History Headscratchers / HomeStuck

** Doc Scratch is a puppet. Lord English isn't. Doc Scratch didn't bleed for one! Doc and Hussie are also both rival narrators, while LE shows no inclination to narrate and is simply the BiggerBad. In-universe, Doc might simply have been playing dead because of predestination shit.

** Uhh.... They bud off like plants?

* The killing of characters at such a huge degree. This is far beyond AnyoneCanDie. The deaths of characters tend and should be considered meaningful and with purpose, not to promote shock value by their death and subsequent removal. We are supposed to feel for them, and yet they are stabbed and killed with little-if at all-focus or depth. So why is Hussie doing it? Is it to try and prove that in this instance we subvert the bad writing and reemphasize that TropesAreNotBad, when it has been shown that killing characters like this does in fact cause great backlash and lack of fufillment? Is it supposed to be indicative of the chaotic nature of the storyline, which I would more happily buy? Is it just to piss the readers off? That isn't a good way to keep us engaged, especially when death for shock value is wildly considered in poor taste.

*** TropesAreNotBad. Hussie didn't find a "loophole" to avoid "the normal flak"; StuffedInTheFridge's TropeNamer had some backlash to it but the trope itself has been used for ages, and he clearly didn't escape any sort of fandom complaints, as people threw ''massive'' fits when these characters died. Most people have simply calmed down since the characters died over a year ago (save Vriska and the handful of characters that have died since) and are still in the comic as ghosts anyways.

*** After all, TropesAreNotBad, but having a few go to character types and then differentiating them in the details is bothersome too. It makes too much of the cast seem similar, like a WraparoundBackground where faces change but characters don't.

* The universe in the post-scratch kids session was created using the pre-scratch Battlefield and the pre-scratch frog. But why have the kids activated scratch in the first place? They had this battlefield and this frog, and the Tumor was moved away, so they could just finis everything in their session.

*** The biggest reason for it is probably the date. 10/25/12. A BigDamnKiss for Cascade's anniversary. Also the drama is '''immediately''' subverted. Hussie simply does not write straight romance stories and pretty much any ship that has come up in story thus far has completely disregarded fan expectations. But then again, there is the possibility there simple is a canonical ship this time. Your complaints, while well articulated, mostly stem from the ShipSinking of John/Rose. There's simply too little information about where Rose and Kanaya will take their relationship and how Rose and John will react to one another to say how that particular ship will play out. Another thing to consider is that Homestuck is an experiment for Hussie. He could well have canonized the ship for precisely those reasons, to test how a fandom reacts.

** I think "Savior of the Waking World" was [[AwesomeMusic Awesome]] enough to merit a redefinition of what the "Doctor" theme meant, changing it from being a motif for LOWAS to being a motif for god tier. It's the same explanation I'd give for "Terezi Owns". That said, I did find the theme's use jarring the first time I listened to it. You're right to call it bootstrapped.

*** Yeah, I hear you. I'm just thinking that we might be dealing with either a character bias like with Tavros' death due to FanBacklash like before, only in reverse; Dirk is so good and so capable that the others will always fall short by comparison. Lets be fair; Guardian Dirk cleaved a COMET the size of a small city. In half. The best Guardian Roxy and Jake did was kill high-level monsters in single blows. Also that because of their lack of skill compared-while still having it, I don't deny that-that their presence might be questioned in terms of overall importance. Remember, unlike any other player, Dirk CAN be in two places at once.

* This is kind of a dumb question... but what are the english equivalents of auspiticisms, matespritships, and kismessitudes?

** Around an hour later - I'd put it pretty close to 3:00, but that's just a guess - Eridan KOs Sollux, kills Feferi, destroys the Matriorb, and kills Kanaya.

* The conversations between the humans and trolls are not in the same order from each others' perspecTives, due to time shenanigans. This makes sense. The problem is that it's the only thing not in the same order. Ghosts live in the furthest ring where there is no global time, yet every conversation between two ghosts or between a ghost and a human seems to fit in a perfectly linear order. Is this just a coincidence?

*** We do actually though; Vriska outright tells John that his Dad can't appear in Dreambubbles, and WordOfGod is that only players are in them. Well, and AndrewHussie, but that's a joke more than serious. Addressing the original Headscratcher, there are two things. There is known CessationOfExistence for players killed in a Scratch, and it is implied that is the normal death for people. Players have access to Dreambubbles, but it's more of an eternal Limbo than a true afterlife, and they are ultimately at the whims of the Gods as to whether they continue to exist or interact with others. The discussion above was a disagreement on whether Jadesprite's actions were reconcilable with the behavior of people in Dreambubbles, not actually too much conjecture either way. The point does still remain that Jadesprite's reaction was incredibly incongrous with how dreambubble selves have been seen to act, but there's a strong chance we'll see more information about dreambubbles going into the future, meaning that may be explained.

