuck ended, with John seemingly getting annihilated from above
The only difference is that John here really DID get blasted (along with Roxy and Calliope) and the meteor got destroyed, while in Homestuck John narrowly escaped
It's funny how it turned out they'd escape without barely a scratch though haha
707: This page though!!
On one hand it reminds me of the introduction of WV just after the end of the real Act 1, and on the other hand of course of the Trolls talking to the Kids in Homestuck
So yeah, it's heavily implied this is someone from Meat Dirk and Rose's species and will be playing the game together with the Candy kids. I'm just really curious what they're going to look like.
My guess it's going to be the 4 Candy Kids along with 4 of those Kids?
It's also funny how their abbreviation is GC and they're chatting with AG, lining up nicely with Terezi and Vriska's relationship.
They're also specificially referring to "TC's game", implying this TC character might play a similar role to Jade getting the B1 Kids to play Sburb and Sollux getting the A2 Trolls to play Sgrub.
There's honestly a lot of foreshadowing in this page. Looks like that AA will have access to the Skaian clouds, unless she's got some other kind of source telling her about the future.
I'm very curious when we'll officially get to meet these characters.
711: Looks like Terezi can feel Vriska is coming. "Something extremely significiant is on its way", haha
Man, their eventual reunion is going to be one hell of a thing to behold.
714 - 715: I love how despite all the dark stuff Dirk has been up to he can still sometimes be an absolute dork like this
My official reactions to [S] 8r8k will follow later when I can!
Ok it's been a busy few weeks but I finally got around to writing this reaction, haha
So, I was correct that we'd be getting a perspective switch to someone other than Vriska. The question is how long it will take before we see her again.
In a meta way I think page 888 would make the most sense. I suppose that means Vriska wouldn't play a role in the huge upcoming confrontation flash? Unless Vriska does escape 'hell' WITHIN the flash? Maybe we just get to see a silly montage of Vriska refusing to hug her other self, as a comic relief betweeen some other intense scenes, until she eventually does and then still plays a role in the confrontation.
We'll have to see!
But anyway, dang this was an intense update.
Jade made a shield to protect the ship in the upcoming battle. Does it mean Jade, Vrissy, Yiffy and Harry won't play much of a role in the confrontation then? I could see Yiffy and maybe Vrissy sneaking out like Tavros did but we'll see.
After reading this interaction between Rose and Jade I had to briefly reread the previous conversation between them and Kanaya again to fully understand what they were talking about (I mean wow it's already been 8 months since that update, time flies).
I love how they referenced the "hamster guy" again, which Jade talked about in that previous update as someone who cooked their hamster and apologized about it to Jade.
I'm very worried about where this is going with Rose. Her internal rambling about there being no truth reminds me of the early conversation with John about where the Candy timeline would be headed if John didn't face Lord English.
Rose claims she sees the future; that both Vriska and Jane will fail and "just about everyone" is going to fail. Calliope will sacrifice herself fruitlessly, Rose will be shot in the head…
That all sounds bad. Really, really bad. "[S] Game Over" type of bad.
But, the fact that it's stated out loud right now makes me think… it won't happen? Maybe Rose has it completely wrong and it's just impossible to get a definite look into the future of the Candy timeline. Or maybe Vriska will be able to change the tide here, to have things go completely differently.
If Rose does get in a comatose state however, that sounds eerily similar to the state of her physical body in the Meat timeline.
This does explain why Rose is not making a true effort to salvage her marriage with Kanaya though, because she wants Kanaya to move on from her if Rose is comatose.
I just hope it all doesn't go down that road.
Unless the plan of the creative team is to utterly decimate the Candy timeline and leaving only the ones who don't have a "duplicate" in the Meat timeline? I hope it doesn't come to that.
For one thing, let's not forget that the last time we saw Jade we saw she still had a captchalogue card of a corpse, implied to be Dave, which I assume will still play an important role in some way.
This update makes all of them look like Ancestors/Guardians again, especially the shot of Kanaya, Karkat and Meenah together. So epic. And also Jake coming from the shadows with only his glasses visible, feels like a classic Grandpa moment.
That scene though, holy shit… My thoughts went all over the place.
First I thought Jake successfully killed Jane when he shot her in the head. Then I thought Jane killed Jake when she started bashing him with his gun. And then I was so relieved to see Jake was still alive.
Poor, poor Jake. Just when you think he finally gets to do something incredibly important and stand up, destiny fails him.
But after Rose implied that a lot of people are going to get killed in the upcoming conflict, and Jake didn't die here yet, makes me hopeful that things will turn out differently than Rose expects them to.
I suppose there's nothing left to do but anxiously wait and see where the next update will go!
James Roach said in his news post an old, existing Homestuck song will be used in the flash. That makes me very excited.
But I wonder what unused song could be appropriate here? Is it Penumbra Phantasm? Something from Volume 10, or something way older? I have no clue, but I'm excited to find out.
I mean, I thought it was likely that Vriska was going to encounter her pre-retcon self here but everything around it went differently than I would have thought, haha.
