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June 24, 2010

Homestuck Day 345

New Pages: 2083 - 2092

% Completion (Pages): 25.73

% Completion (Time): 17.13

Notes: The demon is already here.

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Between AA's sign falling under the date 4/13, her whited-out eyes, and her psychic abilities, I wonder if she's the "blind prophet" that Terezi apparently uses the numerals of? It does seem like she knows a lot about Sburb, with her and TA being the ones orchestrating the game. Maybe she and Terezi have some kind of connection to each other? :0

hey this is such a cool theory, you could totally be onto something! Terezi's 'blind prophets' are actually mentioned in the plural while there's just one of AA, so given what's recently been revealed about troll families and reproduction, I wonder how a lineage of blind prophets might work. for example, when the current blind prophet contributes material to the Mother Grub, an egg is hatched containing the next blind prophet, and throughout all of troll history there's been a prophet at all times foretelling the eventual Sburb game, the demise of the trolls' species, and the link to the number 413. it would go some way to explaining why Alternian society has been so built around one day playing Sburb, if the line went all the way back. so then, AA would be the final prophet in this line, and the one who actually ushers in the end of the world. pretty neat!

(this also means that any timeline where one of the blind prophets doesn't survive the childhood trials would be a dark timeline. or perhaps a better timeline because Sburb isn't played and the species isn't doomed. hard to say which way it'd go!)

if you're right, I wonder if Terezi knows tat AA is one of the blind prophets. there's no indication that any of the trolls have met in person; Terezi lives very remotely and AA seems pretty far out in those ruins too! so my guess would be that both of them are Derse dreamers, AA has already woken up and Terezi hasn't yet, but they've both received some of the same subliminal messaging from the gods of the furthest ring. messaging that AA is aware of, and Terezi isn't. once they play Sburb together and Terezi wakes up, there will be a big moment where they realize this connection that's always existed between them.

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June 23, 2010

Homestuck Day 344

New Pages: 2079 - 2082

% Completion (Pages): 25.61

% Completion (Time): 17.09

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@homestuckreplay

As someone who does know code your guess is pretty spot on. Karkats confusion on the syntax comes from the fact TA's code tests the limits on what is considered a nested loop.

Lets break down Karkats code first.

~ATH(U) {

~ATH(Karkat) {

} EXECUTE(NULL);

} EXECUTE(NULL);

THIS.DIE();

First lets take (Karkat) and make him equal to 1 for simplicity. The inner loop will keep going as long as (Karkat)=Alive=1. Once (Karkat) is no longer alive, or Dead=0, then that loop is exited and the following EXECUTE(NULL) occurrs. Whatever you want that code to do will go in the (NULL) space. The outer loop, (U)=1, will now keep looping until (U)=Dead=0 upon which the EXECUTE(NULL) will occur.

Now TA's code bifuricates, or forks/ branches, the Universe.

~ATH(U1) {

~ATH(!U2) {

} EXECUTE(~ATH(THIS) {}EXECUTE(NULL));

} EXECUTE(~ATH(THIS){} EXECUTE(NULL));

[THIS, THIS].DIE();

Taking away the color coding, or the bifuricate, gives us code that follows the standard nested loops like Karkats. The purpose of bifuricating is to allow the loops to self perpetuate and execute immediately. In a way TA has used the Mobius Strip principle here.

~ATH(U1) {

~ATH(!U2) {

} EXECUTE(~ATH(THIS) {}EXECUTE(NULL));

} EXECUTE(~ATH(THIS){} EXECUTE(NULL));

The blue loop executes when Universe 2 exists, (!U2)=1, while the red loop executes when Universe 1 dies, (U1)=0, making their base variables !U2=0 and U1=1. Again, taking away the bifuricate and looking at the inner loop, when the universe exists the code to execute changes the variable of the outer loop from U1 to !U2 (1 to 0). The outer loop would then execute code to replace the variable in the inner loop from !U2 to U1 (0 to 1). Bifuricating is necessary to allow the outer loop to affect the inner loop without ending the program.

Part of the reason the computer explodes is because with each pass of this code the variable changes to the opposite state needed to execute and carry on the code keeping it from ending. Eventually you'd end up with a BSOD in the best case and an exploded computer at worst. Same thing with why the curse goes on forever, the code never ends.

This works out well to mirror a lot of the looping we've experienced in the kids session with them and the exiles. You are absolutely right that the trolls have been bifuricated into two teams but keeping in mind how the code works, one cannot exist nor function without the other. Otherwise the program ends.

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Alternia’s Two Rival Clown Cults

(page 2066-2078)

yall it’s officially cancer season and I’ve never cared about astrology in my life but now suddenly it matters to me because it’s Karkat Month For Real

In less than a hundred pages, Act 5 has gone completely off the rails. If sudden transitions between characters in Acts 2-4 felt jarring, they’ve become retroactive preparation for whatever the fuck is going on right now. Last update ended with four pages of apocalypseArisen destroying a frog temple, but instead of officially introducing her, we cut to two pages of caligulasAquarium picking up Gamzee’s lost Faygo bottle, again without an official introduction. Then, two pages of Karkat, forward then back in time, a psycheout for the official introduction of twinArmageddons, a quick view of arsenicCatnip in her cave, and a 2x double psycheout combo taking us back to esteemed hacker SOLLUX CAPTOR.

wow I need a stronger coffee to keep up with all this. <3

So, keeping track, because this is confusing as all hell.

Trolls officially introduced: Karkat Vantas, Gamzee Makara, Terezi Pyrope, Sollux Captor

Trolls seen visually and in Pesterlogs (not introduced): adiosToreador, grimAuxiliatrix, arsenicCatnip

Trolls seen visually (not introduced or in chatlogs): apocalypseArisen, caligulasAquarium

Trolls yet to appear, at all: arachnidsGrip, centaursTesticle, cuttlefishCuller

Jumping around like this keeps me on my toes – with the four kids’ introductions, there was room for each of them to advance on the existing pattern and subvert it in new ways. With twelve trolls, it’d be hard to come up with interesting variations and using the same pattern for each would feel formulaic, so jumping around like this keeps things feeling fresh and mean I have no idea what to expect from each day’s update. Although, there’s still room to throw wrenches in my expectations, like how Sollux doesn’t have to assign his specibus because his psionic powers can function on any weapon (OP as hell).

