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Mar 23

Starting a rebellion one train car at a time

A lengthy explanation of each car's themes and their relation to rebellion.

Okay so I finished Hiveswap Act 2 last night, and I have to say it was both the most fun and also the most taxing thing I've ever done in the span of like 1 day because it took me well over 10 hours to actually beat most of the games content and see everything the game had to offer, minus a few of the lesser bad endings.

My overall opinion on the game is that it's actually pretty good, but that most of it's content is relegated to just one portion of the game and that the rest of the game is not nearly as fleshed out as that one solid portion. The Teal Trial also loses points in its enjoyablility purely for the fact that its both really long, and there's no way to really see all the endings for it unless you were smart enough to keep certain items on you once you get to this car.

However, I want to actually just talk about each train car in Hiveswap act 2, and how the message of the game in general is trying to show both you and Joey just what it would actually take to "unite" all the trolls as one.

Starting with the "Rust" car. Something interesting about this car is that while it is both the car with the most trolls, it's also the least "connected" car as in the inhabitants of it aren't really united in anyway other then their lower blood color.

Sure we can see in the background at least that many of the rust colored trolls are just hanging out and are friends, this is more like a large gathering of strangers on a subway than a unified group of people. It's not like the Jades or Teals or Golds who have seemingly all congregated together out of necessity and formed their own social community.

The trolls you can talk to on this train car in order to leave it also don't have many demands that you need to fulfill, and some of them don't even want you to help them (Lol Diemen you lil hotdog weirdo...) Marsti wants to just clean and Scylla wants medicine for her dog, but it takes very little to actually leave the room as you just need to tell Marsti that you have a "good reason" for leaving (That being that you're helping Scylla's lusus) And afterward she just moves aside because she was actually joking the whole time and actually had no real intentions of bossing either of you around.

I think its pretty telling that the rust car is the easiest one to leave because you basically don't have to do much of anything for anyone. You can promise to try and look for medicine to help Scylla's Lusus but during the adventure you don't actually find any. The Rust car is the easiest to leave and has the least amount of demanding quests because in general the Rust bloods just want to live a pretty normal life that is just barely above the meager means they already have. None of them want for much of anything higher then a decent life, but are denied even that based purely on their blood color. The low amount of actual "solidarity" or connection they have with one another is simply due to all of them needing to survive just barely on this hell planet that wants to cull them in order to thin the herd a little.

It wouldn't take a lot for them to actually have the motive to revolt, but the thing that stops them is the oppressive nature of the Alternian government and the way the society is built in the first place. That, and well a lot of the Rustbloods seem to just have incredibly low self esteem and are unable to even see themselves as fighters or people who could potentially stand a chance against bigger opponents.

In contrast to them, the Gold and Olive car is a little different, you can see the trolls here have formed more connections with one another and are all almost entirely paired together. The Gold and Olive's also all seems to be dealing with different health defects and disabilities, and are hindered mostly by the fact that they will be used as hard labor or soldiers in the future, or culled if they're not "strong" enough.

Given the fact that these trolls are a little more capable then the last what with them literally have Pyschic powers on their side, it does make you wonder why they don't really revolt, and I think the drastic health problems a lot of them have is the answer. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of health care provided for these specific trolls, and some of them are bound to be just murdered when they're older for not being useful enough.

All the gold's on this part of the train car are obsessed with appearing as strong as possible, and not weak almost as if they're overcompensating for the fact they could be struck down by any roaming drone if they ARE weak. I get the sense that because the Olive trolls are all kind of based off of different animals and even have animal like features that the reason they're even paired together with the Gold's is due to them being useful foot soldiers in the future.

They also all seem to be the only few trolls who are legitimately employed unlike the last car. Even though later on Xefros just straight up says that money on Alternia is pretty useless and everyone just gets an "allowance" or whatever, each olive and gold still makes money on their own time anyway.

It's apparent that the reason the only way to leave this car is by a test of strength against another troll is because these trolls kind of have nothing but their own strengths to make it out there. They are lowbloods but that doesn't mean they have to let other people push them around, and being pushed around could mean flat out death. I think because each of them already are well aware of what lies ahead of them in the future, they're more secure and have more self-worth then the Rustbloods, but they still suffer from the system because they're being forced to fend for themselves when they're clearly struggling with a lot of ailing disabilities. Most of them seem to have to rely on their own support network in order to have accessibility anywhere on this planet.

