YMMV / Hiveswap

For tropes pertaining to the Friendsim, go here.

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• Abandon Shipping: Quite a few people shipped Elwurd with the leaked Jadeblood Lanque, assuming that he, like the other Jadebloods, was female with a Bifauxnen design. Then he turned out to be male.
• Adorkable:
  • Jude Harley, with his enthusiastic love of conspiracy theories and his pigeons.
  • Given how massively insecure but excitable and friendly Xefros is, it's little wonder he comes across like this. Especially when he finally beats his sport based lock for his Lusus' sloth treats. Just look at him!
  • Aside from his design, Diemen's socially awkward yet kind-hearted mannerisms in Friendsim throws him right into this category.
  • Even if Amisia is a murderous discriminator against lowbloods, she has a youthful appearance and cute expressions.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Dammek's character being inferred through other people describing him and his actions make him a prime target for this. Is he really a Bastard Moirail to Xefros who manipulates a troll with a massive inferiority complex into being essentially his slave under the pretense of being his Moirail, or does he have Xefros' best intentions at heart and a combination of his absolutely horrid interpersonal skills and rampaging (and totally justified) paranoia keep him from realizing how bad his actions really are? Until we actually get to learn more about him in Hauntswitch, we just don't know.
  • Another point of contention, Joey and her sexuality. Is she bi/pansexual, interested in the many bizarre female sculptures Pa keeps around and blushing about a dumb crushy password about a boy? Is she a closeted lesbian that didn't know she's gay, convinced that she has a crush on a boy because she wasn't aware that she could like girls? Or is she straight with just a nonsexual interest in the female body? At the very least, the last one was Jossed by act 2, where her interest in Elwurd is completely see through.
• And You Thought It Would Fail: Due to the massive Schedule Slip despite the game's supposed $2,000,000 budget, many people thought it would end up yet another massively disappointing Kickstarter game from a big name. As it turns out, it's being praised by Homestuck fans and those unfamiliar with the source material alike.
• Angst? What Angst?: Xefros seems pretty chill when explaining how Alternia's caste system works to Joey, albeit he's probably in shock due to the rubble falling on him. Justified, in that on Alternia, everyone is Conditioned to Accept Horror.
• Award Snub: Someone submitted a whopping 143-page comic to the Hiveswap Comics Contest, but wasn't nominated as a potential winner. The most likely reason being that, while excellent, it was 143 pages.
• Awesome Art: Fantastic animation and absolutely gorgeous backgrounds. And this is from the first act alone!
• Awesome Music:
  • All the songs by "The Grubbles", a.k.a. Dammek and Xefros' underground radio station constantly playing rebellion music.
  • The actual soundtrack is pretty awesome. Act 1's soundtrack can be found here.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Dammek, despite being one of the more popular characters pre-release, became this the moment it was revealed he's an absolutely terrible moirail and implied Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. Is he a horrible boyfriend that needs to stay away from Xefros as much as possible, or is he just a kid reflecting how unstable trolls are and Alternia's messed up concepts of relationships?
  • Zebede, one of the first trolls revealed for Act 2, got a bit of a share of flack, if only because he seemingly replaced the popular female Beekeeper troll. However, he still has his fans for his rather cute design.
    • His Friendsim route doesn't help. Some people think he's rather creepy because he wrote a fan-fiction about existing people rather than fictional characters in the game's setting, and is also a bit too needy towards the MSPA Reader, while others think that there are far worse things he could have done and point out that other Homestuck characters have done similar things which no one has hated them for, and his desperation for friends understandably comes from living in a remote area and having poor social skills.
