Tag: hiveswap

i agree with p much all your meta on Maid of Light Joey… but a part of me thinks Mage of Rage is about equally likely rn, and a lot of the Light symbols are jsut too heavy handed as an attempt to misdiret us seeing as Gamzee himself, our only central Rage player, also had a LOT of Light symbolism around him often, including in his land, due ot how the Aspects are linked by ‘specificity’ and existing mostly in the realms of images or conceptual systms

I’d be interested in seeing your argument for Rage–I’d guess it comes down to her being very angry at Jake and Dammek? 

If so, I think the root of her anger is her affinity for Light, in ways I’ll explain soon. Sorry I keep making dumb posts just ALLUDING to this post instead of, y’know, writing it–i’ve been compiling footage but its been a busy weekend.

Man i wish i had like. any sort of work/life balance or stability instead of being on overdrive and feeling not fast enough all the time? lol

But in the meantime i get to entertain the interesting views people like you put forward, anon! So please fill me in on what you think

hey! i totally agree that joey is a lesbian and her narrative will likely involve comp het in some way, but could you explain why you say shelby (a member of the art team) was directly involved with writing her? immediately after she made her tweets (which she called an opinion), she appended that she doesn’t speak for wp. i’m not trying to nit pick btw, her “opinion” as a member of the team clearly has a ton of weight, i’m just wondering if i missed something about the game’s development!

joclaire:

revolutionaryduelist:

Nope! It is in fact me who missed something, I didn’t see that tweet. It’s valuable context! I guess what I’d say is that the opinion of lots of members of the team paint a pretty clear picture about how to interpret certain scenes.

Shelby doesn’t speak for wp, but I personally feel WP’s art speaks for itself. And to the extent that Joey’s feelings are still ambiguous, that’s something we should look forward to keeping an eye out for in the next acts.

For now I personally feel act 1 speaks for itself and renders an amazing coming of age narrative for a complex young girl with big, ugly, dramatic hurts and the fact that she’s presented as unapologetically entitled to her anger and resentment so LOUDLY matters.

The fact that she’s all but stated to be low-key suppressing some sexuality feelings adds to that, but just the force of Joey as a character is a triumph in itself.

That said, I’m not a girl or a wlw and this is just my personal opinion of my reading. I will present that reading in my classpect post on Joey, and I will be keeping an eye out to signal boost the views of women and wlw who want to put that reading under scrutiny, talk about whether or not I’m overstating it as representation, and generally talk about how Joey makes them feel.

I hope that’s a decent compromise between my desire to praise this game to high heaven and my concern that I may end up speaking over women or speaking for Shelby or, god forbid, what pumpkin itself.

Hopefully some of you will be convinced and excited but at the very least I think we’ll get some fantastic conversation! If I can get that to happen, that’ll be good enough for me.

#Hiveswap spoilers #Hiveswap #Joey Claire #Shelby Cragg

fair enough! i actually just went to double check shelby’s twitter, and it looks like that specific tweet was deleted for some reason. i didn’t get a screencap of it since i didn’t think it would be going anywhere, but it just said something along the lines of “it looks like i’ll have to add that i don’t speak for wp to my bio.” and indeed she did:

image

it’s a bit confusing what with the missing tweet, but no harm no foul. i was just curious because i’m into shelby’s work! i also agree with you that there’s a recurring, meaningful theme in the team members’ commentary, regardless.

and for what it’s worth, as a lesbian myself, i don’t think claiming that joey is representation for wlw is an overstatement at all, and i find her extremely relatable. like i said, i’m already reading her as a lesbian as well. i wouldn’t say that i consider it canon, as that’s jumping the gun just a bit, but i completely agree that the work speaks for itself and there is more than enough there to justify coming to that conclusion. but like you said, the specifics of the narrative and her character arc are just something we’ll have to look forward to!

edit: i just feel the need to clarify that i think joey certainly, canonically likes girls. and i meant that reading her as a lesbian, specifically, is something i consider a headcanon as of right now.

Thank you for voicing your thoughts and the additional nuance ie: Shelby. I don’t think it matters how much I agree–I’m no authority here–but I think your perspective is grounded and very reasonable, so I do personally agree currently.

I still think Shelby’s comments and Joey as a character are incredibly worth celebrating–not that you sounded like you were disagreeing. That post is still upcoming, god the last couple days have been busy. 

hi um, not gonna ask from my main blog even though i think youve taken admirable steps to keep your candid discussion from becoming a dramabomb, but yeah… i had no idea that swamp wizard was pirating this shit, thats Evil, but like… even before that, he was accusing cohen of promoting child molestation because of the dumb obvious interview joke, and insinuating that only the kid friendly rating of hiveswap was preventing cohen from writing child molestation into the narrative. like… jfc

The history of swamp’s blog is that of a lazy, arrogant blogger smugly taking the dimmest view possible about what has now been DRAMATICALLY REVEALED to be one of the most hard-working, dedicated, kind-hearted and well-intentioned group of LGBT art creators out there, actually doing the work and taking the risks to make an IMPACT on the cultural sphere. 