First of all, I thought it was basically a certainty that this 8-ball would correspond to chapter/year 8, but instead it's only number 6! I suppose it does make sense though in hindsight, considering the association of this page with the number 6. :P
On the other hand, I was surprised that Vriska didn't complete this stage successfully and has NOT left hell yet.
I wonder if it means she IS going to stay stuck until year 8… and only exit by page 888? That would be pretty funny.
Anyway, about the actual content of this update.
First of all, I need to talk about… Fefetasprite.
I did NOT see it coming she would still make an appearance at the very end, after only being briefly mentioned earlier (and only when playing with the quirks setting on the website).
If all the Sprites were REALLY physically here with Vriska… Fefeta's appearance makes absolute zero sense, seeing as the only version we know of her exploded, and we know those pre-retcon versions of Nepeta and Feferi ended up separately in the Dreambubbles.
So is she the exception amongst the Sprites and just a fake ghost then? I love how Davepeta also treated her so vaguely here. It's like she was Schrödinger's Nepeta, hahahaha.
It's interesting how this update gave us appearances and talksprites for ALL Sprites that are still around in some way... other than Arquiusprite. It's still a bit unclear what happened to him after the Sburb session ended and before he'd end up part of Lord English.
Anyway, back to Davepeta. I also really loved how they made a reference to Super Smash Bros.'s Master Hand AND Disney's Mickey Mouse and Goofy. It's always amazing when there's a bit of overlap between some of my biggest interests (I'm a huge Disney and Super Smash Bros fan).
I like how Davepeta was sneakily trying to prepare Vriska for the confrontation with her pre-retcon self by hugging her.
I felt a bit sorry for Vriska, that she was so convinced she would finally see Terezi again, but instead she has to face herself. I definitely think this will lead to Vriska doing everything she can to find Terezi again as soon as possible, once she's out of this hell.
I was a bit confused by the beginning of the scene though. For a second I thought Vriska wasn't physically there and only experiencing a vision of her pre-retcon self spending time in the Dreambubbles with Terezi, as a follow-up to when we last saw them during [S] Terezi: Remem8er. It didn't help that the music in this scene, especially the first few notes, reminded me a lot of "Do You Remem8er Me", the song that played during [S] Terezi: Remem8er. Only then I realized it was actually OUR Vriska calling out to who she BELIEVED was Terezi but turned out to be her pre-retcon self.
But it makes sense, of course. Vriska wouldn't have had any idea that her pre-retcon self met up with Terezi eventually. As far as she was aware, she left her other self completely abandoned, so it makes sense that the ghost she faces is in the state she left her in.
It's interesting that pre-retcon Vriska didn't speak at all during the scene. Vriska will definitely have to face her again, but will she speak then or will it only be post-retcon Vriska who literally and figuratively needs to embrace her pre-retcon self?
Now the question is what the next update will be. Will it turn out there's another secret path on this same page, or are we finally moving on beyond page 666 into new frontiers?
It wouldn't surprise me if we now get a perspective switch and only return to Vriska much later, in time for page 888. Maybe it's time to see what Terezi is up to?
Ok, finally got around to writing a reaction to this update
I was very surprised to see Vriska was not in this update!
It's funny, because beforehand when looking at all the images for the different chapters, this was the one that seemed the most obvious, showing Davepeta's feather and implying another conversation between Vriska and Davepeta.
After the previous update, I was convinced it would be about Davepeta trying to help Vriska move on from the traumatic Doc Scratch conversation.
Instead, we get a surprise Jasprose appearance!
Again, I'm very happy about all the new talksprites we got in this update :D
And FINALLY we get an update addressing the bonus stories the old creative team made! I'm actually surprised it's in this way though, I thought that perhaps they would first integrate all the old bonus panels into the main comic, but apparently not.
On the other hand, the things Jasprose said here only briefly touched upon the events of the Catnappped bonus story, so perhaps when it properly focuses on them again there will first be the old panels (maybe a URL link, kind of like the old Homestuck days with some panels about the Exiles being on a separate page linked from a normal panel?).
Anyway, only after a while I realized something quite sad: this is only the first time in the entirety of Homestuck^2 that we see (a version of) Dave and Rose interacting. Because with the events of the Epilogues, both the Meat and Candy versions of Dave and Rose got entirely separated from each other.
And even now, Davepeta and Jasprose are in totally separate realities, only managing to talk to each other via sprite magic.
If you start thinking even harder about it, Jasprose is technically from the Meat timeline while Davepeta originates from neither seeing as they weren't on Earth when the timeline split happened.
Though I guess you could wonder, IS there a Candy Jasprose? What if she was also outside of the normal reality when the timeline split and there really is only one version of her as well? Then the same thing could be true about Gcatavrosprite, Erisolsprite (wherever the hell he suddenly came from) and Nannasprite (ok not entirely, there's 2 versions of her but that's already from before the Meat-Candy split, haha).
That's something to think about.