  • Elwurd. Detractors are worried that she will share many similarities personality-wise to the highly divisive Vriska, given that her description calls her "not Vriska", not helped by the fact that her design is a synthesis of Vriska's original design and Ghost!Vriska. Some detractors also view said design as pandering and ugly. On the other hand, some fans love her for the Vriska-esque design, and the proposition that she might have some connection to Joey's mother, since her description states that she "knows your mom". And that's not getting into her rather large LGBT Fanbase. Notably, the former complaint died down a bit after Ardata was revealed, who was described as “probably vriska”. However, debates flared right back up with the release of the sixth Friendsim volume, especially regarding her relationship with Bronya. Some fans dislike her for being a bitch to her ex, especially since said ex is quite friendly and just wants her sweater back, while others look past that and enjoy her chill personality, especially when compared to the other Ceruleanbloods.
  • Cirava. They have quite a few fans for their spunky design and Vaporwave motif. However, they have just as many detractors for having a tacky, clashing design, and for the precise fact that they pander to the vaporwave crowd. The Friendsim only made things worse, as it was revealed that Cirava was a jaded Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. Either you love them more for their saddening backstory, or you despise them because of how much of a Jerkass they are.
  • Lanque. Despite being rather popular when he was first leaked, the fact that he turned out to be a male caused quite a few fans to throw up their arms, especially those who previously shipped him with Elwurd. Other fans either still love him because of how pretty of a boy he is, or are overjoyed at the fact that he's the first transgender troll. There's a lot more nastiness surrounding him and his fans, (collectively dubbed the "Lanqourse") which is not helped by his Friendsim route.
• Broken Base:
  • Hating on Dammek before Hauntswitch even releases. People are saying that fans are hurling hate to a character we haven't met or experienced firsthand, while another camp says that Dammek could end up being an Unreliable Narrator and he's just as abusive as Xefros says and/or they're not getting that most of the hate is played up as a joke.
  • The large amount of trolls in certain castes, particularly Teal and Jade. For the former, some fans don't like how a supposedly vanilla caste is getting so many trolls, and that the caste will be a Spotlight-Stealing Squad of sorts. The latter caste's large amount of trolls has more people annoyed because the caste that's supposedly rare is tied with two other castes for having the most trolls, which contradicts previously established lore. Others don't mind those castes' abundance, and even point out that it makes sense for those castes to be so common since they aren't culled as much as lowbloods and are more common than highbloods. Plus, Jades are probably preserved for their valued motherhood skills. Then there are some fans that are salty that there are so many midbloods over seadwellers (see below).
  • Continuing on from above, there is part of the fanbase that were vocal about the lack of Violetbloods in Act 2, and would complain about it each week as another land-dweller was revealed in the Troll Call. There's another part of the fanbase that don't mind because, as mentioned above, most of them prefer to stay in the sea, so it's unlikely that we'll be seeing some anytime soon. Additionally, it's possible that the developers may be planning to include them in act 3 and/or 4. Then there's a third part of the fanbase that just wanted there to be at least one Violet troll just so people would stop complaining.
  • The trolls' designs in general have come under fire from some fans for appearing more Beforan than Alternian, especially since Alternian trolls are supposed to be a Proud Warrior Race that doesn't care about fashion. Others point out that trolls not caring about fashion came from Karkat, who is a bit of an Unreliable Narrator, and like the variety in designs. Then there are some fans who, while they wish the designs were more Alternian, are perfectly fine with the Beforan designs. It was later explained that this was done because there were so many trolls and they didn't want them all to look the same otherwise it'd be boring.
  • Regarding the Hiveswap Comics Contest, many fans were disappointed when a full 143-page comic wasn't nominated for the last week of the contest compared to what DID win for that week, claiming that What Pumpkin isn't equipped to judge comics properly. Others have said the comic may have been too long for its own good, or that Act 2 wasn't able to own up to the plot the entry had.
• Canon Defilement: Many people sweep Word of God's confirmation that Lanque is a trans man under the rug and go with the idea that he's a Butch Lesbian that uses he/him pronouns.
• Crack Pairing:
  • Already from the troll call reveals, we have ships such as Boldir/Jude, due to both of them being cute, young conspiracy theorists, and Tagora/Galekh, due to their Insufferable Genius natures and the fact that they supposedly talk too much.