The constant jumps in both character and time mean we need specific markers to indicate place in the story. Whether or not a character is in the Medium is an obvious one, but whether or not Karkat has run Sollux’s ~ATH curse and blasted a hole in his house has also come up a couple times, so feels like a significant moment we need to orient around.

caligulasAquarium wears striped blue and purple pants AND shoes – I think you can get away with one set of stripes and look normal but two sets is almost clownlike. Gamzee mentioned earlier that ‘the SEA DWELLERS are quite hostile’ (p.2019) while CA calls Faygo ‘rubbish from the LAND DWELLERS’ so here’s my theory: two rival clown cults, one on land who wear spotted pants and drink Faygo, and one in the sea who wear striped pants and drink… cream soda? Time will tell. I’m definitely curious about the idea of Alternia having a land faction and sea faction, and how those might interact. Also the tiny crab in the top right of CA’s foot panel is super cute.

CG: OUR FAMILY STRUCTURES ARE ALREADY WAY MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOURS WITHOUT EVEN GETTING SPOOKY TIME SLIME INVOLVED. (p.1903)

I can understand why twelve different Strife animations would be a daunting task, and the loredump about Alternian family structures MORE THAN makes up for missing out on Karkat’s Strife. All trolls are adopted, whether made through ectobiology or otherwise, and their biological parents are both unknown and irrelevant – they could share genetic material with potentially thousands of trolls. When ectobiologizing, Karkat probably produced young larval trolls just after the egg-hatching stage, or newly pupated trolls just after the cocoon stage, since the troll children’s dangerous trials seem important, and Karkat remembers doing them. (sidenote: I’d be really curious to know the success rate on these trials). Karkat probably also cloned a lusus for each of the twelve trolls, who were then destined to choose those specific trolls after their successes in the trials, just as the kids’ guardians were destined to one day find babies in meteors.

The term LUSUS NATURAE comes from Latin and means ‘freak of nature’, or an organism that deviates from the norm somehow. In the case of Karkat’s custodian, they’re a giant and possibly bipedal crab, while ‘standard’ crabs also exist on Alternia, like the one close to CA’s shoe just a couple pages earlier. These beasts also rely on their troll charges, who ‘must learn to function as a sort of zookeeper’ (p.2070) so it seems like they’re beasts who wouldn’t fit into the natural ecosystem as they differ too much from others of their kind, and perhaps are partially sentient. So they have no choice but to adopt a kid.

I’m thinking about all the real people on Earth who choose to have children because of what those kids can do for them, instead of the reverse. I’m also thinking about codependency as it relates to the beta kids’ guardians – if Crabstodian needs Karkat as much as Karkat needs them, what does that mean for Dad and John, or Mom and Rose? What’s the point of Bro constructing elaborate Saw traps if he doesn’t have Dave in his house to think he’s incredibly cool and willingly walk into them? Does Grandpa have a reason to unlock the secrets of Skaia and its technology if he’s not preparing for Jade to someday play Sburb? How emotionally dependent are all the guardians on the kids?

Alternia being a highly imperialistic, war-driven society isn’t surprising at all. It also sets up a scenario where the trolls aren’t that different from other members of their species, in a way – nobody gets to live in their hive in adulthood, everyone has to leave their home planet in order to further propagate their species, the trolls are just doing it in a slightly different way. Alternian culture being maintained entirely by the young also isn’t wildly different to Earth, where a lot of celebrities and tastemakers are in their teens and twenties, the collective opinions of young people drive what’s cool, and people over 25 often feel like it’s too late for us to be successful as we’re already past our prime despite having years of life left. Whether older people are dissuaded from participating in culture or removed from the planet entirely, the result is functionally the same.

I really enjoy reading Sollux’s narration, and can imagine him becoming my favorite troll. His introduction echoes Dave in some key ways, like being a cool dude with a cool name that he wouldn’t just tell the player (but they can guess). The wires trailing across his floor are also Davelike. But the slow rise and fall in tone as Sollux’s self image gradually shifts is all his own, climbing from baseline neutrality to complete self confidence before slowly descending into self loathing and then hating the player too, before apologizing to them and beginning the cycle again. The slow climbs are way more effective than a sudden back and forth would be, and it’s something that hasn’t really come across in his chatlogs so far, where he tries to present a more consistent image.

Sollux is ‘gifted with VISION TWOFOLD. For now’ (p.2076) because apparently everything related to the trolls has to be incredibly ominous, all the time. Hearing the ‘psychic screams of the IMMINENTLY DECEASED’ doesn’t sound great either – another way the trolls’ story is much darker than the kids’. Jade’s visions weren’t always light and fluffy – she saw the meteor bearing down on Dave’s house, for example – but as far as we know they were never this upsetting.

It is an incredible revelation that Sollux’s 3D glasses are hiding a pair of eyes that are… also one red and one blue. The puns ‘silicomb’ and ‘beenary code’ (p.2078) are also extremely good. Forget the lusus loredump, I want to learn all about how troll technology apparently runs on insect power.

