#alt future dave

[ezratheanon]

confetti! (alt version beneath cut)

[thewertsearch]

PCG: SO YOU DIDN'T REMEMBER SEEING THIS FROG WHEN YOU WERE A KID AT ALL? ?GG: no, it completely slipped my mind

I’m not surprised; it was the notoriously scatterbrained Dream Jade who encountered this frog, after all. She probably thought it was another Skaian illusion, and dismissed it out of hand.

PCG: HOW DID SHE GET YOU TO REMEMBER? […] ?GG: well, like it was before ?GG: the choices she gives you seem to have to do with facing mortality ?GG: and making it clear if you choose one path over another it will lead to your death ?GG: and that your death may even be necessary to accomplish a goal FGA: Yes Ive Inferred Their Ultimata Are All Personalized Variations On The Presentation Of Such Dilemmas

Well, that certainly fits Davesprite’s Deringer situation - and Alt!John’s encounter with his Denizen ended in his death, so I guess the implication is that he made a Choice, too.

What about Kanaya, though? She didn't accept her Denizen's terms; if she had, would she have died as well?

Let's try and think this one through. If we roll with my theory that she was asked to ensure the trolls were responsible custodians of their universe, she’d probably have had to deal with the Players who wouldn't let that happen. That means taking on Eridan, at the very least, which could easily have turned violent. Maybe they'd kill each other, just like in the Alpha Timeline - but since Kanaya agreed to die, she wouldn't be walking away from this one as a rainbow drinker. She'd be gone for good.

In this scenario, the trolls would have their Final Frog, and presumably, their universe would have been less problematic as a result. They might actually have been able to enter this iteration of their universe - not as tyrants, but as bad-tempered custodians. Grim auxiliatrices, if you will.

What about Doomed John, then? Kanaya’s statement implies that he could have chosen to live, but how is that possible in a doomed timeline?

Well, maybe Typheus offered to un-doom John's timeline, promoting it to the new Alpha - and at the same time, he explained Davesprite's importance to the original Alpha, making it clear that preserving the current timeline would retroactively erase everything that was 'supposed' to happen. John could have sacrificed the future to preserve his present - but ultimately, he chose to die, so that countless others would live.

Alright, I think I’m starting to break these Choices wide open. Let’s try and puzzle out Davesprite’s first Choice, then – the one he made in his original timeline, and implicitly rejected by fleeing.

By abandoning Hephaestus, Future Dave chose to live – so if he’d heard his Denizen out, he would have had to die. Perhaps his offer was similar to Doomed John’s - Hephaestus could have 'repaired' his entire session, allowing Future Rose to win it, but she’d have to win it entirely alone.

He fled, though, so he survived, instead of his session. Sounds like if you reject your Denizen’s terms, you live, and if you accept them, you die...

?GG: that is not really what made this hard ?GG: i mean ?GG: nobody wants to die of course ?GG: but at least… ?GG: that is a clear thing

...and Jade accepted her Choice.

Oh, no.

[adapertiones]

(Alt Text: Tragibox Lore Resource Masterpost. Archives, official links, fan docs, etc...)

Guess who accidentally deleted it when they were going to edit something... yeah.

LAST UPDATED; 30/03/25

Thought this would be treasured by others as much as it is by me. Wherever my hyperfixation takes me to learn is for me to share!!!

If you have any additions, feel free to send them to me so I can add them! Also don't doubt about telling me if any of the links happen to be broken or if anything is incorrectly linked!

⚠️ Some things to keep in mind:

Tragibox Lore is currently being rewritten by the new owner of the project, Ruby Waters. Some things might get changed!

Breakthrough bonuses are fanmade.

Ruby has kindly asked to not ship characters within Tragibox, this includes Neester x Lilac. Screenshots of this boundary can be found on the Lore Archive Masterdoc linked below. DaveMack is excepted from this since it's a canon ship! Canon ships are allowed.

Official Orin Ayo Lore Doc (Wayback Machine Link): Might be a bit laggy on phone. Try not to touch the text too much because it sends you to refresh the page (HAPPENED MANY TIMES...). There's a missing picture of Acheture Blunt's appearance before death but I managed to dig around a little and find it! It's currently on the lore archive below.

Tragibox Lore Archive Masterdoc: A document by me. Archives the official lore doc, in-game profiles (in progress), discord lore questions answered and some other things. My directory basically!!! Don't request editing access. Note: When opening in a mobile browser, check "desktop size/browser view" to be able to see the images better, otherwise they will look blurry.

Official Tragibox Discord Server: Activity varies a lot but very fun! There is interesting lore material around and you can ask lore questions. Might serve to track the progress of the project in the future! Also good to interact with other Tragibox fans. Special shout-out to whoever sent me the invite link through strawpage when I asked for it, you're a real one sob sob...

Tragibox Archive by Smugg/Pk Freeze: HTML version of Tragibox games saved plus a bit of lore information screenshoted~

Orin Ayo Wiki: Take some of the things here as a grain of salt, information tends to be changed by users and is usually not backed by sources. Lore related note; don't take the info in character profiles in Orin Ayo as the 100% truth, as most of that information can be manipulated by cultists~

Extra to Orin Ayo Wiki: Paige's Wiki Page

Breakthrough Wiki: Same thing as the Orin Ayo Wiki. This time, character info can be trusted a little more, most of it is written directly by Sol but there are some cases of unknown characters or Dave writting them (Dave's logs have his signature)

Using this little space to add that I'm currently working on a document analysing some elements on Tragibox from a more scientific point of view~ For now it is just a very rough WIP bit will be added to this list once it is done.

[angst-and-fajitas]

Emma's Pantheon fic list (literally everything I'm working on)

COMPLETE

• The Nightbus

Canon-Compliant one-shot which takes place within the ending of s2 ep 3, elaborating on Caspian's POV of their first kiss.

• it's about who you leave behind

One-shot, Canon-Compliant, angsty fic about Maddie and Dave and grief, taking place 16 years into the 20 year timeskip, between season 2 ep 6 and ep 7.

• Iterations

XL one-shot, technically Canon Compliant? Told from the POV of Maddie within the Dyson sphere, as she observes three different simulations where things turn out different but not necessarily better: one where David Kim doesn't get cancer, one where MIST doesn't save them in the data center, and one where she backs up and reboots Caspian after his death. Tragedy-heavy. 15,000 words approx. Introductory piece to TMoB.

IN PROGRESS

• The Miracle of Backups (ONGOING)

Longfic diving fully into that simulation AU in which Maddie makes a backup of Caspian before his fight without telling him, then reboots him after his death. Covers their relationship throughout the following 20 years, all the highs and lows of love and tragedy and the conflicts between their two worlds. My outlines currently estimate 50 chapters and roughly 150,000 word count at completion.

• No Sleep Till London: collection of missing-scene Maddspian ficlets taking place between s2 ep 3 and 4, within those missing one to two weeks between DC and London. Pure mutual-pining fluff basically. Kinda a sequel to The Nightbus?

• shorter, angsty canon-compliant multichapter thing taking place during Caspian's season 1 homeless arc. Kinda a character study?

