History Headscratchers / Hiveswap

** Act 2 appears to avert this question at least partially. As there is implicitly at least one bathroom in each car of the train (and one bathroom in particular is important to the game). And while we dont see one in Charun's hive specifically, one can assume Zebede's may simply be out of sight, either off his bedroom or on the wall the camera is from.

* It's the type of paradox Homestuck is famous for. Basically the answer seems to be how can Bec and Doc Scratch be powered by the Green sun when their universes blowing up is what creates it.

In Homestuck, the script that some troll objects (movie posters, magazine covers, the Ouija Fetch Modus) use is an Alternian script, while for others (anything to do with Trollian and the IM service that Xefros and Dammek use, the ~ATH book and code) it's what we know as the Latin alphabet. Now, the exact reasons as to why there is such a divide clearly belong in Headscratchers.{{Homestuck}}, but Hiveswap adds one more layer of complexity: in Homestuck, the Alternian script is simply the Daedric script rotated 180 degrees, while in Hiveswap, the Alternian script has been created from scratch (pun not intended). Out of universe, the reasons for this seem pretty obvious, as What Pumpkin does not want to get involved in a case of copyright infringement, but in universe... what gives? Do the two Alternian scripts actually coexist? Is the new Alternian script a retcon of the Daedric script, and if so, why hasn't the retcon been integrated into Homestuck, given that the Homestuck and Hiveswap universes are one and the same?

*** So? The walkie talkie conversations between Joey and Jude happen in speech, not writing, and therefore don't have cases either (or punctuation, for that matter), but are very clearly written out with them.

** There may be an answer to how Joey can read the Alternian script, but it gets into WMG territory. We see that in Half-Harley Manor, there is a globe of Alternia, and a plush of the Sufferer. This might mean that one or both of Joey and Jude's parents may know a lot about Alternia than we initially thought. Perhaps they taught Joey how to read the Alternian script, or Joey just learned it herself from reading books on tanslating from Alternian to English. Either scenario has its issues since A. Claire died while Joey and Jude were very young, and Pa/Grandpa Harley is hardly ever around.

** Another one: "Dammek is using the code you just pointed out as the security measure and guarantee of his identity" If he is, it isn't really working, since, as mentioned above, Xefros assumes Joey is Dammek at first, and brushes off everything she says as the correct code (except for his own codename, "Xerox", which he assumes to be too close to his real name), given that he doesn't really remember details such as Dammek's codename. And given that Dammek has been through this before (otherwise Xefros wouldn't be talking about the code and especially wouldn't say, and this is a direct quote, "i forgot the code '''again'''!!!!!!"), he would absolutely want to include another security measure.

Quite possibly the most prominent image of Hiveswap (and, quite fittingly, even one that heralds the page VideoGame.{{Hiveswap}} as of the writing of this text) is that of Joey on a green beam and Dammek on a red beam looking at each other as they pass each other. Unfortunately, there are quite a few problems with this image, and the concept of the beams in general.

* Xefros more or less takes Joey's word for it when she says she can't find Dammek (despite the fact that if he thought about it he'd realize she'd only barely checked one room, if at all). After that he becomes immediately more concerned with the fact that she's an alien, in trouble (he's a very kind person, as Joey notes), and the fact that he can recruit her into the resistance, and then subsequently with the pile of ex-gander-precipice crushing his body. Presumably by the time she rescues him, he realizes that for whatever reason, Dammek isn't there, and he needs to get out of Dodge.

** Well, the game never lets us see ''every'' inch of the characters' house/hives, so it's possible that whatever perspective we're viewing a certain room or hallway, that maybe on the side we can't see is the entrance to the bathroom.

** If we assume Alternian technology is just like our modern technology (a bit of a stretch, but a reasonable one, as Trizza does own what looks just like a smartphone to us), all Dammek needs to do is hit the power button, and once someone else hits it again, it will open up to a pattern puzzle/PIN/password entry screen/"scan your fingerprint to continue" screen. Even if Dammek doesn't do that, the tablet will lock itself up after a certain amount of time, resulting in the same thing. And even if not much time has passed between Dammek last touching the tablet and Joey picking it up, the implication is that a) she never deliberately/accidentally locked the tablet, and b) there weren't significant periods of silence in the conversation between her and Xefros, meaning that the time spent in pretty much the near-entirety of the segment in Xefros' hive is shorter than whatever the time-out on Dammek's tablet is. The point is, if there is a security system like this, Dammek hasn't instated it, and it is for a very deliberate reason and not just because "he didn't have time".

** You've never put your cell phone down without remembering to tap the lock button? It doesn't exactly fit Dammek's paranoia, but no one's perfect, and he was deep in his secure hive and probably surprised by the portal's activation and near-simultaneous Drone attack. He could have made a slip.

