#s107

[thewertsearch]

Another hour later…

...well, first of all, it's an hour later, and they still haven't cleaned up Aradia's body? The disrespect, lmao

It’s the moment of truth, then.

What's going to happen to our spare Dave Strider?

Well, that's that experiment already ruined.

If he dies now, if won't be on his Quest Bed, so we'll never know if he would have otherwise revived. Maybe Terezi is trying to correct this before it's too late.

TG: hello TG: terezi TG: whats up GC: >:[

For a second, I was confused about how Terezi was able to talk to him inside a doomed timeline - but then I remembered how this is supposed to work. As soon as Dave travelled back to the past, he wasn't in a doomed timeline anymore.

But he was still doomed.

It's so fucked that you can actually see his head begin to fall off.

Regrets, Seer?

You don't need to answer. I'm pretty sure those are the first tears you've ever cried onscreen.

Terezi Pyrope is starting to care.

[tophatliveblogs]

THEY’RE HOLDING HANDS!!! *faints* *chanting from hell* OTP OTP OTP

YOU’RE LATE!

Just...everything about this. She’s not terrified, she’s just like, wow! I love my daughter-in-law so much!

[superscanaries]

Kara being a perfect brave hero without her powers in 1x07 and 2x09.

[thewertsearch]

AA: s0rry ab0ut everything AA: and all the bad luck y0uve had AA: y0u didnt deserve it

Aradia never wanted to put Sollux through this, but she felt helpless in the face of the overwhelming tide of fate. She's only recently begun to suspect she could have fought back, and that realization might have been more painful than the idea that she couldn't.

AA: i have t0 g0 n0w […] TA: you mean for good, wiill ii see you agaiin? AA: i d0nt kn0w that either AA: but i guess if y0u d0 AA: pr0bably n0t with y0ur eyes

It seems Aradia does think she might persist in some way, but not in the corporeal world.

Maybe she's going to become an even more ephemeral spirit than before - or maybe she'll show up as a projection in the Dream Bubbles, a realm you can only visit when your eyes are closed.

AA: 0_0 AA: i wish AA: i c0uld s0meh0w make that em0tic0n smile AA: 0u0 AA: n0 that l00ks stupid AA: 0h well

When we first met Aradia, I thought the tragedy of her character was that she could no longer feel.

I was wrong. The tragedy of Aradia's character was that she could always feel, but her feelings were just too painful to acknowledge.

Not until the very end.

And as Aradia goes boom, we still gain no insight into what destroyed her.

My money's still on Eridan.

[thewertsearch]

The sophisticated computing technology merged with the crystal ball provides a simple way to see anything going on right now in the incipisphere! How amazing is that?

That's more than worth the price tag. Aside from all the obvious tactical benefits, they may also enable her to take a peek at hitherto unseen parts of the session, such as the Denizens' Palaces.

It also means they can keep an eye on Jack, but that's not as useful as it sounds. He's a First Guardian, and distance is meaningless where he's concerned.

There he is. On the battlefield no less! That's a pretty cute outfit he's got on. You wonder what he did to make it? You also wonder why he's not answering your messages. Does he even have a computer on him??

He doesn't have anything on him. I'm assuming all his gear is still sitting on his corpse on LOWAS.

He might not be able to retrieve it, either. It's not like his sylladex was physically on his person.

She seemed awfully preoccupied when you spoke with her moments ago and she gave you the code for the crystal ball. You wonder who she could be talking to?

[thewertsearch]

CA: anywway a lot of us believve wwere meant to trace the footsteps of those ancestors evven though wwe can nevver knoww em CA: and on that journey wwe can come across belongings they once had cause wwe wwere hatched to find em and finish their wwork

The human Guardians seemed fully aware of their offspring's special role in their planet's fate. Doubtless the same was true of the troll ancestors - especially if they landed with heirlooms from the Veil.

If any of our trolls had sought out the story of their predecessors, I'm sure they would have discovered some very interesting things indeed.

For no particular reason, I'm suddenly reminded of the fact that Terezi lived next to an ancient Sgrub construct - one which bore the symbol of her family.

And nothing of value was lost.

That being said, I'm a little concerned about Eridan's ability to do this. This is a move we've seen Rose use on him, and it feels like an ominous hint that his powers are a lot stronger than we thought.

If his science wand is at all comparable to the Thorns of Oglogoth, we should all be very nervous.

Looks like we’re getting a timeline refresher.

At the end of their game, Jack attacked the trolls. This event occurred about ten hours before some critical point, which is probably the moment the trolls' session dissolves.

Four hours later, he destroyed Prospit.

Frankly, I'm surprised it took him that long. Maybe he was just fucking around in the session until then.

After an hour dreaming in the Furthest Ring, Karkat woke up, and finally learned about the humans.

And an hour after that, we enter a scene I don’t think we’ve seen before. Judging by Nepeta's dream, we at least know it's prior to the destruction of Derse.

