Homestuck - A Plea from a LalaKage on Catching Up

[Kage]

So I stopped reading Homestuck like... a couple months after the scratch(?)

 

Well... more like as soon as they introduced Dirk and Aranea and stuff I became lost.

 

Even more so now that WE ARE STILL STUCK IN INTERMISSION.

 

Please halp @_@

[cuideag]

I think I stopped reading around then as well and I will be honest I had no idea what was going on even then. what even is homestuck.

 

been kind of wanting to reread it from scratch (HA HA HA) but I dunnnnoooooooo.

 

that is wild that it's still in intermission though? or is it a different intermission?

 

hussie what. what are you doing.

[Y'lani]

I loved Homestuck while I read it! I have a friend who may be able to explain (in extensive detail) what you don't understand -- I haven't gotten very far, myself. If I crack some information from him, I'll make sure to edit my post with said explanation!

 

Who knows, maybe there are some big Homestuck fans here too. 

[Kage]

I REMEMBER SOME PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT IT.

 

A few months ago.

 

Maybe.

 

Seriously I think it's said ACT 6 INTERMISSION for 2 years now.

 

I'm trying to see if I can read all what's going on but all I see are kids. Kids in god hoods. And chaos. And stuff. What happened with the ship going in between two...screens... things?

[cuideag]

Good golly has it been two years? I remember him saying it would be pretty lengthy but hot dang.

 

I have to see if there have been any new albums released in that time, though. The story was wonky as heck but I loved that there were hella talented folks that made some hella awesome music for it.

[LiveVoltage]

Hello! A homestuck expert has arrived on the scene!   \o/

 

Andrew hussie stated in his last update that the next act will be the final act of act 6, which will be the completion of caliborns master piece.

 

After that, he said it will go into act 7 which will be the Homestuck series endgame.

[Kage]

Caliborn is... not Calliope but the mean green? @_@?

[LiveVoltage]

Green is caliope. Caliborn is red.

 

I cant reveal due to spoilers, but you still have a ways to go before you catch up. Caliborn plays a very important role in the series, his actions lead to the event that nobody shall speak of called  GAME OVER.

 

Warning, do not watch unless you want to cry for an hour.

[Hihimi]

Hoo boy.

 

 

 

The post scratch version of the game consists of the "Ancestors" of the kids--Jane Crocker, Jake English, Dirk Strider, and Roxy Lalonde. They also have a pair of mysterious friends--"UU" and "uu". As it gets close to entering their game, UU reveals her Name is Calliope. The kids muck about in their nigh unwinnable game for a while, wondering what their fate is, and getting up to ridiculous shenanigans.

 

John and company visit the dream bubbles, finds Vriska and the troll's ancestors as kids from the ancestors' session while going to the new game on the opposite end of paradox space. While the three years it'll take pass, a lot of shit happens, but towards the end is where the most events happen.

 

John's Heir of Breath powers get boosted off the charts by a mysterious artifact that was supposedly used by Lord English himself to become all powerful. His powers, however, seem to remove him from the realm of time, allowing him to go back and Retcon things. (He's a RETCON HEIR, gettit?! *Is shot with guns*)

 

John then ended up dooming the timeline by gaining, and then seemingly immediately losing, a ring that can bring dead characters back to life--and keep them alive for as long as it's on their finger.

 

Vriska's ancestor from their session's pre-scratch version, Aranea Serket, actually stole the ring by manipul8ing Gamzee's weaker-minded sober state into doing whatever the hell she wanted.

 

She brings herself back to life and wrecks shit for everyone in the worst way possible, as a fully-realized Sylph of Light who literally cannot die, and attempts to make the now doomed timeline the alpha timeline using her powers--Manipulation of Fortune. She is eventually bested by Her Imperial Condescension who has escaped into the session, who removes the ring from her finger and snaps her neck. JUST.

 

John and Roxy are literally the only players left intact after that fiasco, and John, at the bequest of a dying Terezi, goes to his Denizen to learn how to control the full breadth (Puns!) of his powers. He succeeds in this task, but only by making a deal that his Alpha timeline self would die without ever gaining the powers--to prevent instability, or something.