The Teal and Jade car was my favorite car for a reason it's also the only car that really feels totally and completely fleshed out with its own cool unique theme. I feel like this car showcases just about everything actually wrong with the Midblood troll castes. For one, the Jade's are obviously structured to live like nuns and a dysfunctional family and sisterhood, but they're all so tightly controlled that they aren't even really allowed to fraternize with other blood castes. And what's unique about that is that it has nothing to even do with them being "lower" or "higher" then anyone else, and purely is because the system contains them to Motherhood forever basically.

And on the flipside, the Teal's run everything like a business. They are not a closeknit group of friends but they're also not family, they're more like coworkers or fellow alumni from a college lmao. And each of them are so competitive against one another that they clearly don't trust one another but just take the distrust of each other as a given rather then something that needs to be spoken about outwardly.

I think this aspect of the Teals is only really expanded upon in Friendsim though because when you do each Teal's route you actually learn the reason they all somehow know each other, and also that they're all definitely "competing" in some ways. Like that they're spying on one another, and have intel on each other to potentially get one of them culled or to get favored by someone higher then them on the blood caste ladder.

Other things I found quite interesting about the Teals and Jades is that they both sort of have different standards for what's acceptable as a relationship and what's not. When they read Lynera's diary and discover Daraya "snuck off to meet with a Blue blood" it is treated as a shocking reveal purely because Jade's are "supposed" to be with Jades and stick to Cloister. And with the Teals, it kind of seems almost like Stelsa and Tyzias being Matesprites is seen as kind of "weird" because they're both Teals. Stelsa even has this whole spiel about how they ARE Matesprites and not "Ashen or Black" at all, as if the idea of them being Matesprites is odd but not them being in a darker quadrant.

For Teals, you don't "date" your "business rivals". And for Jades, you shouldn't "hate" your "family". But clearly they're not following the rules which is the whole theme of this car in general, that everyone has decided to break the rules in favor of "fun". To hold a mock trial over a missing book essentially, but which changes the nature of how a trial is handled in the first place. I think what would obviously really help both these castes is if they were allowed any freedom at all to who they want to work with. Teals are almost pressured and forced into business and law, and Jades are pressured and forced to be Cloistered but the whole system relies on both of them to keep things running.

And likewise, it's weird for Jades to hate one another because they must work together to keep the brood caverns going, but it's odd if Teals like each other because the competitive nature works against the legal system Alternia has set up. And I think another added detail to this car is Marvus, because he is a Purpleblood who throughout the entire game we are kind of just lead to believe is a "chill" guy who's probably not "that bad" (lol....) But he is the presiding Judge over this mock trial.

I think his addition to it is more then just "We need a highblood to oversee this fake experiment" but that he represents why the Teals and Jades don't really revolt at all. They're monitored closely more then anyone, they could never do or say anything against this all powerful regime without someone right next to them knowing. When you're a Jade, you must deal with either another Jade turning you in for the sanctity of the Brood caverns or some shit, and when you're a Teal all your coworkers are out to get you from day 1. Tyzias' friendsim route goes into this in great detail and it was pretty great to read about, I enjoyed it simply because it's a little melancholic knowing she'll not really achieve what she wants in her own lifetime.

I think this car's other theme besides dysfunctional support systems is that rebellion can be quiet, and that you don't have to do a big explosive showdown at times to make real change. Sometimes all it takes is just showing off your own ideas to someone above you in an entertaining manner so he doesn't instantly paint the car you're all in with shades of teal, jade, and red (lmao). Each of the Jade's were kind of rebelling in their own way too, and I did have my thoughts about Wanshi being the one to confess in the "Best Case scenario" ending. But I want to save that for when I make my own separate post just about the teal trial in general.

i get the sense that the cerulean and Indigo car is sort of playing at the idea that the "Highblooded" indigo's aren't actually as superior as they claim to be. Gallekh wants you to get him "real literature" that only someone like him of his own caste could understand to prove that you're worthy i guess, but its Mallek who gets the book for you (whatever book it is also seems to be pretty anti-caste system or whatever) but he has no real interest in its contents, he just wants the book and to read it so he can toot his own horn about how awesome it is so HE seems smart and intellectual.