Also, HOW does Sollux’s recuperacoon work?? Does he alternate whether he sleeps in the red or blue side? Does he even fit in those holes at the top? THE REAL LORE QUESTIONS

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June 22, 2010

Homestuck Day 343

New Pages: 2071 - 2078

% Completion (Pages): 25.56

% Completion (Time): 17.05

Notes: Introduction of Sollux Captor

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template by @littleguysdaily

can you believe he likes this movie for real lmao

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✨ EOA4 – Character Opinions ✨

There’s SO many characters in this story now!! And to be honest, they’re all fun to read about. Even the ones I don’t like at all are adding something to the story, so I wouldn’t write them out or anything. This is just for fun, to see if and how my opinions are changing over time. <3

Love

Vodka Mutini – 🥺🥺

Peregrine Mendicant – LIBERTY. REASON. JUSTICE. CIVILITY. EDIFICATION. MAIL!!!! if PM has no fans then I am dead, and every panel she's in makes me love her more. yessss girl keep your oath even when you're bloody and jaded and your passion is gone. toss away your promise of nonviolence and lose defining parts of yourself in the completion of your quest and then feel nothing when it's finally done. I LIVE for this shit

Rose Lalonde – The second she picked up those dark wands and started blasting, Rose overtook John as my favorite beta kid. She's the only one who's skeptical of Skaia's intentions, the only one who'll take the consequences of breaking the rules over those of following them. I also love her writing style even/especially when it's way too pretentious, and her GameFAQs are a highlight of the whole comic.

John Egbert – A favorite since page 1 (not that he had loads of competition back then) and still a top tier incredible character. So much is happening to him that he simply doesn't have the ability to process, and when he gets to take a break for more than a few minutes, he's gonna need serious therapy. But for now, he keeps hilariously pranking CG, holding onto his favorite movies and identifying with their equally out of their depth protagonists to keep himself sane, and adopting children of various species. Plus he has the prettiest Sburb land.

Wayward Vagabond – I loved WV before we got his backstory and I love him more after. There's nothing like a little guy who rises up against overwhelming odds, one who isn't innately 'chosen' or special, but makes himself so through sheer belief in the cause. he's extremely Problem Sleuth coded (the guy, not the comic) in his almost defeating the king through nothing but his glowing personal charm. I for one would follow his cause.

All Salamanders – Shoutout to Casey, Crumplehat and the Secret Wizard especially. I’ll never forget you.

Like

Jack Noir – COOL AS FUCK VILLAIN!! I like when a villain feels genuinely dangerous and unpredictable, but without being a completely chaotic monster. There are strong suggestions that Jack is in control of his actions and has a motivation that’s being hidden from the audience, and I can’t wait to find out what it is. His totally disproportionate responses to fairly minor requests make him fun to watch, and there’s something compelling about him being in theory capable of this in all sessions, but only ascending in the kids’.

grimAuxiliatrix – The most likeable troll for me by a long way. The way she's similar to Rose yet different and the way they're both trying to be the smartest in the room is compelling every time. Her strategy of sending Rose the transcript of their first conversation (from her perspective) so that Rose would agonize over how to copy it was a genius strategy and totally won me over, I can't wait for more of her.

carcinoGeneticist – The most helpful and informative of the trolls (perhaps against his will), CG and John have an incredible dynamic going where CG tries to be mean to John and fails, and John successfully pulls off pranks on CG that are harmless and not at all meanspirited. CG could stand to get some better taste in movies and appreciate whimsy, but, his reluctant and angry sharing of information is always fun to read.

Jade Harley – She has always been a lot of fun, and as tragic as the end of act 4 was for her, I actually think it's gonna make her more interesting as a character. My biggest complaint has been her lack of problems to overcome or purpose in her story relative to the other kids, and now that she has the significant handicap of no longer relying on visions from her dreams, I'm so excited to see where her story will go next.

Dave Strider – ok, I like Dave now. Tentatively, and no guarantee it’ll stay that way, but I do. He’s going through new and different hard times, meeting his more mature future self, experiencing life without his shitty bro, seeing his own dead body, getting out-trolled for the first time, and I actually feel bad for him. He’s still kind of an asshole, but he’s stepped into his role as the Knight of Time very quickly and is actually trying to do good with his powers, like trying to stop DD from stealing the MEOW journals. I have nothing but respect for someone who tries to grow and be better.

Davesprite, Jaspersprite, Nannasprite – Spritelogs are few and far between unfortunately, but I’m always excited to hear from any of these guys. I think the tension between ‘character who is close to and genuinely wants to help the kids’ + ‘will of Skaia trying to stop that character from helping the kids’ + ‘secret third element like a bird or clown that noticeably alters behavior’ is absolutely fascinating, and there’s room for the sprites to be explored WAY more.

Ms. Paint – Every day I am grateful for her taking me on these wonderful adventures.

Mixed/Uncertain

Courtyard Droll, Draconian Dignitary, Hegemonic Brute – I like the Midnight Crew’s dynamic a lot, but the stakes feel much higher when they’re working against characters I care about instead of a bunch of green goons who only appear in an intermission. Because they’re minor characters who are more defined by working for Jack than having their own stories, I don’t find them as compelling ad Jack himself, but I enjoyed the Intermission enough that I don’t have it in me to dislike them.

Aimless Renegade – Look, I don’t support cops. I do think it’s good that AR is willing to criticize high level agents in his own society. I also think it’s good that he’s now trying to cooperate with the other exiles. I think it’s bad that he wields weapons of mass destruction without knowing how to use them. I think it’s bad that he tried to kill WV and PM on first meeting. I don’t really know how to feel about him. But he looks sick as fuck in that caution tape.

twinArmageddons – In his one Act 4 chatlog he seems like a misanthropic, impatient jackass who makes tasteless analogies. So I shouldn’t like him at all. And yet he compels me a little bit. Maybe it’s the 3d glasses with stars sparkling inside, maybe it’s his weird prophecies of death, or maybe I just agree with John that hackers are cool, but I want to see more from TA.

Becquerel – He’s extremely powerful, was created by the generally antagonistic Midnight Crew, is feared even by the gods of the Furthest Ring, and has spent years stopping Jade from entering Skaia’s mystic ruins. He could accomplish something pretty gamebreaking, but I have no idea what, or to what end. A major unknown element who’s set up to be important moving forwards, with no real hint as to what side he’s on if any.

AH – In universe he’s literally writing the story, and I’d like him to keep doing that cause it’s really good. But he is kind of a misanthropic dick who’s not especially kind to his readers. I can’t blame him for wanting to stay out of the comic, but he is here, and arguably has even more power than Becquerel should he ever choose to wield it. Another very unknown element, with greater potential than Bec of being influenced by real world readers.

