For Anyone Interested To Know More About Me, I Finally Got Around To Making An About Me Page On My Personal/reblog

Comments on [S] Collide

Better late than never, I suppose. This ended up taking me longer than I thought. Plus I procrastinated on posting it. >_<

So, a bunch of battles take place:

The Condesce vs John, Roxy, Rose, and Kanaya (+ Jasprose, Nanna, and Jane)

The Felt vs Jake (+ Jane and undead army)

Cans vs Arquius (+ Dad)

Clover vs Karkat

Jack English vs Spades Slick vs Dave, Terezi, and Dirk

Bec Noir vs PM vs Jade

Yaldabaoth vs Caliborn

Hussie vs Vriska

Lord English vs the Ghost Army (including Meenah, Tavros, Aradia, and Davepeta)

The Fraymotifs are awesome! I love the Zazzerpan tornado callback from [S] Enter, and also Kanaya reading a book and applying lipstick while the others attack!

I’m guessing Kanaya never bought any Fraymotifs, or she would have used them. (They are insanely expensive, and I think Vriska and Terezi were the only ones who earned tons of boondollars. Plus Kanaya was focused on frog breeding.)

Roxy’s Void attacks are glorious. I have no words.

Wait, when and how did Die get his doll back?

Arquius attacks Cans by summoning robo-horses and bashing him repeatedly with the fridge containing Gamzee.  Hilarious yet ominous!

Cans does his fourth wall-breaking attack by punching everyone out of the panel and onto LOFAF.  Remember, Karkat was last here in Echidna’s lair, and he woke up when LE did the Rainbow Death Laser on his dream self. So now he can battle! ...With Clover. XD

So Crowbar kills Jake, and apparently the Condesce kills Rose and Kanaya, because Jane does the Lifey Thing on all three of them.

John uses the Fear No Anvil hammer! Nice callback!

It looks like Nannasprite attacks the Condesce with heavy objects from John’s house? But it doesn’t seem to affect Condy, and instead hurts John and Roxy?

Jake. Jake what are you doing. XD

Casey’s undead army! Hooray! I can mark that on my bingo card!

Dirk uses a Zilly Santa weapon!

When Dirk dies, Terezi and Dave use an amazing Fraymotif. From what I can tell... Terezi does the Mindy Thing, and envisions (at least) four alternate paths.

Then Dave selects the most favorable path’s timeline? Or he merges the most favorable choices into one timeline? It results in there being three splintered, living Dirks who then seem to merge.

And Slick somehow has two cuestaffs, one in staff form, another in gun form? I’m guessing the Slicks merged, too, then. So a timeline merger makes the most sense. Either way, nice callback to Slick riding the horse hitcher!

Dad is so powerful and strong, he intimidates Cans and Arquius! That really says something!

The battle between the dogs makes a nice parallel to a Cherub mating ritual, with PM as the Cherub heroine.

Interesting, though, how PM has a red background, while Jack has a green one.

Glimpse of Yaldabaoth’s face:

Vriska vs Hussie. This is hilarious and ridiculous! Also I guess this is a Problem Sleuth allusion? (And also looks like Caliborn’s art style, haha!)

As the interlude of “Eternity, Served Cold” (song from [S] Caliborn: Enter) plays, Alt!Calliope approaches the Green Sun, the processional cracks in Paradox Space are nearly complete, Lord English faces the ghost army, and Caliborn defeats his denizen and obtains the house juju and God Tier clock. This is... incredibly ominous, to say the least.

Also, the God Tier clock is stopped dead center with the Time symbol, I suppose indicating Caliborn’s earned immortality?

Serenity brings hope to the heroes! (I assume this is Serenity flying to different locations, rather than multiple fireflies?) Interesting how it first focuses on her body spiral, especially because [S] Caliborn: Enter ended on the red sun spiral right before this part of the song could begin. (Post on this here.)

Another callback!

The Mayor and Serenity reuniting is so adorable and heartwarming! :’) <3  (They’ve been separated since sometime before Year 2 of the meteor journey)

Tavros’ lance is made of Fiduspawn host plush bears, haha! (Apparently he had this weapon in [S] Make her pay.)

Aradia uses her Time spell while she, Meenah, and Tavros attack Lord English. Hehe, I love Aradia, and also I love all these callbacks!