And Amisia asks you for art but its Remele who makes the art for you to bring to her, and Remele says that Indigobloods look down upon "Transformative" works or whatever and thinks its beneath them, but clearly the statue is "transformative" (It is literally troll Sailor moon) The "Raw" and real art is artwork of things that the Highbloods would never waste their time on basically.

basically the people in this high ranking society who are indigo's are all kind of just…larping as intellectually superior when its the people who are a step beneath them that make the things they actually enjoy. (Though Amisia definitely still makes her own art, it's interesting that she can really only use the colors of those beneath her, it's again showing that she's not really creative enough to use her artistic ability to make whatever she would want.) I found it interesting that Amisia's friendsim route is her needing a specific shade of blood, but Remele is famous for basically being able to make anything out of anything.

There's also the problem of Ardata. I love Ardata and I think her addition to Friendsim is better then her appearance in Hiveswap simply because we actually get to know her better and understand why she does what she does. She feels a need to compete and show her worth through violence in order to appear above others, even though she herself is a midblood.

Ardata is also the only troll in the Cerulean car who seems obsessed with trying to maintain this status THROUGH violence. Sure, Remele does use "paint" which is made up of other blood but it is not the only medium she uses, and it's clear she is confident in her abilities as an artist to create with anything. Elwurd seems wholly unconcerned with trying to seem better than anyone, and that makes sense it's not really her problem or her responsibility to look after other people. She's willing to help people who can help her, essentially and doesn't care about the caste of that person. And Mallek...is just kinda there (Hiveswap doesn't really go into depth with him you really do have to play the Friendsim route to even get a smidge of context about what his "deal" is and even then it's like there's not much there so...)

The point is, Ardata is the only Cerulean on the train who wants to maintain her own image in front of Highbloods mainly because she doesn't want to be outshined by them. None of the Ceruleans particularly like or admire the Indigo's either, and you can tell their caste allows them a lot more freedom to speak their mind openly about how they feel with the system.

Mallek even gives you rebellious material to give to Gallekh later on and he does it on his OWN laptop without having to jump through hoops to hide (mind you, Tyzias has to practically write in code so nobody understands what she's writing down, and she can't even use a work computer for fear of someone breathing down her neck...)

I also think its worth pointing out that up till now, Joey and Xefros only had minor strifes with other people, the Cerulean car is when the pretext for Violence without reason finally sinks in. In this car there's only two ways for a person to truly maintain their status and that's through hardwork and effort through creativity or bartering (What Mallek and Elwurd do) or unrestrained violence for the sake of art (What Remele and Ardata do).

And all of these things trickle upward to the Indigo's who reap the benefits of their labor and slight subjugation of people beneath the Ceruleans (The fact that you basically have to travel back to all of the lower cars in order to actually help advance the plot so that each of the Ceruleans can help YOU out is pretty pointed in this idea too) The Ceruleans aren't saints though, obviously, and are pretty much content with where they are in the ladder which is the problem. Because they're squarely in the middle they're essentially safe from any cullings that someone above them could hand out as long as they just know to not say anything stupid to a Purpleblood.

No one beneath them is physically strong enough to ever beat them either since plenty of Ceruleans are crazy, STUPID strong despite being kinda tiny (i remember Remele's friendsim route...)

They're free to date and hate whoever they want, and thus they're the least "monitored" by the higher ups. They have everything they could want due to privelege and shaking that up wouldn't really change much about their lives at all except make them targets to Indigo's who seem to bully basically...everyone but Purple bloods lol.

It makes sense why Xefros in the end admitted he wasn't really sure if rebellion would even be possible because truly if people are just content with their lot in life and don't care that maintaining that simple lifestyle requires death and subjugation of whole groups of people, why even bother with helping in the rebellion at all?

The final car is the Purple car with the clowns, and wow...I really don't know what I was actually expecting when I got to this car. I think the way the game presents the Purple bloods through marvus is pretty clever because throughout all of Act 2 he is pretty nice to Joey, and doesn't seem to actually care one way or the other that she's a lowblood.

