Author Archives: cookiefonster

Progress on next Homestuck post + vacation update

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12/27/2016: I’ve decided to end the stretch of pages covered in my next post a few pages sooner than I thought I would. Next post is two-thirds done now and I think I can finish it before the new year.

It may seem like it’s taken three solid weeks to work on my next Homestuck post, but I’ve really only been working on it for something like the past five days. Keep in mind then before that I took a break from these posts—they were about the only free time thing preparing for finals actually deterred me from. All that is over now of course. I’ll be on vacation during the week of Christmas, where I’ll be bringing my school laptop again; unlike last year I will work on these posts during that time. The scope of my projects has changed considerably over the past year; now it’s mainly these posts and Cool and New Webcomic music.

Next post is about 40% done as of December 22. If I’m lucky, maybe I could finish it around Christmas? No matter what happens it won’t be released before the new year. The next one after that probably won’t be very long, and as with my latest post which was released six days after the previous, maybe it won’t even take that long to make.

Looking back on my old hiatus post from almost exactly a year ago, the idea of pausing these posts for anything close to three months seems completely absurd. It’s still been a fun personal project for me; the main reason my posts have taken so long lately is because of how carried away I’ve been with it.

Further Reflection on the Homestuck Credits

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It’s been a while since I released my last Homestuck re-read post. I’m still working on my next one, which I’d like to release around Wednesday probably Friday is more realistic I don’t know when. In the mean time I’m going to ramble a little about the credits, which I had given my thoughts on the day they were released.

When the credits came out, I felt considerably less salty about late Homestuck overall. However, that effect was only temporary. I would love to say I’m happy with how they happened, because there really were some delightful and pleasant surprises. However, that flaw with them I’ve talked about—John’s potential relationship with Roxy not being addressed—is just so glaring and invites a lot of unsettling implications. I know it’s a ship and all but considering how all other plausible major ones (and then some) are given decent bait—even the one I absolutely hate was handled in a way I’m happy with—I actually am pretty bewildered about that.

And it’s not just a ship that makes me have problems with the credits as they stand. In the last two minutes or so, we get implications that the kids might not be that close anymore, with pairs or trios that seem to mostly hang out with each other, such as Rose and Kanaya, Dirk and Jake, and (dear god why) Roxy and Calliope. I’m pretty sure that’s not how friendships are supposed to work, and it’s pretty unsettling to think about, especially due to how vague it all is. Do they all live in separate kingdoms scattered around the world? How much does the kingdom ruling thing actually mean? What happened to that one ship I have a bit of a soft spot for? And most of all, is John doing alright?

I used to be unable to rationally watch Act 7, but with more and more endgame material I’ve come to accept it as a false ending with more to it than you think. For one thing, there’s not a shred of doubt in my mind that Lord English wasn’t actually killed, and it’s quite likely we have more of Caliborn’s story to go through. However, I’m presently kind of unable to watch the credits due to my salt being transferred.

Bottom line: I’m a little worried about all this.

Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 75: The Juggalo Strikes Back

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Introduction

< Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 >

Act 6 Act 3, Part 1 of 8 or so

Pages 4820-4840 (MSPA: 6720-6740)

Fun fact: the music in this walkaround was written for Rose’s planet, and yet it somehow works reasonably well here.

Act 6 Act 3 opens up with a walkaround game where Jane explores her planet, much like Act 4 did. As much as it established Doctor as a memorable song, the Act 4 walkaround was definitely a drag to get through. This one is very different with a more point and click style that makes it somewhat harder to miss out on anything, but requires more of you actually doing stuff and figuring it out. Or at least, it did according to my memory. Better see for myself.

This isn’t very cautious of her, actually.

Unlike in the last view of Jane’s house, her mailbox is gone once again.

When Jane enters the game, the first thing she does is jump off the balcony of her sinking house onto this platform thing. Unlike when John entered the game, she’s immediately exploring the world which is weird considering how much the alpha kids are thought of as doing nothing pretty much forever. At least this is a step in the right direction; if I remember right this whole act is one of the better parts of Act 6.

