#gamby

> INTERMISSION

Hours in the past.

Yup, this is the version of Jack Noir we saw beheaded in the [S] 8r8k flash, who was driving Jane's giant emergency wolfman mech after having previously being captured by her after her Snapchat moon assassination attempt before the Epilogues.

That was a mouthful.

[I] ==>

Oh we get to see the whole-ass moon base laser setup Jane had on the partially-obliterated moon (again, see the snapchat thing)!

And the Felt allies Jack had previously recruited. That's Crowbar, who was good at keeping the rest of the group together, and easily might without Jack; I'm mildly disturbed that the few remaining Felt members might still have any relevance. Unless they hold keys to helping solve Candy's limited-existence problem... or they're doomed because Hell-Tier Vriska stole the Light of the moon or something. I don't even remember which members of the Felt were still alive under Jack Noir and I'm frankly too exhausted to look up which ones.

[I] ==>

Wow, a white coat? An expression of Doc-Scratch-like leadership maybe? And whoa, Earth looks significantly more colorful out of black and white, after its kingdom-separation and inhabitation by the Gods, etc. We got to see Deltritus in color so I guess it's only fair we see Earth in color, though this is the first time we've had such a zoom-out to my (flawed) memory.

Another mission gone horribly awry. Who’d have guessed? Well, everybody, in hindsight. Whose bright idea was it to let any of these idiots try their hands at engineering? You’re surprised the damn thing even fired.

The Felt can build giant thematically-on-point mechas? Huh. ...Wait, "fired", he's talking about the moon laser.

[I] ==>

Of course there's a well-stocked kitchen in a spork-adorned Jane Crocker facility. Looks like Doze is still around?

You’ve all been under new management for 20 odd years and not one of you has gotten an ounce smarter. You’d think all this free time might represent a chance to better yourselves, maybe pick up some hobbies, but you’re starting to suspect you aren’t built for that. This is a team of goons. They aren’t built for engineering, or white collar crimes, or gerrymandering. They’re built for fucking gooning.

Ugh, phrasing.

Wait, I wonder if Dirk somehow brought along the Meat universe copies for messing around antagonistically with the coming session. My first instinct was to point to these Candy ones, but there should be perfectly serviceable Meat duplicates that don't require non-canon-to-canon penetration, right?

[I] ==>

To top it off, not a single member of this sorry circuit has croaked in what feels like forever. Things used to be exciting. You all used to drop like flies on the daily, and then come back nightly like a dinner your stomach didn’t agree with. You miss those days. When everyone died all the time.

Makes some sense with a Lord of Time oriented crew, Time especially embodied as death and destruction in Lord English in particular and the Felt as tools to haphazardly mess with its flow. I did have a feeling that Clover, at minimum, was still around; seems like if she'd known about him he'd serve as an extremely potent luck source for Vriska to steal from.

The new boss took all the guns. All the jujus too. You’ve taken to carrying around a normal crowbar just to feel something, but it isn’t the same. All she left your outfit was this giant laser, and you weren’t even allowed to point it at each other. And now it’s busted. Maybe that’s why the big lady downstairs even let you make that oversized oven, because it’s stupid garbage. Dames always knew how to play suckers like you. You know how it is with dames.

Is the "oversized oven" the Bec Blanc mech? Or a literal oven to mimic Biscuits's oven?

[I] ==>

I have a feeling Jane must have personally designed tons about this place, because it definitely feels like it has enough of her personal touch to have been used as like, a vacation retreat.

Is what you’d say if you knew more dames than you could count on one hand. Which isn’t many when you only have 4 fingers. You miss the old boss, too. Not that working for him wasn’t a royal pain in the ass, the guy was a certifiable lunatic, but at least shit was shaking when he was around. It was a good couple eternities. It feels like all of you are still waiting for some kind of reset, now, a chance out of this lunar lockdown. It’d be great to have a fresh shot at it all again. To get back to what actually matters. Scheming and plundering and general mayhem, business as usual. Remember heists? Snowman used to love heists. You miss Snowman. You even miss time travel.

