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29pageshomestuckeveryday · 11 months

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Homestuck, page 2,792

[S] Past Karkat: Wake up.

youtube

Songs used: Karkat's theme by Toby Fox, Vriska's theme by Toby Fox, Terezi's theme by Toby Fox, Alterniabound by Toby Fox, Spider's claw by Toby Fox, MeGaLoVania by Toby Fox, A Tender Moment by Toby Fox, Nic Cage Romance by Toby Fox, Nic Cage Song by Toby Fox, Secret ROM by Toby Fox, Boy Skylark (Brief) by Robert J! Lake, Hero's growth by Solatrus, Phrenic Phever by Clark Powell, Walk-Stab-Walk (R&E) by Erik Scheele, Horschestra by Alexander Rosetti

Song commentary for Karkat's theme:

Toby Fox:

(Karkat Walkabout)

Alternia began when I created Crustacean.

AlterniaBound began when Andrew asked me for a looping version of that track - Crustacean - to use in a flash. Initially this song was simply so, but after I learned more about the scope and depth of the AlterniaBound project... I decided that more of a change was in order for the track. (It was at that point that I also decided it would be cool to have some hidden tracks... leading to the early premiere of many tracks that would eventually be on Homestuck Vol. 6: Heir Transparent.

A little while ago, I finished the "final version" of this track. It's not incredibly melodic or wrenchingly dire like my usual fare, but it still remains one of my own personal favorites:

It's pompous, alien, and goofy - in short, pretty accurate of Karkat and Alternia as a whole

It subtly implies that tuba is Karkat's instrument of choice, which we all know is entirely true

WHO THE FUCK LET THE ELEPHANTS IN HERE ARRRGH FUCKING GAMZEE

I hope you like it too. And if you don't, I hope it pisses you off as much as it annoys Karkat to have this song play wherever he goes. That's all I can hope for.

Song commentary for Vriska's theme:

Toby Fox:

(Vriska Walkabout)

I knew Spider's Claw was much too harsh to be used as anything but a battle theme, so when it came to AlterniaBound I decided to just start over with a remix. I cobbled together a collection of unrelated soundsets and generated a jazzy, laid-back version - which, despite its tempo, still sounds kind of jarring and discontent due to the clashing of textures between instruments.

The tune's upbeat enough that you can't stand up to it. It will kick you down. It's pretty strong for how dinky and messy it is! It's also the kind of piece that could be kind of pretty if its voice wasn't cracking every three seconds. Chances are you'll either enjoy or find aspects of it extremely annoying... but that's kinda the way she is.

Like Terezi's theme, the piece's second part contains another reprise of "Theme" in the piano - but to contrast the other Scourge sister, Vriska's version of "Theme" is hopeless and dark. Where Terezi showed hope and emotion, Vriska only shows fear, anger, and loathing due to the repression of her own emotions, her upbringing, and her rotten attitude. In the flash, the high and low of the theme repeat indefinitely... on the album, the piece ends, but on an unresolved chord.

Who knows what's up next for her?

... oh, and if you're looking for the full verison of Spider's Claw, wait until Volume 8, ok????????

Song commentary for terezi's theme:

Toby Fox: (Terezi Walkabout) Terezi's theme evolved when Andrew asked me to create a looping version of Lemonsnout Turnabout. Lemonsnout is a very narrative song. It didn't feel right to repeat a single part of it indefinitely, so I instead took several motifs from it and re-implemented them into a new track. It has a similar chord progression, and in ways of instrumentation it has the harpsichord as the main instrument, oboe, deep piano, triangle, and the "tick tock tick tock" woodblocks that are the eternal harbringer of her countdown judgment. After I first completed the song, I noticed that the track was kind of short. That's when I came up with the idea for the second part of the piece - a reprise of "Theme" from the Alternia album. This shows that Terezi has another side to her beyond her devious Alternian judgment: She truly cares about her friends, so much that she has a certain level of tender emotion that almost puts Karkat to shame. I'm not sure if the bifurcation of the piece worked really well as a faux videogame track, but I think it fits her personality.

Song commentary for alterniabound:

Toby Fox:

These aren't "true" pieces... just jingles based off of "Theme". But I hope that for all their insignificance, they really instill the idea of a game inside of you.

AlterniaBound is a VERY direct homage to the title screen of EarthBound. If you don't know what EarthBound is... you may be missing out on something.