** An even bigger question is how come Jade and Rose only talked to eachother four times over the course of the entire comic, despite being two main characters who supposedly have a close friendship along with John and Dave, and how come the mentioned four main characters never had aan actual conversation with all four of them involved in it (all of the times all four of them have been together, they've only looked at eachother in silence or were too pre-occupied doing other things)

*** You're seriously babbling on in such a way that you're using your own hypothesises to back up further points. It's incoherent and unconvincing. The fact of the matter is that the heroes are going to succeed, and they're going to stop Lord English enough as to foil his plans for their universe, giving hope to future Sessions. You know how much demonstration has mattered? A LOT, thanks to Rose's GameFAQS walkthrough. As for Meenah, she's not an antagonist. She did what she did to preserve the consciousnesses of her and her friends. Otherwise they'd of been erased utterly. They couldn't succeed, so between being ghosts and not being ANYTHING AT ALL, she opted for the better option.

** Wild monsters roam much of Alternia. Lusii are there to protect their charges from them more than anything else. There are a variety of known monsters, including building sized centipedes, zombies that arise during the day, etc. Vriska may be Badass but even she couldn't have handled that on her own.

** There's also the fact that it didn't exactly say they were immortal directly, just really, really, really hard to kill. The fact that Dave actually managed to kill the ICP is just showing how {{Badass}} Dave was.

* Wow, and to be honest, I was very concerned about how John was going to stack up compared the God Tiered allies of his own former session, and I still am in terms of his basic power compared to theirs....but Jake's situation blows the others straight out of the water...and Roxy's. and Jane's. Dirk has just completely changed everything with a simple act on Derse. They now have an inborn threat which has just killed one of their earliest sub-bosses..without even entering the session yet! The others don't even come anywhere near that level of capability, or ever will. If this is just some way to show that homosexual BadAss can exist, Hussie proved his point. And that Jake's capabilities amount to less than nothing. That doesn't settle right with me.

** Let's look at the powers of all eight kids at the moment of the gigapause. John, beside his crazy ability to change timelines, can use Breath to evade Grimbark Jade and blow away the glitches. Rose is a Seer, her role is mission control. Dave can rewind time; he's not going to, but it's his decision. Jade manipulates space, juggling planets like small balls, and that's even beside her First Guardian powers. Roxy can create any object out of thin air, in particular the matriorbs that are crucial to the trolls' hope. Jane can resurrect the dead; if she can do it to ghosts as well as corpses, she's THE GameBreaker or the session. Jake's capabilities are so far unclear, but it's pretty obvious that they are vast and unusual. And Dirk's [[{{Badass}} badassery]] boils down to melee fighting, building robots and... ripping souls out of the bodies, which given the nature of the narrative, I'd chuck right into AwesomeButImpractical bin. At the moment, he seems the 'least' {{Badass}} of the characters. Although the comparison is not really fair, given how their abilities practically don't overlap.

!!Open

** In all honesty, the answer to all of these is probably just [[RuleOfFunny]]. Beyond that, 1) it may not be that the wallet itself could capthalogue whole planets, but only when it was alchemized with the 8-ball and whatever else they put in their. 2) John would never think to use the wallet these ways in a million years. 3) No one really knows about the Wallet Modus besides Dad and John 4) It seems like only Sburb players and Dad have captchalogues.

!!Open

*** Just reread his intro page; also it's become a bit of a fetish after the first few times apparently.

* Would someone be kind enough to explain TA's ~ATH code to a troper who doesn't have "leet hacker" creed?
** It's Basically Java, but the beans can Destroy the universe.
** More like C++ (including the usage of "~", which in C++ is used to design a destructor). And yes. Apparently it can destroy not only one Universe, but an alternate as well.
** The most distinctive feature is the presence of a ~ATH construct around "!U2," which in C-inspired languages (which ~ATH seems to be one of) would mean "not U2." Given that the program works immediately, this probably turns "until U2 ends" into "until U2 doesn't end" (i.e. immediately, assuming U2 already exists). Beyond that, the code is pretty much nonsense (you can't interlock code blocks like that in any real programming language) unless we get an explanation from AH at some point.
*** Basically, WE HAVE NO IDEA EITHER BRO.
*** Anyway the name of the language is probably pronounced "TILL DEATH", so it's kinda cool.
*** In fact, that's the basis of the language - programs execute upon the death of an object. In other words, programs are not activated TIL DEATH.
** Okay, essentially, the language is a pun on C++ as mentioned above; Sollux's code calls "bifurcate" (either a primitive or a function he wrote) which splits the universe into two separate entities; it then executes a loop which only runs in full when the universe both ceases to exist and is created at the exact same time. Suffice to say ~ATH is not like our earth human languages.
** It binds a program to be run to the mutual existence of two items. These items must be recognized by the library and relatively long-lived. Once the loop connecting the two is broken, the program is run.