  • A lot of Tegiri's pairings can be called this, from Langiri (Lanque/Tegiri) to Azdaja/Tegiri. However, the most egregious example of this is probably Tegiri/Sakura-Katana Chan, given how they're Trollian Occidental Otakus.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • Xefros' home being razed down, presumably for the Heiress's amusement? It's a Moral Event Horizon. When it's revealed that all Trizza wanted was a cute selfie? Petty, ridiculous, and darkly hilarious.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Despite being a giant, murderous subjugglator, fans often portray Chahut as a somewhat lax soul, often becoming friends with Joey.
  • Most trolls in general are implied, if not outright stated, to be dangerous and will most likely be antagonistic in some way, but the fandom still likes to portray them being friendly with other trolls and Joey.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Despite not appearing in person yet with her existence only so far shown in a Prongle screenshot, Cridea Jeevik has gotten her fair share of art and love from the fans. It's unknown if she will still be involved in Hiveswap, or if she was scrapped like the early concept trolls (See below).
  • From the game's early 3D development phase, the early female beekeeper troll◊ was widely liked because of her cute design, and many fans were sad to see that she was scrapped.
  • Tyzias is also rather popular due to her nifty design and having the potential to be a Foil to Terezi, given her calm demeanor and interest in law.
  • Chahut has quite a few fans for her menacing appearance, being the oldest troll known thus far, and her amusing description. She ended up becoming popular enough to win the Homestuck subreddit's most popular troll call troll award!
  • From the very moment that he was leaked, fans quickly flocked to Diemen for his absolutely adorable design. The Friendsim revealing that he was a kindly troll who has been through a lot of crap rather than him simply being a Flat Joke Character gave him even more fans.
  • Initially, Skylla was put under a bus in favor of the cute Diemen. However, with the release of the third volume of the Friendsim, she became a huge hit with the fans due to her status as a Badass Normal Cool Big Sis. Additionally, those who were waiting for a troll to be associated with dogs finally got their wish, as Skylla's lusus turned out to be a collie.
  • Amisia, another leaked troll, already had a following for her similarly adorable design. The reveal that she was Cute and Psycho granted her even more fans.
  • Tegiri is easily among the more popular trolls for being an amusing parody of the otaku Internet Jerk stereotype, as well as having an awesome design to back it up. Polypa, who was revealed in the same troll call as him, also has her fair share of fans for being a badass Action Survivor mercenary who also gives relationship advice. Their popularity only skyrocketed with Volume 5 of the Friendsim, since Polypa turned out to be an Amazonian Beauty badass woobie who managed to murder a Violetblood, which is apparently a very difficult feat. As for Tegiri, he ended up saving Polypa, defying many fans' expectations of his character.
  • Boldir gained a following for being a funny yet awesome-looking Conspiracy Theorist, and a rare cute female example at that.
  • Tagora was initially swept under the rug in favor of either praising or bashing Cirava, but he's been steadily gaining popularity post-reveal for his simultaneously goofy and slick design, as well as being a prime target for Alternative Character Interpretation, which is fueled by Poinko, the artist who designed him. His hilarious route in the Friendsim definitely bolstered his popularity.
  • Ardata and Marvus were welcomed with open arms for their dark, gothic designs. The mystery behind their signs and the latter potentially being Mr. Fanservice also helps.
  • Despite being rather ugly, fans pretty much instantly fell in love with Fozzer, possibly because he’s so ugly. Additionally, his leaked sprite showed him smiling, while his official sprite was shown with a melancholy expression, meaning that something might have happened to him that could turn him into a woobie.
  • Bronya and Wanshi were both very well received due to their beautiful and cute designs, as well as contributing to the theory that there’s going to be a Midblood School.
  • Konyyl, a previously leaked troll, is near-universally loved because of her badass, Amazonian design, and the reveal that she's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold gave her even more love from the fans.
  • Mallek's Friendsim route resulted in a huge increase in his popularity for being one of the more attractive trolls, and it certainly helps that he's one of the nicest trolls of his blood group.