FUTURE IDEAS

• alt version of the first half of s2 ep8, in which Caspian DOES get to talk to Dave before everything goes to hell

• something obscenely angsty about Maddie visiting the graves of her loved ones before she uploaded

I'll update this post as things evolve. I just wanted a reference space for my plans, because I've literally only talked to one friend about it

[dailydirkkat]

(not sure if this is more of a question for your main or here) what do you like about dirkkat? first time i’ve seen this ship and it peaks my interest so i’m curious!

hi! uh the drawing portion will be under the cut due to a cw for nonzexual nudity (toplezz). while thatz uh buzy down there ig, ill anzwer thiz!

ty anon for azking thiz, doeznt rlly matter where it waz zent but itd mozt likely be zeen here better lol alzo ill prolly pozt a zummary for ppl who dont wanna read all thiz. and DIZCLAIMER: im rlly bad at expaling my thoughtz and opinionz about ztuff i like/think zo thiz prolly wont be my bezt explanation about them, zorry😞

anyway, the interezt of the zhip ztarted around march lazt year actually. it became of interezt to me cuz dirk and karkat were my "top" kinz! now that ive had time to think about it more, karkat rlly iz my only kin of the two, i honeztly think i only zaid dirk waz a kin bc at the time i had a growing interezt in him and hiz character.

ok yada yada ya, fazt forward a few weekz, maybe a month after that, i actually ztarted to dive into their dynamic. dezpite their differencez (a lot) they ztill have very many zimilaritez (that r alzo different to each other but in a way that complimentz each other), zuch az!! the clazzez, being a knight and a prince. the clazzez themzelvez mean to work for/with (knight (i could be wrong but itz zmth like that)) and to deztroy (prince). the meaning of the rolez dont rlly connect but i mean, cmon, prince x knight u guyz. cmon. or their azpectz, blood (related to bondz (zometimez to actual blood too i think?)) and heart (related to the zoul). one could zay in order to have a zoul u have to have bondz!! cuz in order to be zoullezz, youd have to be heartlezz which most of the time meanz being carelezz. and being carelezz prolly meanz u dont have very many bondz.

they both have boy troublez. dirk and jake being in their tricky zituation, dave and karkat alzo being in a tricky zituation. not to mention at the beginning, dirk and jake ztart off az bezt broz before their entire relationzhip ztartz to crumble, meanwhile dave and karkat hate each other at the beginning and they zlowly grow on each other. i could zee them anger bonding about boy problemz

then, thiz iz prolly like the mozt convincing bit ig? idk, but a lotta pther dirkkat zhippeez agree about thiz. but they hate themzelvez!!! they pity themzelvez ZOOO bad itz zad. karkat hatez hiz pazt, prezent, and future zelf AND alt timelinez of himzelf while dirk hatez hiz zplinterz (which can alzo include hiz alt timeline zelvez). they both trazh talk about any verzion of them that iznt, like, themzelf. ig. idk whatz the bezt way to put that

and lazt but certainly not leazt, and thiz iz juzt my opinion, but i think karkat would be good for dirk (and vice verza)!! being a blood player n all, if they were in a relationzhip, karkat would devote hiz time to dirk, zmth dirk haz only wanted zince the hiztory of ever!! dirk rlly wanted a genuine relationzhip w jake but he blindly threw himzelf at jake bc he didnt (doesnt) underztand zocial cuez or the right way to go ahout certain zituationz. jake couldnt do that for dirk bc he ALZO didnt (doeznt) underztand zocial cuez or how to go about certain zituationz in the right way, but karkat CAN, karkat DOEZ. like, dont get me wronf, zumtimez karkat makez the wrong dezicion or underztandz the wrong way but he alwayz knowz how to backtrack and try to underztand what he did wrong or how to fix a zituation. karkat would zet dirk ztraight dude, dirk would prolly try to run from the priblem or ignore it az bezt az he can (bazically the zame thing but whateva) but karkar wouldnt let him!! AND, with karkat actively being around dirk all the time it would help with hiz oazt trauma of izolation, which would inwardly affect their relationzhip in the long run pozitively becauze dirk would prolly open up more!! a zituation a lot like davekat honeztly.

ok i lied, one more thing. theyre both yapperz. i mean technically all homeztuck characterz r yapperz but like, hear me out. ezpecially on topicz of their zpecial intereztz, theyd yap for hourz about it AND the other would prolly habe zmth to add or zay, or maybe even a queztion to azk about it. they can keep a convo going ans alzo know jow to keep it fun and funny, most likely on dirkz part cuz hed prolly teaze karkat the whole time. or maybe not. i dunno, im bad at explaining thiz ztuff... x2

uh, yea thatz bazically it. therez proloy more i didnt add but im rlly bad at voicing my opinionz or thoughtz on thingz zo like (x3, jeez i think they get the point dude). thiz iz prolly the bezt ur gonna get

alzo for the heck of it, herez how i think their dynaimc would be in certain quadrantz:

Red:

crazy debatez, datez, freaky ztuff. i think theyd prolly be moderately zexually active tbh? but def not a crazy amount. thered mozt likely be a lot of cuddling, hanging out (even if theyre not entirely zpeaking or doing activitez w each other), theyd be zuper zupportive of each other and their hobbiez, moztly dirk bc karkatz only hobby rlly kz crying over romcomz but u get my point

Pale:

thiz def tiez in w hating themzelvez, they both like to try and zupport their friendz the bext they can, ezp karkat zo theyd try and counter any bad pointz with a good one, again more crazy debatez, LOTZ and LOTZ of pilez. gifting/creating each other thingz, trying thingz the other likez, znarky commentz, however light hearted (their relationzhip would prolly be built around poking fun of one another wo actually being mean aboutit)

Black:

dirk would be znarky (im crying how many timez havei uzed znarky zo far) az HELL while alzo being ZUPER nonchalant bc it would pizz karkat off more. karkat would def inzult tf outta dirk and when dirk takez it zrzly hed zwitch pale rlly quick but then hed be like, "NO, KARKAT. YOU HATE HIM." or zmth. and then proceed to try and comfort him anyway. prolly a little more zexually active then when in red, "prankz", lotz of pity being thrown around zecretly bc theyre both defo the type to pity one another cuz they think the other iz living a zadder, more pathetic life.

Azh:

i dont rlly have any opinionz on azh but more than likely itd be dirk wo even realizing hez beinf azhen towardz karkat. alzo i think dirk would try and underztand quadrantz but ultimately w karkatz crazy vacilation theyd prolly be in like a half and half thing w human romance and quadrantz

Zummary:

interezt ztarted off bc theyre were my top kinz at the time

prince x knight!!

blood (bondz) x heart (zoul) (having bondz = having a zoul, uzually)

boy troublez!! bonding over their troublez about jake and dave

zelf hatred, dirk hating hiz zplinterz, karkat hating hiz oazt, prezent, and future zelf

(my own opinion) theyd be good for each!! ezp karkat for dirk due to hiz clazzpect. hed devote hiz time to dirk and dirk would try to devote himzelf juzt az equally

theyre both yapperz when it comez to their zpecial intereztz!! they can keep a convo going between each other and alzo crazy debatez!! theyre juzt rlly vocal

theyd be zupportive of each other!

zo thatz it bazically!! maybe im juzt pulling thingz out my azz but i mean yea, thayz why i like them. zhrug!! but the relationzhip iz totally up for interpertation, i personnaly like them bezt in pale but my boyfriend likez them in black zo! im prolly gonna do more digging when i reread homeztuck again zo maybe ill reanzwer thiz queztion in the future?

anyway time for what mozt ppl actually want!!

again, cw for nonzexual nudity (toplezz) happy tranz day of vizibilty yall!!! co:

day 87

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

I looked through the season 6 tag and didn't find anything, but I was wondering if you knew of any fics that were S6 from Blaine's POV and his musings on Kurt and his plan to get him back throughout the episodes or from Kurt's POV seeing the effect his plan has on Blaine (hopefully that makes sense)

So the season 6 reaction fics were written at the time by writers who wanted to improve or expand on the Klaine story in season 6, and so follow canon. Those recommended before - here - explore each episode of the season, and how it could have been. In those, we see the POV of both of Klaine throughout the season.