#video #walkaround flash #Youtube

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davestriderascend · 5 months

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the homestuck reread, pt 3

im deep into act 6 rn, and i have a feeling this is a good time for another recap. for anyone new here, i first started reading homestuck in 2014 as an archival and then serial reader, and i am now rereading it again through the unofficial collection for the first time, along w bonus content i didnt engage w the first time. ive already recapped acts 1-5 in their entirety. i also posted a separate recap chain of the formspring.

in this post, i will be recapping up to but not including a6a4. if youre looking for my thoughts on the dancestors in a6i3, thatll be its own post. assuming anyone reading this has already read my previous recaps, and anyone not reading this would enjoy not having their dash dominated by this post, the recap will be under the cut.

before we get started, there were a couple of albums released during act 5 act 2 that i hadnt listened to yet at the time of my recap, so heres those rq:

Act 5 Act 2 Albums

Prospit & Derse: i finished it right after making that post pretty much TuT and what i said in my previous recap is pretty accurate! derse dreamers remains my favorite. i dont really have anything to add, i think i covered it pretty well before.

Vol 1-4: it does not in fact have new stuff. this is just volumes 1-4, which i already recapped in my initial post. i did look tho :')

Vol 8: this is another pretty generic catchall album, as the numbered ones tend to be! however, i remember thinking as i was listening to it that the songs at the beginning were just really beautiful pieces, really stunning to listen to. there are also a lot of serious BANGERS in this album. ive had davesprite and arcade thunder on my playlist for ages, but it also has THE classic, the acapella midnight crew cover. i dont think all of them are hits, but most of them definitely are.

anyway, with that covered, lets get into act 6.

Act 6 Act 1

this is the act that introduces us to the post-scratch earth for the first time, starting with jake and jane as introductory characters, and hinting at roxy and dirk. its extremely short, and almost nothing fucking happens tbh. during this time, hussie is starting to use tumblr, and makes the infamous olive garden saga posts.

The Characters

upon introduction, jane believes fully in the betty crocker empire, and has like zero patience for her friends telling her it sucks. shes stubborn, headstrong, and very excited for her turn on the crocker throne. shes shown to be using exclusively bc products, which have mind altering powers that have been implied to have been subtly influencing her her whole life. she mentions that she used to have an antagonistic relationship with her dad, not unlike the one john describes with his dad when talking to his friends, but says that in the past three years theyve really ironed it out and worked through their misunderstandings. they now have a good relationship, albeit with some of the usual teenage/fatherly tension thats only natural.

jake introduces himself loudly proclaiming his love of adventure, fisticuffs, and movies. he talks a lot about admiring his grandma and her scientific genius, but doesnt feel that he measures up to her at all (he goes on to downplay his own understanding of science a lot, in the next several acts). however, we see very quickly that jake avoids going outside, is scared of the monsters on his island, and fails to beat brobot even when brobot is set on novice mode, so a lot of that stuff probably isnt true. another big thing that were introduced to very quickly is jakes firm and willing belief system. he trusts his friends wholeheartedly and loudly, in perfect opposition to jane, whos skeptical of everything, and he proclaims his belief to the point where it feels almost like hussie is grinding his page of hopeness into your face.

The Tumblr

ill talk about the tumblr as a whole more later, i think, so for rn ill just stick to the olive garden debacle. i actually did read this, way back in the day, and i remember thinking then that it was hilarious. it still is. unlike the formsprings, which i warn you to never touch w a ten foot pole, i HIGHLY recommend giving at least the olive garden saga a read if youre a hardcore fan. 10/10.

Act 6 Intermission 1

theres an emerging theme early in act 6 where the sub acts center around the alpha kid session, and the intermissions center around like.... everything else, mostly. its hussies way of checking in on dreambubble shenanigans, the meteor, and the ship. theyre just sort of updates, rather than full, lengthy expositions. the first intermission is super short and almost 100% just about the start of the meteor and ship trips, with the kids meeting up with the trolls, aradias corpse party that couldve been, and john slamming karkat in the face with a bucket. im sure we all remember it well. also, bec noir and pm are chasing each other around. there is pretty much nothing to say about this intermission.

Act 6 Act 2

here we return to the alpha session, where roxy and dirk are finally introduced. there are some shenanigans happening with the kids dreamselves, but at the end of the act, jane is finally the first kid to enter the medium. acts are still pretty short. during this time, the album song of skaia was published, and hussie announced a contest for the next album, which ill talk about later.