  • Initially divisive due to looking similar to the also divisive Gamzee and having a reveal that many fans felt was "lazy", the unnamed Caprira troll, AKA Karako was showered with love upon the release of his Friendsim route due to his absolutely adorable mannerisms.
• Epileptic Trees: As with the material it was based on, numerous theories cropped up only hours after the game's release.
  • Dammek lying about his blood color, being a double (or even a triple) agent, and/or being mind controlled are very common predictions after the reveal that he's actually quite a jerk.
  • What does the cult on Earth want? Are they Skaianet employees? Trolls that somehow made their way to Earth? Are they responsible for the monsters in the Harley-Claire mansion?
  • What will the game contribute to the lore of Homestuck? Will the catalyst that caused the genocide of the limebloods be shown or talked about? Will the events of the game spark the creation of Skaianet if it doesn't exist at the moment?
  • What are the monsters? Failed attempts at making a First Guardian without ectobiology? Consorts from a future SBURB session? A new alien race? Natural Alternian fauna?
  • Elwurd's role in the story is major grounds for speculation, especially since she apparently "knows your mom", and her first name is replaced with ?????. Is she a Playful Hacker? Does she have connections to A. Claire, and if yes, was she her killer? Is she just a massive Red Herring made to troll the fanbase? This is a game made by Andrew Hussie, after all.
  • Why are Ardata and Marvus' signs hidden? Do the signs mean much more for the trolls than initially thought? Are the two lying about their blood colors? Are they True Scorpio and Capricorn respectively? Notably, Marvus' sign was accidentally leaked via the hat he was wearing in one of his sprites, though What Pumpkin denied it being his sign, calling him a “lying shit”. However, this opens up a new can of worms. Is it true that Marvus is lying about his sign, or is WP trying to mislead the speculators?
• Fan Nickname:
  • Dammek is often called Strideer by fans. The name originated before his official name was revealed due to his deer-like antlers and similar cool-kid appearance to Dave Strider. As of release, it's somewhat mutated into "Bro Strideer."
  • “Grand Highboob” for Chahut Maenad, stemming from her uncanny resemblance to the Grand Highblood, except with larger-than-average breasts.
  • Prior to his reveal, Azdaja was called "Jotaro" due to his silhouette's resemblance to the character, with what appeared to be a trench coat and a nice hat. However, not only was the alleged hat actually Anime Hair, he turned out to be a Shout-Out to a completely different anime. Said reference has given him the nickname of "Vegeta".
  • The mysterious purple-blooded troll has been nicknamed "Whomst Dafuck" and variations of thereof. Guess why.
  • Similar to "The Vriscourse", any and all arguments surrounding the highly divisive Lanque is collectively called "The Lanqourse".
• Fanon:
  • With the extended zodiac revealing Xefros and Dammek's aspects (Rage and Blood respectively), it’s commonly headcanoned that Joey and Jude are Doom and Mind players respectively, to fill out the aspect wheel. Joey's aspect comes from the fact that Doom players are supposedly the world's chosen sufferers, and she ends up becoming a major woobie (her mom's dead, her dad's missing, and she gets sucked into a portal which leads to a Crapsack World). As for Jude, he tends to overthink things, likes being prepared, and he values logic, not unlike a usual Mind player.
    • Even before the extended zodiac was revealed, many fans liked the idea that Xefros' class would be a Page due to him seemingly being an Extreme Doormat with weak psychic powers, but appears to be more physically strong for his blood colour and has potential to go through Character Development as the game progresses. The extended zodiac revealing his aspect as Rage has only added to this headcanon, as fans are hoping that at one point he will actually get angry, and because of the rhyming appeal of "Page of Rage."
• Genius Bonus: Bronya's sign is called "Virus". While it might seem like an unfortunate sign name, the sign's design resembles an actual virus' structure.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Pre-release, Dammek had the Fan Nickname of "Strideer" due to his "cool kid" looking aesthetics. Come release date, the revelation that Dammek is borderline emotionally abusive to Xefros has given him comparisons to Bro Strider.