Looking at it closely, it looks like Aradia makes Time for them, freezing LE in time, like she did before with Bec Noir. Meanwhile Meenah attacks very similarly to Dirk’s soul destroying spell; she must be stealing his Life force. (Shouldn’t it be cyan, though, like Jane’s Lifey Thing? Although, actually, Feferi’s Life powers are fuchsia, too. I suppose the color depends on the Life player’s color.)

Then it looks like LE tries to speed up the time Aradia made? Or otherwise do some sort of Timey Thing that resembles Dave’s record being scratched and then repaired. And then he breaks free.

Okay, this looks familiar, like a callback. But I can’t place where it’s from. This is bugging me!

This scene from [S] Game Over is the only similar reference I can think of, but it’s too different:

Ghost Army attacks! And also Shrek with his son Eridan ...who does not have ghost eyes? Hahaha, what even?! (Hello there, god tier Sollux and Latula ghosts! Nice to have sprites of Mage, Doom, and Mind garb!)

Davepeta! Undertale reference! THIS. IS. THE GREATEST. THING. EVER! I love this so much I am giddy!

I mean, Heart+Time basically IS Determination! So perfect! Also Davepeta has 33 HP, with reference to Nepeta’s number and how Davepeta uses the B33 emote.

A pink dream bubble next to a shrinking green bubble. More foreshadowing of the Green Sun’s destruction and the creation of a Pink Sun?

I’m really worried for Jane. I hope she’s not dead. We barely got to see her fight, and her showdown with the Condesce happened offscreen. This isn’t right.

Heir of Grief is such a lovely song! As is the sequence with the Beta Kids.

On LOTAK, Gamzee’s still in the fridge and crying. I never thought I’d say this, but... I... actually feel bad for him. :(

Love Crowbar’s stunned reaction to Jake defeating the felt. Also, victory for Karkat! He defeated the smallest, yet MOST DIFFICULT Felt member! Also Clover’s so kinky! XD (More on Karkat and Clover here.)

Jade auspisticizes Bec Noir and PM! But PM is so furious, she overcomes her Bec loyalty instincts and KO’s Jade, favoring her goal (Breath) over her bond (Blood).

That look of defeat on both Dirk and Dave... They know what must be done. :c

I am reminded of Dirk’s “shoulder to shoulder and to shoulder” line. Also Dave breaks Dirk’s Unbreakable Katana. For the first time since his death on LOFAF, Dave time travels to create stable time loops.

I already commented on the black hole with 2/3 of LOTAK and Gamzee, which is incredibly ominous.

PM slices off Bec Noir’s arm, KO’s him, and take the ring! This is not the first time a Jack has lost an arm to a kismesis who’s a queen.

Roxy takes down the Condesce?! Doesn’t Condy have an conditional mortality curse that her killer should inherit? Or was that transfer unique from the Handmaid to the Condesce? I guess it’s unclear. I’m incredibly skeptical of Condy being dead for good, though, considering her curse and how Terezi survived impalement (at least for a while).

It feels like Jane really got shafted in this upd8. She didn’t have much action or screen time, and basically her battle with the Condesce happened off-screen. If anyone should have taken down the Batterwitch, it should’ve been the heiress to Crockercorp. I guess we’ll have to see if Condy’s certainly dead.

That ending, though... That eerie ringing sound, the screen freezing and going static...

The clockwork mechanism being completely still and then fading to black on a white background... This is incredibly ominous. Not to mention those curtains didn’t close. (Compare Collide’s act closing to Cascade’s. In Cascade, the window curtains, though shredded, still closed.)

Some follow-up questions:

Where did Sollux go?

What happened to DD and CD?

How is it the comic went straight from A6A6I5 to A6A6A6 with no curtains closing to indicate the Intermission’s end?

But yeah, I am left with the strong impression this is a false victory. Lord English isn’t defeated, anyway, after all.

Wonderful flash, though! Major applause to everyone involved with making it! Looking toward to, yet incredibly uneasy and anxious about the upcoming finale.

Special thanks @hzapping for showing me how to make animated GIFs (ended up in the Clover post) and for helping me locate a bunch of reference links.

My interpretation is that Witches are active and Heirs are passive Magician classes, which involves changing, manipulating, and controlling their aspects.

Likewise, Maids are active and Sylphs passive Healer classes, which involves healing, creating, and (re)generating their aspects.