Gods of the Furthest Ring – hey, what’s their deal? I gotta be honest, even though we know next to nothing about what these gods want or what their end goal is, if you asked me right now to pick a side, I would trust these gods more than I trust Skaia. At least the gods don’t try to pretend they’re a force of pure good, you know?

Dislike

White Queen – “JUST WALK OUT, you can leave!!! work, social thing, movies, war, palace, dentist, position as monarch, too fancy weed store, jack noir if your quick, skaian battle ships, IF IT SUCKS… HIT DA BRICKS!!! real winners quit” – the white queen probably

Skaia – An entity that destroys countless planets and civilizations across paradox space just to save itself, allows countless soldiers to be engineered for both sides of a war despite the outcome being known in advance, takes groups of children and controls every waking moment of their entire lives and puts them through severe trauma, and is allowed to see and know all while refusing to reveal its own purpose? And we’re supposed to fight on the side that protects this thing and allows it to propagate? Not on my watch. I’m not sure there is any revelation that could compel me to be pro-Skaia but given that we don’t know what the Ultimate Riddle is yet, I’m keeping this in ‘dislike’ instead of ‘hate’, because I know there’s big things still to learn.

Mom, Dad, Grandpa – Maybe controversial but I just don’t like the guardians, in general. I think their role in the story is interesting, and in some ways, they’re more mysterious even than Jack and Bec. But I don’t think any one of them has done a good job emotionally connecting with their child or preparing them for life’s challenges. Grandpa’s currently more focused on the dead version of Jade than the living, and Mom and Dad are, what, going on a date while their kids are in peril??

adiosToreador – upon rereading his conversations I really struggle to like this guy. He definitely has a hard time socially and I can relate to that so I want to like him, but, he makes it so hard. I can excuse how he talks to Dave, but Rose and Jade try to actually engage with him and he still comes across badly with them. If I ever have to read the phrase ‘DOPE SMACKED, TRINKED OUT, SMOTHER FUDGING, tROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL’ again I’m gonna do some sort of acrobatic fucking pirouette off the handle.

gallowsCalibrator – Of all the trolls I’m the most suspicious of her, and I don’t think she’s sorry for any of the harm she’s caused to the kids. She’s absolutely willing to entertain herself at the expense of other people, whether that’s literally getting John killed, or making fun of Dave when he’s in a vulnerable moment. If the timeline can be changed, she’d do it in a way that benefits her and the trolls and completely screws over the kids, no questions asked.

Hate

Bro Strider – What, this fucker thinks he can show up, slice a meteor in two and fight phase 1 of a boss battle and I’m gonna forgive him for child abuse? Not fucking likely. Those 24 hours baby Dave spent in a crater before Bro bothered to go get him was probably the best day of Dave’s life actually.

Lil Cal – He remains bad to look at.

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June 21, 2010

Homestuck Day 342

New Pages: 2066 - 2070

% Completion (Pages): 25.46

% Completion (Time): 17.01

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June 12-18 2025 2010

Paradox Space? Alternia?? Carcino??? Where the heck are we????

It looks like we've got a new story line but not necessarily an Intermission. Kinda like when we were with WV for some pages. It does have its own name: Hivebent. The planet we are on is grey with two moons which look like the ones that we saw when Die ended up in the timeline where Slick didn't exist. So the whole of the intermission takes place on Alternia. That means exiles end up on the dead planet of their session players. Finally, the race that exists on this planet are called trolls. I'm almost positive in-universe the trolls are astonished that the kids were able to guess that info when that's not exactly the case.

We get a lot of information in these pages so instead of going by update I'm gonna break it down by troll and generic info about them. Mostly because I'd never get this done otherwise.

carcinoGenetisist a.k.a. KARKAT VANTAS

Does not have any time to even consider humoring us. Out of all the introductions during the naming portion, we get the most insight with Karkat here. Hes got the same level of awareness as Rose but more of the snark of Dave.

Your name is KARKAT VANTAS. [Your name is JOHN.] You have a passion for RIDICULOUSLY TERRIBLE ROMANTIC MOVIES AND ROMCOMS. [You have a passion for REALLY TERRIBLE MOVIES.] You like to program computers, but you are NOTORIOUSLY PRETTY AWFUL AT IT. [You like to program computers but you are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT.] Your trolltag is carcinoGeneticist and you speak in a manner that is ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ORNERY, ALL THE TIME.

Comparing John and Karkat is so funny. They are our first characters for their respective sessions which makes them the 'default' protag, in so much as a comic like this has a protag. On top of that, we get introduced on their birthday. The biggest difference in the initial paragraph is how much more detail we get with Karkat. We've already got a taste in the chatlogs with how much he dumps even if he says he wont. It makes sense then that we get extra info regarding each sentence like how his movie taste should be embarrassing or he thinks himself a virus coder.

Not a one to one but while John aspires to be a MAGICIAN, Karkat here aspires to be a THRESHECUTIONER. Very different job ideals and good for preparing us for how violent this society is comparatively. As well, we get confirmation that this is indeed Carcino by giving us his trolltag and letting us know he is almost always combative and stubborn.

Like John, the walls of his room contain movie posters. The ones I can tell right off the bat are 50 First Dates and Hitch. [Midnight Sam here! I figured out the other poster because of John Cusack, its Serendipity]. Much like ones we've seen, they are greyscale but these have the addition of horns on each actor and indiscernible, long ass titles.

We get a little bit of captcha nonsense where we learn Karkat uses ENCRYPTION which he later trades with the yet-to-be-named hacker. Hes also able to pick up items without having to captcha them.

I haven't talked about this yet but we seem to be seeing past events leading up to their entry to the game while also getting information of what is to happen without having to wait for it, unlike with the kids where we work in the present time.

The lawnrings are empty. Blood skims the voids in your porous cranial plates, as if grazing the hollow of a threshed stem, or say, an abandoned cocoon. A sour note is produced. It's the one Agitation plays to make its audience squirm. [...] You have a feeling it's going to be a long night.

