thelifetimechannel

[thelifetimechannel]

are the images on the last page broken on purpose

Nope! Technically there is one more page, but it's only viewable on our tumblr mirror. At some point MSPFA updated things so my account no longer has access to the adventure, and as Gill has been ghosting me for over a year, broken the links shall remain.

Ironically enough the pages being broken work from a meta perspective both as a representation of the medium breaking down and because they weren't originally planned, someone asked if we were going to have one last panel and Gill went eh sure and drew one. So entropy brought us back to the original vision, I suppose.

[thelifetimechannel]

How exactly do the stable retcon loops work?

I had to go back and skim our notes because it's been a decade (!!) but the idea is that John's full loop would be:

arrives in the session with the battleship still asleep

does all the stuff in the dreambubbles that culminates in sticking his arm in the juju and getting zapped body and soul around reality

bounces around the session interacting with people (Rose, Dave and Jade's argument, Roxy)

zaps back to grab the ring, sees it's missing

zaps into Caliborn's story, fights Caliborn

witnesses Game Over, meets with Roxy again, makes his Choice and does the retcon

goes back to the battleship to claim the ring, gets in his argument with Davesprite

knocks out Jade and takes her body to Roxy along with the ring

past John from step 5 of this list zaps back in looking for the ring, doesn't see it, moves on to step 6

I'm pretty sure this made sense at the time. The change is simply who took the ring: first Aranea, then John.

[thelifetimechannel]

I have no idea if this went through the first time or if my wifi ate it. Please disregard one of the former.

Question: if you were the ones writing Homestuck, how would you (if you had to) make one of the human Kids a villainous Player like Eridan/Gamzee/Aranea/Caliborn?

This is an interesting query that was posed to me while I was talking about Jane's turn to evil; that in the original comic, only aliens were allowed to be evil, says the commenter. My reply was, I think, the best counterpoint:

A Kid, by necessity, has a minimum of 5 people (discounting aliens, which fluctuate based on the Kid) who would mourn them: two children or parents, and three characters they are introduced alongside, must have a functional enough relationship with to be introduced in a set and having dynamics with, and who would have to be betrayed by their tuen to evil. That's a lot of distinct character growth/grappling to have to fit into the comic *after* the betrayal.

So, this would clearly be a difficult task. But, if you *had* to make a Kid turn heel permanently as part of the original plot of Homestuck:

Who would it be?

Why would they do it, and when?

How would their friends cope with it?

Who would defeat them, and how?

And most importantly, how do post submissions work, and should this have been one?

I've been on this site for over a decade and I'm still not clear on how submissions work. Sometimes they make it look like the receiving blog made the post which is just confusing.

I don't know the details of what's going on in the epilogues/HS2 and please don't enlighten me, but my understanding is they have done this with Jane and Dirk, right? And those two do make the most logical sense. Jane is introduced with a lot of tensions around privilege, entitlement, and resentment. Dirk's carrying Bro's narrative ghost around with him (although having him succumb to that frustrates me as someone who emphasized treating different iterations as distinct people). They have the personalities that you would most expect to twist out of true, so I think they're the obvious pulls, even if I didn't like how the epilogue handled it.

But I disdain easy answers. Every once in a while I chase the thrill of taking the unexpected option and making everybody mad at me. So, I propose, why not Roxy?

The Beta kids are too tight knit; I can't see a heel turn within the main comic. (Frankly I would not blame Davesprite if he snapped but I do not think he would.) Dirk and Jane as I said are too easy. Jake is too busy getting buffeted around by everyone else's expectations; even if he had a heel turn I feel like it would somehow be inflicted by someone else. But Roxy, who increasingly became the narrative's golden girl? Roxy, who feels neglected and unloved and does not behave very well early on, leaving omissions and sly comments and pushing conversations other people are uncomfortable with, even if it's fucked up and she knows it?

To be clear, I don't think any of this behavior is evil. She's a teenager dealing with a level of isolation that would probably be considered cruel and unusual punishment, and she's struggling with an addiction to boot. I'm glad she overcomes these things. But there's an interesting and I think largely unexpected thread you could pull, if you wanted to push her in a different direction. After she kicks her habit, to be clear, I don't want this to be interpreted as a commentary on addicts.