Below are alternative fics of where they didn't get back together in the same hurried time scale, but over the next year, which I have included because (not wishing to get into meta), it wasn't really Blaine's plan in season 6 to get Kurt back, and well Kurt didn't really have a plan after episode 1, but waited, with them both realising that they did ultimately want to be together. With Sue's intervention, and plotting, it all happened quicker. The stories show an alternative to how they were feeling over the year that followed the 6.1 split. Hope my ramblings make sense? If anybody wants to suggest more, please do. Our reconciliation tag has many fics where they got together years after the split. ~Jen

Shape of My Heart by fablewriter

Five times Kurt tried to win back Blaine's forgiveness and his heart, and the one time he did.

~~~~~

Down on the Corner by @flowerfan2

AU after Season 5/ Alt!s6. Blaine went back to Lima after the breakup, but Kurt stayed in New York. They do in fact reunite on the corner outside the loft in six months, but it doesn’t go as either of them expected. Over the course of the next year, Blaine struggles to find himself, and Kurt struggles to find Blaine. And while they both realize that love doesn’t necessarily conquer all, they discover that it definitely helps.

~~~~ With every broken bone @spaceorphan18

After finding that living together is proving to be too difficult, Kurt Hummel breaks off his engagement, and finds himself alone in the city that summer. As his life heads in a new direction, Kurt's forced to look back at the past, and re-examine his future, where he learns a little about himself, a lot about love, and that second chances are always a possibility.