As far as “giving” goes, that’s something Rogues already do. Thieves technically can give, too, as I see Thieves and Rogues as classes that involve aspect allocation and redistribution, but Thieves are mostly inclined to take, while Rogues are inclined to give or share.

For now, I’ll link some of my related posts:

John the Wizard touches upon the Witch/Heir connection with magic.

Healer Classes: Maids, Sylphs, and Revival describes the Maid/Sylph connection with healing.

Classes Chart is my take on the class meanings, pairings, etc.

Useful Classpect Tools and Resources has links to more information from others (including @dahniwitchoflight​).

It’s not much, hopefully it'll provide some insight.

Homestuck theory: Heirs are the “passive giving” class.

IE: Heirs are diametrically opposed to Thieves: they give their aspect and inspire others to do the same.

John:

All evidence that Breath/Breeze is connected to delivery comes from John, Tavros has flags, but not the mailbox kind.

John uses the Breeze and parcel pyxis to invite giving through breath (note that I’m also assuming that Equius and Mituna had and aspect driven parcel system on their planets).

Upon receiving the ultimate freedom (retcon zaps are said by many to mean breath) and being faced with drowning in oil, John instead zaps the oil away (gives his breath) in order to take on the responsibility of completing his personal quest (in which he also gives the fireflys freedom). It’s noted by Jade that he does this instead of zapping away himself, something which I think is a defining moment for his character.

John fits the messianic archetype, so it would make sense if he would give spirit and freedom in return for responsibility, friendship and warrior spirit (Blood).

Is “giving spirit” something the natural leader does? If so, Roxy and Kanaya talking about John being such a great motivational leader that he makes others better leaders at the same time counts as evidence towards John giving and inviting the giving of Breath.

John takes on warrior spirit when doing the windy thing? This is a bit of a shaky one I admit, but the thing is we often see John sort of “not taking things seriously” and making unnecessary jokes and observations, as if the graveness of his situation hasn’t really set in for him. The only time he comes down off this cloud is when he’s airbending.

When John decides to not go through the gate and is instead pulled back down to earth (in a moment which is cited to show the Breath/Blood dichotomy) thanks to alt Dave’s influence, alt Dave gets wings (as in John gave him freedom/Breath).

Equius:

In this page Calliope mentions that people with opposite classpects can have similar abilities, so Equius might possibly have Thief of Light powers (as in, if this theory is correct Equius should be able to theoretically steal light from everyone by giving them void).

So while Vriska steals the spot-light (ie: relevance, ie: Light) by creating Bec noir, Equius has become part of the most important character in homestuck: Lil'cal, and gives the alpha kids a lack of showdown (bear in mind though that Equius does this to help the humans, whereas Vriska does it to stroke her ego, fitting what we know about passive classes working for the team and active classes working for themselves). 

Vriska is also accused of stealing light in the form of agency when she controls trolls, and Equius controls Nepeta’s actions in some respect at the start of Hivebent and also stops her from joining the red team (again because he believes it’s in her best interests). Deceiving his team-mates and becoming the blue team leader counts as giving lies and also another count of stealing relevance.

Equius also gives fakeness in the form of Vriskas arm, Aradia’s body, and Tavros’s legs. Also as Lil'cal he arguably teaches Dirk how to build robots and therefore invites the giving of fakeness?

Equius is probably also the reason the ring of void moved from the human’s alpha session to caliborn’s, ie: he delivered void. 

Mituna: 

I don’t actually have much to say about Mituna, as we don’t know much about him or his arc. Although…don’t you think it’s funny that the Thief and Heir of both troll sessions had aspect pairs that we pretty much know where opposites? 

The Ψiioniic though, fits this theory pretty well. He gives/delivers the ship using his death, and often very gave death to aliens in the form of the Condesce (and invites her to give death).

Medieval connection:

The Heir class represents a medieval aristocrat passively giving away all their inherited fortune. Inheritace itself is them inviting giving.

Thanks!

Some related thoughts and speculation

Doc Scratch:

Doc Scratch does indeed make pranks on rare occasion. I’m not sure it’d be something quite so elaborate and involving blatant lies, though. But it’ll be interesting to see if/when he does play another prank.

Calliope and the Third Scratch:

The “doomed” God Tier Calliope likely dominated because perhaps Vriska raised the Cherubs instead of Gamzee. Paralleling Caliborn, Calliope dominated prematurely and forcibly by having Caliborn’s dream self killed. It's likely this Calliope embodies the current Paradox Space.