Anyway, let's talk more about the actual content of this update, haha.
I like how the music utilizes the Sunsetter leitmotif, referencing the Davesprite song that was already used for Dave's walkaround music in Openbound.
So, all chapters now retroactively got names, with this one being Chapter X. Makes sense to not be a number, when all the other numbered chapters follow Vriska and seem to indicate in what year they're taking place.
Does it mean the next update, the 8-ball path, will be "Chapter 8" and take place in year 8? It would make sense thematically, as well as be an excellent transition with how this conversation between Davepeta and Jasprose ended.
It's also good to know that in the outside world only an hour or so should have passed. I mean, obviously they wouldn't have let years pass by, but it also means that Vriska isn't INSTANTLY back from the perspective of John, Roxy, Calliope and Sollux. What will have happened there in the meantime? Will Vriska be returning at a very climatic moment?
It's interesting that Jasprose claims she's only been in Midnight City for a night. But on the other hand, it's basically always night there! So she might as well have spent a pretty long time there, who knows!
I like that they addressed this Rose's alcohol problem. Good to hear she's not fallen off the wagon!
Dang, Gcatavros and Erisol weren't lying. That WAS traumatizing.
I like that we did get a conversation with Gcatavros and Erisol after all, with the perfect music especially for Erisol. I wasn't expecting it anymore after Vriska already faced her Tavros ghost and an off-screen Eridan ghost.
I wasn't surprised that we saw Doc Scratch again, it was the most likely option for the cueball, but man. It went harder than I thought. The English-theme in the background hammered it in even more.
This is where it truly became a hell for Vriska.
I suppose the next conversation, with the Davepeta feather, will be Vriska trying to move on from this in a conversation with Davepeta?
It makes sense that this is the one path where Vriska didn't need to come to some kind of realization of her own. She just needed to face and acknowledge what Doc Scratch did to her instead of ignoring or minimizing it.
I love the way they handled his white text here, to make it readable without needing to highlight the text, but at the same time retain his signature style.
The text appearing slower, with the typewriter sound effect, was brilliant. That's indeed the way he always typed, and Vriska just knew him from his text messages.
On the other hand, she wasn't surprised by the way he looked, so did he ever show himself to her?
I know he appeared in front of a very young Kanaya, and distracted Aradia and Terezi while Vriska paralyzed Tavros, but I don't know if it was ever mentioned that he appeared in front of Vriska too.
Also, with the way Vriska responded to him, I'm guessing she never realized his link to Lord English, he was always just a manipulating creep to her.
I wonder if Davepeta has some knowledge on it that they will share with Vriska?
Man, that was yet another amazing update to this page.
So, we're already in year 4 now! I don't remember seeing the year 3 message? I suppose it means her reconciliation with Aradia and Tavros happened during year 3? Then I guess the remaining paths here will be in years 5 to 7 respectively, and Vriska finally gets out at year 8?
Vriska's definitely grown over the years, both figuratively AND literally! Her talksprite's starting to look more like a grown-up compared to the previous conversations, that's so cool.
I love how my theories on who Vriska would talk to during this Mindfang journal path (Eridan or Aranea) proved to be completely wrong.
Nannasprite was DEFINITELY not what I was expecting, and before we got to this page 666 I'd have never thought such a sweet conversation between Vriska and Nannasprite was even a remote possibility.
I've always enjoyed the conversations we got with Nannasprite during Homestuck, it was just a shame how few there really were. But this one's definitely another amazing addition to it.
And hey, I'm not complaining about how many new talksprites we're getting here!
I'm so glad we finally get to see Nannasprite's thoughts on the dark path Candy Jane is on, and more of an insight on her feelings about her own life.
Heh, Vriska calls Nannasprite "a real one". I know what it means in normal conversations, but I can't help again but think about how the ghosts of her past that Vriska meets are all meant to be "fake" imaginations made up of Vriska's memories of them, while for the Sprites it's much less clear.
These conversations with the Sprites feel much more real, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Sprites are REALLY here with Vriska. Which makes Vriska's remark that Nannasprite is "a real one", and Nannasprite's response to it, so much funnier.
The conversation between John and Vriska where they bonded over the similarities with their ancestors was always one of my favorite and most memorable conversations between them, so I love how Vriska referenced it again now.
It's a shame Vriska's conversations with Eridan, John and Kanaya all happened off-screen, those were definitely all people she had special relationships with that could use some sorting out, but I understand that they didn't decide to show it. Knowing what her conversations with Aradia and Tavros were like, you can make somewhat of a guess what it would be like with these people as well. And hey, it's pretty likely we're still going to get more conversations between Vriska and the real John/Kanaya in the future, so that's fine and still something to look forward to.
And then Vriska's conversation with "Momfang"…. Jegus CHRIST.
That was a horrifying combination I never expected, but it makes so much sense. They are her 2 "moms" in a way, who basically made her into who she was. So there was a lot to unpack there and a lot to deal with, and those issues are intricately connected to each other.