Set at the end of season 5, a canon-compliant story that examines the question -- What was Kurt's journey between season 5 and season 6?

~~~~~

It Must Have Been Love (6x05 fix-it fic) by RedxRobin

Kurt and Blaine are stuck in a fake elevator by Sue and there only way out is to kiss each other. along the way they discuss each others relationship with Sebastian and Dave.

[acquired-stardust]

Anime Spotlight #5: FLCL (2000)

Looking for something to watch? Ash tackles the impossible task of looking at an extremely formative anime for her in FLCL! How can you possibly hope to do something like that justice? Just try to hit the ball like you're defeating the enemy, chief!

Back towards the middle of March, voice acting lost one of its unsung heroes in Dave Mallow. Mr. Mallow was perhaps most famous to my generation as the voice of iconic digimon Angemon in the dub of the original Digimon (1999) series, but he also did a lot of heavy lifting in additional roles across many titles during his career. It wasn't uncommon for dubs of this period to feature his immediately recognizable voice, and series like Rurouni Kenshin (1995) wouldn't be the same without him. The role that first springs to mind when thinking about the late Mr. Mallow however is FLCL's Commander Amarao, and so this piece is dedicated to his memory. Click beyond the break to read more about one of the most well regarded OVAs of all time, who's anniversary just so happens to be today!

"Nothing amazing happens here. Everything is ordinary."

The oft-repeated refrain from series lead Naota Nandaba, a tween living in the fictional Japanese city of Mabase, belies the mile-a-minute madcap insanity and deceptively heavy emotion that is to unfold across FLCL's mere six episode run. Its first utterance is followed by the apparently frequent sexual assault of its lead character by his older brother's girlfriend before he is then struck and injured by a mysterious passing motorist, sets the stage for a deeply layered coming-of-age story about the nature of adulthood, the concept of the inner and outer selves and some of the shockingly realistic impact of grooming and abuse can have on young people.

Having first come to America as part of Adult Swim's takeover of pop culture in the early aughts, FLCL is a series that you've probably at least heard of in passing if you have any level of familiarity with anime. Variously described as being either the greatest thing a person has ever seen or an obnoxious, vapid series about nothing relying purely on 'the vibes', it's gained a reputation as being divisive and even people who fall in love with it often say they have no idea what they just watched or what it was about. Given that you're reading this spotlight it should be clear what the position of this blog and author are: FLCL is one of the most incredible works of art in its medium and hopefully by the end of this piece you'll be giving it a chance for yourself if you've yet to see it.

FLCL's creative team is an assemblage of the anime royalty that is Gainax from the previous decade including the likes of director Kazuya Tsurumaki, scriptwriter Youji Enokido and character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, all of whom by this point were seasoned veterans of the industry most famous for their involvement in paradigm shifting classic Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) - even future industry stars Hiroyuki Imaishi and Yoh Yoshinari would have key involvement in the series. FLCL even features a cameo from Hideaki Anno in the Japanese version. It is no surprise then that FLCL is perfectly at home in the pantheon of Gainax's melancholic character studies chock full of flawed and often extremely problematic characters, and it should also be unsurprising to hear that it is full to the brim with both style and substance.

This creative dream team is rounded out by the not-so-secret weapon of the series in musical contributions by Japanese alt-rock band The Pillows, able to shift effortlessly between a sort of sardonic disaffection that doesn't take itself seriously and an almost folk style philosophy and earnestness on a dime.

Characters speak in dense multilayered metaphor and pop culture references seemingly at once to each other and to the viewer both, standing amid backgrounds rendered at times in a style reminiscent of watercolor. Their appearances are something of a fusion of the familiar designs of Sadamoto in an aesthetic more akin to Digimon (1999). They move like real people with an impressive eye for detail only to suddenly switch to a squash-and-stretch cartoonish style, all with incredible cinematography and a denseness that mirrors the dialogue in its ability to draw reference to other anime and pop culture at large including an extended scene clearly molded in the style of South Park (1997). The scenes big and small are punctuated by extremely high quality music in ways that make it some of the best utilization of music in anime as a whole.

The result of the fusion of so many of these contradictory elements is a series itself predicated beautifully upon contradiction, thoroughly marinated in melancholy that will leave you coming back for more time and time again with subsequent rewatches.

Naota's supposedly ordinary life is dominated by the need to portray his interpretation of the ideal adult. A desperate need to grow up, not really knowing exactly what that means or feels like and inevitably how much loss growing up entails from both time and people. Striving to appear unmoved by the futilities of life, Naota embodies a sort of performative stoicism that sees him drinking perceived 'difficult' sour soft drinks to show off just how mature he is while returning home for a curry dinner that is of a mild spice level specifically due to his intolerance for its flavor.

Naota's interpretation of adulthood is someone who is able to sleepwalk through life with a shrug to things he perceives as childish, like emotion, and to be able to silently shoulder burdens, blinding him to just how abnormal his life actually is. He is unable to identify his older brother's girlfriend's deep mental illness or just how unusual a highschooler involving herself with a gradeschooler is. His father is essentially the town paparazzi, which doesn't seem the slightest bit odd to Naota even as that plot thread begins to see some exploration. The near extent of his questioning of the charismatic manipulator he finds himself wrapped up with in addition to his brother's girlfriend is only questioned insofar as she seems to buck so many of the ideas Naota has around adulthood and how she is able to dangle it in front of his face almost like a set of shiny keys to a baby.

The performative and contradictory nature of the public self versus the private self, as well as the problems that inevitably causes, is a core theme of the series that every one of the series' characters grapples with in their own way and one of the most fascinating elements of the plot as it begins to unfold. I've often seen recent phenomenon DanDaDan (2024) described as 'a twisted FLCL' which is a fairly apt comparison in a lot of ways, but FLCL itself I find much of the setup of to be like a twisted version of Rumiko Takahashi classic Urusei Yatsura (1981), wherein two (this time around differently aged) schoolkids get wrapped up with a mysterious outsider and the tug of war those relationships all play between each other.

I've seen remarkably little discussion about it (actually, in my research for this article I've not seen a single person mention this) even with Urusei Yatsura's recent and well-received remake, but it's become impossible for me to see the lead characters of Naota, Mamimi and Haruko as anything other than reflections of Ataru, Shinobu and Lum respectively, and this similarity (intentional or otherwise) increases my appreciation for it rather than diminishing it. It's just one more thing that FLCL pays homage to and parodies that can be enjoyed regardless of whether you notice the allusion or not.

As this series originally aired on television, most longtime fans are most familiar with its English adaptation and I'm happy to report that it is also of extremely high quality and from as star studded a team as you can get at this period. Featuring a cast of actors that sound remarkably like the Japanese originals by and large who are mostly veterans of the craft by this point (notably this would be Kari Wahlgren's first ever voiceover role, and she absolutely stuns in her first outing), the series' English version was written and directed by Adult Swim anime alumni Marc Handler who also handled the script for Cowboy Bebop (1998) and its movie (which I've actually previously written about HERE).

The adaptation for this series was surely a monumental task and the crew has largely exceeded expectations. The script is stellar and infinitely quotable, and much of the wordplay and puns of the series have been retained as much as possible. Some of the symbolism can be lost however, despite the admirable effort and sweeping success of the adaptation. One example is a scene in episode four with a character appearing in the form of a mouse (that sounds insane writing it out, but I promise you it's a tremendous scene) in a reference to the line earlier in the series "mouth to mouth", said in English and obviously pronounced with a Japanese accent in the original Japanese version, which sounds to an English speaker like "mouse to mouse". The adaptation is memorable to me even beyond its high quality for being something was one of the first anime on television I can recall being allowed to keep its strong Japanese identity almost entirely intact (barring a reference to crystal pepsi), which believe it or not was at one time a really mind blowing factor.

While everyone is incredible in their roles including the debuting Kari Wahlgren, Dave Mallow getting the rare chance for a central role is of particular note for this piece. His character, Amarao, is a pastiche of the sort of masculinity and adulthood portrayed by Arsene Lupin III (of Lupin III (1971) fame) right down to several visual allusions, and a fantastic scumbag with one of my favorite lines of the whole series.

