So you said previously that you believe (with evidence) that Alternian society pushes trolls to be more akin to their “true aspect”. Would this maybe be a reason why Lime bloods were destroyed from the system, because they were forced to be linked to the Blood aspect, meaning that they were better at bringing peace and unity?

maybe. another way to look at it is that the genocide forces all remaining limebloods to think about their Blood quite intensely, above and beyond other trolls–not unlike Karkat

Okay so i finally started playing hiveswap (i know W a y too late) and since all the trolls in the friendsim have two aspects, one connected to their bloodcaste and one Real one, do you think it’s more likely that Joey is actually a light player who is influenced by Nana Egbert or a life player who is influenced by A. Claire (since she made all the star paintings?) it’s a bit vague since the flashlight is her old weapon (not current) and her love for animals makes her unhappy because of Pa

She’s definitely influenced by A. Claire (she outright says she wants to be just like her tons of times, after all), but hilariously enough that doesn’t actually help me figure out whether she’s getting Life or Light influence from her at the moment, for Reasons.

The EZ says that Heart players are adept at putting on masks as the situation calls for them, but doesn’t this trait reflect a manipulation of the outer self (Mind), as opposed to the inner self (Heart)? Furthermore, it says that a Mind player’s identity is fluid, more concerned with objectivity than consistency. Shouldn’t a Mind player be better at donning temporary masks, where a Heart player would have a more sincerely experienced alter ego/hidden self? (Huge fan of your work, by the way.)

You nailed it at the end, I think!:

Shouldn’t a Mind player be better at donning temporary masks, where a
Heart player would have a more sincerely experienced alter ego/hidden
self?

This confused me for a long time, but I’d say that Heart players’ masks are more like legitimately distinct alternate personalities; personas, if you will. They’re able to compartmentalize different parts of themselves very well–as Dirk puts it, Striders only party “when it’s good and time to party”, so his work and fun personas are very distinct.

Mind players think a lot less about Who They’re Being and a lot more about what they’re thinking. They’re deducers and analysts. If we look to the Persona series for Heart, we might want to look at games like Phoenix Wright or 999 for Mind; affairs where a lot of the drama and tension comes from scrutinizing the logic of a sequence of events, or logic and reasons behind the stated motivations of characters.

Hopefully that makes any sense?

(Thanks a ton, by the way.)

How would a god tiered blood player be useful in combat or just what are the powers of blood?

the Red Miles are a really good example of a more physically manifest Blood power. winning someone over through the power of relationships/bondage is a good idea, too, like with Clover in [S] Collide. theres lots of other ways i can imagine it manifesting but those are some neat canon ones!

Hello I’m not sure if this is okay to ask of you but umm, im a witch of Time (or at least I think I am) but I can’t seem to find out what my familiar is described in your video, could you possibly give me some examples of what a familiar for me would be or if not just completely disregard this

i got u

seriously tho it can be any Time related powerful entity. Just make stuff up or find whatever feels right, not sure what I could say that would be helpful! unless you actually like yugioh enough to prototype this thing and have the sprite sent back to the past which would be suitably asinine for a time player 😛

So by the logic of void meaning material and nothing, would a prince of void be an exceptional creator?

Void is linked to invention and engineering, so of some kinds of things, maybe. Equius and Horruss were both engineers who made plenty of robotics and robotic equipment, and Roxy was able to reverse engineer literally anything out of nothingness with enough practice.

Different person here. I always thought the hand behind the head was more symbolic of the difference in their expression rather than maturity. We see Bro himself like a machine, incapable of expression. Hal is literally a machine, capable of expression, but he’s lost some of his humanity to years of being a computer. And Dirk is still human, capable of being flustered, feeling guilty, and being ashamed. I think it’s an important human touch after the Dave talks.

You’re not wrong, but I think part of what Homestuck’s arguing is that what we think of as “true evil” IS just lack of maturity, and Bro’s stoic machismo is simply one of the different explorations of this stunted lack of emotional growth and self-awareness.

Caliborn isn’t just arbitrarily an infinite evil asshole–he’s literally biologically incapable of growth. AR is the same way–frozen in time developmentally by his nature as AI. Both reflect an absolute domination that echoes Yaldabaoth, and both turn out to be mayor components of LE.

The difference between them is that AR becomes LE through heroic sacrifice, having transcended his innate limitations through connections to others by becoming one with Equius and wanting to serve his friends.

Caliborn stunts himself willingly, by making the selfish and childish choice to murder his sister and force his predomination early. This is what allows him to play Sburb alone.

But it also secures his downfall, because by killing Calliope rather than devouring her soul through predomination, he puts Calliope’s soul out in the furthest ring, thus ensuring he’d be out looking for her as LE and causing the events that end his rule in Homestuck.

(This is why there’s no Caliborn ghost corresponding to Alt!Calliope’s timeline–she predominated naturally, and devoured Caliborn’s soul/consumed his strength. This is also why we don’t just see AR/Equius/Gamzee’s souls out in the void after they become part of LE–Caliborn didn’t just kill them to take over, he predominated and made their souls part of him.)

Both are tragic heroes, in the true Greek tragedy sense. AR’s story is one of heroic but flawed transcendence out of inherently unjust circumstances that made him innately imperfect–a result of Dirk’s own childhood hubris and demiurgic act of creation. Caliborn’s hubris is his own, and it’s what allows him to both create and destroy himself and the entire reality of Homestuck.

Could you elaborate on the hope player sexuality filter you mentioned with Maxlol? I think I know where you’re going with that but I’m still curious.

every hope player we’ve seen across the board has had something to do with sexuality, and most are pretty, uh. horny. for lack of a better word.

Eridan and Cronus. Moving on…

There’s Jake’s x-rated fantasies about Aranea, as well as his admission that he’s harbored thoughts for all his friends–Roxy, Jane, and Dirk. And all of those friends had similar feelings for him.

Diemen’s got his phallic sausage jokes, and once he gets into you he tries to steal a kiss. Once Cirava Changes you/lets you get Changed, the Reader is rewarded with tons of followers interested in them romantically/asking if they’re single.

Elwurd and Maxlol are both transparently horny and quite intense about it-Maxlol even sublimates his horniness into a twisted desire for servitude, which notably vibes with the class I’m alleging for him.

That’s 7/7 hopebound, so far. i think we can call this a solid trend.

I’ve seen a few people suggest folykl is a thief, but I see her as a mage, seeing as she’s literally suffering through her aspect, void(rot)

I didn’t buy into the “Mages suffer” headcanon back before the premier example of that idea–Sollux– was canonically established to have the suffering Aspect. Every character we’ve seen in both Homestuck and the Friendsims have suffered their aspect one way or another, so that by itself doesnt really tell me much of anything at all.

Someone made a post about how Joey and Jude may not actually die when sburb happens. Was it you? (And if so, can you please link that post?)

seems likely other people have talked about it besides me, but i have certainly done a video or two on that subject since I literally don’t think theres any chance they’ll actually die permanently at all:

This is on how I think the likeliest scenario is that Hiveswap’s heroes will escape to Earth C in the end, probably bringing most or all of these doomed trolls with them.

This one is on why I think its likely that Pa/Grandpa set things up to save Joey and Jude, or enable them to do…something? that would “Save the world”.

Simply put, I think the idea of Hiveswap having a tragic ending is antithetical to Homestuck and Hiveswap’s themes, and allowing them such a fate runs completely counter to Grandpa’s character. It’s easy to get lose it in the weeds because of what a shitty dad he is, but we’re still dealing with a genuine Hero, here, even if he’s a tragic one.