 

Regardless, Roxy goes to her Denizen as well and learns that their alpha timeline selves need to die in order for their current selves to be saved, though she doesn't fully comprehend that.

 

John goes back to Terezi at the point in time before he left, and she gives him mental anchors that she remembers at key intervals of the trolls' session, though she refuses to tell him why. Terezi dies of Blood loss, saying "We make our own luck"(Minus quirk here because it's kind of obnoxious). He follows her instructions anyways.

 

He follows a long list of instructions that indicate with increasing clarity of what exactly he's doing. At the very end of the list, he finds himself at the scene where vriska's about to be killed by Terezi...and saves Vriska's life by punching her lights out, preventing her from going on her suicidal plot, without leaving it Terezi to kill her.

 

Meanwhile, Caliborn (uu) is messing around with his own session and actually manages to beat it entirely, God tiering in the process, and probably well on his way to becoming...Lord English!

 

Finally, John's escapades have all affected the alpha timeline in what seems to be predictable ways, though the exposition in the comic proper is confusing in how it is shown, as it's more or less word of mouth from Jade and Jane to Calliope, who is now a ghost in a very well hidden Dream Bubble.

 

[LiveVoltage]

Hoo boy.

 

 

 

The post scratch version of the game consists of the "Ancestors" of the kids--Jane Crocker, Jake English, Dirk Strider, and Roxy Lalonde. They also have a pair of mysterious friends--"UU" and "uu". As it gets close to entering their game, UU reveals her Name is Calliope. The kids muck about in their nigh unwinnable game for a while, wondering what their fate is, and getting up to ridiculous shenanigans.

 

John and company visit the dream bubbles, finds Vriska and the troll's ancestors as kids from the ancestors' session while going to the new game on the opposite end of paradox space. While the three years it'll take pass, a lot of shit happens, but towards the end is where the most events happen.

 

John's Heir of Breath powers get boosted off the charts by a mysterious artifact that was supposedly used by Lord English himself to become all powerful. His powers, however, seem to remove him from the realm of time, allowing him to go back and Retcon things. (He's a RETCON HEIR, gettit?! *Is shot with guns*)

 

John then ended up dooming the timeline by gaining, and then seemingly immediately losing, a ring that can bring dead characters back to life--and keep them alive for as long as it's on their finger.

 

Vriska's ancestor from their session's pre-scratch version, Aranea Serket, actually stole the ring by manipul8ing Gamzee's weaker-minded sober state into doing whatever the hell she wanted.

 

She brings herself back to life and wrecks shit for everyone in the worst way possible, as a fully-realized Sylph of Light who literally cannot die, and attempts to make the now doomed timeline the alpha timeline using her powers--Manipulation of Fortune. She is eventually bested by Her Imperial Condescension who has escaped into the session, who removes the ring from her finger and snaps her neck. JUST.

 

John and Roxy are literally the only players left intact after that fiasco, and John, at the bequest of a dying Terezi, goes to his Denizen to learn how to control the full breadth (Puns!) of his powers. He succeeds in this task, but only by making a deal that his Alpha timeline self would die without ever gaining the powers--to prevent instability, or something.

 

Regardless, Roxy goes to her Denizen as well and learns that their alpha timeline selves need to die in order for their current selves to be saved, though she doesn't fully comprehend that.

 

John goes back to Terezi at the point in time before he left, and she gives him mental anchors that she remembers at key intervals of the trolls' session, though she refuses to tell him why. Terezi dies of Blood loss, saying "We make our own luck"(Minus quirk here because it's kind of obnoxious). He follows her instructions anyways.

 

He follows a long list of instructions that indicate with increasing clarity of what exactly he's doing. At the very end of the list, he finds himself at the scene where vriska's about to be killed by Terezi...and saves Vriska's life by punching her lights out, preventing her from going on her suicidal plot, without leaving it Terezi to kill her.

 

Meanwhile, Caliborn (uu) is messing around with his own session and actually manages to beat it entirely, God tiering in the process, and probably well on his way to becoming...Lord English!