** Artistic License - basically everything space and space-travel-related. It's a stylistic depiction of interdimensional travel made by a guy who got relatively exactly opposite of how it works while writing Homestuck. Other than Joey's departure and arrival (observed by Jude and Xefros, respectively), it can be assumed that that sequence was designed to look cool rather than be taken literally. Joey doesn't, or barely, remembers the travel process, so it can be assumed to be near-simultaneous regardless of how it's demonstrated. See also the original motion picture in the {{Film/Stargate}} franchise, which uses similar technology for interstellar travel and a similar drawn-out special effects sequence despite the fact that the transit takes a few nanoseconds in-universe.

** Xefros more or less takes Joey's word for it when she says she can't find Dammek (despite the fact that if he thought about it he'd realize she'd only barely checked one room, if at all). After that he becomes immediately more concerned with the fact that she's an alien and recruiting her into the resistance, and then subsequently with the pile of ex-gander-precipice crushing his body. Presumably by the time she rescues him, he realizes that for whatever reason, Dammek isn't there, and he needs to get out of Dodge.

When Xefros first realizes that Joey is not Dammek, she asks her to look for him, and when she doesn't exactly agree, he promises to come over to his hive to help her and presumably search for him himself. Yet, when Joey and Xefros first meet in person, rather than go back to Dammek's hive to search for him, instead they head straight to the other members of the rebellion. Why? Did Joey convince Xefros that Dammek simply isn't worth looking out for? Did Xefros realize (offscreen) that since Joey is around, Dammek must be on an alien planet? (The latter is especially unlikely, given that Xefros knows of the cherub portal as "secret weapon", and probably doesn't even realize that it's a portal at first.)

When Xefros first realizes that Joey is not Dammek, she asks her to look for him, and when she doesn't exactly agree, he promises to come over to his hive to help her and presumably search for him. Yet, when Joey and Xefros first meet in person, rather than go back to Dammek's hive to search for him, instead they head straight to the other members of the rebellion. Why? Did Joey convince Xefros that Dammek simply isn't worth looking out for? Did Xefros realize (offscreen) that since Joey is around, Dammek must be on an alien planet? (The latter is especially unlikely, given that Xefros knows of the cherub portal as "secret weapon", and probably doesn't even realize that it's a portal at first.)

** Another one: "Dammek is using the code you just pointed out as the security measure and guarantee of his identity" If he is, it isn't really working, since, as mentioned above, Xefros assumes Joey is Dammek at first, and brushes off everything she says as the correct code (except for his own codename, "Xerox", which he assumes to be too close to his real name), given that he doesn't really remember details such as Dammek's codename. And given that Dammek has been through this before (otherwise Xefros wouldn't be talking about the code), he would absolutely want to include another security measure.

* Even weirder than that, at one point Joey and Dammek completely stop in their tracks, long enough to notice and look at each other. Why? Is this an actual feature of the portals?

Quite possibly the most prominent image of Hiveswap (and, quite fittingly, even one that heralds the page VideoGame.{{Hiveswap}} as of the writing of this text) is that of Joey on a green beam and Dammek on a red beam looking at each other as they pass each other. Unfortunately, there are quite a few problems with this.

Quite possibly the most prominent image of Hiveswap (and, quite fittingly, even one that heralds the page VideoGame.Hiveswap as of the writing of this text) is that of Joey on a green beam and Dammek on a red beam looking at each other as they pass each other. Unfortunately, there are quite a few problems with this.

* However long it took Joey and Dammek to cross, breathable air is still a problem. Is it generated by the beam? Do we just assume the Furthest Ring has breathable air because whatever?

* If we suspend our disbelief and assume that the beams can really exist... the speed at which Joey and Dammek are travelling through is a problem. Since the scale of the frogs is likely similar to that of the universes they encompass, the beams must be trillions of light-years long, which means that even at light speed, Joey and Dammek would take trillions of years to cross over and likely would be a bunch of atoms by the time they arrive. Not to mention that when Jude and Xefros observe the beams, Joey is travelling at a much lower speed, that can't be much more than a few meters a second. (Of course, you have to remember that this is Hussie, who doesn't really know how light speed works in the first place; as an example in Homestuck, [[spoiler:when Jade and John are traversing between the B1 and B2 sessions, they have to cross two fenestrated walls in Hussie's realm. The walls are one yard apart, and therefore, travelling at the speed of light, from Hussie's perspective, Jade and John take three nanoseconds to cross, while from their perspective, they take three years to cross, which doesn't really agree with reality; in reality, Jade and John would perceive their journey as being near-instantaneous, while an outside observer would perceive their journey as lasting (the distance they cross / the speed of light).]])