Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 48: Bored Superdogs and Memory Revelations

Introduction

Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 >

Act 5 Act 2, Part 21 of 32

Pages 3546-3613 (MSPA: 5446-5513)

Only in Homestuck could this picture make any sort of sense. Even then…

NOTE: I’m really blitzing through Act 5 now (by which I mean going about 30% faster), and boy am I proud of that.

NOTE 2: As school is ending, I have a big project over the next few weeks which I have to work a lot on. This means that I’m slowing down posts somewhat, with the next three posts weekly instead of every five days. Next post coming Sunday.

: (

We now focus on what Jack Noir is up to. He just killed Dad and Mom offscreen. As with Nepeta, it’s a bit of a relief we didn’t have to see them die onscreen; showing a guy killing two loving parents of main characters in love together would obviously be even more heartwrenching than anything we’ve seen so far. Compare this to Bro, who got an onscreen death scene. This is probably not because he is (arguably) not as likable as the other guardians, rather because his death was the culmination of a fight, while the other two were just on a date when it was suddenly interrupted. If John’s dad was in a fistfight with Jack and lost when Jack became more powerful, he would no doubt get a full death scene.

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Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 46: F33lings Jams A8ound

Introduction

Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 >

Act 5 Act 2, Part 19 of 32

Pages 3438-3478 (MSPA: 5338-5378)

NOTE: I’m really sorry about the late post today. Walkaround games always take a good while to write commentary on because I need to capture pictures and use online transcripts and everything. To make up for it, this post is a pretty long one.

It’s time for a third troll walkaround, this time focused on Equius and Nepeta. The main point of this walkaround is to give those two trolls a decent final scene before they bite the dust. And their dialogue really does flesh out both of them. Arguably it’s bad that they got some heavy dialogue and then promptly got offed, but Hussie said that if they didn’t get any such parting dialogue the complaint would be that they got no parting dialogue. 

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Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 45: Everything I Know Is Turning Magic

Introduction

Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 >

Act 5 Act 2, Part 18 of 32

Pages 3415-3437 (MSPA: 5315-5337)

Man, when was the last time the title picture was at the start of the stretch of pages the post covers?

Picking up from where we left off, John went on a car ride with WV?* and is now talking to Jade in another long pesterlog.

* The question mark notation for the exiles before they became exiles always confused me in my first read. I think I interpreted the question marks a little too literally; I kind of thought it was supposed to indicate stuff on the order of, “is this guy WV or is it not?”

EB: hey jade, are you there? i have a computer now. 
EB: this boring guy keeps blinking at me though, and it’s weird. 
GG: john!!! 😀 
GG: wow, finally! 
EB: hi! 
EB: sorry i disappeared after you entered the game… 
EB: but from what i have seen in the clouds, it doesn’t look like you have had much trouble making progress! 
GG: nope! 
GG: dave was able to set up as my server player 
GG: he is building up my house right now so that we can deploy some equipment up there 
EB: oh, nice! 

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Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 44: Black Comedy Investigation Station

Introduction

Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 >

Act 5 Act 2, Part 17 of 32

Pages 3360-3414 (MSPA: 5260-5314)

Yet another title picture that doesn’t match the post’s name.
I would’ve done something from the investigation scene but I’m avoiding having spoilery title pictures.

NOTE: Next post will be April 10.

This is the picture accompanying Karkat’s memo.
We just got done seeing evil Gamzee, so this is some pretty strong juxtaposition.

To kick things off, Karkat starts up a memo to warn his friends about murderous purple-bloods on the loose.

CCG: THE WORST CASE SCENARIO HAS HAPPENED.
CCG: THE BARD OF RAGE IS ON THE LOOSE. 
CCG: YEAH, I KNOW WE ALL THOUGHT THAT TITLE WAS A JOKE, BUT IT TURNED OUT IT WASN’T. 

This is the official reveal of Gamzee’s god tier title; he’s no longer the Bard of Fuck I Forgot. As I said last post, Gamzee’s god tier title most likely wasn’t revealed earlier because it would be too obvious of a hint that he’d become evil.