Post-Scratch Calliope, the one who plays, is one who dominates naturally rather than prematurely. She will fully integrate/absorb Caliborn into her being, as opposed to expelling him, thus eventually becoming Calmasis.

Post-Scratch, the Cherubs are raised by Davesprite.

The third Scratch will not only reset the Cherub’s universe, but it might reset all of Paradox Space, as well. If so, Calmasis might be the one to embody the rebooted version, which is probably the new reality the heroes must escape to.

Vriska and the Green Sun:

Like how Roxy tagged along with John when he retconned the Game Over timeline, Vriska might end up tagging along if/when John retcons the current timeline. If so, she'll be a part of the true Alpha Timeline while her original iteration, punk!Vriska, remains dead in the dream bubbles.

Alternatively, Vriska dies in this timeline, and somehow SHE obtains the Ring of Life, thus reviving. (I don’t think punk!Vriska will be the one to do that.)

In either case, the Vriska of the current timeline will be the one to steal the Green Sun’s light.

Re: Vriska's Return and the Alpha Timeline's Fate

A few things–

Doc Scratch doesn’t lie, but he does tell pranks – foreshadowing which has never been fulfilled up to this point. Even if he’s not there to give a “Hee Hee,” the Egbertpunch – placed at a critical moment in Scratch’s elaborate narrative – fulfills the requirements of a prank.

If Jade’s Calliope is from a void timeline, then what’s the point of a Third Scra… actually, hm. What if this supposedly “doomed” Calliope – the one with no friends and no frame of reference for understanding human emotions – becomes this reality, the cruel and harsh Paradox Space we’re familiar with, while pre-retcon Callie… actually, no, that still leaves another Scratch out of the picture. Sorry, just thinking aloud here.

It seems like this (retconned) Vriska is going to be the one who steals the Green Sun’s light. That can’t just not happen… maybe that will be what causes John to try to retcon his retcon, but it’s too cosmically important to undo?

Not saying this theory is wrong, I actually really like it.

Terezi’s first interaction with John:

GC: 1F W3 3V3R M33T  GC: 1M GO1NG TO CUT YOUR THRO4T  GC: 4ND L1ST3N TO YOU BL33D WH1L3 1 SM3LL YOU D13 

Terezi’s last interaction with John:

Terezi leans closer, then holds perfectly still. She tilts her ear toward him and sniffs once. There, she can hear it. The slow seeping of blood, like a distant stream. The scent of his life leaving his body, strangely unmistakable, like the quality of the air before it rains. She listens to him bleed while she smells him die.

Tavros has cat allergies and has only been prototyped once. What if GCat shows up, triggers Tavros’ allergies, and...

ACHOO!

...He crashes into and fuses with GCat! It’d make a nice parallel with Jade and Bec sprite-fusing, plus be all kinds of hilarious and ironic.

Plus, Tavcat? Catros? could be super effective against Bec Noir and PM because cat distraction + animal communing powers + First Guardian powers. Although he’d probably be a perpetual sneezing mess.

Even if this doesn’t happen, I have a feeling Tavros’ cat allergies will result in him inadvertently double prototyping with something or someone. And, also, Tavros controlling GCat would make a great distraction for the Becs. (As would Jaspers.)

FOR REFRANCE

Hey, Paradox Space fans

If you've enjoyed Summerteen Romance, go check out the web comic Paranatural. It’s by Zack Morrison (firstnamezacklastnamemorrison), the same guy who wrote and co-illustrated Summerteen Romance and has also done a bunch of other comics for PXS.

Paranatural is one of the best comics I’ve ever read. It’s about a group of kids who can see ghosts and spirits, and they use superpowers to fight harmful spirits. (Okay, that description isn’t entirely accurate, but that’s the simplest way to describe it.)

Everything about Paranatural is fantastic. The plot, characters, humor, facial expressions, dialogue, pacing, foreshadowing, art, world building, alt text, everything. It’s hilarious, clever, action-packed, and even tugs at the heartstrings. Every single character, including (maybe especially?) the antagonists, is likeable and entertaining.

Here's a preview:

            I cannot emphasize this comic enough. Homestuck may be the comic I’m most obsessed about, but Paranatural is my favorite. Go read it; it’s amazing!

This can’t be coincidence.