The way Spidermom pops up in Mindfang's hair, in her arms, or even replaces her face… It's so creepy, and I love it. It gives me goosebumps.
This way we also finally get to see Spidermom "talk"! I think that's only the second time we ever see a Lusus talk, right? I think Kanaya's Mothersprite was the only other Lusus we ever saw talk on-screen, when she comforted Kanaya (ironically enough because of what Vriska did).
I feel sad for Vriska that Momfang's dialogue confirms that Spidermom never truly cared about her. It confirms that Spidermom truly was a really really bad custodian and only cared about her own survival. I wonder what she was even like as a Sprite, which are SUPPOSED to be helpful and guide the players.
I love how Mindfang talks as a narrator here, the only way Vriska ever knew her. And yet, in some of Mindfang's dialogue it's also like she's not just Mindfang here, but also Vriska's Mindfang PERSONA from her flarping days, referring to the actions Vriska did as something "we did".
Which makes it a bit like Vriska's also talking to her own past self here (which may even get more literal if eventually the 8-ball path on this page does lead to her talking to either her past self or her pre-retcon self).
I also like how Vriska acknowledges that Vrissy's powers are different from hers, that she's capable of doing other things, like manipulating humans.
And I love how Vriska's finally truly rejecting what Spidermom and Mindfang did to her life, how different she could have been. Which makes me wonder what Vriska would have been like on Beforus? What does a Vriska look like who was free to make her own path?
And now Vriska finally gets to walk away from that. I love this.
It all just makes me so curious, what will the cueball path be about?? I'm like at least 88% ( ;) ) sure that Vriska will be talking to Doc Scratch in it (god I'd love to see his smug style again even if just for a little bit, AND to get a talksprite!) and that it will be about his manipulation of her, but what will Vriska gain from it?
Will it also be about Doc Scratch's link with Lord English (which could be an excellent tie-in to Vriska's next conversation after that, with presumably Davepetasprite^2)?
It's also notable how both the flarping manual and Mindfang's journal paths have had conversations with 2 different characters: Tavros and Aradia in the first path, and Nannasprite and Momfang in the second path (ok technically that makes 3 characters in this path but whatever).
So in the cueball path, will Vriska talk to someone else before Doc Scratch first? Who could it be then?
If we're talking about Doc Scratch and Lord English, then I'm of course reminded of how they're partly made up of Gamzee and Arquiusprite, so could it be we're going to see one of them? My guess would be that Arquiusprite is the most likely one, but it's notable that we didn't see him with all the other Sprites before.
Anyway, this was another amazing update and I'm looking forward to how Vriska's journey through hell continues.
Homestuck: Beyond Canon (reactions page 666 up to and including "flarp manual" path)
Woah, I didn't even have the time to write down my reaction the initial update before the second update of this page already arrived, hahaha
I'm a big, big fan of where this is going.
After Vriska's first initial conversation with Erisolsprite and Davepetasprite^2 upon arriving in "hell" I already had kind of high hopes of the potential where this was going, and it's definitely exceeding it.
She's making up with Tavros and Aradia, the conversations are glorious, and I'm not even mad that these Tavros and Aradia aren't actually really there. That may even be the BEST part.
It's providing Vriska some real and amazing character development, while not even giving her the "reward" of it ACTUALLY improving her relationship with them.
This shows Vriska what her relationship with Tavros COULD have been if she hadn't done all those awful things to him. But in "real life", she DID do all those things to him, and now he's gone (his pre-retcon self at least), and his post-retcon self is stuck as a Sprite.
So I really hope that in the future we get to have a "real" conversation between this grown Vriska and Gcatavrosprite, I'm very interested how that will turn out.
I find it hilarious that the way for Vriska to get past the Tavros "stage" was for her to finally listen to him and what he wanted to do… which was basically what he was already trying to say to her the first day she got there, but she just wouldn't listen and repeated the same mistake she made all those years ago, trying to make Tavros "braver" and stand up to her, and be more like herself. But it was never what he really needed.
Man, the 2 Pages (Tavros and Jake) sure have been having some amazing scenes these past few updates.
Also "based on the rules of gay, we both have to shut up and game" may be one of the best quotes Beyond Canon has delivered us so far, hahahaha.
The way Tavros could get under Vriska's skin in this update was brilliant.
I absolutely love all these references and callbacks to early Hivebent, what with Tavros not fitting in his recuperacoon, cavalreapers, flarping, etc.
And at the end, the visual callbacks to Vriska's fight with Aradia and her ascension to God Tier (with her instead now climbing her helltier echeladder, I LOVE IT!)
Of course, the return of the look-and-feel of the Alterniabound-like talksprites and conversations is also absolutely great (plus the fact that we even got a Sprite Mode of her in this outfit at the end with the helltier echeladder is also a nice bonus).
I'm very curious just what the rest of her stay here will be.
Originally, I was pretty much convinced she'd stay at least 6 years here (because 666) and possibly even 8 years (because Vriska). But I'm kinda shocked that already in year 2, she's making this kind of progress.