And in fact, all of the Clowns in the Purple car don't actually make mean comments about either of them being "lowblooded". It's quite strange when you really think about it, because the Indigo's were incredibly pompous assholes who made their disdain toward Joey and Xefros obvious but it is not until Joey literally makes it all the way to the end that Marvus reveals his actual intentions of asking her to get to the purple car.

Chahut is nice to Joey and calls her pet names, Barzum and Baizley don't even threaten to murder her or insult her for saying they're "weird" twins, Karako just says Honk...you really don't get the sense they're murderous at all until they spring the murder on you for no apparent reason.

And thats a second element, the fact that there's really absolutely 0 reason for them to do this at all. Marvus never explains why he wants to play this game with her, just that she has no choice but to or else they'll gut Xefros in front of her. And he does all of this without a hint of malice or disdain FOR her either, so it's like they really are just insane clowns who really LOVE murder just because.

I think the purple car is kind of the most mysterious because you don't have any time to ask questions about why and throughout your journey you never actually got to know Marvus as a person, and he's so tied to this circus persona that he is literally always just acting like a performer 24/7. Its the car that has the least amount of support as well, because I really get the sense they only care about their clown religion and nothing else.

I have to wonder if the reason they act in this way is because they are content with their religion and have just fully brought into it despite knowing the dark truth of their society. Marvus is deeply aware of where he stands in this society, and he even raps about it in songs but he does nothing to really fix or change it.

I think its because he ultimately knows it is kind of pointless and thus he can't do anything at all to change it lol. Friendsim Marvus is just straight up aware of the idea of "canon" and "noncanon" and what's "true" and "untrue".

and while we're on the subject of Marvus and his weird Friendsim route...during the trial in the teal car, when you get the Lynera ending Joey obviously asks whether or not this "truth" is good enough even though she knows in her gut that Lynera isn't really the culprit in the end and that the facts they have curated only paint a picture that makes sense because there's some other pieces of the puzzle missing. Tyzias basically says that in situations like this where there's "two truths" you just have to pick which ever one makes the most sense and has the most plausibility, they're both a truth but you must pick one for the judge. And honestly that's how it works in real life too (i promise Im going somewhere with this)

In FRIENDSIM during Marvus' route he says "Even if what's said to be going down here can't be said to be true, that doesn't mean we're meaningless." which is like, deadass word for word bar for bar Alliope talking in Candy to Aradia and Sollux at the end. Alliope posits that there are technically two truths in the universe, and that it is entirely subjective which truth "matters" more or is more important essentially.

Don't you think it's kind of a bit suspicious that in the ending where in Lynera is found guilty and there's two truths Joey must pick, that is the ending everyone including Marvus is "satisfied" with? Like, there seems to be a connection here between the idea of Joey having to pick between realities that are both "equally" true, and it doesn't actually matter which one she picks. What "matters" is if the person judging it is entertained or not (like Alliope is obsessed with making the universe she has control over sanitized for an invisible audience [us, the readers] and Marvus proceeds over the entire court case purely so he can judge it based on whatever ending is the most "satisfying.")

And I don't know, maybe ultimately this is why he plays the game in the first place with her. He knows that she can already make it through this tough ordeal and so he's completely unconcerned with whether or not she'll live (because duh ofc she will, he just knows some how for some reason lmao)

Anyways, to wrap this back about the idea of rebellion, I just think what Xefros says in the end is the crux of the purple car. That it doesn't matter if highbloods don't join in because he's certain there will always be people who want to help fight anyways, because it's worth the blood shed to help and protect the ones you care for. And I think the reason the Purple car is so violent and is the first time where Joey is just full on confronted with the realities of Alternia and death is to show just how far someone has to go to even really have a rebellion or start one.

The Purple car is less about the clowns and more about teaching a lesson about the necessity of violence and how you must act in times of trouble or else you risk losing everything.

I really enjoyed Hiveswap Act 2 and I thought it was a lot more profound in its messaging then I thought it would originally be. Mainly because act 1 is so short but also doesn't really have a lot to say in terms of rebellion at all, and is just about Joey, Jude, and Xefros. I can't wait for Act 3 because I really feel like the writing will carry this whole thing to the end.

I just hope there's no more long court trials...or if there is can they at least add a skip button already lol?

#hiveswap #hiveswap act 2 #joey clair #xefros tritoh #marvus xoloto #tyzias entykk

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