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About my next Homestuck post

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So yesterday I got Undertale and I’m now playing it like practically everyone else already has. This may or may not have an effect on my Homestuck posts. I say this because the next post I’m working on (which I’ve barely started as of this writing) happens to start with a walkaround game that involves a lot of puzzles and stuff, one that I’m not totally sure how to go through. Back when I was on Alterniabound I kind of skimmed over that stuff and I think I might do the same but I don’t really know; it’s more likely it’ll be like how I went through Seer: Descend, pointing out interesting bits. But regardless of all that, my next post won’t be very long, covering the three interactive pages up to the end of the scene focusing on Jane. I’d like to get it done by the end of the month.

Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 74: Dawn of the Other Twelve

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Introduction

< Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 >

Act 6 Intermission 2, Part 3 of 3

Pages 4741-4819 (MSPA: 6641-6719)

NOTE: I’m not going to pretend this isn’t just filler text again.

John wakes up in a dream bubble and oh hey it’s another 2x callback combo: to Jake waking up to see Aranea, and to Karkat getting hit in the face by a bucket.

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Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 73: A Reminisce on Romance Weirdness

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Introduction

< Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 >

Act 6 Intermission 2, Part 2 of 3

Pages 4709-4740 (MSPA: 6609-6640)

NOTE: I’m not going to discuss those aromantic John headcanons because I don’t really care to. Actually no, I changed my mind and discussed such headcanons in this post a few years later.

Picking up from where we left off, Kanaya is about to leave the lab when all of a sudden…

KANAYA: Augh 
KANAYA: Why Does That Always Happen 
KARKAT: EVERYBODY OUT OF THE GODDAMN WAY. 
KARKAT: I GOT A LAB FULL OF HUMANS, A MOUTH FULL OF YELLING, AND A TORTURED PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE FULL OF TOTALLY HYSTERICAL EMOTIONS AND UNAIRED GRIEVANCES AT PRACTICALLY EVERYBODY. 
DAVE: karkat is broken guys 

Karkat’s sudden entrance is done via a 2x callback combo, and Dave completely lampshades how bizarre that is.

Karkat and Dave immediately start arguing about stuff and dear god the insults they trade are killing me. Unlike prior cases of characters trading insults (one-sided or not), this scene is just too hilarious to be any sort of setup for character development. Despite that, the comic does a good job developing their dynamic later on; before you think I switched my stance entirely I’m only talking about before the retcon. I have to say I think I’m kind of doing an alright job not moaning too much about stuff.

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Homestuck Mini-Post: Why I Didn’t Discuss "It could kill a cat if you dropped it"

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One of the most famous bits of foreshadowing in Homestuck is when only 32 pages into the comic, it’s stated that this one book could kill a cat if you dropped it, which happens over four thousand pages later. But I didn’t at all talk about that bit of foreshadowing, not in my first post where that bit of foreshadowing happens or any other time that cat’s death is hinted at. I only ever mentioned it one time in a tangent about retroactive foreshadowing.

Why didn’t I talk about it those other potential times in my post series? Because I didn’t really feel like pointing out stuff readers probably know already. That sentiment didn’t change at all between my first post and my recent posts, but here’s a thing about that: if my early posts were as detailed as my latest posts I probably would’ve discussed that bit but in terms of something people already know.

When talking about the blatant hints leading up to Jaspers’ onscreen death I probably could’ve mentioned the thing from early on as a sort of “bonus” hint for attentive readers. But upon the closer inspection I got from rereading I decided that hint is pretty far removed from all the other hints much closer to the event, and probably serves mostly as something meant for people to catch while rereading the comic.

Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 72: Gray and Purple Plot Dumps

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Introduction

< Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 >

Act 6 Intermission 2, Part 1 of 3

Pages 4667-4708 (MSPA: 6567-6608)

Delicious plot dumps if I say so myself.

EDIT (12/14/2016): Shit, I forgot to rant about how weird illogical the supposed retconned version of the penis fight scene was. Better luck next time I guess.