Karkat interrupts the normal poetic moment and goes onto a tangent about how useless he finds everything comparing it to the mail, which they don't have. He goes back inside showing off the equivalent of Game Bro, Game Grub, and talking to a different troll than we've met, terminallyCapricious.

After we get introduced to TC we return to Karkat and his attempts to code with ~ATH. According to Karkat ‘[i]ts logic is composed of nothing but infinite loops, or at best, loops of effectively interminable construction.’ Apparently to make the code finish executing you have to find a way to terminate it “manually” which is typically done by binding the code to a real lifespan. Karkat's main code is tied to the death of the universe, U, with a subloop tied to his own death. ‘[C]oding with this language is all about finding ways to trick it into doing what you want.’ which TA is apparently very good at. Kar shows us one of those said codes which ‘immediately causes the user's computer to explode, and places a curse on the user forever, along with everyone he knows, and everyone he'll ever meet.’ Very cool. I wanna sit on this. Like really think about it because 1. Kar apparently executes this code later and 2. the logic behind it is perhaps a way to end the game. The kids game session is essentially looping code that has no way to exit the subloops, unlike Karkat's, to execute the main loop and end the game.

Speaking of TA and the game we get to see a chat with him and Kar which spirals into a toxic mess before Kar calls for a time out to learn more about said game. Between TA and Gamzee, I think Karkat values his friendship with TA way more. While he brushes it off as a running joke, Kar genuinely feels embarassed about the devolving convo. This guy does not feel shame easily.

On the game side of things, this is all TA's fault and also AA's. AA is the one who found the tech (Rose's server? another time capsule?) in some ruins and gave it to TA whos essentially rebuilt it or 'adapted' it as he says. This is gonna just go so swimmingly.

terminallyCapricious a.k.a GAMZEE MAKARA

I’m gonna be so honest, I was not expecting a new character revealed so soon. As abrupt as it feels, it works very well with the transition of the chatlog. Karkat is absolutely awful in that log. I mean the level of vitriol is off the charts. On the one hand we were warned that this is his style of communication but on the other my god hes about as cuddly as a jumping cactus. But that's also what makes this log funny to me. Unstoppable force (Karkat’s rage) v. Immovable object (Gamzee’s nonchalance). It just takes so much out of the rants and makes him more like a chihuahua, I cant take it seriously.

Your name is GAMZEE MAKARA.

You get pretty excited by CLOWNS OF A GRIM PERSUASION WHICH MAY NOT BE IN FULL POSSESSION OF THEIR MENTAL FACULTIES.

You like to practice on your ONE WHEEL DEVICE, which you are GOD AWFUL at because your FEET DO NOT RACH THE PEDALS.

Your trolltag is terminallyCapricious and you speak in a manner that is JuSt A lItTlE bIt WhImSiCaL.

Gamzee’s intro reminds me a lot of Dave's in how it gives a third party perspective like someone is talking to us directly rather than narrating to us. He’s got wild hair and tall horns with white face paint. Combined with what he shares about his cult I”m inclined to say hes a Juggalo/ into the Insane Clown Posse ( I know like two songs from animation memes). Combine that with the unicycle, horns and clubs, he is very firmly in the clown circle. The symbol on his shirt is the same one for Saturn which rules Capricorn and his color is a darker purple than Rose’s. There's some insane clown posters on the walls and bottles of Faygo everywhere which makes me really want a Faygo. Maybe I can convince my mom to stop at Fiesta tomorrow before we pick up my dad at the airport.

Gamz’s modus leaps up to the top of the worst modi possible list, the MIRACLE MODUS. Its got tons of cards but it flashes all sorts of colors an everything gets put in all willy nilly while getting anything out of it seems to be up to the whims of the universe. Which I guess is exact;y what hes all about. Gamzee apparently makes pies out of the stuff trolls use to sleep in which he notes hes not supposed to as it ‘does funny things to a trolls head’ but his Custodian is very neglectful and never thought to teach him that. His hive lies fairly close to the ocean where SEA DWELLERS live and are noted to be very hostile.

GC starts pestering Gamzee and proves my point on just how unbothered Gamz is about everything. GC very much does not like that she cant get under his skin but likes the idea of inviting Karkat to play TA’s game even less. This makes me wonder why these guys even got together to play this game in the first place. From the little interactions we've gotten it doesn’t really seem like any of these trolls like each other.

gallowsCalibrator a.k.a TEREZI PYROPE

Much like herself Terezi's room is alot. Full to the brim with a variety of multiple, clashing colors, SCALEMATE plushies and chalk drawings.

Your name is TEREZI PYROPE.

You are pretty enthusiastic about dragons. But you have a PARTICULAR AFFECTION for their COLORFUL SCALES, which you gather and use to decorate your hive.

You take an interest A justice, holding particular fascination for ORCHESTRATING THE DEMISE OF THE WICKED.

Your trolltag is gallowsCalibrator and you SP34K W1TH TH3 NUM3R4LS TH3 BLlND ROPH3TS ONC3 US3D.

Shed probably get alomg well with AR until he figure out just how skewed her judicial beliefs are. Terezi here is a junior prosecutor with something akin to synesthesia where she can taste colors. Literally. Whether she always had this ability or she gained it after becoming blind is unclear. I does explain all the color. Its implied that she was blinded during a LARPing accident which is much more extreme than our version probably is.

We get a bit derailed compared to Karkat and Gamzee as Terezi goes on to roleplay a courtroom drama featuring SENATOR LEMONSNOUT and beetle embezelment.

Alternia

Six sweeps is equal to 13 Earth years which comes out to one sweep for every 2 years and 2 month on Earth. There is something called a bi-lunar perigee though there's no reference for how long that is. A perigee is actually when the moon is closest to earth and happens about every 28 days. So either one day is equal to 28 of ours or the phenomena occurs differently there.

Also Earth doesn't exist yet.

Trolls are indeed a species with a larval stage and birthdays are known as wriggling days.

TROLLIAN is also a new application with a recently released BETA.

When you mature, you aspire to join the ranks of the most lethal members of your society, the THRESHECUTIONERS.