  • Anything calling Hiveswap "the revival of the Homestuck fandom" became this because of the major Development Hell the game has gone through, with the radio silence from the developers only making matters worse.
  • Some people weren't happy to hear that the female Beekeeper whose design was revealed back when the game was still going to be 3D was scrapped in favor of/retooled into Zebede. Come Act 2, and it turned out that Zebede himself ended up scrapped as well.
  • If you've played Hiveswap Friendsim, then Skylla mentioning that her lusus is ill and could possibly die on the train journey can be even sadder than if you haven't played it, since her route involved you helping to rescue said lusus.
  • When Vikare's Friendsim route came out, lots of people compared him to Jake English based on his mannerisms. Then in Act 2, it turns out that Joey dislikes him because he reminds her of her father, Jake's pre-scratch self.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Assuming Feferi will be Heiress right after Trizza, the fact that she mostly keeps to herself and wants to unite the spectrum rather than enforce it holds even more weight coming from her considering the competition and what she'd be capable of doing and get off scott-free for.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • One of the larger names in the Homestuck Tumblr community was moonpaw, who also happened to be a big Warrior Cats fan, even drawing crossover art of the two series. The revelation of Wanshi, who is a big fan of "Soldier Purrbeasts" (which is presumably the Alternian equivalent to Warrior Cats) immediately drew comparisons and jokes between her and moonpaw, much to the latter's amusement.
  • Many people assumed that Azdaja was going to be a Shout-Out to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure due to his silhouette having a trenchcoat and what appeared to be a hat. However, he turned out to be a reference to Vegeta instead. This wouldn't be funny... if it wasn't for the "NOT EVERYTHING IS A JOJO REFERENCE" meme that's commonly used against people who spam JoJokes. In other words, Azdaja's reveal turned out to be the epitome of that meme.
  • Not long after Ardata was revealed, a Tumblr user joked that Hussie was making a Vriska-themed dating sim, photoshopping Elwurd, Ardata, and the two versions of Vriska over the girls of Doki Doki Literature Club!. A couple of months later, we got a Visual Novel spinoff of Hiveswap with Ardata as one of the first of the potential "friends". Can also be somewhat darkly comedic if you accidentally kill the sweet-natured Diemen, in which Ardata suddenly appears to collect the body, slightly similar to how Monika drove Sayori to suicide and disposed of her code.
  • One of the winners of the Hiveswap Comic Contest was a comic about Polypa and Tegiri fighting each other. Then Friendsim Volume 5 implies that he rescued her from being trapped in her hive after some trolls attacked her and killed her lusus.
  • One of the entries for the comic contest had some of the trolls asking Tyzias what was in her mug, and she told them it was water. Her Friendsim route in Volume 8 revealed that it was exactly that.
• Hype Aversion:
  • An interesting case. Many fans are miffed at the lack of Violet-blooded trolls, especially since "less deserving" castes like Teal and Gold have loads of trolls. However, as the reveals went on, the complaints about the lack of Violets became louder and louder. This resulted in fans becoming irritated at new trolls getting needlessly bashed because they lacked fins, and many of said fans becoming apathetic towards the idea of new seadwellers appearing in the game.
• I Knew It!:
  • The Extended Zodiac Quiz confirmed the fan theory that Karkat would've been a limeblood if he wasn't a mutant.
  • The "Troll Call" for Act 2 had a lot of fans guessing the blood colours of the silhouettes shown, often judged by the horns or what they appeared to be wearing. For example, many fans correctly guessed that Elwurd was Cobalt-blooded, Marvus was Purple-blooded, and that Lanque was a Jadeblood with a similar appearance to Kanaya. They also correctly guessed that the silhouette that looked like someone carrying something on their back was actually two trolls (Folykl and Kuprum), especially after the Soleil Twins were revealed.
  • Some fans thought of the possibility of Lanque being male or non-binary, unlike the other Jadebloods. The former turned out to be true.
  • The lack of Violet trolls had fans think that Act 2 wouldn't feature any, saving them for Act 3 and/or 4. They turned out to be right, and the comment on the last Troll Call implies that the possibility of Act 3 having sea-dwellers is likely.