FLCL is an extremely dense, fast paced series with so many multi-layered details despite the sometimes otherwise slow and deliberate pace, wrapping itself almost in a slice of life style. So many things happen both overtly and under the surface even when it would be easy to think otherwise, and the series is absolutely jam packed with metaphor and innuendo. Its complexity and the way it delivers its philosophy, ultimately arriving at the conclusion that the real meaning of adulthood is to have the confidence to let people think what they want about you while pursuing what you want earnestly, is reminiscent more so of literature than animation, an opinion shared by its English writer/director Marc Handler in a 2002 interview, who had described his first impressions of the series as 'a bunch of hip animators screwing around' before coming to appreciate just how complex it is.

On a personal note, as someone who dealt with grooming and abuse of a similar nature to Naota at the same age just before it aired on television, the events of the series on him also hit extremely close to home. There are countless nights I will lay awake some 20 years later and wonder if my abuser ever really cared about me, in the way only a charismatic sociopath can manage to warp you into wondering. FLCL ultimately leads its lead character and viewer both, as is the case with so many victims, with more questions than answers and it's really no wonder that fans craved any sort of followup for so long. The series' quality on its own as well as my own situation will never fail to make me watch in an almost stunned silence any time I give the series one of my now-countless rewatches, bringing me right back to when I was Naota's age all over again.

Its soundtrack, pitch perfect and absolute sonic bliss, has remained on a constant rotation for me since seeing it all the way back in 2003 when I was able to order an imported version of it. Many of its characters and quotes right down to its episode previews have lived with me since its original airing. Kari Wahlgren's Haruko is one of the first characters I ever looked to imitate when I was getting into voice acting as part of my work on developing characters as well as for demo reel purposes, with many of her future roles also coincidentally impacting me. The character of Haruko herself is often a huge influence on people coming to some sort of terms with their gender in various ways (I find that, being androgynous, her influence can be surprisingly wide ranging) , and that is certainly true for myself as well. I notice something new in almost every single episode on just about every subsequent rewatch, of which there have been countless. Every single aspect of it is virtually carved into my DNA, and I don't know where I would be without it. The series may not mean as much to you depending on where it finds you, but I promise you that it's well worth your time regardless even if you don't end up personally 'getting it'. Remember, even Marc Handler didn't initially have much to say about it beyond the talented animation before diving deeper into the series.

A gem hidden among the stones, FLCL is undoubtedly stardust.

-- Ash

[crystalflarestuck]

Identity and Alternate Selves in Homestuck Part 1: Roxy Lalonde

A common sentiment I see from certain Homestuck fans (mainly the ones who think act 6 ruined the story) is that the focus on the Dancestors (and to a far far lesser extent the alpha kids) serve no real purpose. On the contrary I believe they are both key to understanding one of Homestuck's central themes.

One way Homestuck characterizes people is through exploring alternate versions of themself, with one of the more prominent examples of this being the similarities and differences between the Beta Guardians and Alpha Kids.

Dirk is the most obvious case, but I believe he would need a far deeper dive without the added context gained from exploring other characters first. Instead the first character I will exploring will be Roxy Lalonde (mainly cause I am biased).

Towards the beginning of Homestuck we are introduced to Rose Lalonde and her 'Troubled' relationship with her mother. Rose views many things that her mum does as subtle, insincere jabs at her, with the very first example given being her "ironic" collection of shitty wizard paintings (that are actually just shitty jpegs). Rose even describes the vast collection of wizard statues her mum collects as something she does "just to spite her".

Rose's views much of what her Mother does this way, from her "ironic housewife routine", to her buying a 'pretty princess doll' as a "totally PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE gesture" and of course most importantly Jaspers' grave which Rose believes was "erected with a spirit of scornful IRONY"

While Rose's perspective towards her Mother seems extreme at time it can be believed as true, especially when taking he constant drinking into account. We don't really have another perspective to view her from other then Rose. None of the guardians have dialogue and as such we cannot gather more from them then what we are presented, unless of course we can.

With that we are brought to the scratch, the reset of the universe brought on by John in the Sburb session, leading to a pseudo reset of the universe, changing the times that ecto babies were sent to leading to the kids of this universe now being consisting of Jade's Grandfather, John's Grandmother, Dave's Brother and Rose's Mum. This of course brings us to Roxy Lalonde the alpha version of Rose's Mum.

The very first page we see her in person presents a very interesting development. Roxy loves wizards.

This one line re contextualizes Roses relationship with her mum a LOT. If Rose's mum loves wizards just how much of Rose's thoughts on her mother were incorrect. Perhaps everything Mum Lalonde was doing was in fact unironic and 100% sincere?

This little moment showcases the manner in which homestuck uses alt selves to flesh out its characters. The alpha kids help give us more perspective on their beta counterparts but its not just us they help give this perspective too...

Much Later on during Act 6 Act 6 I5, Rose and Roxy finally have the chance to have a conversation and Rose asks the ever important question.

Here Rose gets to have some new perspective on her own mothers thanks to Roxy's love of wizards, reflecting on her own perspective on her mothers actions and how a lot of it was her fault. This conversation is a bit too long for me too fully analyze however there is one part I do want to focus on, Rose discussing the differences between her Mum and Roxy.

The thing Rose is most surprised about that is different about Roxy is her sobriety. Mom Lalonde was not one to go without drinking for even a day, which was part of what lead to the conflict between her and Rose. She mentions how Roxy doesn't seem like the type of person to drink everyday however we know this isn't true, its just that Roxy was able to recover, partially in anticipation for meeting Rose.

The differences between selves is just as important of a concept to grasp as the similarities between selves, however these concepts shall be explored further in future posts.

Future posts will include a focus on the relationship between trolls on Alternia and their Dancestors on Beforus as well as other alpha kids (though dirk will probably be left for last just due to how much a can of worms he is)

Do keep in mind this first part of what I hope to become a semi in-depth analysis of certain concepts in regards to alternate versions of characters in homestuck. This took me half a day to write up so I probably won't make a follow up for another few days.

[thatonecrookedsmile]

"There's nothing wrong with dreaming. Wishing for the impossible is just human nature. That's how I got started. Just a pencil and a dream. We all want everything without even having to lift a finger. They say you just have to believe. Belief can make you succeed. Belief can make you rich. Belief can make you powerful. Why with enough belief, you can even cheat death itself. Now that... is a beautiful, and positively silly thought." -Joey Drew.

[OPEN YOUR EYES]

-Line-

-----

I mean, at the end of the day, he wasn't so wrong about that last part.

This one also took a little longer to finish. I wonder why /s.

I usually don't like drawings where I have to create a design for a character I've never drawn before. It ends up making me force myself to come up with ideas and sometimes I end up not liking the design anyway. At least this time? That didn't happen (thank goodness).

At first, I didn't know what to do for this prompt. What I originally conceived was a more "joke" drawing with Joey and Sammy, with Sammy literally drawing the line between him and Joey with a big pencil. No big deal, right? But then the phrase "end of the line" came to mind and then… this happened. Funny. A while back I had an idea for a drawing about Joey's afterlife. The idea was much simpler, from what I remember. And compared to what we have, quite different.

"Death" is what came for Joey, and it's what comes for everyone. What he faces is nothing less than what will determine his fate. It is the very Arbiter itself - the eye that sees all - who decides where souls whose lives are over will go. The heavenly gates in the great beyond? The burning flames in the darkest pit? The void of vast nothingness? Somewhere else beyond? Reveal your soul and the Arbiter will decide. I have a certain guess as to where Joey is going, but I'll leave that up in the air.

Maybe I thought just a little bit too much about a character that I probably won't draw in a long time,but i don't mind giving a little lore even to characters that i don't see using much in the future, you know.