What would that look like, exactly? IDK. Maybe she and John don't run into each other post-Game Over, and after she survives the retcon by catching a ride on LOWAS she starts using her powers to selectively edit what people remember and forget in an effort to make things go smoother but also cast herself as central to their narratives. As part of solidifying her hold on the main timeline she has to arrange the death of the other Roxy but justifies it because she's the one who knows what's going on. I feel like this is kind of an Aranea rehash, though.

I was never the Alpha kid expert, but I think Dirk would decide this was his fault somehow and his responsibility, but when he confronts her he can't bear to do anything and submits to being rewritten, because things have gone so catastrophically wrong twice with him as he is, so clearly he's not up to the task. Maybe John ends up using his abilities to send Roxy back to the doomed timeline, leaving a Void in the team and the timeline. Rose would not take any of this well.

But, to be clear, this is not a direction that would interest me personally. One of the reasons I took up TLC was I wanted to give these kids endings I found personally satisfying. Also I'm an adult and while some of these kids are pretty annoying sometimes, they are also 13/16 and I'm not invested in saying they're irredeemably evil villains who need to be struck down. I'd rather put them through suspiciously personally targeted ordeals that make them face up to their flaws. That's my narrative catnip.

[thelifetimechannel]

Wait how was Jake put in his dreamself when dremselves fuse with the regular self when god tiering?

Back in the day, there was actually a lot of worry about whether Jake would successfully God Tier in his waking body in his quest crypt! At that point, we knew a living person dying on a quest bed transferred their consciousness to their dream body wherever it might be, leaving the waking corpse behind. Meanwhile a dreaming body dying (or being destroyed, in the case of Aradia's corpse) while on the quest crypt slab triggered an ascension still in the dreaming body. However, Jake's ascension - waking self on quest crypt - went off without a hitch, and he didn't suddenly wake up in his dreaming body wherever the Prospitians took it. So, we extrapolated that the corpse must still be around somewhere.

[thelifetimechannel]

I know I'm asking a lot lately, but I made a manifesto for my fanventure.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SsUQn1J4DphnXPh_y1EiTu5XSO1gLxytu-Qxj2OVYc8/edit?usp=drivesdk

I want to know what you think about it.

Ha, I put this off until the weekend so I would have time to sit down and read it properly, I didn't realize it would only be one page! I should have clocked the 'manifesto' bit better.

Good call on moderating the roasting of canon to set expectations. It's a little frustrating how many people saw our project and assumed we had nothing but hatred in our hearts for the source material. And a bit confusing as we did not invent fix it fics. The fandom temperature has probably gone down enough that this is less likely to upset people but hey. Learn from our example.

I am always in support of taking the parts you liked out of something and making it your own! You are also not obligated to respect our vision if you don't want to. But if you found enough in it to respect, I am honored. And honored that our work is doing its own small part to inspire other works, all these years later! derseprinceoftbd has also tagged us in an alt ending taking some inspiration from TLC. I welcome the next generation of spinoffs.

[thelifetimechannel]

How did you write around John's retcon powers?

By giving him limitations and consequences, mostly. For one thing, we added a psychological dimension, where his control wasn't perfect and his mindset could impact the results. The biggest example is when he accidentally sends Bec Noir to the Green Sun along with Jade, because Bec Noir happened to be on his mind. He's already having a crisis of confidence, so this helps prevent him from impulsively using his abilities for everything and instead yield to advice from people with more cautious approaches due to a) familiarity with standard Time travel consequences and b) a preference to keep existing in their current state.

Regarding consequences, we have Dave tell John that he's messing with time in a big way that all Time heroes can sense, and that becomes our ticking clock reason that Lord English is barrelling directly toward their session. This incentivizes John to use his power sparingly as well. At least when Lord English is in play... one could ask the question why he doesn't use them willy nilly once Lord English is dead, but a) that's mostly beyond our scope, luckily b) given Lord English's time powers this might just involve a bunch of Lord Englishes from different parts of the timeline swarming them and c) John's powers are extremely meta/based on altering The Narrative. Would they even work once the narrative we can see is over? I take no stance on this but it's something to think about. I guess as soon as you start writing/drawing a continuation he's officially back in the narrative though. Particles being observed and all that.