Okay something fucky is CLEARLY about to happen to send these bozos back into the fray. Heists and dames... is VRISKA going to have been the one to sweep up and recruit this gaggle of goons?! A side-stop in her exit into Canon?

Hmm. Another possibility... are the surviving heroes in Candy going to pick them up to exploit their time travel abilities to milk more time to fix their situation out of what limited unknown time their reality has left? Maybe, but seems odd when we don't even have a clear timer besides a melting candle metaphor. Dave not being alive and around makes it feel like if they can't bring part of his Ultimate Self back (yet?), they might need some replacement time-screwery resources. Or Time is half of a Space/Time solution.

[I] ==>

Clock drubbing. Sawbuck's around! Oh right, Jack used Die's doll to bring back a bunch of these clowns back when, didn't he? I'm sure one of you in the replies is going to go back and itemize which ones for me. (Please? Life is exhausting at the moment!)

You ask the clock if it's lost its damn mind. It doesn’t answer on account of being a clock. Typical. Time travel is terrible. You miss back when you thought you had choices, even though deep down you always knew better. That’s the problem with time travel, you never really get to choose. The only choice is to live or to die.

Huh, as partially true as his words are maybe this is a diversion from the Answer to the Ultimate Riddle, showing that the Felt weren't even quite allowed to be clued in on it.

It's also set up as ominous commentary on those who chose to go with Vriska into relevance versus those who stayed behind, even though Candy's heroes seem bound to defy and avert that fate together.

[I] ==>

Fuck this. You’re putting in your two weeks notice. You’ve wasted the greenest years of your life on these goddamn bums. You want something new! Something different!

Whoa, hoooold up! Lemme decompose this gif and scrutinize it, something fucky might be going on besides glimpses of the other Felt in action. Anything interesting in here?

This looks like it could be part of the Moon Laser firing mechanism. Could be something weirder we've yet to see, though, like something the heroes are going to build. I decomposed this GIF expecting to potentially see something related to the Omega Session even though hitting Sawbuck shouldn't move you around much in Space, just Time. Could even be part of the original Snapchat assassination attempt against Jane or whatever, not that I recall anything like this visual. Count me cautiously suspicious. Someone else probably recognizes this from somewhere, especially the 3D flooring and--

Wait a fucking minute, isn't this Half Life's RESONANCE CASCADE device?!??! The fuck is THAT doing here?! That's GOT to be part of the Candy heroes' solution to saving their reality or something right??? And "Cascade" is a word Homestuck's appropriated the significance of heavily, certainly.

This one is the Bec Blanc mech with some of its paneling off, some scaffolding for building, probably predating the current big sky blue structure... doesn't give me much clue about anything, other than everyone else's been given white coats too which I somehow hadn't noticed.

Okay, nothing else relevant in the decomposition, to me anyway.

[I] ==>

Is that Clover... getting unlucky and tripping over something?

If so, no wonder Crowbar just stopped in his fucking tracks. That's not normal. (Maybe Vriska DID steal all of Clover's luck when she darkened the moon in the [S] animation.)

[I] ==>

Oh... Crowbar's sweating. He knows this isn't good. Maybe this is the first ominous sign that Candy's reality is starting to fall apart, that there isn't enough Light or relevance/luck left in it for even Clover to be lucky anymore. From some of the artist/writer commentary:

Floral: The first big reveal of this update! Ultimately, like a fetus sapping its mother’s nutrients, Vriska absorbed the last bit of relevance left in Candy. After everything Vriska has been through, it felt like this was the only way for it end. Not with her truly saving the world but having to accept the limits to what her powers can do. Giving everyone else the choice for what THEY want next, that can’t go wrong right?

I wonder how many people reading these Intermission pages will realize they're watching Clover trip over and how ominous that is. (EDIT FROM NEXT PAGE: Or...)