So if she's really going to stay so long here, what else is going to take her so long?
Once we got to see Aradiabot I wondered if it meant Vriska was going to see Terezi next (so that in this "flarping book" path she'd get to see all of her old flarping partners). But she didn't, not in this path anyway.
But if I think about it, perhaps it would be even better if she never gets to see (a fake) Terezi during her stay here?
Aradia's dialogue here that some people would be willing to be friends with Vriska even if she's "useless", instantly makes me think of Terezi.
If there's one person who truly cares a lot about Vriska, it's Terezi.
I mean, Terezi even sacrificed her comfortable life on Earth C to go out there for a long time and search for Vriska. Sure right now she's ended up with Dirk and trying to save John's life, but it doesn't mean she wouldn't still want to find Vriska.
So, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole helltier will eventually end up with Vriska also wanting to find Terezi. And dear god, I'm so looking forward to an eventual reunion.
But anyway, that raises the question of what else will be happening in [S] Begin Session. If the "flarping manual" path is about reconciling with Aradia and Tavros, what will the other paths be about? What other conversational partners will she have?
The feather path seems like a giveaway that it will be Vriska talking to Davepetasprite^2 again.
There's Mindfang's journal, which I'm sure will be about Vriska's introspection of how she practically based her entire personality around her ancestor's journal. But the question is, who will she talk to about it?
It would be very interesting if she talks to (a fake) Aranea here, who is pretty much the best possible substitution for Mindfang for her to talk to.
But what will that be like? I don't think this post-retcon version of Vriska ever met Aranea, right? It was only ever her pre-retcon version that encountered her.
So if she really does meet Aranea here, that ought to be interesting.
I'm curious about the cueball path. I mean, that will probably be about Doc Scratch's manipulation of her, but who could she talk to about that? I'd be down for (a fake) Doc Scratch to return here, but I kinda doubt it. But I'm not really sure who else would be a good conversational partner for her about that. Maybe Arquiusprite???
Then we have the 8-ball path, which is the object most closely associated with Vriska herself. I'd love it if she gets confronted with (a fake version of) her pre-retcon self who already went on a huge path of character development and this Vriska didn't want to believe/face it.
Ok wow, my mind went ALL OVER the place while (and after) reading this update.
Before starting the update, I expected Vriska to end up in just some kind of generic black space within the Black Hole.
But this… it seems like she's in some kind of Dreambubble emulating her old hive? Except we never saw an ocean, pirate ship or horses near her home. I would rather associate those with memories of pre-retcon Vriska who saw horses in the Dreambubbles and went on this exact same kind of pirate ship on the treasure quest for finding the Plot Hole.
So that thought made me think at first that Vriska was somehow going to encounter her pre-retcon version here.
Though in the meantime abundantChewtoys has seen an interesting Tumblr post which indicates that perhaps this ocean was always there near her hive and we just never saw it, so I'm willing to believe it really does just represent her hive.
But her seeing the SPRITES??? That I DEFINITELY did not expect.
How is that even possible?
Like, I could understand Davepetasprite^2 being here. Last we saw of them they rode Lord English into the black hole, and the only thing we know for sure arrived on Candy Earth was one of Davepeta's feathers. So if Davepeta was still stuck somewhere in the black hole, I could kind of understand that.
But the other sprites?? We haven't seen Erisolsprite since the end of the Game Over timeline, and sure there was speculation that he also survived and came along with LOWAS to the post-retcon timeline, but how would that explain him ending up here??
It makes even less sense with Gcatavrosprite and the Nannasprites, in the official Credits we saw they came to Earth.
But what makes the least sense of ALL is Fefetasprite's presence here. We KNOW she died. She exploded, and the ghosts of Feferi and Nepeta then joined the ghost treasure hunt until they left with Sollux.
So there's no explanation for Fefetasprite physically being here. The only thing I could imagine is that the ghosts of Feferi and Nepeta got stuck in the black hole, and due to Dreambubble-like appearance mumbojumbo majykks (where we know ghosts can just change their clothes) they "changed" into their Fefetasprite form here.
It's notable however that we haven't really seen the Nannasprites, Gcatavrosprite and Fefetasprite (other than a brief emoji) speak yet. And that we haven't actually SEEN Fefetasprite, just the brief emoji dialogue. Is it an indication they are not actually physically there and just some kind of memory/projection? Kind of like how the ghosts behind that window (in reference to Vriska's old kills) are presumably not actually there, and like how Doomed John found (a memory of his) Dad in the Dreambubbles but Dad couldn't actually really be there.
Are ANY of the Sprites actually there, or is Vriska just dreaming/hallucinating?
And are these sprites the Meat versions or Candy versions? ARE there multiple versions of them or not (I would except there are, at least for the Nannasprites and Gcatavrosprite here)?
It's also interesting to note that there's no indication yet that Arquiusprite is here. It's still the question how he eventually ends up with Caliborn to be sucked into Lil Cal (I think there was a theory he placed himself into Lil Seb?).