[thelifetimechannel]

Can I write a spin off/sequel?

Like I said before, we here at Double Death of the Author/TLCstuck can hardly forbid someone else from making a transformative fanwork. Go for it! In an ideal world you would call it Triple Death of the Author but I acknowledge you probably have your own better name idea.

[thelifetimechannel]

So, isn't an entire universe's history generated when its made, what happens to it when it's dna is altered, and/or without the influence of the alpha timeline

I might need you to expand a little bit on what you're asking here. I know players' lands spawn in with retroactive history, but I'd assumed that new universes start at the beginning (with the croak = the big bang) and winning players can just use their consoles or what have you to fast forward to whatever point they want. Or are we assuming predestination and so all future history is also generated when the frog is born... Genesis Frog Calvinism... I guess the worlds do anticipate future SBURB sessions, at least.

Our vision was that the DNA alterations create a kinder SBURB variant that allows for more than one win state. Since sessions of SBURB played in that universe (C?) would spawn new universes, I'm not sure the changes would affect C all that much, beyond that maybe there would be way more temples/game artifacts if there are more viable sessions. It might have a downstream effect of creating a larger than normal crop of universe D offshoots, though. Whether that puts a strain on the multiverse or not, idk.

I may be misunderstanding you. If so, sorry! I had quite the day at work today.

[thelifetimechannel]

May I ask why you distinguish between the "comic proper" and the credits re: seeding humanity on Earth C? While it is "post-canon" in the in-universe sense that it takes place outside of the reign of Lord English's alpha timeline, the credits seem pretty canon in the meta sense that it is part of the real-life story called Homestuck. I don't think I've ever seen anyone putting them on the same level as the epilogues or Skaianet Systems. Everyone seems to agree, for example, that Rose and Kanaya are canonically married even though that happened in the credits.

In the last ask when I said the comic proper I was referring to TLC/DDOTA since I assumed the asker was inquiring about the events in our AU. In that context, 'comic proper' was meant in contrast to conversations I had with my co-creator, because I couldn't remember what details had made it into the comic versus our conversations versus extracanonical information (such as these ask replies)!

I am happy to continue answering these asks to the best of my abilities, but I want to be very clear that I have not read Homestuck in 5 years and haven't been working on TLC in about as long. I am essentially coming out of retirement to answer these with the same energy as that 'guy who just woke up' meme. I wasn't attempting to legislate on the status of the credits; I don't even remember if they were posted on the same website or somewhere else.

[thelifetimechannel]

So did they recreate humanity too, or just the trolls?

Within the comic proper, all they do is set up the mothergrub with the intention of a future Kanaya being there. I can't remember if this discussion happened within the comic or just between us creators, but it certainly wouldn't be difficult for them to create more humans using ectobiology technology, especially with John's abilities allowing them to get a larger sample. (A casual Google suggests you need a minimum viable population of at least 50 individuals, so 4 unrelated individuals and 4 more related to the first 4 aren't going to cut it, even if some of these kids didn't probably have aversions to having kids with each other, even ectobiologically.)

So they could choose to take that route in the future once they feel prepared for it, but they haven't yet. I take a lot of issue with the way it was done in the post-canon credits - so many of these kids have trauma related to neglect and abandonment, it's hard for me to imagine they would take a 'set it and forget it' approach to their own children.

[thelifetimechannel]

So, how see exqctly did lord english get the cairo overcoat and his staff?

Hm. I don't recall canon ever answering that question, and we didn't go out of our way to answer it either. Iirc in canon Kurloz picks up Vriska's pirate jacket, so we can assume that was used to alchemize Lord English's overcoat later (with his sarswapagus maybe?) as part of him jacking the swagger of various enemies and/or stealing girls' stuff. Also though, I vaguely remember him teleporting it out of in-comic!Hussie's office, right? So in a tongue and cheek way I guess the author may have just... directly provided him with it.

As for his staff, it looked like he probably alchemized his earlier rifle/staff dual-weapon with his session's King's scepter.

[thelifetimechannel]

How exactly did the retcon with caliope's corpse work, I'm confused.

What was up with CODA too

Also if I were to make an epilogue for this is using ultimate self a good idea?