(Also, since I used Joey's audio log from BATIM CH3 in the beginning, did you know that Dave Rivas (Joey's current VA) did his own reading of that audio? He's going to be a guest on the Indie Horror Talk Podcast, and the video they posted teasing Dave's appearance there has him reading this same audio log, only with his Joey voice. So now we have Joey's first audio log in the series voice acted by both his first VA (David Eddings) and his current one. I thought that was cool, you know. I found this out a while back and wanted to talk about it for a sec.)

(Alt. without the text):

[charmikarma]

hallo it's me. (crookedgrifter) I'm back and I want your davejade / davejadekat thoughts. gimme

my thoughts huh ... i sure am a rambler so you're gonna get a whole essay on this

i guess in thinking abt davejadekat it always starts with jade. which is well enough because davekat has been talked to death at this point, hasn't it? i don't think i could tell you anything new or interesting about that dynamic at this point.

ANYWAY. jade. i kind of get into this in my polar express fic which ik you've read, but she is SO lonely. what the fuck are you supposed to do for ~10 years alone on an island with just a dog?? a dog who could take you somewhere else, somewhere with people, but he won't. and maybe jade knows why because of her dreams on prospit, but also maybe not! either way i think she puts a lot of faith in her dreams. it's kind of the only hope she has for the future.

i think she also has some hope in dave, this really cool dude she has this awkward internet middle school crush on. and dave is super cool to her too! i think it's implied he furry roleplays with her even?? cutest shit ever. i think this is the thing that has made me always love davejade ... they are just. so sweet to each other. dave clearly cares SO much about her.

the other thing about jade is... she's kinda fucked over repeatedly by the narrative, isn't she? she's the last beta kid introduced, so she has a lot less time to develop. the closest she really gets to developing is being really pissed off at karkat after her dreamself dies (i'll talk about this in a sec). her arc basically ends at cascade. her character arc ends in the dead middle of the comic, in a flash animation that contains exactly 0 character development. hussie says so himself in the author's notes. (don't even get me started on the author's notes jesus christ.) everything that happens on the boat is pretty much irrelevant, because it gets retconned out. instead she spends 3 years completely fucking alone, and we like... barely unpack this in canon.

so her life story up until this point is basically: raised by grandpa till ~3-5ish > living on her own till 13 > meeting dave briefly in the game > DAVE FUCKING DIES IN FRONT OF HER, WITH HER OWN BULLETS > she meets john briefly > JOHN AND DAVESPRITE FUCKING DIE > she spends 3 years alone with no solace except "yeah they had to die but you'll see them again in the new session" from alt!calliope and i guess a bunch of sprites and consorts and chess dudes. she says it herself: as nice as it is to have these folks around, they're not able to relate to her. they're not fellow thirteen year old kids. she may not be technically alone, but she is essentially alone, and she just 1. died twice in one day and 2. witnessed the deaths of several of her friends.

more on being fucked over by the narrative - jade actually has a kind of interesting dynamic with karkat in the middle of a5a2! what happens with this dynamic later on? fucking nothing!!!! like seriously i am so interested in this whole. self-hatred parallel that gets drawn between them and then how jade puts her foot down and is like you are fucking nuts. no more yelling at yourself. and it goes nowhere!! this dynamic exists for like, maybe 1% of the comic. it's really fucking sad honestly. even at the very end of homestuck, she has to be sidelined for being too powerful, thereby excluding her from all the endgame convos. like we cannot win with her

ok anyway, here's where i get into the stuff i think is really interesting. at the end of homestuck, alt!calliope tells jade that she's suffered enough, and that it's time for her to live her life how she wants to. we don't see how this plays out in homestuck proper, BUT...... the epilogues. sighs heavily.

i may be an epilogues lover but even i have to admit that jade's portrayal is.... a mess. i don't think it's wildly out of character, exactly, but it definitely toes the line... and it's definitely extremely fucking uncomfortable. it does, however, give me some insight into how i think about jade now, because while the minutiae don't really feel in character, i do think the broad strokes of what they were going for make sense.

jade took alt!calliope's words and said, fuck it. i will take charge! i won't wait anymore! i am going to have what i want. and she does get a lot of that! she gets to hang out with her friends, hang out with her brother, meet a ton of people, have a bunch of sex (presumably when she's older), and so on. but see... doing a lot of things doesn't really fill the emptiness she feels. she has so much love to give and not enough outlet for it. she needs all the love in the world and has nobody to give it to her. and she still has this big fat ten-year-old crush on dave strider that never went anywhere. but the approach she takes to life now is just... so incompatible with what dave needs. same for karkat. they both need a LOT of patience to come out of their shells, and jade is living life in the fast lane. the more she pushes, the more withdrawn they become. it is a disaster.

i want to fix it so fucking bad.

jade needs a lot of character development for all this to work, but the dynamic is absolutely there. some of their convos in early meat are so fucking funny dude, they are such good friends. it is absolutely not for lack of caring on either dave or karkat's part that things don't work out in the epilogues. it's this disconnect between what jade thinks is helpful and what dave and karkat need. i really want jade to find the balance between living at breakneck speed and waiting ten years for something to happen. i want her to feel loved for once in her damn life. and i want dave and karkat to stop being such depressing shut-ins. please guys you could balance each other out if you would just figure out how to communicate

anyway. there's your essay. it's mostly about jade. hope that's ok. i love jade harley so much my ultimate goal is to see her happy and mark my words i will figure out how

[knickynoo]

what do you think alternate 1985 Marty was like?

Ok, so, I LOVE thinking about 1985A Marty!! We see him for a bit in the "Biff to the Future" comics, but I've mentioned before that I feel like they sort of dropped the ball there. There was so much they could have done with Alt '85 Marty, and they honestly didn't do much. He was just...Marty. And while I like the idea that a lot of who Marty is remains the same no matter the timeline, I have a hard time believing such an awful upbringing wouldn't impact him in some way. Some thoughts!

• I do think there would be that element of "Marty is Marty," even with growing up in '85A. At his core, Marty is kind. He's protective of his loved ones, strives to do the right thing, and puts others first. I don't think that would change.

• However, I see '85A Marty maybe having to hide those characteristics under a bit of a hardened shell. This is out of necessity and a result of being exposed to a lot of horrible things from a young age. He was so little when George died, so likely all he remembers is a world where Biff is his step-father, his mother is miserable, and violence is a daily occurrence. That good heart is still there, but Marty figures out pretty quickly that he's got to keep it under wraps a bit if he's going to survive.

• It's interesting because while our Movie!Marty is a fairly anxious little guy, I don't see '85A Marty as really having any significantly higher anxiety levels. I mean, you would think he'd be a barely functioning anxious mess, but I actually think all the pressure and stress and fear would force him into a state of "I can't waste TIME worrying." He becomes a very take-charge person. Focused on whatever situation is currently taking priority while the anxiety takes a back seat.

• As Alt Biff says in part II, Marty is absolutely a "little hothead." He tries to be careful, and he's able to tread lightly when needed, but it's just not possible in certain situations. Mainly, these are situations involving his mother's safety and well-being. If she's being threatened or hurt, he just does what's needed to help, even if it means he's going to pay for it after.

• Though Lorraine does her very best to protect and care for Marty, there are times she simply can't. And when it gets to be too much and she's lost in the sadness and alcohol, Marty steps in to be there for her. In a way, he learns how to act as a parent of sorts from a young age, guiding and taking care of his mom when she needs it. With Dave and Linda's own issues (and the fact that they're rarely around), he's often all Lorraine has.

• The moment Marty was shipped off to his first boarding school, he started acting out and doing whatever he could to get himself kicked out. He knew it was Biff's way of getting rid of him—taking away Lorraine's main source of protection—and wasted no time in sabotaging the plan. In some ways, it was hard for Marty because he really had to do some bad stuff (and it tugged solidly at his conscience) but he had no choice. He had to get back to his mother. So, every time Biff sent him somewhere new, Marty immediately got to work making himself a Nightmare Student. He gets very good at causing trouble. I think he also forms alliances with other students who become aware of his situation and help him to get kicked out as well.

• So. I have this hc that just popped into my brain where Biff actually tries to like...mold Marty into taking after him when Marty is little? Because Marty is so young and impressionable when George dies and Biff enters the picture, I can see Biff being like, "Maybe I can get the kid on my side." And it's not even that he likes or cares about Marty, he just sees someone he can turn into an heir of his twisted empire. Even have it be a slap in the face to George's memory to have his youngest son turn into a mini Biff Tannen. But Marty is stubborn, loyal, and sees right through Biff, so he resists every act Biff tries to put on to impress him. In turn, this makes Biff hate Marty even more in the long run.

