Spoiler: panel from the upd8 Spoiler Yeah, I can't help but be very aware of Terezi's face there. She's the only person there who doesn't look happy. Even Dirk and Dave are smiling, for crying out loud. Look at that! The fucking Striders are smiling!!!!!!!! So maybe she's thinking ominously of the last time they were at this door, and wondering what's going to go wrong. Maybe she's wondering where Vriska is, and hoping she gets her ass here. Maybe she's feeling upset because this is how the timeline needed to work. Keeping Vriska around just long enough for them to all know they've outgrown her "leadership," and now she's not part of the picture. And there's no sign that (Vriska) is going to get to be 'real' again.
Spoiler holy shit dave is smiling! also where even is Vriska? Like physically. is she physically where lord english is? or is she dreaming? Also where is Gamzee? Like in the fridge, yeah. But they kept him alive this long, you'd think they'd want to know where he is and make sure he's still alive? Furthermore, I would've liked some talking with all this :( seeing everyone smiling is great, but i want to know what they're saying!
Spoiler The lack of Gamzee and Vriska is why I'm worried, honestly. They're not there. I have no fucking idea where they are. I just know that Vriska was with Hussie and stole the box. Gamzee is fuck knows where and Hussie might well die himself. Also Caliborn opening the box is ominous. That coupled with Terezi's look and just the overall not quite finished feel of Collide makes me worry. In happier news seeing Kanaya just PULL ROSE ALONG AS SHE RUNS is adorable.
I mean, I definitely get the idea that Hussie glosses over reunions and stuff because what he comes up with wouldn't be as good as what we come up with. Very obviously letting us fill in those blanks for ourselves with whatever makes sense to our characterizations of them, and what happens next. And he specifically played around with the idea, back in the first round of reunions where only John could remember what they'd talked about, due to game corruption. Hell, he's been playing around with that meta stuff of game content being lost since the scratch. Meta narrative devices to keep from filling in all the details, but also make the absence of those details part of the story.
Spoiler I'm convinced that this is a calm before the storm type of deal. Something big is gonna go down, and Terezi's uneasy expression, the unsettling end of Collide... it all points to Shit Being About To Go Down. (Plus the whole, LE hasn't even been defeated yet thing.)
Spoiler If I recall correctly, Gamzee (inside the fridge) was left on Dirk's land by Arquiusprite. And then most of Dirk's planet was eaten up by the black hole. There are some who speculate that said black hole actually leads straight to Caliborn's session: Spoiler "Here’s a list of all the things the black hole that Jack English’s head turned into sucked up: Gamzee and the fridge he was in, which was sitting on LoTaK after Arquiusprite was done throwing it around. Jack English’s torso, holding the juju-breaking crowbar. Spades Slick’s corpse, including the golden cuestaff. Two thirds of LoTaK itself… including the center, which held the denizen Yaldabaoth! Sound familiar? Almost all of that shit is stuff that ended up in Caliborn’s session, including his damn denizen inexplicably arriving to sequester himself inside the Earth. Remember? AH: If there’s any treasure in there, it would be guarded by your denizen. Caliborn: WHAT’S THAT. AH: A powerful monster that rules your planet, asleep in the core. He appeared there the moment Earth got sucked into your session. This is way too convenient to be a coincidence. Caliborn’s session began with him and his surroundings being sucked into the session via black hole. The singularity caused by Jack English’s defeat almost certainly leads there. It explains the crowbar’s premature presence (though not its initial origin), Yaldabaoth arriving in Earth, Gamzee arriving so early in the session, the route Arquiusprite might take to get there and sequester himself in Lil Seb. All that stuff."
Spoiler: my hope/prediction for the end I was thinking that someone (probably john) would suggest the godtiers go fight Caliborn, travelling back in time so they dont have to deal with his lord english powers. they go back, all the scene from the claymation happens, jake hopesplodes and they all gtfo back to kan, kar, tez and callie. (and anyone else i forgot). Then in the present up to date place where they jumped back to, vriska sneaks up on LE while the ghost army draws his attention forward, and lets loose the weapon. it releases the four behind LE, they are a bit disorientated, but then see his back and take their chance while he is distracted. they defeat him, then either everyone or just the alive people in the furthest ring go back to the lilypad, and go through the door to new universe. epilogue-y deployment of planet, and them timeskipping to a liveable time for the planet. (maybe the other planets too, jade captchaloging them to take, who knows) This is all pure speculation from me, but this is my prediction. (or hope at least)
Spoiler I'm still waiting to see if Roxy's going to bring down LE by saying "Calliope" at him... only to let alt!Calliope in. And for it to turn out that her plan is not better for them.
ROSE'S THOUGH HOLY SHIT I LOVE HER MOST BECAUSE SHE IS FAVE CHARACTER BUT ALL OF THEM ARE SERIOUSLY AMAZING YOU ARE V GOOD AT THE ART
fjsdlfs /)/////(\ tyvm. I'm gonna be attempting the sprites, Hal, Lil Seb and... likely Casey next. BC lbr the trolls ain't goin' anywhere.
I finally caught up/finished a reread! I'm so happy! Spoiler I'd never picked Homestuck back up after the Gigapause so I was like "I'm excited to read the new stuff! 8D" -finger on the monkey's paw curls inwards- -rocks fall everyone dies- D8 I do see why people say Hussie needs an editor. That was the longest "preparing for battle" ever. The sprite stuff in particular dragged on for me. I was hoping after the meteor montage flash that Vriska would maybe be slightly less VRISKA but nope. I liked her relationships with Terezi and Rose but the way she treats Jake and Tavros is just ugh and I hate that it's pretty much a running joke. Or at least there doesn't seem to be much consequence for it. I'm so glad we got some sort of resolution for the meowrails. I'd resigned myself to it never happening but yay! Now maybe the comic will remember Feferi exists too. Every interaction between Dave and Dirk is wonderful. Dave rapidly became a favorite. Just strapped a jetpack on the kid and rocket him up the favorite character ladder.