 

Finally, John's escapades have all affected the alpha timeline in what seems to be predictable ways, though the exposition in the comic proper is confusing in how it is shown, as it's more or less word of mouth from Jade and Jane to Calliope, who is now a ghost in a very well hidden Dream Bubble.

 

 

Thats basically the summary of the near entirety of act 6, baring the extreme shenanigans and whatnot.

[Hihimi]

Hoo boy.

 

 

 

The post scratch version of the game consists of the "Ancestors" of the kids--Jane Crocker, Jake English, Dirk Strider, and Roxy Lalonde. They also have a pair of mysterious friends--"UU" and "uu". As it gets close to entering their game, UU reveals her Name is Calliope. The kids muck about in their nigh unwinnable game for a while, wondering what their fate is, and getting up to ridiculous shenanigans.

 

John and company visit the dream bubbles, finds Vriska and the troll's ancestors as kids from the ancestors' session while going to the new game on the opposite end of paradox space. While the three years it'll take pass, a lot of shit happens, but towards the end is where the most events happen.

 

John's Heir of Breath powers get boosted off the charts by a mysterious artifact that was supposedly used by Lord English himself to become all powerful. His powers, however, seem to remove him from the realm of time, allowing him to go back and Retcon things. (He's a RETCON HEIR, gettit?! *Is shot with guns*)

 

John then ended up dooming the timeline by gaining, and then seemingly immediately losing, a ring that can bring dead characters back to life--and keep them alive for as long as it's on their finger.

 

Vriska's ancestor from their session's pre-scratch version, Aranea Serket, actually stole the ring by manipul8ing Gamzee's weaker-minded sober state into doing whatever the hell she wanted.

 

She brings herself back to life and wrecks shit for everyone in the worst way possible, as a fully-realized Sylph of Light who literally cannot die, and attempts to make the now doomed timeline the alpha timeline using her powers--Manipulation of Fortune. She is eventually bested by Her Imperial Condescension who has escaped into the session, who removes the ring from her finger and snaps her neck. JUST.

 

John and Roxy are literally the only players left intact after that fiasco, and John, at the bequest of a dying Terezi, goes to his Denizen to learn how to control the full breadth (Puns!) of his powers. He succeeds in this task, but only by making a deal that his Alpha timeline self would die without ever gaining the powers--to prevent instability, or something.

 

Regardless, Roxy goes to her Denizen as well and learns that their alpha timeline selves need to die in order for their current selves to be saved, though she doesn't fully comprehend that.

 

John goes back to Terezi at the point in time before he left, and she gives him mental anchors that she remembers at key intervals of the trolls' session, though she refuses to tell him why. Terezi dies of Blood loss, saying "We make our own luck"(Minus quirk here because it's kind of obnoxious). He follows her instructions anyways.

 

He follows a long list of instructions that indicate with increasing clarity of what exactly he's doing. At the very end of the list, he finds himself at the scene where vriska's about to be killed by Terezi...and saves Vriska's life by punching her lights out, preventing her from going on her suicidal plot, without leaving it Terezi to kill her.

 

Meanwhile, Caliborn (uu) is messing around with his own session and actually manages to beat it entirely, God tiering in the process, and probably well on his way to becoming...Lord English!

 

Finally, John's escapades have all affected the alpha timeline in what seems to be predictable ways, though the exposition in the comic proper is confusing in how it is shown, as it's more or less word of mouth from Jade and Jane to Calliope, who is now a ghost in a very well hidden Dream Bubble.

 

 

 

Thats basically the summary of the near entirety of act 6, baring the extreme shenanigans and whatnot.

Thanks! Was worried I left something of dire import out. Time will tell, I suppose.

[ChewableMorphine]

Never have I had the guilt of saying "Yeah I was a pretty damn good Jake cosplayer" until I came across this thread. Forgive me RPC for I am actual homestuck trash

[Hihimi]

Never have I had the guilt of saying "Yeah I was a pretty damn good Jake cosplayer" until I came across this thread. Forgive me RPC for I am actual homestuck trash

Hey, at least you haven't had you classpect psychologically deduced by overanalyzing friends.