• In the comics, there's a secret resistance group that keeps trying to find ways to take Biff down. George and Doc were both part of it, and I like to imagine that Marty gets involved in some way as well. He's a source of valuable information since he lives with Biff, and I think Marty also does a whole lot of sneaking around to keep up to date on what Biff is up to. He doesn't tell Lorraine about his involvement, though, because he doesn't want to put her in danger if Biff grows suspicious, but Lorraine definitely knows. She just turns the other way and silently prays nothing bad will happen.

• Marty has a tough time in terms of how the citizens of Hill Valley see him. He's disliked by a lot of people automatically because he's Biff's stepson, and they're wary of him. They don't know if he can be trusted. Others simply assume he's a spoiled brat living a cushy life with a rich family and resent him for having it so good while the rest of the town crumbles. So, he has very few friends.

I'm sure I could go on, but I'll stop there. I'd like to write a fic someday that focuses on 1985A Marty because he really does fascinate me. Thanks for the ask!

[davekat-sucks]

Hello, I want to add that most time players suck, by a lot. Seriously it’s laughable that theirs only like two successful time players in all of Paradox Space, Caliborn and Damara, and it’s the fact they doesn’t understand something laughably basic and Christian. Suffer now to be rewarded later. Sure we might forget because Caliborn is a funny goblin manlet but he suffered, suffered a lot (because he is a masochist) because he chose to play the hardest game of Sburb (Caliborn is a Fromsoft gamer) . And he was rewarded with the power to do whatever the fuck he wanted, the power to put himself on the path of suffering so he can achieve it, sure he did the opposite of ascending (like Mobster Kingpin) but it does give a idea what a time player’s storyline is supposed to look like. Our next case is Damara, a girl who suffered so much she DOOMED HER OWN SESSION OUT OF SPITE, the funny thing is due to her acting like John when he was retconing but still being bound to alpha timeline time travel bullshit she indirectly caused her own suffering.

Now our Beta set, absolutely fucking atrocious. Dave doesn’t seem to realize that going down the path of the hero would give him a understanding on why his life is so bad, and if he still think it sucks he could figure out a way to change it while still within alpha timeline because through sburb bullshit he’s probably the reason Bro is a possessed Mall Ninja. Aradia doesn’t DARE to step out of her role, maid or time, despite the fact that one is basically finding the right time to strike after observing everything and the other is being rewarded after suffering so greatly. You can argue her being alive is reward enough and the fact she influenced herself to being a robot is proof of my theory that time players eventually write their own past but is she seriously just going to bounce around aimlessly like some sort of ghost? Fuck that’s ironically sad, she was the most alive when she was dead.

Where was I going with this? Oh right, the only thing good to come out of the Alpha sets are the time players, so Caliborn and Damara beat Dave and Aradia in Time Fuckery

Lord English and The Handmaid/Damara really are the better Time Players out there. In the case of Epilogues and Homestuck 2/Beyond Canon, Dave and Aradia are still avoiding to be suffered or face the harsh situation that is thrown at them. Especially when they themselves, made direct mistakes that would lead to some consequences in the near future. We see this with Meat Dave as all he does is just use Karkat to distract him with love as they go along with Kanaya to go after Dirk. He is called out to be useless. Not taking part in anything about Ult Dirk or Alt Calliope. Davebot and Aradia are both relaxing and enjoying themselves as they watched JADE HARLEY suffer more by letting Alt Calliope take over. Aradia left SOLLUX in the Candy Timeline and doesn't think much of him all because he didn't want to stand by and watch the timeline fall apart anymore. Davebot believes that him leaving Jade was fine and that he should be gay for Karkat, that it will solve everything. Davebot may have reached Ultimate, but I don't think it's a reward in itself. Perhaps it is a suffering that he remains blissfully unaware until he acknowledges what he is doing is fucked. But he will never accept it or face it. And I'll be pissed if they try to say that Davekat by the end will be his reward for being imprisoned in a robot body when it was Dave himself who chose to KILL HIMSELF to ascend because fucking Obama told him so.

[ecto-brologist]

Just saw your davesprite/ John / Dave post and you are SO correct but please go into more detail so I can explain to other people my perspective

so like timeline wise, davesprite (alt future dave) was obviously one of johns og daves and alt future dave was 4 months prior to the true beta timeline

this means that alt future dave is already four months more familiar with the game prior to prototyping himself. his thoughts and feelings, and world experiences are different from dave's. people change a LOT in four months, especially 13 year olds.

after AF!dave becomes davesprite, john is very clear on how he doesn't think of dave and davesprite as the same person. (which is parallelled by dirk and lil hal in the alpha timeline.)

which is mirrored by davesprite, too, on the ship during the three years they're all together.

its that john doesn't view davesprite as dave. he views him as dave sprite, not dave strider.

and davesprite understands that. he's not happy about losing his john or jade. which is probably why he ended up dating jade/jadesprite.

all of his experiences are different from the beta dave we know, which makes him a separate character.

he's as much dave as lil hal is dirk.

[thewertsearch]

TG: i just want to know whats really going on here TG: before i decide to start choppin off the heads of outrageously good looking snoozing dudes [...] TG: something about this doesnt add up

Dave knows Terezi well enough to know he's being fucked with. What's her game?

TG: i dont remember sleeping on this bed TG: or reaching the god tier im pretty sure thats something id remember TG: so is he from the future [...] GC: NOP3!

I think I know what Terezi is trying to do.

This is an offshoot Dave. He's from a doomed timeline, and fate decrees he must die. Even if Dave Prime spares him here, it won't matter in the long run - the game simply can't abide his existence.

Now, when I first heard about this concept, I wondered if there was a way to rules-lawyer your way out of this predicament. Davesprite seems fine, and it's possible that his doom was suppressed or nullified by the Kernelsprite's resurrective properties. It can bring back the dead, so why can't it save a dead man walking?

The Quest Bed is an incredibly powerful device, and its capabilities aren't quite clear yet. This one is designed to resurrect Dave Strider - but can it only resurrect Dave Strider? Will it work for any Player, or any Knight of Time? Is it picky about which Dave Strider it resurrects? Can it undo an alt-Dave's death, or overrule it before it takes effect?

These things are worth looking into. Terezi seems to agree, and she's perfectly willing to sacrifice a few kids in the name of scientific enquiry - lest we forget the last doomed timeline she made.

GC: 1T 1SNT 34SY FOR 4NYON3 TO F4C3 TH31R OWN D34TH GC: 3V3N 1F TH3 CONS3QU3NC3 1S TO TH31R B3N3F1T GC: NOT 3V3N 4NY OF US M4N4G3D TO DO 1T GC: W3LL, 3XC3PT FOR ON3 TG: who GC: T4K3 4 WILD GU3SS!

Vriska, I assume. It's been strongly hinted that she tried to convince Tavros to kill her, and I've been wanting to talk about that for a while.

I think her motivation was pretty clear.

Vriska desperately wants her victims to hate her, but Tavros just wants her to fuck off. He's too passive to make any grand gesture of revenge - so Vriska decides to manufacture one. She needs him to kill her, because then they'll be even, and she can put it all behind her for good.

GC: YOU WOULDNT STOP BUGG1NG M3 [...] GC: 1 TOLD YOU YOU WOULDNT B3 4BL3 TO F4C3 YOUR D34TH GC: 4ND TH4T W4SNT GOOD 3NOUGH FOR YOU! SO H3R3 W3 4R3 TG: what exactly did you do

She cloned you, Dave. She cloned you, dropped the clone on a sacrificial slab, and told you to murder him.

Don't piss off a Scourge Sister.

GC: OK, R3M3MB3R WH3N YOU W3R3 4SK1NG M3 4BOUT TH1S GOD T13R STUFF GC: [...] SO 1 G4V3 YOU 4 CHO1C3 GC: TO F1ND OUT NOW, OR F1ND OUT L4T3R [...] TG: ok but you didnt actually give me a choice TG: you just flipped a coin GC: Y34H GC: 4ND 1 L3FT TH3 D3C1S1ON OV3R TH3 OUTCOM3 OF TH3 FL1P 1N YOUR H4NDS! >:]

Terezi's coin flip happened in the Veil, so it can't split Dave's timeline. Come to think of it, we've never heard about any offshoot timelines in Sgrub's postgame.

Plus, I'm not actually sure if flipping a coin would split the timeline. Each branch we've seen so far has been the result of a conscious decision, rather than an uncertain event.

The current Alpha Timeline was split off from Davesprite's when he made the decision to go back and save John.

The red-suited Dave's timeline was born from his decision to stop DD from stealing the Sburb Beta.

Quest Bed Dave, as we're seeing now, was born from a decision made by Dave during his conversation with Terezi.

[kingofdersecest-2]

A proposal of fixing Homestuck 2.

I have often long thought of what I would do if I could control the future of the Homestuck Franchise.

The quickest answer would be to de-canonize and delete the entirety of Homestuck 2 and The Epilogues. Some might say that in interest of art preservation those things should remain as they are, a monument to the failures of the sequel. I personally do not believe that even in the interest of preservation of art that there is anything worth preserving in either of these works.