The Characters:

every session has a different version of jack. the trolls had spades slick, who became exiled and created a city where the midnight crew and the felt reside (keeping in mind that doc scratch is also the trolls first guardian). the beta kids had bec noir, who obliterated the trolls and beta kids sessions after gaining the powers of the kids first guardian (bec), and is now running around with pm locked in a perma stalemate after nearly killing wv (who was dropped off w the kids on the meteor and nursed back to health, becoming the mayor we all know and love). in the alpha kids session, jack works for hic, who usurped the black queen of their session long before the session even began (if youll recall, hic replaced the handmaid as le's servant at the end of act 5, and so everything she does in act 6 (including her takeover of earth) is as a servant of le). hes more proactive than ever, breaking the social customs and rules of derse and prospit to attack and (sometimes successfully) kill the alpha kids dreamselves. this is the jack that eventually becomes jack english, but ill talk more about that in another post.

i just thought this was a good time to make sure were all caught up on jacks shenanigans.

anyway, roxy is absolutely wasted through these early sub acts. and roxy, when drunk, is kind of an asshole. i love roxy, i adore her, and i remember her being one of the kindest characters in hs, so i was really shocked to read through these early acts and find just how mean she could be to her friends during this time. while shes generally chipper and bubbly, she can be harsh, frequently saying things that come off... really fucking mean, actually, and shes also pretty pushy, flirting with hal and jake even when it makes dirk and jane uncomfortable respectively. she is also... a little bit whiny, and pretty petty, literally giving jane a virus that will blow up her computer bc shes suddenly decided she doesnt want to play sburb, after blowing her friends off all day despite their longtime plans. its a really rough time period for her.

dirk, like dave in the early hs acts, isnt.... there much. like he really doesnt actually have a huge role? his dialogue is limited, with hal communicating w his friends 99% of the time instead. like dave, hes also the expert and voice of reason among the group, although where dave is more of a passive characters others can turn to when they have questions, dirk makes bold claims about manipulating things behind the scenes and being the secret leader of the session. dirk is already in action, already busy, already awake on derse, and so hes usually too busy for conversation.

instead, hal takes prominence in the first two acts. hal is quippy and quick, and actually seems to get along with dirks friends pretty well, despite their initial frustration at being unable to reach dirk. he has sincere dialogue with roxy, opening up about his feelings with her while also giving her a space to indulge in things dirk doesnt want to do. jane and him seem to get along... perfectly, actually. and while jake and hal butt heads a lot early in, with jake frequently calling him out on his shit or getting frustrated at dirks unavailability, when jake crosses lines and hal levels with him about being hurt, jake actually listens to him and tones it down. they get along way better after that.

The Albums

on the day of a6a2s release, we get our very first album of the act! song of skaia is another solo album, and its... incredibly short, with only three tracks. it has a haunting, interstellar vibe to it, like the vastness and beauty of space, and its pretty good! however, because of how short it is, it really just gets lost in the mass of hs music. i had to go and skim through the songs just so i could remember which ones they were. ; ;

Act 6 Intermission 2

aptly named "penis ouija" on the map, this is the year 1 mark check in on the ship and meteor, wherein jane and john play ghostbusters, and dave and karkat argue about terezi and draw penis ouija. also, spades is robot spades and being nursed back to health by hussie, and ms paint is introduced for the first time. hussie dies by le's hand, and thats when he starts dicking around in the dreambubbles harassing vriska (a reference to a long running joke started on the formspring). this is the act where the dreambubbles start becoming the thing theyll be for the rest of the comic, and while araneas been hinted at before, this is where she really starts interacting with people. its still a pretty short intermission. the colours and mayhem albums are released during this time.

The Characters

haha psyche im gonna talk about aranea later. fuck that.

The Plot

as i mentioned earlier, the intermissions are short updates, or check ins. theyre not super elaborate. still, i feel that this one warrants a little elaboration, just bc its referenced so frequently in fandom.

on the ship, davesprite rarely appears. he actually has such a small role in the whole trip, and hes mostly just referenced in conversation by john and jade. john, as well all recall, doesnt think of davesprite as the "real dave," but jade really does value him a lot, making the argument that both he and dave are similar, but separate people, in the sense that ds isnt just a replaceable copy, but a person she really cares about as his own individual. outside of this vague subject of ds, though, most of the ship checkins are about jade and johns boredom and isolation, and how they struggle to find things to do, even with so many planets at their disposal.