 

Mine's Rogue of Hope, according to them.

[Kage]

Thank you very much Hihimi!

 

I got some of the passwords, and by some I mean two so I know that there were WindyTimeythings going on once I also read about visiting Typheus.

 

Have it been confirmed how John and Roxy will end up dead?

 

Or so?

 

I don't remember how the ring saved their lives... if it did.

 

I honestly also don't remember the thing about Vriska. She went to kill Gamzee? and also ended up killing most of the trolls iirc? But the implications of Terezi killing her... I don't remember.

 

 

Damn 2 years, you forget a lot D:

 

HONK

[Melkire]

Rant coming through:

 

The trouble with Homestuck these days is that ever since the introduction of the trolls proper (read: everything after End of Act III, Enter, and the subsequent Intermission), the narrative took a drastic swerve towards and into what can only rightfully be called "shenanigans".

 

This worked for Problem Sleuth because PS retained its narrative structure the whole way through: puzzle-mystery-pseudo-game leading up to a ridiculously long and dramatic boss fight which called back to and invoked just about every hanging thread or plot device throughout the story.

 

Homestuck was clearly originally structured in a similar fashion (revisit Act I to see for yourself) but then took a detour to tell a completely different story about the trolls, then revisited the kids, then took another detour to tell yet another story about Sburb/Skaia Redux via the kid versions of the parents, then killed off the majority of the characters for sheer shock value, then wandered for a bit before setting out on a "retcon our history" track...

 

Hussie lost himself for a while. Homestuck has been on Act 6 since November 11, 2011. That's three and a half years, a year of which was spent on hiatus. Acts 1 through 5 and the included intermissions, by contrast, only took two years. And Homestuck is supposedly not even at its endgame yet.

 

To make that clear for everyone: Act 6 has taken as much time as all the Acts that came before it put together.

 

I don't blame anyone for getting lost, I don't blame anyone for dropping it, and I don't blame anyone who still follows along solely due to morbid curiosity that comes from wanting to know how it all ends. Homestuck is currently undergoing arc fatigue of the worst kind.

[Kage]

Last time it took me like a week to read through Homestuck and that got me to like before the Scratch.

 

IDEK how long it'll take me if I re-read everything D:

[ChewableMorphine]

Never have I had the guilt of saying "Yeah I was a pretty damn good Jake cosplayer" until I came across this thread. Forgive me RPC for I am actual homestuck trash

Hey, at least you haven't had you classpect psychologically deduced by overanalyzing friends.

 

Mine's Rogue of Hope, according to them.

 

Prince of Rage :^)

[LiveVoltage]

Never have I had the guilt of saying "Yeah I was a pretty damn good Jake cosplayer" until I came across this thread. Forgive me RPC for I am actual homestuck trash

Hey, at least you haven't had you classpect psychologically deduced by overanalyzing friends.

 

Mine's Rogue of Hope, according to them.

 

Prince of Rage :^)

. . . Knight of Void here, lol.

[Kage]

Question: What exactly is Hussie doing other than that one... Namcom VN? @_@? Has he set up a timeline for when things return? When he's updating other than the next date? When he plans to end things?

 

Edit: I mean, is it going to return to what was once a "regular" update schedule?

[Arcian]

Never have I had the guilt of saying "Yeah I was a pretty damn good Jake cosplayer" until I came across this thread. Forgive me RPC for I am actual homestuck trash

 

"Yeah, I'm a half-decent Rose cosplayer," I say, and I feel so much shame because I am also actual Homestuck trash.

[Kage]

I saw this God Tier Dave at Anime Expo 2013 but I can't find my picture of it so I share my friend's.

 

Anime Expo 2013 - Dave Strider Cosplay by W10002, on Flickr

[Kellach Woods]

I actually wanted to Dawson's Creek cosplay Jake English for two reasons :

1) I would have zero problems showing up in his god tier outfit in public.

2) Unlike all Jake English cosplayers, I actually know how to wrestle.