  • The most popular theory on Aspect opposition (As in, two aspects that directly contrast eachother, Time and Space being an example) that suggests that Blood/Breath, Life/Doom, Hope/Rage, Mind/Heart and Void/Light were the pairings, were proven right on the Extended Zodiac's release.
  • Amisia and Chahut having some sort of relation was a popular Fanon theory before the Friendsim confirmed that Chahut does indeed help Amisia gather paint.
  • Another Fanon theory was that the Blueblood troll in Tagora's route who he is implied to have black feelings for was Galekh, whose route confirmed that it was indeed him, and he may feel the same way.
  • A few people guessed that Tyzias' matesprit could be Stelsa, which the thirteenth volume confirmed.
  • Some of the Friendsim volume titles are released before the characters featured in them are, giving fans enough time to guess which trolls will be involved based on the title:
    • Many people accurately guessed that Vikare was to appear in Volume 4 of the Friendsim, due to the title being "Of Wright and Wronged", with "Wright" referencing the Wright Brothers, who invented the first functioning airplane. Several fans also got the fact that a Tealblood, more specifically Tagora, would appear alongside Vikare, due to "wronged" most likely referencing court matters, which Tealbloods are known to be involved in.
    • Pretty much everyone predicted that Zebruh was going to appear in Volume 5 of the Friendsim, representing the "untrue affection" part of the banner, as well as "unwanted". Many fans also correctly guessed that Polypa would appear in the volume as well, since she'd be the subject of unwanted affections. This is one of the few reasons that people easily guessed that she was actually the unknown "Goldblood" when Volume 5 appeared in the store before it was available for purchase.
    • The fandom also correctly guessed that Kuprum Maxlol was going to appear in Volume 6 of the Friendsim, since he's a Take That! to 4chan, a site that created the infamous greentext, which is referenced in the Friendsim's title. However, not many fans guessed that Folykl was going to share a route with him.
    • Fans also correctly predicted that Volume 8 would feature Chixie because she's a singer who looks stressed, which the title references.
    • When the title of Volume 9 was revealed to be "Of Gazes Cool and Tempers Hot," a lot of people guessed that the "Cool gaze" would apply to Azdaja, whose eyes are different shades of the cool colour blue. They also guessed that after eight volumes and not a single Purpleblood, that the "Hot temper" would apply to one of them, as Purplebloods are known for that. While the other route shows Amisia instead, who already had a route in a previous volume, some people were able to make out a very faint image of Chahut behind her.
    • Volume 10's title mentions "Faraway lands," and people quickly guessed that one of the routes would be Zebede due to the fact that his Troll Call bio says he "lives too far away." They were right.
    • A few people guessed that the eleventh volume would feature Lynera in reference to the "broken promises" part of the title, as she apparently keeps a list of people who may or may not be on her bad side.
    • After volume 12's title was revealed to be "Of Know-Nothings And Know-It-Alls," people guessed that Galekh was likely to be featured because he's stated to "Know too much." Then came the announcement on the morning of the release day, which proved them right.
    • Some people guessed that the thirteenth volume would feature Stelsa because the title mentions "Fashion," and Stelsa's taste in fashion is...rather questionable.
    • Volume 14th's title was discovered to be "Of Cleanliness And Clownliness," and fans quickly assumed that it referred to Marsti and a Purpleblood. Some people also guessed that the Purpleblood in question would be the unknown one she was revealed with in the Troll Call with despite previous volumes not featuring any pairs of trolls that matched the Troll Call reveals, because he seemed the most likely to "Clown around," and also because of a Twitter comment from James Roach when he was making the song used in his route^note This turned out to be because he's one of the younger trolls.
    • The title for Volume 15 mentions "Creatives," leading people to correctly guess that the trolls in this volume would be Charun, who is described as a "Lost and found artist," and Wanshi, who reads a lot of books and is in at least one fandom.
