Homesuck: Vriska Rising

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Liz

Having watched this again, I'm thinking I'm probably done with Homestuck.

While I will say that I don't entirely agree with the degree of negativity voiced here (and given my reputation as The Guy Who Criticizes Homestuck, maybe that says a lot,) I will concede this much:

There's something about the hysterical personalities and interactions among the characters that just defines Homestuck for me and it's not in equal measure in the "Epic Flash" or "Convoluted Plot" shenanigans.

I really can't think of any better example of this than the last update, in which reading Karkat and Jade's conversation, complete with Karkat's usual lovely manner of expression, actually brought me more joy than any single scene of the end of act flash shenanigans. Seriously, Andrew is best at writing dialogue, and the intensive dialogue in pesterchum chats in later parts of Homestuck is what transformed what had been a merely 'great' webcomic into a truly outstanding one as the kids and trolls increasingly interacted.

Additionally, while I suppose some of you will justify his death as 'necessary' for one of several reasons, I just think that killing WV constitutes something of a low blow. It's like killing an innocent child.

Aside from that, the flash was technically proficient and incredibly impressive, but given that the most agonizing (albeit temporary) death was Jade's, I think Andrew actually lost a fair bit of the emotional potential of the Flash by not including Jade's death as a component of it. (Imagine if Jade had died near the beginning of the Flash and the right somber music was playing and you assumed for even a split second that the death was in some respects permanent.)

Sollux and Jade had the best moments in the Flash, I wish Rose and Dave had gotten more screentime, and I'm still awfully confused as to the exact nature of Jack's decision-making process and his agenda.

[Revising Ocelot]

Three things I don't quite get.

Spoilers
1) What was the paper slip that WK had? This is probably something I've completely forgotten, but considering the ol' decapitation right after WK appeared, I'm not quite getting what the overall objective was here.

2) Why was Sollux plunging the Meteor-Lab towards the Green Sun? Trying to destroy it that way, or just for the kids meet-up, or what?

3) Gamzee looks like he's still evil. Not big surprise. Was he communicating with Scratch there (and receiving the 'Suckers' message from him)? And I guess this means Scratch never wanted to die?

[Revising Ocelot]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

and I'm still awfully confused as to the exact nature of Jack's decision-making process and his agenda.

Oh, that part's easy. It's been stated a few times in the past that Jack was just mindlessly raging and destroying after he got to the Troll session. The Bad Dog turns into a Mad Dog when he sees Jade, his master, die.

[Loyal]

Well that was interesting. Though it was hard to catch some details since I'm on my old laptop right now, it's probably not a good sign when the most interesting thing I can say about it is "living Jade has dog ears now."

[Locke cole]

Originally Posted by Revolving Ocelot

Three things I don't quite get.

Spoilers
1) What was the paper slip that WK had? This is probably something I've completely forgotten, but considering the ol' decapitation right after WK appeared, I'm not quite getting what the overall objective was here.

2) Why was Sollux plunging the Meteor-Lab towards the Green Sun? Trying to destroy it that way, or just for the kids meet-up, or what?

3) Gamzee looks like he's still evil. Not big surprise. Was he communicating with Scratch there (and receiving the 'Suckers' message from him)? And I guess this means Scratch never wanted to die?

"answers1) If I remember correctly, that was Rose's wizard fan-fic. It's not all that consequential, but it's why he was referred to as the "Writ Keeper".

2) For the meetup, I think. They had no other method of traveling through space, so he kind of had to pull a ?iioniic and pilot the meteor like a spaceship.

3) Well, that was a flashback to when he was viewing the Critical Event. That was the first time we ever saw him being evil. Unless I'm getting my timeframes mixed up.

Personally, I think the most amazing thing we saw here was Witch Of Space Jade turning planets into baubles for her to hold. She's keeping her promise to Echidna by smuggling the planets through the Fourth Wall. That's just amazing. Something she honestly thought was impossible, is now trivial to her. I mean, just, holy shit.

[MuMu]

Might be relevant, maybe?

[Revising Ocelot]

Only just realised this reference.



The Witch Jade is going to get STUCK under a HOME.

[Ecks]

I did find that rather amusing about her Witch of Space outfit.

[Marc v4.0]

Worth It

[Locke cole]

Originally Posted by MuMu

Might be relevant, maybe?

Nah. Well, maybe, but that is itself a reference. Scratch has been calling people suckers for a while.

By the way, new Tarot card, everyone. And it's quite the doozy. XXI: The World.

I always thought that I would do The World as the last one, but the flash beat me over the head with the perfect imagery to use, so I could but take the plunge.

Weapons-grade spoilers for the flash, for course, so I'm gonna put it into a swap tag.

XII: The World


The World. The final trump of the Tarot deck. The completion of a cycle, the end of the Fool's journey. The World represents accomplishment, success, fulfillment. The end of one cycle, and the beginning of another. The Fool's Journey ends where it began. Jade has become a god, as have all of her friends. They have reached the end of where their Echeladders and the trials on their planets can take them. By taking the planets with her, she is fulfilling her impossible promise to Echidna. An impossible promise that is now all but trivial to her. And she is going to save herself, John, and everyone on those worlds, by exiting through a wall that has been in her attic since she was born.

The card very often has four animals, representing Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, surrounding a female figure in the center. In this, we see Jade carrying the four kids' planets, tidily fulfilling the four elements symbolism, and the Battlefield. Skaia originally represented the ultimate reward for the kids, but Jade is forging a new path. And finally, the Fourth Wall. Jade ends their journey by literally smashing through a portal that shows where they all began.

But, this is just the end of one journey, one cycle.


Forgive the wall-'o'-text, I tend to wax poetic when I go on about the symbolism of these things.