Also, it’s interesting how the trolls apparently all thought Gamzee’s title was a joke. Did nobody find his title the least bit foreboding? Or did they think that was merely an example of the idea that titles are meant to challenge players? Come to think of it, it’s probably the trolls thinking the idea that people are sometimes in some way the opposite of their title, which has been brought up a few times. I’m not sure, but really, it would make sense for the title to be at least a little ominous.

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Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 43: The Evil Juggalo Nightmare

Introduction

Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 >

Act 5 Act 2, Part 16 of 32

Pages 3321-3359 (MSPA: 5221-5259)

NOTE: Sorry the post’s two days late. So much for spring break giving me a faster schedule.

Up next is another walkaround, similar to Alterniabound but with a somewhat different, more worrisome tone. If you take a moment to examine the items scattered across the floor, there’s so much dramatic irony (thinking Vriska is harmless and Tavros is alive and well) and worries as to where everyone is, especially Gamzee.

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Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 42: Password Weirdness and Frog Breeding

Introduction

Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 >

Act 5 Act 2, Part 15 of 32

Pages 3297-3320 (MSPA: 5197-5220)

Fitting that post number 42 (the answer to the Ultimate Question) is where we finally get an answer to a very fundamental question in Homestuck: how exactly universes are made.

First here is a flash, titled [S] Wake, that I could’ve ended last post with but didn’t. I’m not sure if it’s more thematically appropriate to end a post with the start of Murderstuck or start a post with it. Last post was getting long so I stuck with the latter.

If there’s anything about Homestuck the average person is likely to know, it’s the story behind the song Megalovania (a version of which is used in this flash). There’s really no reason to rehash it all over again, nor is there any reason to point out for the ten millionth time how funny it is that so many people got into Homestuck through the iconic Undertale song.

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Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 41: Jade’s Adventures in Dumbtimeloopland

Introduction

Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 >

Act 5 Act 2, Part 14 of 32

Pages 3250-3294 (MSPA: 5150-5196)

NOTE: Next week is spring break, so the next two (possibly the next three) posts will be posted at a faster rate than usual: on March 15, 18, and possibly 21 respectively. Never mind, that’s a really time-crunchy schedule. Let’s just say the next three posts will each be posted at most five days after the previous.

Hilarious every time.

Back from where we left off, Jade answers Karkat and talks about her sprite. Speaking of which, here’s another pattern Jade breaks that I should’ve mentioned last post: (21) her sprite is not a long-lived entity.

GG: i made the mistake of prototyping my dream self who has been dead for years 
GG: and shes completely crazy and theres no talking any sense into her 
CG: HMM. 
GG: hmm? 
CG: YES. “HMM.” 
GG: hmm what 
CG: HMM AS IN HMM INTERESTING. 
CG: AS IN HMM HOW VERY, VERY FUCKING INTERESTING INDEED.

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Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 40: The Miracle of a New Beginning

Introduction

Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 >

Act 5 Act 2, Part 13 of 32

Pages 3192-3249 (MSPA: 5096-5149)

Jade tries out her Christmas presents, continuing the Christmas special theme, I guess like the episode following the Christmas special.

First off, Jade shows us what John and Rose are up to. I really like how both pictures above show some future knowledge device showing Jade with her spectagoggles, signifying that pretty much everyone now has some way of knowing future stuff. The narration says “You wonder why…” or “You wonder what…” a lot of times, which I think signifies that knowledge of the future does not equate with omniscience.

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Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 40 (Recap 3 Annotations)

(back to main post)

Here are my comments on Recap 3 of Homestuck. It’s pretty long so I’ve decided to put it in a separate post. Are you ready for lots of words? If so, then here we go.