[I] ==>

See, this is exactly what you’re talking about. Amorous little creep has nothing better to do, now. But it’s gonna be a hot day on the moon before you let any amount of existential ennui drag you to that level. This insatiable pervert might have danced his way into the rest of the boys’ reach-me-downs, but you’ll never give him the satisfaction. You’ve been avoiding this kind of workplace entanglement for countless lifetimes, you can’t break now.

Or I could be completely wrong and that was just the bowing hat-tilt part of one of Clover's usual Leprechaun-flirtatious mating jigs, no tripping over included unless deliberate.

Where is all of this going anyway? Now I'm feeling clueless.

[I] ==>

Unless.

How the fuck could this possibly be relevant?

Leprechaun REPRODUCTION maybe? Intentionally getting them to mate to produce offspring and then using Sawbuck to fast-forward us into a new Felt member, or members, who will become extremely relevant later with their unique powers? That's... quite a feat of potentiality if I'm wildly guessing right.

[I] ==>

Or maybe he's just horny for a leprechaun three-way for literally any change of pace. He sure seems nervous about this but it looks more about pride and professionalism than anything else.

That or I somehow guessed right and we're gonna see a... leprechaun egg or something.

[I] ==>

Hah! He even packed away the white suit. Not gonna be affiliated with these schmucks at all anymore, I guess.

But then what's his relevance? We're being shown this for a reason, WHAT exactly is it?? He's got a good gang-leading head on his shoulders, but Crowbar doesn't even have any special powers without his juju.

[I] ==>

Okay he's going through the mansion... after who knows how many time jumps, which for all we know put him right back before he started whacking Sawbuck... he's got to run into somebody or something relevant. Why now? Why here? Who or what?

Surely not June, that'd be absurd? Now I'm just in wishful thinking mode because I'm completely mystified as to where this is leading.

[I] ==>

We sure are getting a lot of viewpoints from the inside of this Jane-colored mansion. It's definitely atmospheric. But, why?

[I] ==>

Jeeze, this place is bigger than you remember. Admittedly, you try not to spend too much time wandering around. The colors are all wrong. Too easy on the eyes. You feel like you’ve been schlepping for ages, though. Shouldn’t you be outside by now?

What's going on?? ...I see that Felt Green doorside and conspicuous lack of blue floor paintjob on the other side of the door he just opened at the end, is this a Calliope Homestuck reality-door?

Something stranger?

As long as I'm throwing out wild, implausible ideas... Could one of the Omega Kids made something happen across the canon/non-canon divide here? Their Space player was implied to be a Seer so I'm not sure they'd manage it without some serious unknown Juju help or something...

[I] ==>

Why is it Crowbar's time for the curtain call?

This definitely feels like a Calliope door/stage. If Alt!Calliope's faction is recruiting him, for instance, he might even get his Juju crowbar back if they have it on hand.

Actually, come to think of it, the plain metal ordinary Crowbar could be MADE into a Juju later in this plot if infused with the soul of a hero like my old unfinished Soul-Powered Jujus theory, explaining the origin of Crowbar's special crowbar.

Okay, enough baseless random speculation. Show me an answer already!!!

[I] ==>

WHOA THE SITE LAYOUT AND BACKGROUND SHIFTED.

June Tenna fucking whomst?!??!? Nobody with that John-blue theme has a sharp Troll-like canine sticking out like that. But my digital color meter says that silhouette is VERY VERY CLOSE to John's signature color, and we don't know what the circumstances of June's resurrection method entails, but... that's not a dress, that's an almost Troll-like shirt if the cuffs are set aside. The transformation of the entire comic style and font certainly brings to MIND the prospect of June Crocker and her stage and presumed showmanship, though...? Although we have a huge cast of characters we haven't met yet, I wouldn't expect them to meed this almost Vriska/Karkat-like silhouette?

A dark background for the side with red text moving us forward, I wonder if this is the appearance set up for the new Act or for something different?

