#update reaction

[itsaboutcats]

This is Amaya erasure, right here in an Amaya chapter :(

[blaperile]

Homestuck: Beyond Canon (reactions page 666 - "Mindfang's journal" path)

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.

[anthemxix]

[skyward-floored]

Oh ho I smell a Wolfie reveal in the near future

[itsacpsideblog]

that update...

my neurons can’t actually switch between emotional states fast enough to process everything in this update, but here’s some highlights:

Jack won the Conn Smythe (my longest yeah boy ever)

Jack is a champion!!! He looks so happy!!!!

hello, new Horse Friend

Jack is out...like he’s an out LGBT athlete in one of the big four US sports leagues

ngozi aims damn! high! with this narrative and I love it

hot dad Thirdy

CHOWDER GOT HIS BRACES OFF STOP THE PRESSES

“a reprehensible couch”

wollie inches ever closer to becoming official canon

they tried to interview Tango. why. leave the poor boy alone

Ford looking like a damn BOSS

Hops and Tango peeling apples is everything right with this cursed world

Bitty is a senior and he’s so grown up and check please is almost over and I’m an utter mess

just mop me up off the floor

for real though, that horse is so friend-shaped i want to feed it an apple and pet its soft nose

[garden-of-succulents]

*pinches the bridge of her nose*

Okay guys there’s 4.3 discourse on Suzanne’s reaction to Bitty coming out ahead.

My training is in the field of mental health. We try to describe common psychological phenomena. And a huge amount of the time, human experience is SO DIVERSE that NO attempt to describe The Definitive Experience of Anything will accurately capture every person’s experience.

We even have a saying: “No two children ever grow up in the same family.” Even if two children go through the exact same events at the exact same time, their subjective experience of them will always be different.

I primarily work with clients with complex PTSD, but a huge amount of them find it deeply invalidating just to hear descriptions like, “Post-traumatic stress symptoms are caused by a trauma.” And that is with a FUCKTON of research data behind it that claim, not just, “Oh, we noticed a vague tendency.”

So how about we CUT IT THE FUCK OUT with armchair theorizing like “If you felt this emotion about Suzanne’s speech, you OBVIOUSLY never experienced a homophobic household” or “If you reacted to the update this way, you’re definitely straight” or “All the gay kids are feeling this way”.

NO. THEY’RE NOT. How you emotionally and cognitively respond to a work of art is a SUPER COMPLEX THING, that has as much to do with all the years between you and your childhood as your childhood itself, as much to do with the last five books you read as your sexual orientation.

And for a lot of people it is shitty as hell to see all these theories flying around that basically boil down to: “If you don’t agree with me, you’re wrong about your own life, your own experiences, your own identity, and your own emotion.”

[whatwhy551]

WHY ARNT NURSEY AND DEX SITIING NEXT TOEACHOTHER ON THE BUS

DOES THIS MEAN IT AINT A SUPERSTITION

WHAT

ahaha dex “yeah. i kinda like it”

AND CHOWDER LOOKS SO GOOD

AND NURSEY IS RIDICULOUS. THAT BOY AND LEAVES

AND THE FLOW.

[blaperile]

Homestuck: Beyond Canon (reactions page 666 - "Cueball" path)

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?