Also, no Jasprosesprite^2. I mean, we know in the Meat timeline she was on Earth and went on her side adventure with Jane. But even if we assume there's no separate Candy Jasprosesprite^2, take into account that the Jaspersprite in there is from the pre-retcon timeline and we never really found out what happened to the post-retcon Jaspersprite.
God, there's just so many questions about this.
Anyway, if the Sprites are going to help Vriska do some reflection, does it mean they're going to try and teach her about the lessons her pre-retcon version learned? Are they going to make her REMEMBER, and open up to her ultimate self?
I'm really curious where this is going, and just how much of the above will actually be explained haha
Short update, short reaction post! (Only just got back from a holiday in France so only had the chance to read it now)
Huh, okay perhaps I shouldn't have been building up too high hopes for this first [S] page, expecting it to be like an "End of Act" [S] page tieing everything together. That was still a very small one.
I love how John kind of lampshades it with him expecting something more plot significant to happen.
Nonetheless, I like what they did with this page we did get, with using the familiar leitmotifs, and even a reference to an old panel of Vriska behind her computer on the meteor.
Of course Vriska went in without thinking. But what now?
Doesn't seem like the portal will be switching her with someone, though I wonder what the hourglass means, and why it keeps spinning. Will the singularity just spit her back out if some time passes?
Alternate Calliope's dialogue at the end seems to imply next page may be a [S] page, a bigger one, but let's just wait and see for now.
Oh man, finally we know what the Plot Point looks like!
I'm honestly surprised that I actually called it that it would be a Hiveswap-like Cherub portal!! :O
I mean, if you put the images side by side it does look pretty different, but in essence it's the same (a portal, 2 adult Cherubs on either side).
The question is, will it WORK the same? In Hiveswap it swapped 2 persons from different universes, is that also what's going to happen here?
I mean, it's implied that Meat Dirk has got a similar portal that he didn't want Terezi to find, so I would think it's highly likely that both are connected in some way.
But does it mean Vriska will swap with someone from the Meat timeline? If so, who even? It would be poignant if she swaps with Terezi and they just briefly catch a glimpse of each other on their way past each other. But on the other hand, Terezi's still got Meat John's corpse on her and that seems to be building up to her prototyping him in the Deltritus SBURB session. It would be kind of strange if she doesn't go there after all.
In terms of persons switching with each other, I can't imagine anyone else other than Vriska and Terezi though.
I talked about it a bit with abundantChewtoys. If you look at the machine in the middle it kind of looks like a black hole. What if this can grow larger and absorb the entire meteor… or perhaps even the entire Earth? Kind of exactly like how Caliborn entered his SBURB session.
But instead it brings the entire Candy Earth to the Meat timeline.
I think narratively that's the option that makes the most sense. Both Meat and Candy storylines can be merged together again, while preserving all characters.
Nobody from the Candy timeline would be left behind… except perhaps for The Felt who may still be on the moon? I guess that's fine, Meat should have their own versions of the Felt as well hahahahaha.
Perhaps Jane will resort to activating her moon laser and just as it's about to strike, the black hole absorbs the Earth and transports it away before the laser can hit it?
I like the thought of this more and more, but we'll have to wait and see what actually happens.
One thing I find remarkable though is the coloring on the 2 Cherubs there. One's blue with a white orb in its mouth, the other is black and white with a black ball in its mouth.
What does that even mean?
The white ball and the black ball remind me a bit of the Cueball and the 8-ball. The blue Cherub reminds me of Void colors, the black and white Cherub reminds me of Serenity, Alternate Calliope's clothing, or Meat Calliope's dream spiral. Very curious.
Also, I heard the music preview James Roach shared: that definitely sounds like music for an [S] page about this portal, what with the Umbral Ultimatum and English motifs (I'm so happy that old leitmotifs are coming back!).
Finally, I just want to mention how I love how much the team has been using Sollux lately. He's absolutely hilarious (though I kind of hope he will get to have a bigger role again eventually and won't JUST be comic relief).
This has GOT to be my favorite Homestuck^2/Beyond Canon update so far.
I've always loved the potential of what Jake COULD become and this update really makes some amazing strides to that. I love that he manned up against Jane and showed her how a bad mother she's been and that he somehow did not blow his rebellion cover (which I really thought the update was leading to at first, psyche!).
On the other hand, Jane did reveal now that she realized Jake was gone for a while and stayed with John, while earlier she did convincingly pretend she didn't know he was gone at all. Could it be she IS aware or at least suspects him of spying for the rebellion?
What if the story about the laser on the moon is fake and she just wants to see if the rebellion takes the bait so she knows how Jake's allignment really is?
In any case, I'm so happy to see Jake's fully convinced himself here that he can't let Jane win. The question is just, what is he going to do about it?
I assume he's going to inform the rebellion about the laser, but what else? IS he really going to confront Jane himself? And if so, what will be the result of that? Can he truly kill her, or will he hesitate and will it cost him his own life in the process? :(
I don't know how Jane's response would be to Jake truly confronting her. Would she be horrified in a good way, that she finally realizes she's gone too far and lays her weapons down, or would she just completely flip her shit?