  • The recap doesn’t dwell much on the events of Hivebent; it just says a whole bunch of stuff happened and the trolls created the kids’ universe but had their entry to it cut short. Then it goes straight to recapping Act 5 Act 2 so far. This is notable because it kind of acknowledges that much of the trolls’ arc isn’t too relevant to the greater story line; I discussed this in more detail in post number 27.
  • After the first paragraph, the recap first lists events from Karkat’s perspective, then John’s, then Rose’s, then Dave’s, then Jade’s. I suppose it’s the most convenient way to list a huge array of events that went down in Act 5 so far.
  • The scratch is referred to as a “spacetime rift” that “forced [Jack] into the trolls’ session”. More scratch red herring stuff I guess. Later, Doc Scratch outright states that the scratch is not a rift used to banish Jack; another one of those “making false theories explicitly wrong” moments.
  • The section about Karkat’s perspective makes much reference to events back in Acts 3 and 4, which I guess is for the sake of reminding people of the order of the trolls’ events.
  • John is stated to be “oblivious to the true nature of [Vriska’s] schemes”. What is the true nature of her schemes? I guess as the point talked about at this point he is oblivious, but later Vriska makes it clear that it’s for self-aggrandization, involving herself in a boy’s path to heroism, and everything else for that matter.
  • I’ve mentioned several times that it’s a bit fuzzy whether John almost prototyped the blue doll because of its missing eye and arm or just removed its eye and arm. The recap seems to point to the former idea, saying that he “resolve[d] to prototype with the blue doll, missing an arm and eye, to deliberately disable Jack”.
  • Rose’s study of the Green Sun leads to a subsection on Doc Scratch and Lord English, talking about events in the trolls’ arc like Scratch making Vriska kill Aradia and himself being used to blow off Vriska’s arm. This shows that the trolls’ arc isn’t entirely irrelevant; the first paragraph just gives the gist of it and its ultimate purpose, and later parts I guess recap it further.
  • Terezi helping Dave is stated to be “in part due to her rivalry with Vriska”, which I guess answers the question of whether the Terezi-Vriska competition is just one-sided Vriska misconceptions.
  • Terezi is stated to heave led Dave into a pot of soup only because it “needed to happen on his timeline”. I don’t think that was stated when I read that part, though I could be forgetting stuff. In Act 4 Terezi said to John that she wanted to see what happens if she tries messing with the timeline even though they say you can’t mess with the timeline, so it’s a bit weird that now she’s apparently just following through stuff.
  • It’s stated that Terezi and Vriska are “partaking in a dangerous game of rivalry fueled flirtation”. Is it supposed to be flirtation with each other or with the kids?
  • Dave’s section of the recap does a decent job clarifying stuff about the order of events in his timeline. I’ve seen multiple attempts to sort all pages in chronological order from each of the characters’ perspectives, and there are pretty clearly some hard or ambiguous parts. The recaps probably help with that.
  • Apparently Jade couldn’t remove her entry item blindfold, which serves as evidence that maybe it does have first guardian properties or something? I’m not sure.
  • Finally, Hussie is apparently the second most important character in Homestuck. Even though he’s kind of a joke character, he’s involved in Caliborn’s rise to power, just like Gamzee, his rival in supposed importance.

I didn’t give these extensive comments on the first two recaps, though look at how long this bullet list is. Make of that what you will.

Cookie Fonster’s Homestuck Commentary Part 39: the CRISMATS SPECAIL

Introduction

Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 >

Act 5 Act 2, Part 12 of 32

Pages 3133-3195 (MSPA: 5033-5095)

HO HO HO

WV, thinking John is dead, tries to escape his command station but the door jams because the station is out of fuel.

Of course you still have your secret treasure, but it will almost certainly prove to be of no use to you in this dilemma whatsoever. It clearly serves no significant purpose other than to be pretty, and to make your hand glowy.

Sure, whatever you say, Mr. Narrator! Some time later in the exile arc, we learn about plans for dealing with Jack Noir where it’s made clear that the ring will be used for stuff. With that in mind, PM being the final wearer of the ring is quite the plot twist.

Oh yeah, there’s another thing you forgot about! You ate that delicious green nuclear rock earlier in the day, even though it feels like it was more than a year ago.

Here’s something Homestuck occasionally does: linking to earlier pages in order to remind people of things they might have forgotten about. I think this probably should be done more often; for example, I’ve seen people reading Homestuck completely forget about the time Karkat told past Jade her robot will blow up when it is referenced several times later. In this case it’s a reminder of the Chekhov’s uranium. The “more than a year ago” bit is another one of those things that made the most sense to serial readers. But I guess that could make sense to archival readers (most especially those reading at a slow pace) given that as the link reminds us, the uranium was eaten over two thousand pages ago.

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