You hope one day to join the honorable ranks of the LEGISLACERATORS.

Some interesting job titles.

SBURB does not currently exist for the trolls "But it will soon." which absolutely is not threatening whatsoever./s

Also Karkat and five others are supposed to play it but we know that 12 of them end up in the Medium so did they somehow merge the two six-player sessions? Does that mean that six is the maximum amount of players for a single session? Or is it more of that destiny bs? I know TA set it up to be competing teams but SBURB has done more with less.

It is your RECUPERACOON full of nourishing SOPOR SLIME. Every young troll enjoys the cozy embrace of such a vessel each night, and the relaxing ooze helps assuage the terrible visions of blood and carnage that plague the dark subconscious of your species.

Ok aside from the weird uses of words that add to the alien nature of the trolls being aliens, I've never heard of SOPOR. I've heard of Stupor and apparently they are both abnormal states of deep sleep with stupor being the more severe of the two and probably why its more commonly used. On the one hand it explains Gamzee's 'high' state if its supposed to be a soporific agent to assist in sleeping. Directly ingesting it is probably not the safest idea. On the other hand!, I know it says it helps with the inherited PTSD of the species but how would that affect something like oh say, waking up your dream self?

Trolls think fashion stupid.

Is this true or is this just Karkat being Karkat?

Is that John Cusack? The thing that most people don't realize is that John Cusack is a universal constant.

Serious question, forgive me... who tf is John Cusack?? I'm sorry I'm TERRIBLE at names and faces.

You were allowed to design this hive when you were young, after you emerged victorious from your trials deep in the brooding caverns. You have lived here with your CUSTODIAN ever since. It's almost as if your people have placed great cultural importance on teaching children to become architecturally adept while very young.

I am looking very suspiciously.

Troll TV shows have shorter titles than troll movies because TV is a much newer form of media in their society.

On Alternia, there is no such thing as a defense attorney, or a defense.

Not related to Alternia but our command ==> has changed to ======>. Dont know if theres a story reason or if it just helps diferenciate the two stories.

[homestuckreplay]

“1TS WH4T MY CH4R4CT3R WOULD DO” – terezi probably

(page 2052-2065)

I’m enjoying Act 5 a lot so far, but the writing style has definitely changed. Its narrative text is directed more towards the reader, with asides making references a reader might know, but the trolls definitely don’t – for example, ‘your WALKING CANE, which you use as a weapon kind of like Earth Daredevil who you've never heard of’ (p.2052). The story is still in the second person, but there’s some distance between the ‘you’ and the troll we’re supposedly inhabiting, which there wasn’t with the kids, so I feel slightly more detached from the story.

Act 5 is also using a new kind of nonlinear storytelling. I know that saying ‘Homestuck is introducing nonlinear storytelling’ is basically like saying ‘there’s starting to be some problems in the world’, but this is different. In earlier acts, there have been occasional flash forwards or flashbacks, and times when the kids’ storylines are out of sync with each other but each proceeding linearly. Act 5’s cuts to the trolls in the Medium and back to before they play the game are basically like how the trolls interact with the kids’ timeline. The trolls’ whole story is already laid out, we know where it ends, so the ‘player’ is picking and choosing interesting points in their timeline to jump between and interact with.

When we reach a Pesterlog from Terezi’s perspective that’s already happened from Gamzee’s/the reader’s, it’s not recreated in full – we just see the first few lines, and then there’s a link to the earlier page. Again this is different from the kids’, whose Pesterlogs have always been shown in full from both sides (for example, Rose and Dave on page 522 and 611). Which definitely suggests there will be a LOT of jumping around and repeated chatlogs, and makes the sequence of pages itself nonlinear, as the hyperlinks make much bigger jumps than just going forward or back a single page.

Every kid’s entry into the Medium so far has been a pretty big deal, and with the giant meteor still looming over her house in ‘[S] Descend’, I think Jade’s will be too. With the trolls, the story is all business. Terezi mentions getting killed by meteors and a ‘WHOL3 CONSP1R4CY’ about Sburb almost offhand (p.2061), there’s no alchemy binge for Karkat besides a single Fresh Prince of Bel-Air themed sickle, and the lands are introduced with a single image instead of a cool flash, all of which contributes to the different feel of Act 5.

^ johnkat real?

GC: *SHE […] SP34KS TH3 4NC13NT TONGU3 OF 4 THOUS4ND W1SDOMS* GC: *SH3 S4YS:* GC: H3Y DO YOU W4NT TO PL4Y 4 G4M3 W1TH M3? (p.2055)

^ the ancient tongue of a thousand wisdoms being about playing a game is a great summary of Homestuck as a whole tbh

This update introduces a NEW TROLL, Terezi’s roleplay partner arsenicCatnip! She’s basically a Warrior Cats roleplayer, equal parts feral/bloodthirsty like a wildcat and cute/caring like a housecat. She’s also got a weird dynamic going with another troll who’s only referenced, who she has to ‘get purrmission’ from to play Sburb and is ‘kind of scared of’ (p.2055) – in an obviously cutthroat world like Alternia it’s not surprising that interpersonal relationships fall prey to serious power dynamics, but still, I hope she is okay. I noticed AC only mentions getting permission when Terezi mentions the team aspect of Sburb, so perhaps it’s a specific friend that this mystery troll doesn’t want AC to spend time with.

I love the idea of Terezi and AC roleplaying together, but unfortunately, Terezi is not a good collaborative roleplayer. She has no commitment to a shared scenario and isn’t picking up on the boundaries AC is pretty clearly setting down. AC can hold her own pretty well and the scenario ends well, but Terezi’s violence and control in this scenario doesn’t set her up well as a good leader for the red team.