EDIT (10/5/2019): After a really good streak for over 30 posts, this is where my Homestuck posts start reading like garbly nonsense again—makes sense because this is where my posting schedule started to slow WAY down. I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote about half the stuff I said in this post, so I didn’t even bother making many edits to it, just so you’re warned.

Hold still, Slick.

After a terrifying montage of the world turning into a flooded alien queen wasteland, suddenly Hussie is trying to feed Spades Slick lusus milk. I must say, this sudden mood switch makes for a surprisingly good transition device.

Amidst all this hilarity, if you stop to pay attention to things a whole bunch of stuff is happening. First off, Hussie is cosplaying yet again, this time as an interpretation of what Calliope might look like. He presumably rescued Slick from the destruction of the trolls’ universe, and gave him some robotic upgrades. The deal with Slick is that the comic consistently refuses to kill him off*, and now Hussie displays a comical obsession with keeping him alive, full out making fun of this recurring motif. I swear to god if he doesn’t turn up alive once again after being killed off in the stupidest way possible…**

Oh, and Aurthour is alive again too somehow? As with Minihoof that’s yet another weird inexplicable horse thing.

* I knowwwwww 😦

** That sentence can also be read as Slick turning up alive in the stupidest way possible, which is semi-intentional. But getting more stupid than self-insert shenanigans requires a bit of creativity.

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Thoughts on the Homestuck Ending Credits

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Today Homestuck updated with a short interactive page, followed by a credit roll plus photo montage. And you know what? I actually truly honest to god enjoyed it. My reaction to it was much like my initial reaction to Collide: it made me forget all my salt about late Homestuck, which is kind of a mystical effect. The update addresses a lot of things Act 7 left unresolved, like bringing back the human and troll races and what happened to Terezi; it even gives Jane and Jake a semblance of satisfying arc resolutions!

But the end credits and Collide both had a certain flaw that make them almost perfect. In Collide that flaw is Slick getting killed off; the end credits, meanwhile, don’t at all address John’s blatant romantic tease with Roxy, which is saying a lot because the credits feature two characters getting married, which feels surreal to even say. But since I don’t like being pessimistic about hopes for the future of Homestuck, I’m still hoping that pairing is addressed somehow in the epilogue. I would say more but the next post after the one I’m working on is a PERFECT time to discuss that ship.

Despite that problem, the end credits make me a good deal less salty about Act 7, something that should logically be impossible but somehow isn’t. Now what do those credits mean for this post series? Pretty much what the first Homestuck updates after I started this post series meant: I’ll have more stuff to think about differently in retrospect, and might complain about stuff a tiny bit less?

Happy Cascade Day everyone.

Homestuck 10/25 Teaser Analysis

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So if you’re active on the Homestuck subreddit or whatever then I’m sure you’ve seen this thing:

It seriously looks like Hussie art! That’s a pretty good sign.

There’s no way this isn’t a teaser for the “post-canon content” coming tomorrow, on the ever-fabled Cascade Day. And this image is kind of worth analyzing in terms of which characters Hussie cares about.

First off, Jade isn’t there. Neither is Jane, or Jake, or Terezi. All those characters have been criticized for not getting good character development; many believe the author doesn’t care about them as much as others. It’s kind of hilarious when you think about it; this image is pretty solid indication of which characters Hussie does and doesn’t care about.

  • John goes without saying as the protagonist of the comic. Roxy as well since she’s such a popular character. The image clearly presents them as ringleaders with how they’re in front.
  • Rose and Kanaya are basically the number 1 ship in the comic in terms of being a thing so they kind of go without saying too.
  • Dave and Karkat are a controversial ship the comic loves shoving in our faces in really weird ways. But Hussie seems to think fans like that? Sure, the ship has some sort of crazy cult popularity, but to many people (myself included) it comes across as super forced.
  • And Dirk… Dirk is cool I guess? He isn’t paired up with anyone but it’s obvious Hussie cares about him enough to add him to the picture. It’s kind of amusing he’s just sort of there.

Oh wait another teaser just came out as I was about to publish this post but I’ll talk about it some other time. Here’s me hoping the upcoming Homestuck material is good.