!!Open

*** Juat because they didn't talk ON SCREEN didn't mean they didn't talk at all during the whole 3 years on that meteor. That would be silly. I don't think it's a mistake, it's more likely that Andrew didn't have anything important to do with their relationship and therefore he didn't.

* Why take the time to emphasize the fact that Aradia stayed behind to delay Jack if it clearly didn't work and yet resulted in nobody getting harmed? Aradia's alive and well, Jack and PM aren't delayed at all (despite taking multiple breaks and flying at apparently the speed of light), and it doesn't matter. If Hussie just wanted an excuse to get Aradia out of the plot, he already had one in that she and Sollux needed to push the meteor. Mentioning something of complete irrelevance and making it seem like it has great weight is utterly baffling.
** This is Homestuck, and we don't really have any idea where Jack and PM are in relation to the meteor. Just because Hussie hasn't shot his Chekov's Gun yet doesn't mean he forgot about it; he deploys them when no one expect them. Like, all the time.
*** Except we see that PM and Jack are chasing the meteor when Lord English blows up his first dreambubble; Dave watches as PM and Jack do. Besides that, there's a difference between having a plot point that's not brought up and having a plot point that means utterly '''nothing''' being ignored completely after mentioned. Unless Hussies goes with some sort of AssPull FaceHeelTurn for Aradia recruiting them for Lord English, and her sheparding the dreamselves being an elaborate ruse, there's figuratively no outcome of that particular event that would have any impact whatsoever. So why even write that?
*** Except timespace doesn't work in the Furthest Ring and it can't be properly navigated without a guide. Visual proximity doesn't mean anything, as demonstrated with the Troll meteor and the Green Sun. Also, uh...it hasn't even been a full act since the proverbial Chekov's Gun of Aradia staying behind was set on the table. Chekov's Guns of Hussies have sat in wait for much, much, longer than that. As just demonstrated with Trickster Mode actually. You're essentially whining about the magician's act before he's finished his trick, settle down.
*** The fact that timespace isn't direct just makes the fact that Jack and PM aren't completely and utterly lost in the Ring all the more of a ContrivedCoincidence, but that's another headscratcher. The point is, Aradia is alive, PM and Jack are alive, and we've seen that none of them have had any shifts in character outside of their characterization before Aradia's delay. There is no reason to have written Aradia's delay as some sort of HeroicSacrifice and yet he placed major emphasis on it. Trickster Mode was not a preplanned ChekhovsGun, just something cherry picked out of some of the sillier jokes in the past, something Andrew does all the time. There are certainly major events that have been referred to and will be shown, like Jade negotiating with Echidna, but this is definitely not one of them.
*** "Trickster Mode was not a preplanned Chekov's Gun" Um...prove it? You're definitely invoking a confirmation bias here something fierce, making conclusions about things that aren't even finished playing out yet.
*** Hussie has said many times that he uses what he deemed "Retroactive foreshadowing"; where he basically "seeds" a story by throwing out some stuff that's kinda unexplained and can follow up on later. Early Trickster Modes were all over the place, one included a ''[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]]'' reference, another had the famous candy John sprite from a sprite edit thread on the forums, and more later on added musical bits from future albums. If you want more proof than that... Hussie specifically stated recently that the recent Trickster Mode arc was a shout out to it's popularity in the fandom. But that has no relevance to the discussion at hand and is another point entirely.
*** I knew the above, and would move to argue that the basic narrative function Trickster Mode serves was probably always there and the surface content could've been anything, but you're right, it's a tangent. Back on the point, this Aradia thing still hasn't concluded, so we can't actually judge if it's poorly executed, a shitty excuse of getting rid of a character, or what have you. Aradia's presence in OpenBound indicates that she still has a part to play in Hussie's plans.
*** Couple of things; first, it's worth remembering PM originally chased ''after'' Jack, after a semi-lengthy interaction with Serenity after Jack took off; it's entirely possible Aradia and Sollux slowed down Jack enough for PM to catch up to him. Second, what Aradia tells John about what she wants out of the treasure hunt is surely relevant to her overall standing.
* John's recent nap has brought me to a headscratcher that's been prevalent throughout the comic; the concept of the player's competency and abilities that mattered to their overall goals. Why is there all this uselessness at the moment, when things are becoming so critical, it could lead to death or failure? At the moment, what they really need in Alpha is a BigDamnHeroes moment from John to save them-probably with that Void Ring so he can be all trickstery. And he's being a lazy punk. Not really acceptable right now, since the dreambubble events are going as they are. His current usefulness is voided when he's the only one that should be able to be relied on and powerful enough to make a difference. Several of the trolls had this problem, as well....currently, Terezi certainly does, and could even be working against the cause.
** He's a lazy punk for being asleep when he doesn't even know he's arrived yet? He probably fell asleep before they arrived and didn't notice when they did, he doesn't know anything about the situation so it isn't his fault. Do you wake up in the middle of your sleep suddenly knowing that people are in danger? The reason Hussie does this throughout the story is to create drama.
*** For no logical reason. John knew that he was entering serious mode as soon as he entered the new session. Jade told him, and he heard it from the others three years ago. On the very day he is supposed to fight once again and prepare himself to create a universe, he sleeps deep into the day? No person in their right mind would do that given the knowledge he has.
*** Its been a 3 year trip. He's probably lost track of night and day, so his sleep schedule might get a little messed up. He might not even know what day it is. In fact it might be in the middle of the night. Its not logical to expect him to know when he's going to exactly arrive. All he knew was that he'd be there in 3 years.
*** Also, he had no way of knowing that it would be a dire situation when he arrived. The ''plan'' was that they would have as much time as they need because a null session has no reckoning. If Jade hadn't been mind-controlled, there wouldn't really have been any danger -- and obviously they didn't foresee that, or Jade wouldn't have entered the area anyway until everyone else had gone ahead of her and killed the Condesce.