Here's our explanation of Calliope's resurrection.

And here's our explanation of Coda.

As for ultimate selves... TLC is very much interested in acknowledging how different iterations of characters are distinct people, given it was born out of frustration over losing the Game Over iterations of characters (and my personal passion for clone rights). From what I remember of the end of the original comic, ultimate selves felt like a cheap way of handwaving that and choosing whatever character elements the author found convenient. I don't know how the concept has been handled in further postcanon material. My understanding of it at the time was certainly antithetical to what we were trying to do here.

That being said, as a writer of an alt ending fix it fic AU, it would be completely ridiculous of me to tell you what you can and cannot do with your own spinoff creation. So go nuts!

[thelifetimechannel]

What are your thoughts on a more villainous/ambiguous al/Alternate Calliope dominating? You implied, like Act 8 (oddly its sole clear break from Canon so far) that she dominated via force, as opposed to traditionally; what made you chose this, symbolically? I always figured that giving her a traditional domination in that scenario would emphasize further that her idea of good was detached from that of the audience and Players, as she would have done things "correctly" and still be objectionable, thus being a greater support for the semi-reconciliation of Calliope with a Caliborn that you had planned, showing that any means of destroying the other was wrong, rather than just the "incorrect" way. Forgive me if I'm ranting.

Sorry, I saw this ask when it came in and then forgot about it! Tumblr inbox should really send you nudges or something.

From what I remember, we took a lot of inspiration from the similarities between benevolent cherubs and PM, who is *not* interested in finding common ground with Jack and wants to hunt him down and destroy him. In some of the alt Caliborn storyline logs we suggest that, minus her friends' influence, alt!Calliope *would* have predominated naturally, but she wasn't willing to wait around. Much like main timeline Caliborn, she saw things in black and white. She didn't want to absorb any of her sibling's nature. She wanted to excise everything she didn't like, which is why her worldview is limited in its own way. All Space - personal passivity and promotion of creation at any cost.

I'd agree that any form of cherub predomination seems like a pretty big bummer (and the fact that it is a bummer is a driving force in the species' psyche iirc) but alt Calliope being her own kind of driven, blinkered ideologue was important for setting up Skaia itself as the final villain, and her exterminating her brother fit with that.

[thelifetimechannel]

An amusing excerpt from "Mr. Tambourine Man", an MSPFA.

Kat: Ah yes, I remember Mr. Tambourine Man as a fellow alt ending-ish project that was going on during our heyday! It's still going? Good for them.

[thelifetimechannel]

you know instead of "fly pupa fly" vriska's final words should be "fly you fools"

That would be pretty fitting! Although given Gandalf's return, it might have made people think we were going to bring her back later.

I am fond of W8key w8key being her signoff, though, because it ends up serving as an action prompt for other characters in the comic. Right after that scene, Dave 'wakes up'/rezzes, and soon after that he helps John 'wake up'/revive Calliope. In fact, I briefly toyed with an [S] W8key w8key set to Get Up that would cover Terezi and Kanaya's rescue, Vriska's death and judgment, Dave's revival, and the leadup to CBC, but we had enough on our plates doing CBC as it was, and panels served their purpose. I am fond of Get Up though. That and Pendulum were two tracks I envisioned TLC flashes for that never happened.

[thelifetimechannel]

hi there, was just passing by to ask how things were going! (not only as in with DDotA but in general how you both doing, been months since the last post)

Hi! Sorry I took a bit to answer this, I've been having a #time this weekend.

To be honest I haven't heard much from Gill in a while! Last I heard she was very into an anime musical? Meanwhile I am liveblogging a different manga on my main blog while not busy liveblogging a sci fi series from the 80s. You can go to @clonerightsagenda for live updates on me complaining about my job.

[thelifetimechannel]

I loved your ideas for John, Rose, and Dave's Ancestral weapons; did you ever draft up ideas for the other five?

(Assuming you're responding to the weapons alchemized on these pages.) I messaged Gill about this and haven't gotten a response yet but I can at least say that Jade's creation was going to be a Bec-themed variation on her Iron Lass suit that would've shown up in one of the full combat flashes. I suspect Gill still has sketches somewhere if I can get ahold of her.