 

but I didn't and my interest is kinda waning. I like Homestuck for what it was, I'm just following for the inevitable disappointment that will be its end.

[LiveVoltage]

Posted on 19 January 2015 by Andrew

 

So what do we call this pause? I've been batting ideas around all day. We could go with the obvious choice, the MINIGIGAPAUSE. Or maybe, MEGAPAUSE 2: BACK IN THE MEGASADDLE. Or if that makes too much sense, we could always settle on the MICROTERAPAUSE. As you can see, there are so many incredibly intelligent and meaningful things we could call this pause. Deciding how to refer to the pause is an exercise that I will leave to the reader. Feel free to discuss the matter with friends. Or strangers. Anyone who will listen really. If they start to run away, I strongly recommend you chase them.

 

Why don't we say that A665 begins on 4/13. That's a fun number that we all can get excited about. I have a lot of catch-up work to do between now and then. Not the least of which is drawing the actual content to be posted. But also a lot of gamedev work. Game production is rolling pretty hot right now. Stuff is being churned out almost faster than I can keep track of. Did I mention? I accidentally started running a game studio a little while ago. Whoops, sorry about that. There are all these people being paid to make things happen, and I have to be like "Yeah, keep doing that stuff, everybody." It's getting pretty easy to lose track of how many people work for What Pumpkin. My last estimate was somewhere between 30 and 1000. The true figure is a very frisky moving target.

 

A6A6A5, a.k.a. Caliborn's Masterpiece, is actually done. It's probably better to hold off posting it until 4/13, when more content will soon follow aftewards. I am sure pausing on that note for months would mess with your head a lot more than the note we're already pausing on. I sometimes feel I have at least a modest responsibility to manage your sanity. It'll be tough sitting on this content though. Tougher than sitting on all of A664 for the better part of a year. I don't think it is out of line to describe it as the best material this website will ever exhibit. It will be all down hill from there, in every direction. Even up.

 

Speaking of sanity management, way back when, I was pretty on the fence about posting A664 spaced out over months like I did, vs. all at once. Doing the latter in hindsight probably would have been a fucked up thing to do to the internet though. The GAME OVER fallout alone was a bit much as it was. Including it in tandem with the rest of it? Not sure what to make of that. Let's review the CONTENT CRUSH that would have entailed. Bad Anime -> Game Over -> Sadstuck -> Lowas Quest -> 100 retconned panels of oil -> A bunch of other shit -> Punky Serket -> Fantroll Storytime -> 8 password pages -> The Kiss On Horse Mountain -> and finally -> The Punchline. You know, that's an awful lot of baloney to publish. I think the fell-swoop reaction to all that would have been quite a thing to behold, but also, perhaps an irresponsible thing to do to a hapless fanbase after a year in hibernation. I'm told that in 2015, young people are heavily susceptible to "the feels", and trifling with those forces could be injurious to their future development. Wait, did that just sound like something your grandpa would say? Mother fuck, where did I put my cane. Oh right, I snapped it in half from shaking it at the sky.

 

I may have been in the process of making a point there, but we're going to have to pick this up another time. The comic isn't going to pause itself!!!

Hes been busy with Gamedev work and other things. I mean, making a videogame isnt an easy thing. it is quite the undertaking, so people should cut him some slack for the lack of content.

 

I still have faith that Andrew knows what hes doing. he hasnt really disappointed me with the Direction the comic is going. If anything, im more interested than ever to read the series.

 

I think his content will hold up to its reputation. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who just draws panels haphazardly without some kind of canon timeline he is following so I think we should still have faith.

 

Also, quote above was Hussies last entry before going on his mini-pause to draw the final act of act six. In a little over a month, the updates should resume and we will get a better idea of what will happen next. Especially since Homestuck is approaching its endgame.

[Kage]

I'm not upset about him not updating for awhile. I'm just mainly curious if his plans are to return with regular updates or if it will continue to be sporadically planned.

[LiveVoltage]

Well, I cant say for sure. We would have to wait till the updates start again and he shows us the update schedule.