oh yeah I’m not saying like, the guardian versions are EVIL, at least for the most part (looking at you bro) and at least not deliberately, like, we know grandpa knows what’s going down, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still pretty much terrible anyways (bro’s situation with cal is so. idk clearly there was probably some fuckery there but We Just Don’t Know how much is on cal because dirk DOES show some of those same tendencies so how much of it is cal and how much bro is ? hard to say)

I used to think the question was unanswerable and I didnt think Cal had much influence on Bro at all.

I don’t think Dirk really demonstrates his proclivities, but AR certainly does, and is a good example of what Dirk is like when isolated and unable to connect to his friends,
so I thought the isolation and self-destruction was enough to explain Bro’s descent.

Then @jadedresearcher pointed out something kind of obvious:

Dirk has no interest in SAW, like Bro exhibits. SAW has always been Caliborn’s thing.
So I think Cal’s influence was substantial. Finding out the specifics about that is part of what I’m interested in seeing in Hauntswitch, assuming Bro shows up.

What makes you think the earth cult is the same cult the subjugglators make up (if you’ll excuse the unintentional allusion to a clown’s face)?

We’ve already got Lord English references all over the place, and LE has always had three main prongs of underlings so to speak:

Doc Scratch & Whoever he commands at any given moment–usually the Felt.

His Witch figure, IE: Handmaid/Condesce.

And the cult that worships him–the Subjugglators, Kurloz, Meulin & other acolytes in the bubbles, and Gamzee.

We’ve always known the Condesce was on B1 for years before disappearing for the Alpha universe, but nothing much came of her involvement in B1 in the comic. And we never learned too much about the cult’s specifics, either. Given that Scratch is already involved in Hiveswap, and that Joey already wondered if some of the kids at the school were evil (and referred to them as clowns), it makes sense to think Jude is right about the cult and they’ll be the primary opposition in Hauntswitch.

Hence, we’ll learn about the Guardians and the Cult in one fell swoop.

hauntswitch?

The other game thatll come out after Hiveswap, set on Earth with Dammek as the protagonist instead of Joey. We’ll play as Dammek and Jude and presumably deal with the cult Jude’s been tracking, which is probably the mirthful messiah cult from Homestuck.