w regards to the meteor, the penis ouija scene is infamous, particularly among dvekat fans. i found the meteor check in interesting largely for 2 reasons: 1) its the first instance we see of karkat acknowledging his blood color openly and without fear, typing in it for convenience, and 2) despite karkats flagrant dismissal of terezis feelings when talking to dave about that godawful fucking chart, dave takes the opposite position, calling him out directly on the fact that he didnt even talk to her before trying to set up this insane fucking thing. the penis ouija is a way to sidetrack karkat from being such a tool. idk, i just thought it was an interesting moment

The Albums

coloUrs and mayhem: universes a & b are the result of a contest hussie hosted wherein she asked for character themed submissions, in an attempt to put together an album with all new artists and draw attention to musical talent within the fandom. it was a pretty cool idea, if naive to just how many fucking submissions theyd end up getting.

universe a is one of my favorite hs albums. its split into three parts, the first with songs themed after the ancestors, the second after the trolls, and the third a few bonus tracks. while there are a small, select handful of songs i cant stand (your universe my beloathed) almost the entire album is just hit after fucking hit. indigo heir and gold pilot are up there on my favorites list, but temporal shenanigans is just so good, its such a perfect fucking aradia song and it goes so hard. most of the tracks fit their respective trolls so well, and ive put this album on in the background a lot over the years.

universe b is formatted similarly, with the first part themed after the beta kids, the second after the alpha, and the third being bonus tracks. i dont like this one as much as universe a. there are way more bonus tracks than themed ones, and i dont have any standout tracks, but overall the songs are still good and it was a good listen.

Act 6 Act 3

now its starting to get real. back to the alpha kids, jane is now exploring her world and what it means to be stuck in a void session (one of my formspring recaps has a screenshot of hussie talking about what that is). brain ghost dirk is introduced as jake reflects on a conversation where dirk explained the history of their guardians and hic's takeover, calliope and caliborn are introduced in full after being teased in previous acts, and the act wraps up with dirks (but really hals) machinations to get everyone in the medium and caliborns victory over calliope. during this time, the albums vol 9, symphony impossible to play, and one year older were released.

The Characters

calliope is sweet, friendly, and beloved by all of the alpha kids, but particularly jane and roxy, who she seems to share the closest bonds with and talks to the most. she restrains herself in conversations in the name of avoiding "spoilers," knowing the future of their session due to roses journal that she maintained towards the end of their adventure (mentioned in a6i2). she believes she will play sburb with caliborn, and gain dominance through convincing him to be a better person, and therefore more like her.

caliborn is a nasty little bastard, hated by all. he likes dirk best, but who can say why. hes weird and perverted and not very bright, and has an obsession with saw-esque "games" with "shitty twists" that are really just him cheating. he wins his competition with calliope in a similar manner, by cheating and killing her dreamself, and then chewing off his own leg, which is later stated to go against how cherubs are supposed to grow up and permanently stunts his growth. ill talk more about that later, im sure.

neither of them have huge roles right now other than foreshadowing.

The Albums

vol 9 is another one of my favorite hs albums. crystalmethequins is one of my favorite hs songs of all time, but other noteable tracks include whistling jackhammer, pumpkin party in sea hitlers water apocalypse (fun fact: cronus makes a spoof of this song later), iRRRRRRRRECONCILA8LE, and of course, moonsetter and noirscape. these are some of the songs i was referencing in my albums 1-4 recaps that build off of early songs that i really love!

symphony impossible to play is a short solo album. its definitely pretty, but its very short and kind of just covers of very classic, constantly remixed homestuck songs, such as homestuck anthem. i didnt come away with much to say about it.

one year older is another solo album by erik scheele, who also did the sburb album i really enjoyed. hes a master of piano and crafts such beautiful stories with his pieces. this album follows johns journey through hs. i honestly loved it, but why the FUCK. is flying car replaced with fly from the mobius album on the unofficial collection. that was such a fucking jumpscare that was one of my least favorite tracks on that album (which i already DIDNT LIKE) and it really fucked up my enjoyment of what is genuinely a great album.