I doubt we're going to get a repeat of the Game Over timeline with both of them dying together (at least I hope not), but I'm really unsure of who will make it out alive here…
God, it would be awful if the upcoming flash is like [S] GAME OVER 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO and basically everyone but the kids end up dead. That's a horrifying thought which I will choose to ignore for now.
Anyway, enough paranoia, back to the awesome stuff!
I'm absolutely AMAZED by the reference to the old snapchats!!! All this time it's been so unclear whether they were supposed to be considered canon or not, and now we know for sure!!
But this changes A LOT! Because it means The Felt is here (already shown in this update), Ms. Paint is here, but also that JACK NOIR is here.
Last time we saw Jack in the snapchats he was both literally and figuratively put on a leash by Jane. Is he still under her control? Is she going to use him as some kind of secret weapon? And if so, in what form? Like, ok, he doesn't have the queen's ring anymore so he's definitely not as powerful anymore as he used to be with those First Guardian powers, but does he have robotic enhancements or has he perhaps gone full crockertier like when Jane was under The Condesce's control?
Brain Ghost Dirk was also absolutely golden in this update. I'm a bit sad about the implications that we're not going to see him again though (at least on Candy Earth, perhaps he will still pop up with Meat Jake).
I mean, yeah, like they said Brain Ghost Dirk is perhaps more Jake than he is Dirk, but he does kind of represent what a truly GOOD Dirk could be. Which made me personally hope that, like briefly happened in the Game Over timeline, Jake was going to make Brain Ghost Dirk truly physically real. But alas, doesn't seem like that's in the cards anymore.
Which also reminds me of how Nannasprite represents what a truly good Jane can be. It would be nice to see Nannasprite again and see Jake interacting with her.
In any case it was nice seeing a bit of the good side of Jane again in this update (hopefully she wasn't faking it of course). Yet, at the same time it's like she's becoming a walking Star Wars reference what with her moon laser (Death Star) and army of clones (Stormtroopers).
I love the detail in Jake's and Brain Ghost Dirk's emerald eyes, it reminds me of some of those panels back in Act 5 Act 2 with the eyes of the kids being shown in close-up.
Also, quick shout-out to the Hiveswap reference there, with Jane speculating about what other kids of Jake could be like! It's nice seeing such a cross-reference. Which reminds me of how I've been speculating that The Point is a portal similar to the one in Hiveswap, except for connecting the Meat and Candy timelines.
Briefly seeing (a living) Gamzee again in this flashback panel, for the first time in Beyond Canon, gave me goosebumps. I've always loved him best when he's SCARY AS FUCK
Finally, not too much attention went to it but for the first time we got to see all 4 kids (Harry, Tavros, Yiffy and Vrissy) together in one panel! That's a very notable milestone.
It's the combination of all these things that make me incredibly in love with this update. This was just so good.
Let me end this post with just one final thought: I'm looking forward SO HARD to 6/12 right now. Bring it ON! :D
Finally we get to see (any version of) Karkat again, it's been so long! I love how he adresses it himself in a meta way with that "KEPT YOU WAITING, HUH" (which hilariously also reminds me of Snake's introduction video in Super Smash Bros. Brawl).
Also, the "big kahuna" thing is a fun callback to how Meenah insisted Jake called her during their last conversation.
I love how much Karkat and Meenah visually resemble the Sufferer and The Condesce lately, fits just right in with how Dirk and Rose were now looking similar to Bro and Mom in the latest update.
Karkat's interactions with Meenah and Sollux are still absolutely golden. Especially love the callback to Hivebent back when Karkat (jokingly) asked Sollux if they were still friends, and now Sollux is doing it to him.
Pffff, the LOBsTERs. Such a silly name and clear A-Team/Rambo rip-off, but I love it. It also clearly shows how Karkat isn't just fighting for/with the Trolls but also has help from all OTHER kingdoms (the Consorts, Carapaces AND Humans!)
Karkat's going with barely any of sleep again, kind of like he did during SGRUB.
Anyway, it's really clear that this is building up to a serious confrontation with Jane. In fact, the very last page here kind of feels like how back in the Homestuck days you'd just know the next page would be an [S] one.
And it would make so much sense for it to drop on 6/12
Except, James Roach his newspost is saying we're still getting another update later this month. So is the [S] page still dropping later this month after all, or will there be one more update for build-up before the real deal?
I'm looking forward SO HARD to that [S] page. It's been so long since we've had one in Homestuck^2, and it'll be the first time for a "proper" one (seeing as the previous [S] pages here were just the God Tier clock and Sollux watching Aradia disappear).
I'm guessing this [S] page will probably be the closure of "Act 1", the question is just what exactly will happen in it?
I'm assuming it will involve pretty much everyone in the Candy timeline (though I wonder what role the kids would play in it exactly?), I'm curious to see if it will also deal with the Meat timeline (will it show Dirk's timeskip and the chasing ships arriving?).