And she is definitely manipulating Karkat when he contacts her about Sburb. It seems clear that she sees the server player as the game’s real leader, as it gives her control over Karkat’s environment while he has to do the hard work running around and controlling monsters. She also knows much more about the game than he does, so she’s able to frame this the opposite way and make him want to be the client, and she mixes fake-flirting, fake-not caring and possibly real insanity to get her intended reactions. Her superior knowledge + manipulation mean she interacts with Karkat the same way she’ll later interact with the beta kids. When Karkat asks her to explain the deal with Sburb, she replies ‘1 C4NT! / 1 GOTT4 ST3P OUT OF TH3 TR33 FOR 4 MOM3NT’ (p.2061) which is a move Karkat will steal when interacting with John and trying to get out of a conversation. It’s pretty funny when Karkat does it because I know he’s stuck on a meteor and doesn’t need to go anywhere, and it’s just interesting to see the kid-troll dynamics recreated (predicted?) between two trolls.

Terezi and Karkat hint at some new Alternian technology: ‘lusus’, ‘lawnring’, and ‘culled’ (p.2058), the last of which could possibly link to a yet-unseen troll, cuttlefishCuller. Culling is the selective killing of animals, often for population control or to eliminate disease, and here it’s applied to trolls too, but there’s no details of the role it plays in society. ‘Lawnring’ seems like the Alternian equivalent of a yard – looking at Karkat’s neighborhood again, there are literal grassy rings around the hives (p.2003), plus as a John parallel it makes sense for Karkat to have a typical suburban hive. This means that Terezi’s ‘SCR3W L4WNR1NGS’ attitude (p.2058) is a criticism of mainstream Alternian society, and an assertion of her decision to live outside it. That’s a decision she’s been able to make for herself, instead of being forced into a given living situation like the beta kids. ‘Lusus’ I have no idea what it could mean, but it’s another thing Terezi doesn’t have, or doesn’t have yet, that seems to be fairly common for trolls.

Terezi also has some kind of fascination with blood, asking Karkat what color his is (??) and promising to ‘F1ND OUT SOM3 D4Y’ (p.2061), which is about as ominous as adiosToreador mentioning that dream selves can die and then telling Jade to enjoy her nap ‘wHILE IT LASTS,’ (p.1936). Terezi was also asking Dave what his blood smells like, and has been ‘SO CUR1OUS’ about ‘WH4T HUM4N BLOOD T4ST3S L1K3’ (p.1935). Even pre-Sburb her interest in violence clearly goes way beyond stuffed animals, like she wants to know how it feels to inflict that same violence on a living creature, but just hasn’t had that chance yet.

GC: H4V3 YOU T4LK3D TO 44 CG: 44 WHAT? GC: 4POC4LYPS34R1S3N SORRY (p.2061)

^ this is a VERY funny use of terezi’s typing style. hey, one day she’ll be able to mention talking to ‘3B’!

In the last few pages of the update there’s another troll, bringing the TTV (Total Troll Visuals) to 6, halfway! This troll is probably apocalypseArisen, the red of her shirt matching that name on the Chumproll, and her symbol corresponding to Aries. Some people have mentioned that 4/13 lands in Aries, making her a potentially important troll. 6/12 lands in Gemini, which is twinArmageddons, and TA adapted the code to Sburb from some ‘crazy technology AA dug out of 2ome ruiin2’ (p.2027) so there could be something to this theory.

AA has a frog temple of her own – probably the aforementioned ruins – which has six pillars instead of four (those numbers again)! So the frog ruins are a universal Sburb construct, and every planet which will one day play Sburb gets a frog temple sent to the birth of its civilization to later unearth the code? This one probably didn’t contain a Bec, as he seems like a specific quirk of the kids’ session.

AA feels compelled to destroy the frog temple, acting on instinct though she doesn’t know why. Interestingly the kids’ frog temple was beheaded too, although not until the exiles’ time (p.1359) – perhaps any doomed session will also have its temple destroyed in some form. The Aimless Renegade considers frogs ‘illegal’ (p.1100, 1910) and works for Derse, so could it be possible that AA has already awoken on Derse the same way Jade already awoke on Prospit, and is receiving whispers from the gods of the Furthest Ring telling her to destroy anything frog themed?

It is easy to imagine AA receiving eldritch whispers as she looks just like a weird girl in a horror movie, with her long flowing hair, spooky white eyes, ripped clothes contrasted with neat schoolgirl socks and shoes, telekinetic powers, the very image of a once-’good girl’ now corrupted by dark psychic forces. It would be very fun for her to be a big horror movie fan who enjoys re-enacting her favorite films to spook her friends, so I’m crossing my fingers we’ll meet and learn more about her tomorrow.

[homestuckreplay]

June 20, 2010

Homestuck Day 341

New Pages: 2058 - 2065

% Completion (Pages): 25.40

% Completion (Time): 16.97

[homestuckreplay]

June 19, 2010

Homestuck Day 340

New Pages: 2052 - 2057

% Completion (Pages): 25.30

% Completion (Time): 16.93

[homestuckreplay]

made a joke about sburb steam achievements earlier and felt compelled to make it real

[homestuckreplay]

Senator Lemonsnout Was Framed

(page 2032-2051)

So this entire 20-page update is just Terezi acting out an elaborate courtroom scene, alone in her room, with a bunch of dragon plushies and some chalk. That’s 1% of the story just in this courtroom drama. John, Dave, Jade and even WV all did plenty of fucking around in their rooms, but Terezi’s is a much longer commitment to a single scenario, instead of flitting from one thing to another – probably a consequence of the trolls being introduced without reader commands influencing the story.

Apparently Terezi lives in a place where ‘there is no one who is alive nearby’ (p.2032), although the previous page mentioned she used to do more extreme roleplaying with her friends before an accident. That makes me wonder if she moved to the woods recently, and that makes me wonder how moving house works on Alternia. Its ‘people have placed great cultural importance on teaching children to become architecturally adept while very young’ (p.2003), with kids building their own hives, so it’s probably rare to move away from them, and only happens in extreme circumstances. If moving house is difficult or unheard of, that would make all the trolls kinda… what’s the word? Housetrapped?