Also….

Is that Tinkerbull's body, somehow removed from its Sprite? Is it a plushie of Tinkerbull? What's going on here?

AA: hi TA: hii? AA: i guess i sh0uld say s0mething AA: bef0re i g0

Aradia appears to have foreseen her own destruction. I used to think that Rose might be responsible - but now Eridan, too, has gained the ability to destroy technology with magic, and he's significantly more likely to use it maliciously.

[thewertsearch]

GG: aaaaa please dont tell anyone i told you about him! […] CA: settle dowwn jade youre radically underestimatin the amount of shit i dont givve about this […] CA: i got bigger ships to sink and soon wwhen im good and ready me and my luminous fuckin science stick havve got a date wwith jack noir

Seems like Eridan's planning to join Vriska.

Correction - he's planning to rejoin Vriska.

If he's trying to restart their kismesissitude, he's going to be sorely disappointed. Vriska is out of his league, and not just as a romantic partner. She's a god, and he's an angry kid with a wand who represents no threat whatsoever to Noir.

CA: wwhys this matter so hush hush anywway GG: he didnt want me to tell my friends who he really was […] GG: he was so nice, and it really did feel like i was talking to family, so i really dont think he was making it up

I think your intuition is correct, but that doesn't mean he's specifically your grandson. After all, 'family' is a term which can encompass all sorts of relationships.

GG: i couldnt help but try to imagine his parents… GG: and more interestingly……. GG: his grandfather :O

Even if he is your grandson, that doesn't necessarily mean he has a grandfather. As far as I can tell, there's no reason why the Veil's DNA-mixing machine couldn't merge the genes of two women.

For all we know, Pen-Pal could have four biological grandmothers!

CA: that gun i just gavve you is somethin of a hatchright to the kid CA: happy i could play a role in your dirty stinkin lineage GG: like an heirloom? i guess it could be GG: do you even have those? if you dont have parents how could you? CA: no wwe dont knoww our direct forebears and im pretty sure any attempt to seek out or evven inquire about the supplier of your genes wwould be a fine wway to get yourself killed

I didn't think a troll's genes had an individual supplier.

Based on the fact that their genetic material is combined in the Mother Grub, I've been assuming that each troll is created from a large number of 'parents', whose DNA is mixed in the Mother's stomach.

Obviously, our Sgrub trolls are going to be an exception to this rule, since the game presumably cloned them from twelve Guardians - but Eridan seems to be implying that all trolls have an individual parent.

This doesn't align at all with what we know about troll reproduction. There also seems to be a certain amount of secrecy surrounding this process, since Eridan thinks you'd be killed for looking into it. Is there some sort of conspiracy at play?

CA: but wwevve got our lore and it says wwe all got indivvidual ancestors wwho contribute to most of our genes abovve and beyond wwhat the grubs slurry does

Alright, that makes a little more sense. So trolls are derived from a large mixture of DNA, but they have one true 'parent' who contributes the lion's share of genetic data.

Maybe an embryonic troll starts off as a clone of this parent, and other trolls' genes are slowly spliced into it as it develops.

Again, for the Sgrub trolls, things are a little different. We have reason to believe they were cloned in sets of three, implying that each of them has three genetic donors. Perhaps, then, they each inherited the majority of their DNA from one of these trolls - their 'ancestor' - and only share a small number of genes with the other two.

These ancestors have been mentioned before - quite a while ago, now - and I think they may be the key to solving a major mystery of the Hivebent arc.

Namely, Aradia mentioned her ancestors, and seemed to believe she was following their orders. When Scratch's plans started to reveal themselves, I assumed that he was the one directing Aradia, and was only pretending to be these unseen forebears.

With this new revelation, however, I'm forced to reconsider my stance. What if the Voices were those of the ancestors?

What if Aradia was being instructed by the troll Guardians all along?

[tophatliveblogs]

Verdict

I love this episode more than anything! The music was cute and more importantly, CONNIE’S IS MY PATRONUS!! I looked it up, and her last name is Mahewaran. She’s Indian. Actual Indian representation that isn’t the butt of a joke. You don’t understand how much I’ve wanted this!

But other than an awesome new character, this episode was just so genuine! Steven’s trying so hard to impress this girl he likes, and at the same time he’s learning that hey, take a step back for a second. He acknowledges her fear, and he acknowledges that he messed up. None of their interactions felt forced (but let’s face it, Connie is WAY too calm for all the shit that was going down) in a way that make for a really believeable thing! And best of all, they’re not even focusing on the ‘love’ element itself! Sure Steven has a crush, but it’s FRIENDSHIP that is most important here, for both him and Connie! It’s just, WAHHHHHH!!!!!!! I love it. Move it Laser Light Cannon, there’s a new favorite in town!

Bubble Buddies: 10/10