My guess is it will also reveal what exactly "The Point" is. Will it be a Hiveswap-like portal that can transport them to the Meat timeline? Will it be a device that will transport the meteor and everyone on it?
Oh man if the entire meteor gets transported and Jane's ship(s) get left behind that would also be an interesting callback to when Jane entered SBURB and saw the Condesce's ship flying overhead.
If instead they come through a similar portal device on the Meat meteor it would be funny to see their reactions what with how all the Creators are currently gone from that planet (either going to Deltritus or on a little adventure with Jasprosesprite^2).
And will it already be time for Deltritus to start their SBURB session in the next update or not yet?
And what could even be the song? Something composed by James Roach himself, perhaps? Will it be an entirely new song, an existing Homestuck song, or a new song using some existing Homestuck motifs in it?
As for the name of the page, I'm going all-in on "[S] Get to The Point" :D
Alright, I've already read the 4/13 update a couple of days ago but only just found a bit of time to write a bit about it.
Though it's clearly not the exact same, Dirk's headphone there on page 602 reminds me a bit of the album art for "Beyond Canon" on the Homestuck bandcamp.
With just how wide the panel is on page 603, it reminds me of some of those pages in the latter part of Homestuck where we could scroll from left to right for an incredibly wide panel.
There on Dirk's monitor is clearly an Incipishere, with Skaia, Prospit, The Veil en Derse clearly depicted. An indication that the session is "already here" and Dirk's found a way to monitor it? In that case it's practically guaranteed they will be able to start the session eventually.
Those creatures in the tanks are a clear reference to the chesspiece monsters on the Trolls' meteor. Even with some black and white chesspiece-like fluids in the tubes on the left and right (do those contain the DNA/slime/whatever of Dirk and Rose's respective species?).
And then suddenly the art style shift for Sprite Mode!!! Though I wonder, is this new version of the Sprite Mode also going to be used from now on for all other adult characters, both in Meat and Candy? Or only for Dirk, Rose and Terezi (I like how they resemble Bro, Mom and Redglare now)?
Would be somewhat funny if we get an [S] page at one point of the confrontation between Dave and Dirk as a reference to Dave and Bro's rooftop battle, complete with Dave still being depicted in his "kid" Sprite Mode while Dirk is depicted just like Bro.
I wonder what exactly the automation is that Terezi made for the Deltritus population. Is it like an Exile command terminal being controlled by an AI that gives the Deltritus population suggestions? Is it something like Dirk's Auto-Responder that the Deltritus people will be able to talk to?
With how Dirk refers to a "conditional map that prompts them" I'm also reminded of Terezi's LOWAS Google Maps map for John back in the day, hehe.
These pages are making it very, very clear how Terezi does not approve at all of what Dirk is doing, and honestly it's kind of ominous how in page 608 he overshadows her (reminds me of those wiggly lines of death or whatever we called those in the Murderstuck days).
It's now being very heavily implied that Terezi will want to make a Johnsprite in the new Deltritus session. The question is if she will be succesful or not? The way it's being kind of hyped up makes me afraid it's all a red herring and we're really never going to see Meat John again. :(
Man, Dave and Jade really are going to freak the fuck out if/when they get confronted with Robot Rose and Corpse John.
I think Dirk really is onto something with what he believes Terezi wants to do here. Feeling guilt and trying to rectify (what she finds to be) her mistakes is kind of a recurring theme with her, like with the dead Johns and Daves back in the session, or even the whole cycle of revenge between the Trolls, but especially of course the end of the Game Over timeline when she sent John on the quest with the scarf to create the new timeline.
I wonder how much Rose really heard of the conversation between Dirk and Terezi. I assume she only just walked in near the end of it and didn't hear Dirk basically threatening to take Terezi out of the picture? Otherwise I'd kind of expect more of a reaction coming from her.
The way Rose is now depicted with the hood is a nice throwback to when she just became God Tier
Again and again the "real" Rose seems to surface every now and then, with doubts on what she and Dirk are doing. I really hope she will eventually truly come back to her senses. Perhaps once she needs to face Kanaya (oh man, what if when the other guys arrive we get both a Dave-Dirk fight and a Rose-Kanaya fight :o )?
So, Dirk's population will live on the land, while Rose's will live in the water. Kind of like how there were both landdwelling and seadwelling Trolls? The question is how well their species will be getting along.
It's interesting to get a bit of insight into Dirk's insecurities here, with him being worried that he loses Rose and her interest in him and his goals. It makes me wonder, is this also somewhat how Bro felt about Dave, trying too desperately to make Dave interested in him and Bro's interest, leading them to their incredibly toxic situation?
To top it all of, Dirk resting his head on Rose reminds me a lot of Dave resting his head on Dirk when they had their private conversation just before [S] Collide would take place.
Man, this 4/13 update didn't have John and Dave featured nor were they even directly referenced but this update sure did make me think a lot of them, haha