Related: Alternian kids learning architecture at a young age could be connected to this:

GC: BUT P4RT OF [TH3 3X1L3S’] JOB 1S TO R3BU1LD L1F3 4ND C1V1L1Z4T1ON TH3R3 GC: 4ND 1F TH3YR3 SUCC3SSFUL 1N THOUS4NDS OR M1LL1ONS OF Y34RS TH3 T3CHNOLOGY 1S UN34RTH3D 4ND TH3 PL4N3T 1S R1P3 FOR S33D1NG 4LL OV3R 4G41N (p.1524)

It seems like if exiles rebuild civilization on a planet post-Sburb, they’d have good reason to build a society that will successfully play Sburb again one day, and they know what skills are needed for that. So with the trolls, it could be their planet’s second (or third, or fourth) time through this cycle, which would also explain how Sburb’s technology was ‘dug out of 2ome ruiin2’ by one of the trolls (p.2027), left behind by the last group of players. On Earth, some of the players were somewhat prepared by their guardians who came from Skaia, but society as a whole wasn’t built around the game – so I think it’s their first attempt. If this game is played countless times on countless planets throughout paradox space, I’d love to know the win rate. What’s the ratio of successful sessions to null sessions, and does this change based on whether it’s a planet’s first, second, third time playing? Show Me The Sburb Steam Achievements.

Terezi’s scenario is very elaborate and a lot of fun to read. She’s clearly got a great imagination and/or has watched a lot of courtroom-style shows – in a different universe where she didn’t try to get John killed, maybe he could introduce her to Harry Anderson and Night Court. Her plot twists, where the key witness shows up murdered and the Shocking Development where Lemonsnout has brought the beetles into the courtroom, are genuinely surprising moments! If the legislacerator career doesn’t work out for her she could get involved in Alternia’s thriving crime fiction scene.

I understand that ‘on Alternia there is no such thing as a defense attorney, or a defense’ (p.2032) but I would totally join Terezi’s game and play as Lemonsnout’s defense atttorney if there was. And, I remember being 13, when roleplaying and playing with stuffed animals were things I still wanted to do, but everyone in my life would have humiliated me if I’d admitted it. So living alone has its benefits for Terezi, because she can be her weirdest self without any social pressure to put away childish things.

The lack of defense attorneys and defenses is more evidence for Alternia as mask-off Earth. A society here might pride itself on the idea of a fair trial or even offer it as a constitutional right, when in reality, if people in power want to prosecute someone they’ll find a way. This is also a possible explanation for why Gamzee’s clown cult views Earth as a ‘mythical paradise planet’ (p.2012) – if this cult has foretold of a place where (among other things) criminals who might be innocent have a chance to be exonerated through evidence, that surely sounds like paradise if the cult don’t know that it doesn’t always work in practice.

Terezi’s roleplay is a little dark, but for the first 17 pages it’s treated whimsically, and is really nothing out of the ordinary compared to the average Warrior Cats roleplay – I think it is very common to be interested in gruesome and violent ideas as a kid. Tabbing to the next page and suddenly being confronted with over a dozen plushies hanging from nooses was, for me, a sudden moment of ‘oh no, this is fucked up for real’. I guess I draw a line between acting out a scenario where a stuffed animal gets killed, and keeping those ‘dead’ animals indefinitely as trophies decorating a hive.

‘Your luscious yellow scales are like the sweetest gumdrops to the prosecution's nose. But your deceit STINKS.’ (p.2038)

I really love this line, and can imagine the lemon gumdrop scent so well. Senses play a huge role in Terezi’s roleplay, with the narrative really focusing on her blindness. She slaps Lemonsnout around (touch), interrogates in ‘intimidating silence’ while the senator ‘exhales in relief’ (hearing), licks the words in her legal books and the chalk drawing of His Honorably Tyranny (taste), sniffs Lemonsnout’s scales and deceit (smell), and then at the climax of the drama during the coinflip sequence, Lemonsnout sees the coin land in his favor (sight), but Terezi sentences him anyway – even though touching the coin would be enough to learn how it landed – because that’s the one sense she doesn’t have access to.

It’d be an obvious plot twist to have Terezi refer to a recent accident, and then have that be unrelated to her blindness. But as it’s something she really fixates on about herself, I think that suggests she only became blind recently. Long enough ago that she’s learned how to function well without her sight, but recent enough that these different sensory experiences are new to her, and it’s a change in her situation that she’s constantly thinking about.

It’s notable too that the art in Terezi’s section is much more colorful than the other trolls we’ve met so far, who have lived in dark and muted spaces. Terezi’s scalemates are brightly colored, the tree she lives in is pink and blue, her shoes and glasses are red, the beetles are purple, and her rugs, curtains and desk are all bright and patterned. Obviously it’s established that she can access these things through taste and smell, but there is still a big difference between her perception and ours, and the colors are a constant reminder of that. Throughout Homestuck, the images convey a lot of information, and Terezi’s powers don’t exist in the real world. So Homestuck as a work is not accessible to real life blind people in its current form, something that’s really hard to ignore on these pages.

On a more positive note, there is some truly great art in this section. THOSE BEETLES. What a cute design. Of course Lemonsnout wanted to steal from the imperial beetle coffers when the beetles look THAT good. This side profile of Terezi (p.2047) where every tooth is on display and she looks a little monstrous reminds me of this side profile of Jack from ‘[S] Descend’, which a lot of people have pulled out as an iconic shot. There haven’t been many side profiles in Homestuck before now, the vast majority of it is ¾ profile shots, which makes these two stand out even more.

This final panel of Terezi standing on ten law looks to reach and lick His Honorable Tyranny is similar to a previous visual gag, Dave reaching above his head to give Lil Cal a fistbump (p.453-4). These really draw attention to how small the kids/trolls are, disproportionately so for the size of their homes. It highlights how young they are, and the sadness that they live in (or literally built) these spaces they should’ve been able to grow into, but Sburb has taken that chance away from them.

[homestuckreplay]

June 18, 2010

Homestuck Day 339

New Pages: 2042 - 2051

% Completion (Pages): 25.23

% Completion (Time): 16.89

[homestuckreplay]

June 17, 2010

Homestuck Day 338

New Pages: 2032 - 2041

% Completion (Pages): 25.10

% Completion (Time): 16.86