This has involved denigration perception of their brand among fellow fans in vicious sacrifice to building up his own status as an Ideologically Good and Correct Progressive, and literally hurting their bottom line and risking the death of their ability to make art.

And he’s done this NOW, in the age of fucking Donald Trump, when LGBT stories and antifascist stories are at more risk than they have been in the last century.
There’s not much to value in his ideological legacy. 

Anyway if you ask me, Hiveswap’s fandom should be flooding Shelby’s inbox with gratitude for speaking up, and also being involved with the damn writing of Joey in the first place.

It’s clear to me she was strongly involved in the development of Joey and that she and women like her were strongly consulted to source Joey’s writing.

WP deserves gratitude for that as a whole, but Shelby SPECIFICALLY deserves gratitude for being the voice of confirmation for that creative intent and for living or just closely closely knowing the experience Hiveswap is putting to screen.

I know MORE about the lesbian experience than I did before thursday thanks to Shelby, and I’m grateful. 

@Swamp-Wizard this, by the way, is what actual mlm/wlw solidarity looks like. It’s not just a meme you use for progressive brownie points, its caring about lgbt women and wanting them to have more doors open to them.

Hiveswap accomplishes this both through having new characters to relate to (like Joey) and new respected and valued content creators/role models who’s success can be an inspiration to girls like them (like Shelby Cragg). 

You absolute FUCKING hack. 

stribird:

friendly reminder that pirating hiveswap is a Shit thing to do and by pirating a kickstarted indie game no matter your opinion about it you are still actively stealing the success and income from a studio of queer folks and undermining a passion project for a number of people and you should feel Bad 

[Note: Long post incoming. This is going to include hiveswap spoilers.]

News on this front finally reached me and I’m fucking LIVID that this was going on so, for once, I am getting in the discourse, and I think from now on my official discourse policy is I’m not bothering unless what’s involved is shitty enough that I’m willing to call a spade a spade. 

To be clear, I’m naming Swamp by name only because he’s the one who’s actions and words I am currently furious with, but the influence he’s had on his groups moral and progressive priorities is worth bringing up. Plus he’s gone so no one can fucking aggro at him “For” me or whatever. 

I will not be naming anyone else he engaged with by name in this way, because it is Swamp specifically and his toxic ideological influence on ***MOSTLY MINORS*** that I care about.

Every single person currently defending swamp and who has been engaged in the actions I’ll be describing is a rational thinking and feeling human being and they are also, for the most part, minors. They’re also pretty much all drama hounds so they will absolutely all see this and come to their own conclusions. 

Let them think things through on their own, and most importantly leave them the FUCK ALONE. I want zero direct interaction between me and these people, even through the proxy of someone unwillingly taking what I say and using it as justification to send them anon hate or w.e If you do this it will be expressly against my wishes, and I will be pissed. 

Are we clear? Good.

So it turns out I’ve got some stuff to say.

I’ve had swamp-wizard blocked for months because they were kind of this weird pedantic double-faced asshole to me for months. There were a number of incidents that led me to finally giving up on pursuing a friendship with him, including swamp inciting harrassment against actual lgbt friends of mine like @callmearcturus . 

One such early incident was couple peeps in his crew coming at me personally for being a furry. Which Swamp “disavowed” at me publically but given that he’s been a two-faced liar about everything else, his credibility with me is zero and I do not trust him. Even if he’s not personally responsible there, it’s a good example of the absolute NONSENSE priorities his particular brand of moral purity encourages kids to engage in. 

Because furries are a known cultural bastion for LGBT sensibilities, so there’s a long history of furries being mocked which has absolutely EVERYTHING to do with their close relationships with self-idealization, self-love and being, you know, LGBT which makes the whole practice of mocking them fucking hilariously anti-progressive. 

To be clear, I am not upset and don’t care. 

I only and exclusively mention this because the hypocrisy endemic to a bunch of people goddamn fucking OBSESSED with the idea of being Morally Pure “Progressives” cheerfully making fun of people for identifying with a group historically about, you know, positive depictions of LGBT identity and personal upliftment is relevant to what I’m going to say:

Swamp Wizard doesn’t give a fucking SHIT about women or queer people, and the piracy of Hiveswap is proof. Everything OP said above? Goes double given that Joey Claire is a fucking marvelous character who already EXPLICITLY, CANONICALLY, CONFIRMED BY SEVERAL WP STAFF an exploration of compulsory heterosexuality and literally, explicitly a lesbian.