[I] ==>

NEPETA?!??! Davepeta?! Nepeta with Davepeta's glasses? Davepeta with the glow turned off and wings buried under an enby suit?? Where's either of their typing quirks? Are they someone else in disguise?? June cosplaying for a prank? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON I DON'T HAVE A CLUE. Other than this clearly being some extra-canon staging area outside of current events in some Umineko-like capacity.

[I] ==>

Oh, it's ALL THE NEPETAS. Every POSSIBLE NEPETA. All the countless ghost alternate-universe Nepetas that fell into the Black Hole, all of them CONSPICUOUSLY with their eyes closed or squinted or covered in shades/glasses to obscure whether or not they have white ghost eyes. Which they probably do, unless SHENANIGANS.

Could this be like, a liminal space INSIDE Davepetasprite^2 with all the components of their Heart that add up to them? Is this part of why there are still Heart aspect symbols at the bottom of the page even though we always presumed that was part of Dirk Strider being the attempted author?

There's her typing quirk back though, or whichever pronouns this announcer version of Nepeta is flying with. Except now they have proper capitalization on their sentences, which is either a concession to this realm's new Comic Book style or suspicious.

It looks like we're going to continue to get a different veteran Heart player's perspective on events as they unfold, not just Dirk Strider's and whoever bears the aspect fresh in the new session. Fitting as the nature of the Heart aspect, an Ultimate Soul made up of all versions of oneself, has been made clear on several occasions (like when Alt!Calliope got split in two and lost her ability to possess Jade's corpse) to be somewhat key to both the danger that Dirk Strider poses if faced down and to the eventual nature of whatever eventual victory is to come (and the Ultimate Riddle once it's finally explained in canon).

Please don't misconstrue the above paragraph as me having the slightest FUCKING clue what is going on, though.

[I] ==>

WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU???????

WHAT THE FUCK IS A "LIL' MR. GAMBY"? WHY IS HE SO SHORT?? THOSE ARE GAMZEE-IDENTICAL HORNS AND PAINT AND A RAGE ASPECT HEADBAND. AND A REALLY CUTE GENDER-NORM-DEFYING HAIRDO.

I am instinctively, naturally, frightfully repulsed from clearly envisioning the speculative origins of this side character in almost any capacity. Call it Rage, but I'm too scared to see the possibilities.

Crowbar "hasn't been told the rules yet". That further implies this is an Umineko-like liminal space to observe and comment on the plot that's about to unfold from outside conventional reality. And we know how the Beyond Canon team likes their Umineko.

[I] ==>

Oh shit. That name explains a lot, actually.

The "Fanontinuum" sounds like exactly the sort of "fanon ascendant" POV that I alleged the Candy Reality was supposed to embody or champion, the idea that fanfics and the fandom's ideas and inspirations from the characters and plot of Homestuck are ultimately more important than whatever constrained work Dirk Strider is forcing into the restrictive shape of a story that traps its characters in strife and suffering for naught but the author's artistic causes and themes. Anything anyone would or could write based on Homestuck's inspiration and characters could exist here, and the Omega Kids are its banner-bearers, their eventual triumph meant to represent Fanon and Freedom's triumph over Canon and the true lesson of Homestuck being that the players' real victory was to escape the story entirely to exist in any and every way they wanted, escape the cruelty that story-messages and plot construction inflict on a story's participants to instead live happier lives in our hearts and the realm of infinite possibility outside the story that Lord English and now Dirk Strider had trapped them in, written around themselves.

[I] ==>

THOSE EYES ARE ALIVE EYES

HOW

SEE YOU NEXT TIME I GUESS, FUCK

(Also gosh this update was gorgeous in its new art style. SO, SO much personality in Host Nepeta's poses and such, they're LOVING it all so much, VISIBLY. I'm loving every frame of this, though we might only end up seeing it in Intermissions back out in the Fanontinuum if I had to bet. Could be wrong easily.)