In slow motion, tied to a chair with a Stretch Armstrong doll, waiting to be tortured by the world's biggest space cadet to ever vainly attempt a pretence of mobsterdom.
I'm still awe-struck by the fact that Lord English's CairoOvercoat is literally woven from the fabric of space-time. Or at least threaded with it, given that its basis is somewhat humbler. But then, it says something that this one is just a backup.
Incidentally, Stitch's effigies and Die's voodoo pins are probably my favourite Felt powers/objects. Fin and Trace's shark powers are up there, too, and I really like Cans' design. And clock-punching, as it were.
So from the first sighting of a troll to the weirdly tranquil (if imp-infested) walkaround to... PEW PEW. Yeah, this Homestuck all right.
Incidentally, I'm still curious as to the mechanics and significance of the Heir of Breath, in terms of the game's interior mythology and overall powers. One who takes custody, restores balance and preserves something makes the most sense to me, as previously noted, and on a second look, the walkaround supports this reasonably well. According to Consort myth, the Heir is supposed to come and restore order to the Breeze, free the fireflies in the sky and vanquish the Slumbering One.
But there's also that Biblical allusion: He that troubleth his house shall inherit the wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.Which makes a surprising amount of sense in the context of Act Six Act Six, but I digress.
P.S. I was in the process of writing this early this morning when my computer borked. Such is life. Thank ye gods for the automatic draft saver function.
Speaking of mythological roles, the way that each of the original four allocate their Fetch Modi and Kind Abstrata says something about the nature of their class and aspect: John's hammer and the Heir's "fixer" role; Dave's swords play up his protective class (as Bro's plethora of weapons befits a destroyer); Rose's avoidance of weaponising her grimoire indicates her personal challenge to use her fortune/foresight-linked powers less selfishly; and Jade's absurd game-based modi that she always seems to get right ties into her dominance Space—although what that relationship still has yet to become clear to me.
Now, as to the Guardians...
[Bro has already been covered—Prince of Heart, destroying those he loves, with love—but Nanna's active curatorial role in the pre-Scratch session ties into her Maid of Life status. Meanwhile Grandpa literally arms Jade, in one case with a harpoon gun eerily similar to Eridan's, and fervently instils his own brand of aspiration and wilfulness into her as a Page of Hope. And Rose's mom does indeed steal her ectobiological materials from the Void for the benefit of others.]
"But he will not be drinking delicious juice, oh no. He will be choking down a world of hot piss and it will serve him right for liking all those dumbass movies unironically."
Hussie is actually very technically skilled. It's hard to do intentionally bad art and nail it without first having a solid grasp of how making good art works. Likewise, iconic designs that stick in the mind tend to come from people with a lot of experience making more detailed, structurally intensive work. The Starlight Calliope and And It Don't Stop are very, *very* detailed; his later work is more visually slapdash, yes, but it is also extremely memorable and does its job superbly most of the time.
^^ There is a point where the doomed timelines add up and cease to actually count anymore, methinks. But before those mechanics begin to make themselves apparent, if you count the God Tier ritual and some of the crazy shit that happens in Act Five, there would be a lot of drinking going on.
Oh, Terezi just negged John into messing up the timeline FOR SCIENCE!, and Rose is battling imps with yarn and needles, which is amazing and kind of twisted.
I love this sequence, particularly the manic deconstruction of "I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew". I remember just how shocking it was when I first saw it, about on par with the rather grim psych-out with the alternate timeline. It also happens earlier than I remembered, not really out of left field but slamming you like a freight train.
I also kind of forgot just how menacing Jack is in the early acts, and just how bad he gets as the story goes on. It really isn't until Act Six that he gets seriously overshadowed as a menace, but up until that point he just gets crazier.
"You start thrashing up stunts something uncannybrutal on your quest for 'MAD JUSTICE YO' and get this way rude municipality under control. Shit is basically flying off the hook. It's like shit wants nothing to do with that hook. The hook filed for divorce from that shit and is now seeking custody of the hook and the shit's two kids."
Another personal favourite, and man is it sad in retrospect. WV manages to lead a successful rebellion and arrives at the head of two armies... only to have Jack the Sovereign Slayer murder the Black King before his very eyes, with the clear intent of quashing the rebellion with brute force.
The nice modal melody and synth arpeggi over a marching rhythm don't hurt, either. It's a bit like an 8-bit version of something from the Berserk soundtrack, which definitely fits here.
Regarding Dave's regenerating sword: [In retrospect, it's obvious that Caliborn and Caledscratch are connected, what with the magic cue ball component and the whole Lord of Time thing, not to mention the obvious Arthurian theme, but I'm still working out the precise implications of this. Caliborn is a Lord being pursued in a blood-feud by an Heir and this sword is tied to him by name and powers and supposedly may wound him... Hmmm. A backwards Mordred thing, I suppose?]
I find it interesting that Jack leaves WV alive, and only WV alive, out of all the mutineers. But then, at this point Jack is starting to get really sadistic and power-mad, as noted. (But, as Hussie noted later, there is the possibility that he holds a strange kind of respect for WV as a fellow mutineer, which would be in keeping with his seeming mobster-like code of honour.)
^ In hindsight, he kind of does at a few points, but those breaks caught tend to be rescinded. Or, in more than one case, he does genuinely screw himself over with his own passivity.
The scene composition and expressions in the sequence where PM retrieves the package from Jack are truly haunting. Jack's deranged grin and casual snap I had forgotten, although they are fantastic, but PM's fury after her parcel is delivered and the devastation behind her has stayed with me.
And... [the first trace we encounter of Jake English. Not Harley, English.] Enter mindfrag, stage right, riding a letter in green ink and longhand scrawl.
Comments