Act 6 Intermission 3

this is the dancestor one. The dancestor one. im going to talk about meenahbound in a different post, but aside from the dancestor thing, this is also the year 2 check up on the meteor and ship. this is where john has his birthday breakdown, and where rose gets drunk and goes on a date with kanaya. this is also when we find out gamzee and terezi have started dating. meanwhile, in the dreambubbles, vriska and tavros have met up post tavrisprite and are working together to amass a ghost army in the name of getting le to blow up a bunch of stuff, so they can discover some treasure that will stop him. tavros wants to propose to her, but i dont think theyre dating. ill probably wait to talk about that in the dancestor post, bc im worried about the word limit. genesis frog is the only album released during this time, and the tumblr is still going strong.

The Plot

johns bday breakdown is infamous. out of fucking nowhere, he flips out about how much he hates one of his most beloved movies, con heir, and ends the whole thing with a tantrum outside, screaming at a watermark of davesprite only he can see with such aggression that it knocks him clean out. reading through the breakdown now, its kind of obvious that its not really about con heir, or davesprite, or anything. its just that hes bored and lonely and feeling particularly frustrated and helpless about it. he lashes out at everything and everyone around him because hes been isolated for two years. its the anniversary of his dads death, and its clear that its just a tipping point for him. davesprites note is honestly like... its in bad taste, but its a pretty harmless, stupid note that seems typical for dave, and i doubt he was thinking about how it was the anniversary of johns dads death, especially given that he wasnt there when it happened, and he has a very different relationship to bro and bros death that also probably colors things. but for john, its kind of the last straw, and he loses it. in fics people tend to make it about davesprite, but it really, really isnt.

roses date with kanaya.... aw, man. its so bad. its clear kanaya doesnt really understand the connotations of rose being drunk, and dave is really, really worried about rose, trying his best to help her as much as he can in the precious few moments before the date starts. but rose and kanaya want to go, and daves not in the business of bossing anybody around ever, so he relents and lets them. rose is as wordy as ever when drunk, and spends a long time rambling her worries about gamzee and terezi. its incredible, she predicts right in that moment exactly how their session winds up doomed and why they should be worried about the relationship, but its clear her drinking prevents her from seeing it clearly or thinking through what to do about it. she then gets distracted, rambling a bunch of suggestive stuff to kanaya, and tops the date off with a spectacularly awkward and terrible drunk kiss, followed immediately by her falling down the stairs. its just... so rough.

The Tumblr

in summary, the tumblr so far has been a combination of what hussie hoped the formspring would be, and the newsposts. mostly, hussie posts updates about the comic, about art other artists contributed (often rbing their blogs or posts), and about the store, with occasional random posts that are vaguely related to homestuck (ie; the dark cage post, or the olive garden saga), and occasional q&a sessions, which consist of a singular post with a mass of answers. unlike with the formspring, most of the qs hussie answers are directly relevant to the comic and expand on lore, characters, or background information to development. the tumblr is... actually worth a read, shockingly. so far, its not terrible. way better than the formsprings, and also updates a lot less and a lot more concisely. this is in keeping with the comic, which is also slowing down on updates around this time (one year passes between the beginning of act 6 and the beginning of a6a4), and is focusing on plot heavy bursts, rather than meaningless bullshit.

The Album

genesis frog is a solo, thematic album, meant to capture the journey of billious slick throughout his life, touching on the prospitians and consorts worship of him, jades work in breeding him, and jacks hand in hurting him. the track art is stunning, and each song was crafted with a lot of thought and effort. the extra art is super cute. i dont think i have an ear for this style of music, and since i had it on in the background, i cant say i picked up on all of the detail that went into the pieces, but im nonetheless impressed, at the very least by the heart involved.

Final Thoughts

how does this feel simultaneously so short and so long so far? its probably the minigames. and the insane amount of albums all posted at one time, right after the other. so little has really happened so far, and yet so many significant, infamous fandom moments have also happened. i think its a side effect of hussie really only focusing on the most relevant things right now, and also a side effect of the fandom probably completely overblowing the meteors importance to the story. i guess its because homestuck slows down so much during the meteor journey, we were all just stuck thinking about it for so goddamn long. myself included! im quickly approaching the part where i started reading homestuck, which is very exciting for me.

on my first read of act 6, i remember instantly loving dirk, probably just bc he was an extension of dave to me (and roxy, for the same reasons). however, in these early acts, jake and hal were definitely my favorites. they have such a fascinating and fun dynamic, and hal is probably the funniest character in these acts to me.

anyway, next up: a post all about meenahbound, and eventually, one day, act four?

update: a6a4-a6i5

#hs reread #homestuck liveblog #recaps #i so dont have time to recap meenahbound rn so ill do that later ig

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