* Why don't any of the carapacians talk in chatlogs? Hussie doesn't even bother to put any of their dialogue in proper quotation either making it really difficult to read what either of them are saying half the time, especially during parts where they talk a lot like the Midnight Crew arc.
** To emphasize that they aren't players and therefore are substantially more minor characters, though DD shows up in a Serious Business log in A6A5.

!!Open

** Hmmm, I think it was sorta confirmed that magic IS real. But none of the things you listed are considered magic in the story, HOWEVER jujus are definitely described as immensly powerful magic artifacts. So magic is real, but very scarce(examples: Lil Cal, Caliborn's cane/machinegun, Caliope's wand/magnum, the red and green suckers, the chain Caliope/Caliborn was bound). I remember the scene were Hussie declared magic "fake as shit", and got filled with lead by LE, but another scenes come to mind, where Caliope was loading her magnum/wand(with precisely one bullet) where she says "Can't very well use magic when your wand is out of bullets." It appears that items with the same duality seen in Problem Sleuth follow the same rules too, eg.: if your tommygun is out of bullets, you can't use the keys to unlock doors; if your magnum is out of bullets(or tiny cueballs) you can't use your wand to do magic stuff. So yes, magic IS real, but Hussie forgot to load his wand.

* [[BizarreAlienReproduction Leprechaun reproduction]]. I'm aware it's more of a self-deprecating reference to the complexities of troll romance than anything, but. Well. ''[[MindScrew Damn]]''.

* The Furthest Ring seems a lot like general relativity (most likely with the cosmological constant not constant). It acts like special relativity on a small scale, but on a large scale nothing works linearly. There are a few problems with this.
** When the trolls went to the Green Sun, they followed the path of the light moving from the Green Sun to them. Since the light was going in the opposite direction, they'd have had to go back in time. They could have followed the moving image of the Green Sun that would happen due to the volatile nature of paradox space in the Furthest Ring, but that would only work to a limited extent, as it's possible for two images of the Green Sun to merge and vanish. The best guess I can come up with is that they're really close to the Green Sun, and the only reason it's not illuminating their universe is due to negative curvature of paradox space making it bigger on the outside.
** Jade says that she and John can't go any faster. They can make their trip subjectively as short as they want by going arbitrarily close to the speed of light. This won't get them there much earlier, but that doesn't seem to be what John is complaining about. Even if it was, following the path light would take (which they're pretty much doing if they're going near light speed and not steering) only locally guarantees getting there soonest. Making small changes in there path would take longer, but they could most likely get there earlier by taking a completely different path.

* The conversations between the humans and trolls are not in the same order from each others' perspecives, due to time shenanigans. This makes sense. The problem is that it's the only thing not in the same order. Ghosts live in the furthest ring where there is no global time, yet every conversation between two ghosts or between a ghost and a human seems to fit in a perfectly linear order. Is this just a coincidence?
** The trolls can explicitly and intentionally access any point in time in the lives of the kids as one of the features of Trollian.

** She's a BaseBreaker, which makes it pretty much par for the course that her {{Hatedom}} is going to be more vocal than the people who enjoy her or sympathize with her as a character. Also, I apologize for my WMG predicting how she was going to loose her eyes and limb in that it came off more nasty than I intended. I can't speak for the others, but I really don't fantasize about the mutilation of fictional thirteen-year-olds and believe she needs love before hate.

* As the opening song for Alternia Bound (Arisen Anew) is linked to {{Vocaloid}}, could someone tell me which vocaloid? The voice that did the ''Series/DoctorWho'' quote might've been a clip from the Who series.