But that is the easy way out. Say I had to keep everything, but I wanted to get rid of it. How would I walk it back? Well.

Before Homestuck 2 went on Hiatus, a plot point was created, called….well, The Plot Point, yes it is that stupid.

As of this writing, what The Plot Point is, is unclear. Its a location that corresponds to the black hole's singularity and is also supposedly a super weapon that Calliope, Roxy and John want to use for some unknown purpose and they want to prevent Jane from getting it and using it again, for an unknown, yet likely, nefarious one.

Meanwhile, in the Meat timeline, Aradia and Dave are working with Alt Calliope. Dave is a robot, and Aradia is her usual self. As they hang out Aradia flickers through time, she teases Dave about it, she tells him he could come along and find out what shes doing, and he brushes her off, stating he doesnt need to know as he knows everything.

In this proposed re-write, Aradia is also looking for The Plot Point as what it is, is the connecting points between Meat and Candy. Aradia is vaguely aware of the other timeline, a simultaneous Alpha timeline, that does not disentrigate like so many others, a timeline that Ultimate Dave, cannot see into. Because Ultimate Dave is every Dave, isnt he? Shouldnt he be Candy Dave as well?

Both parties work their way into finding their respective Plot Points. John is the one to find his, and Dave, surprisingly is the one to find his, as Aradia realized she would need his help in finding it, and cajoled him into it, as what could tempt an omniscient being more then something he does not know?

As both of them reach into The Plot Point, they each come away with something. John is holding Lil Cal's head and Dave, his body. As they hold these objects they become aware of the other timeline's existence and guided by instinct they push their pieces back into the hole and the two pieces of Lil Cal unite.

Suddenly, we're back on The End platform, John standing there shaking, sweaty, his palm burned. In front of him was The End house, but instead of four panels, the entire house is covered in a green grinning skull.

It was a trap. Lord English had orchestrated a false timeline to be created when John entered The End. A timeline where they thought they had won, but the victory was a hollow one as their world fell apart around them. There was only supposed to be one timeline, but Alt Calliope interfered, creating a split in Lord English's fabrication and Meat and Candy became a tug of war between the two all powerful siblings.

Ultimate Dirk was revealed to be Lord English taking over Dirk's body. The shard of dirk that became Lord English during Calliborn's Masterpiece was pulled into the Ultimate Ascension and slowly took over his body. In a last act, Dirk using his Prince of Hope powers, created The Plot Point, a Juju, that would break the timeline, destroying Lord English's hope of a final revenge. This is why everyone seemed to out of character, as they were twisted perversions of what Lord English, Calliborn all thought of them.

Realizing that Lord English needed to be dealt with, John and the others depart The End platform to go assist Vriska and the Ghosts, with one last confrontation. Their time in the Fake Timeline had shaken them, they still retained their memories of it, no one can meet each other's eyes, disgusted with what they had done. But John and Roxy's optimism lift everyone's spirits, and surprisingly, Karkat steps up to act like the Friendleader he was always meant to be. He says all that shit doesnt matter now and it was just an illusion and goddamn it they have to go kick that sick bastards ass harder then ever. The blood symbol glows in his eyes as he says this.

Inspired, the battle begins. Its going badly for Vriska and the Ghosts, most of them are gone, only Vriska, Meenah and Aradia remain and several dozen ghosts. The appearance of the others make a huge difference and the battle begins anew.

cue fancy Collide animation here

The battle ends with Dave stepping up to be the hero he always was. His sword, Caldewash. Is made of a material forged by Hepestus himself, on Dave's planet, a weapon designed to kill that cannot be killed. A weapon to shatter parodoxes.

Dave kills him, which also undoes everything he had a hand in, past, future or present. Calliborn's masterpiece does not happen. Yet despite being erased, everyone is still where they were even without it. The parodox of Lord English being erased is ignored. Its finally over, or is it?

Calliope, with the Life Ring is well aware of what had happened. She knows that shes a walking vessel for her Alternate Self. Who is just as cruel and callous as Lord English, perhaps even more so. After a heartfelt hug from Roxy, Calliope removes the life ring and allows Dave to slay her as well. Ending the Cherubs forever.

Homestuck was only ever just a sibling rivalry with reality and causality as the battleground. Fitting it ends this way.

With the survivors, they head back to The End platform, wanting to start a new world for real this time. However, something calls. The Horrorterrors call out to Rose, and The Veil is lifted. With Lord English gone, her powers go into overdrive, granting her a Vision such as shes never had before. She tells Roxy to use her void powers to Create godtier slabs for those that arent godtier, and Terezi, Kanaya and Karkat are ascended.

Once done, she has Roxy create a very special violin and a thread and a needle. She has Kanaya imbue the thread with her Sylph of Space powers and she strings the violin with it, along with the Bow. She begins to Play the Rain, causing rain to fall all across the universe, as the raindrops hit the rifts in spacetime, they begin to sew themselves close. The Horrorterrors release a collective sigh of relief as reality begins to mend. The Dreambubbles, maintained by their power and Feferi's request, begin to fade, as their purpose is served and the dead can finally have a True Rest.

Except Meenah, as, unknown to Roxy, she had pickpocketed it from her. When all the ghosts faded away, she stands there grinning.

So they walk through The End door, establishing not only Earth 2, but Alternia 2 and a planet for the consorts and the carapacians. They learned from their experiences in the False Timeline.

The planets are easy to travel between with Skia Warp Panels and the Window Frames, plus Alternian Space travel.

John and Roxy have Harry

Dave and Jade have Yiffany, now named Ruby

Rose and Kanaya adopt Vrissy

Jane and Jake have Tavros.

All is well.

Except…..as we all know, when a civilization reaches a certain threshold, a seed is planted in that reality, the chance to create a new one.

It is April 13th, Harry Anderson Egbert's 13th birthday, and he hears about a new game coming out…….

[tenaciouschronicler]

Dave's Rewind: An exploration of timelines and paradoxes

Or how Back to the Future explains time shenanigans

I want to circle back to something Davesprite said about what he did with the Rewind. Apparently he 'splinter[ed them] off into an alt timeline' where everything now goes according to the future the tolls can see, changing nothing and rather reinforcing it.

Here is @homestuckreplay interpretation of how that looks:

And here's mine:

They are nearly the same but rather than having branches from the timeline we know, instead Homestuck also follows the Intermission in having multiple timelines. Like so:

Essentially every choice would create another timeline, though we never see them. Dave is not proficient enough to do the easy jumps straight across, rather much like an rpg he can only access the previous points hes experienced that follow the 'correct' line. For this to work there does have to be a 'correct' path that has already been trod.

Something about this felt really familiar and thats when I remembered Back to the Future. BTTF deals with a lot of time travel and exploration of various paradoxes. The one most pertinent to us is the Predestination paradox. Its used alot in science fiction to explain how a character can go back to change history but yet still have a future where they go back to change history. Very roundabout yes but it explains a lot of the Exiles roles during the game and how the trolls can still see the future events of the kids even with Gallows attempting to change said future.

Theres two other things that we can take away with this rewind. First, it raises the stakes higher than we originally thought. We have seen near misses and harrowing moments, but its an action comic about kids playing a game. Theres not really any precedent for an author to actually kill off their main characters. During the Intermission we did see characters die, but that makes sense for a mob noir genre plus with timeline shenanigans the characters take it as par for the course. Second, theres something we forgot, or at least I did. We are playing a game. Remember, all those pages ago, the cursor? How the narration doesnt just address the story but us as well? And what happens in the action genre, regardless of raiting?

You die.

You die and go back to a prior save. Whether thats the immediate moment when you lose a life or the beginning of a battle/level, you get the option to go back and try again. Try different. Daves power lets him do that. The only weird part is that his whole physical self is returned and now there's two of him. Without paradoxes.

For some reason, we were shown this failed branch. Inexplicably and outta left field but only to the point where Dave is going back to complete the loop. This further begs the question of what exactly is the goal for these kids?

Supposedly they have already lost their game, and yet all their actions are attempts to win the game they are destined to lose. We know its a futile effort so why bother, aside from completing the loop? The only way to win is to somehow break this loop in a way that follows the 'correct' path while setting up the pieces differently enough that a win condition can be met. That's a tall order when everything and everyone says your outcome is inevitable.