She’s also a fucking MARVELOUS protagonist. She’s a good big sister! A brave and willing friend! She’s a goddamn HERO, and the kids at school call her a poser for liking games and not being “girly” enough and she’s neglected and angry about it and LOUD about her anger and the narrative regards her as *completely in the right*.

Hiveswap’s narrative is one DEAD FOCUSED on the big, ugly, bitter, complicated feelings of a teenaged EXPLICIT lesbian already, feelings that are treated completely seriously and given the absolutely spotlight, and we’re only on Act 1. 

Hiveswap is a DIRECT response to the rightful complaints fans have had about Homestuck’s relative lack of direct stories about female sexuality, and that should be taken seriously, not shoved under a bus because of some dude’s petty fucking bullshit about not liking a tasteless joke and jumping to conclusions about stuff in a game that is JUST NOW beginning.

What this showcases for me is a stunning and complete lack of any kind of common god damn sense or perspective. Swamp apparently hyperfocused on one off-color joke and one panel of EXTREMELY AMBIGUOUS BLUSHING on the part of a boy (Joey did NOT look interested), that WP staff themselves SAID was ambiguous, NOT NECESSARILY ROMANTIC blushing….

and spun this whole fucking self-satisfying, morally superior yarn about how this was DEFINITELY ABSOLUTELY HETBAIT and hiveswap was RUINED because…xefros and dammek have conflict. that the whole series will likely center around given that dammek is the fucking PROTAGONIST of Hauntswitch.

But basically what you’ve got here is swamp overvaluing the fanon ideal of a m/m relationship and his personal views on the male creator of the game to the point that he COMPLETELY skipped over what a narrative like this can mean for lgbt little girls and grown lgbt women, and completely ignored the voices of the FEMALE creators ALSO WORKING ON THE GODDAMN GAME that loudly confirmed this was intentional.

And then he used this to justify stealing ACTUAL MONEY not just from the male creator but from the women who clearly worked on developing Joey’s story, too! Because apparently their feelings and work and need to survive dont fucking matter! And neither does getting to see Joey’s incredible canon depiction continue!

Hiveswap could be fucked up and problematic in EVERY OTHER RESPECT and Joey as depicted thus far would still make it one of the most progressive works in history. It would still be worth it. It would still be important. 

And if missing that fact is not the most fucking typical result of this self-righteous anti bullshit, I don’t know what is. Listening to people like Swamp means hurting the progressive cause and real, living and breathing LGBT people who care enough to MAKE this art and risk their livelihoods and probably suffer economic hardship for YEARS to get this story about this little girl who likes girls out there–in favor of what? petty ego, bad analysis, and bullshit short-sighted, mean-spirited, CRUEL fan entitlement. It’s disgusting.

I’m beyond glad he’s fucking gone. 

Tetrarch Dammek: Who’s This Douchebag?

just-outside-hauntswitch:

image

This guy isn’t the face of evil, but he doesn’t sound the nicest either. Let’s get this analysis fresh out of the pan while the discontented buzz is still Hot™. Dammek has made 1 canon appearance – hurtling through space and time at ??? ???/??? – and has no in-canon lines yet, but we can still say a lot about him through environmental storytelling and dialogue. So, that’s what we’re going to do. This post will also contain some classpecting, so for those new fans out there, don’t worry if that confuses you, it most likely won’t be directly relevant to Hiveswap’s narrative and is just some legacy fan fun. 

EDIT: Sorry I just realized how shitty and compressed all of the images are, so I’ve added some captions. 

Keep reading

This is a pretty good reading that I agree with considerably. I have some context/insight to add to it that I’ll probably cram into my Xefros post, but this is good enough that I no longer feel the need to write an entire Dammek meta post myself, at least not soon. 

Suffice it to say, I agree completely. Dammek is almost definitely a Thief of Breath, and I’m excited to see whether the themes laid out for him in Act 1 remain consistent throughout the Acts & Hauntswitch.

EDIT: Whoops i wrote Xefros instead of dammek there. im tired

dahniwitchoflight:

a bit of an easily missed tidbit about jude up in his treehouse, i even missed it on my playthrough and didnt get this until i went back to get all the achievements

if you get the bag of marbles to the secret window with the cultists and rub them together, you get this text which suggests Jude is very overly sensitive to the sound that marbles make when clacking around together, which honestly isn’t that much of an unpleasant sound, but it really distracts him!

and this combined with obsessive paranoia about the cultists and conspiracy theories and his insistence about following proper flare gun safety rules and other such tangentially related traits paints for me a very strong picture that Jude is possibly autistic!