#act 5-2

The first major contributor to this is the shift is the character interactions, which have noticeably taken a much more nuanced approach than anything before. Many scenes or lines that would have been purely jokes were now seen as opportunities to genuinely explore these characters and their relationships with each other. As far as returning characters, Dave in particular stands out as someone who has been completely opened up to new layers that, if they were there before, were heavily obscured by his place in the narrative. The trolls are undoubtedly responsible for this element making its way further into the dialogue, as they give the kids so much more to bounce off of than they used to have, and with these many new dynamics that are formed, new avenues of exploration and analysis are opened.

And speaking of the trolls, their story also escalates far beyond anything possibly imaginable when we first met these angry goofballs several acts ago. They stand as the latest in a generationally traumatized race, one so beaten into their societal roles that anything short of bloodlust is considered weakness. A bloodlust that, as we later learn, was maticulously crafted by our darling villain, Doc Scratch. This layer of their collective characterization, though, makes it all the more potent when they manage to let part of themselves slip past this torturous conditioning and reveal the sympathetic souls that lie underneath. Even Vriska, cartoonishly evil as she's been, comes out the other end of this act seeming much more three dimensional than before. Also, Gamzee's murder arc happened. Honk honk. That's really all there is to say on the matter.

With the mention of Doc Scratch, I would be remiss to leave out his role in all this, and how it encompasses another aspect of this act that left me impressed and overjoyed, which is the multitude of ways in which the conventions of Homestuck and its medium are expanded and broken, over and over. The games begin to feature much more story-relevant information than before. The animations become longer, denser, more daring with their content (Cascade is a whole fucking cartoon episode!!); the easter eggs of games past are folded into the narrative itself, as well as other meta elements brought from simple gags into genuinely intriguing plot points. Even the way the comic allows itself to be interacted with twists and changes as it needs. The banner on top of the website becomes its own entire canvas for storytelling, the borders of the panels are less restrained than ever, the command system is contorted in various ways that make for a more interactive experience even just on the web page. I could go on. Even in the final moments of the act, when the curtains close, we see them tattered, fire surrounding them, and a shattered fourth wall behind. To me, it acts as a declaration that the confines of this work are no longer relevant. That this is truly a multimedia project which will take any shape it sees fit to convey what it desires, and which will blend realities and rulesets to create a strange, new entity. I've watched this piece of fiction grow and mold itself over the course of these various acts in ways I truly never anticipated when I'd begun, and this moment feels like a symbol of that mentality becoming its mantra. I highly doubt these experiments with form will stop any time soon, and I truly do look forward to whatever is waiting for me next.

And finally, for my own sake I kinda want to decompartmentalize into a list all the currently unanswered things leaving me either curious or interested as I move forward:

Not really a question but I just couldn't find another place to write that I fucking love all the god tier stuff. Just really fun and satisfying magical fantasy shit with very cool aesthetics and also thematic elements that tie extremely well into a lot of what the story seems to be getting at.

LORD ENGLISH HAS ENTERED THE PICTURE. Clearly, as we all already knew "He is already here." So the question is, where? Where has he been? What will be that decisive moment that he will propel himself into this story?

Regarding resurrection, what actually classifies as "heroic" or "just" seeing as these are largely subjective concepts? Is is simply a mystic "Paradox Space will decide" type thing? Will the comic address this quandry at some point?

On this point, Doc Scratch's clock. It shows the results of this query. Does it actually decide the result, or similar to the meteor timers, simply show the result that was already going to happen? If it decides the result, this implies that by manipulating the clock, the outcome of the resurrection can also be manipulated.

On timelines: What actually consitutes the Alpha Timeline? Who decides that? Who's to say that one particular timeline is more canonical or holds more importance than the rest, other than the author themselves I suppose.

Who's fedorafreak? Is this actually gonna be important?

What actually are the denizens? John implies they aren't as threatening as they initially appear. What does this say about their function in the game and in this world?

Who is the mother of all monsters? I don't think this is a term we've ever heard before unless I'm just forgetting

Why does the emblem of "Her Condescention" look somewhat like the Betty Crocker logo. Don't tell me I'm looking too deep into this. This fucking story has done me dirty before. That thing fucking looks like the other things and I don't trust that one bit especially after hearing about the whole Betty Crocker isn't human thing. hrmmm...

WHAT THE FUCK DOES IT MEAN THAT THE KIDS ARE IN ANDREW HUSSIE WORLD. WHAT. I CAN'T GET OVER THAT. I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT COULD EVEN GO.

As for any predictions or expectations? Basically none. At least as far as predictions go. I've learned to surf Homestuck like a big ass wave and let it take me where it takes me. If I pick something up along the way that I feel I can properly theorize about, I will, but I'm no longer trying to pick everything apart and estimate what it could mean for the overall story, because quite frankly, there's simply too much shit going on and too little of it has any intention of appeasing my base instincts about the movements of the narrative. Now, I'm not going to lie and say I know NOTHING about what's next in Homestuck. I know next to nothing, but that's still not nothing. In fact, I'll break down literally everything that I know so you know exactly what expectations I'm going in with. So obviously if you're also reading for the first time, maybe tune out here in case you wanna be completely blind!!!

I know there are still more characters to come. Specifically, I know that there are at least four other kids to be introduced to, just from fan art and cosplay and such. I know two of their names are Dirk and Roxy, but I do not know the other two. I know ZERO about their actual roles in the story or like, who they are as people. Based solely on their appearances, my only real guess is that maybe, similarly to how we learned of the troll ancestors creating a new world and becoming ancestors to the true successors, the kids will do something similar now that they're essentially exiting the reset world, and become the guardians of a new group of children who are supposed to be like "the real heroes" and those will be those characters? I'm not sure if the logistics on that actually work out but it's all I got rn. Also, I know there are weird green people. Now, call me psychic, but now that I've seen Lord English, something tells me they have something to do with him. Again, I'm cluelesss as to how they actually connect or what role they'll have in the story or literally anything at all, I just know that they exist and are green. The third and final thing that I know is that trickster mode has like, a greater role in the story? I'm grasping at straws here but I've definitely heard talk about trickster mode in later Homestuck as if it becomes more than just an easter egg in games. No fuckin clue how. So again, I'll make a guess that, since the characters are continuously getting closer to the meta layer of the story, perhaps they find out about the "easter eggs" in the games and how to activate trickster mode, as characters and not just as us playing them, and then maybe they can use that to gain new information or traverse places in a different way, almost like Twilight Princess type shit. But yeah. That's all I got. I don't feel spoiled at all because that's all such minimal information that it doesn't really tell me anything of significance, but it does at least give me some breadcrumbs to look for as I keep reading, so that's pretty neat.