John the Wizard

Remember after the Trickster arc (A6A5A2), how the story returns to A6A5A1? Caliborn yells at Hussie for going "BACKWARDS BY AN 'ACT'." He thinks the Trickster shenanigans were "erased," to which Hussie responds:

What are you talking about? I didn't erase it. It was still a thing that happened. Do you really think I have the power to make something unhappen?? I would have to be a wizard to do that.

Well, it turns out someone does have that power:

Which means John Egbert is a wizard.

John already has plenty of wizard allusions:

DISREGARD THE UNIMPORTANT MALE GHOST BEHIND THE CURTAIN.

An obvious reference to the Wizard of Oz saying, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."  

JOHN: let's all go see a big pompous wizard to solve all of our problems.

JOHN: we didn't realize it at the time, but there were still a bunch of problems waiting to happen. [...] JOHN: but don't worry, i'm working to overcome all those problems right now. JOHN: that's why i'm here!

  Frigglish bothered his beard, as if unkinking a hitch in a long silk windsock. [...] As a matter of fact, his cadre of fellow wizards were all putting similar moves on their beards as well.

Thanks to John's god tier hood (wind powers help, too), others (mostly Roxy) continually mention windsocks with reference to John.

ROXY: im all ears johnny windsock

Even the Magician's Hat John wears as part of his "Clever Disguise" and the Bunny Sassacre Fedora---one of the first items he alchemizes---are wizardly.

  One of the very first snippets of information we learn about John is that he's "an aspiring AMATEUR MAGICIAN." While it appears to mean a magician in the sense of an "entertainer who is skilled in producing illusion by sleight of hand, deceptive devices, etc.," a magician is also a "person who is skilled in magic" or a "sorcerer"---in other words, a wizard. Couldn't it mean both?

If Heir is indeed the passive counterpart to Witch, both classes who "change, manipulate, and control (with/through) their aspect"---which I like to call the Magician Classes---wouldn't that make the Heir of Breath a magician or wizard, anyway?

John and others continually refer to John and his abilities as "magic":

EB: everyone i know is turning magic, it's ridiculous. EB: including me! i'm magic now.

("Everyone" specifically alluding to Jade and Rose, an actual Witch and a Seer with the inclination toward Witch inversion.)

John calls his retcon abilities "weird retcon magic," and describes it as "some kind of surreal, history altering... reality hopping... magic power.” Roxy calls it “magic ‘fix literally everything' powers.”

Although John aspires to become a SKILLED MAGICIAN and a CUNNING PRANKSTER, he is “neither of these things” for most of the story.

At first, John has no control over his magic powers (first wind, then space-time jumping retcon abilities). However, eventually he learns and masters his powers, becoming a SKILLED MAGICIAN.

JOHN: i've noticed whenever i learn to do new things with my powers, it's usually in response to something. like something important that has to be done.

JOHN: i learned how to turn into wind and swoosh around about a year ago. [...] JOHN: i thought for sure i was a goner, when suddenly i poofed away from his tentacly grasp like houdini's slippery ghost. later i rematerialized to seize the tactical advantage!

JADE: he dispersed every drop throughout existence

JADE: leaving a little mark for anyone who might notice, signifying his final mastery over his confining reality

Thanks to his powers and Terezi's scarf instructions, John becomes a CUNNING PRANKSTER, as well.

JOHN: i am like the ultimate prankster now... nanna would be so proud!

Previously, John was neither a skilled magician nor a cunning prankster. Now he is both.

John, a magician, the wizard with the “power to make something unhappen."

Bonus points for shipping fodder: Roxy LOVES wizards.

John = Wizard. CONFIRMED.

The Pink Sun?

I dunno, I feel like there are little clues hidden everywhere:

  TT: [The Green Sun] is nearly twice the mass of our universe.

GA: Your Hubris Is Really Astonishing GA: Easily Twice The Mass Of A Universe I Think GA: That It Hasnt Collapsed Upon Itself Into A Tiny Lavender Singularity Is The Most Striking Marvel Paradox Space Has Coughed Up Yet TT: Maybe it did? TT: Maybe that's what went wrong. TT: We figured it out!

    AG: Notice the moon up there? AG: And not the larger green interloper. That one never 8elonged to my world. It is your memory, not mine. GC: Y34H TH3 CUT3 L1TTL3 BUBBL3GUM MOONS!

          Hmm.

(Updated 5/29/15.)