    • The title of volume 16 mentions a "Cult," which people thought would refer to the purplebloods. A few people also guessed that Fozzer might be featured since his Troll Call refers to him as a "practising orthodox decompositionist," which the "Cult" part of the title may have also been referring to.
    • Many people guessed that Volume 17's title would be referring to Daraya and Nihkee, and with the extended wait for this volume, by the time it was revealed, not many were surprised. Going on from that, loads of people felt that Lanque would be saved for the last volume, just as he was for the last Troll Call.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: ACT 2 hasn't even been released yet, and already Tegiri, despite being labelled as an "incel", has become this, being paired with several other trolls in different quadrants. He's been shipped with Polypa, Kuprum, Azdaja, Tagora, Galekh, and even Lanque, for some reason.
• LGBT Fanbase: Coming off of the tails of a comic where the cast was mostly bisexual and had two prominent gay characters, this was inevitable. It helps that Joey clearly expresses attraction towards women in Act 1, and following acts may have her learn more about her sexuality.
  • During the Troll Call for Act 2, there were two trolls revealed at separate times who were each explicitly referred to with gender-neutral pronouns, and Word of God confirmed them both to be non-binary/agender. A few of the previously revealed trolls could be this as well due to their Ambiguous Gender.
  • While divisive elsewhere, lesbian fans love Elwurd for having what they believe to be a hot design and having an amusing last name. See Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales for more on that.
  • The last Troll Call for Act 2 revealed the first known transgender troll, a male Jadeblood called Lanque. This, combined with his snazzy design, caused many LGBT fans to fall in love with him.
• Memetic Loser:
  • Kuprum, Tegiri, Galekh, and Zebruh have been dubbed as the "Four Incels Of The Apocalypse", given how they all exhibit traits commonly associated with the stereotype. Elwurd and Tagora are sometimes lumped into this category as well. However, Tegiri's "incel" status in the fandom died down right after the fifth volume of the Friendsim dropped, given that his true character is implied to be nothing like the fans' expectations.
  • Polypa ended up getting this treatment after Konyyl was revealed. Both are strong, fierce Olivebloods; Konyyl, however, has a more muscular build and fierce appearance than Polypa. This has lead the latter to become known as "Poor man's Konyyl". Then Friendsim Volume 5 hints towards Polypa having some kind of rivalry with Konyyl and her partner Azdaja, as they are apparently mercenaries like who have done more jobs than she has.
• Memetic Molester: Fan depictions of Kuprum tend to depict him as a kinky troll who sexually gets off of being used as a battery. It doesn't help that he's most likely based off of 4chan users.
  • Zebruh has gotten a lot of this after his Friendsim route and appearance in Chixie's route.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Cropping the Title Drop during the scene where the actual hive swapping occurs to say an often completely different message (e.g. Hi, Ew) has become somewhat popular.
  • After an official comic featuring Chahut, Joey, and Xefros was released to promote the Fantroll Comic contest, the second page with Chahut showing off her scrapbook became a popular exploitable.
  • “almost vriska”, “definitely vriska”, “Schrödinger's vriska”^explanation  After Elwurd and Ardata had descriptions calling them “not vriska” and “probably vriska” respectively, the fandom joked that all female Colbalt bloods were Vriska in one way or another.
  • Many Tumblr users have created blogs that answer questions with a different answer each time about Troll Call characters and what their bios say about them. Here are a fewexamples.
  • The Lanqourse. ^explanation Due to the immense Flame Wars that spawned upon Lanque's reveal, any and all discourse surrounding him has been dubbed this, a la the infamous "Vriscourse" from Hiveswap's source material. To give you an idea of how bad it was, it ended up diverting many fans' attention away from the lack of seadwellers, which was a hot-button topic itself.
  • "With your broken arm, you start slapping the big ass of the screaming tick, while yelling "yeehaw".
  • PRAISE THE CRACKER ^explanation After finding a single cracker for Byers, Joey seemingly praises the cracker, complete with a holy light surrounding it. Alternatively, the pose Joey makes is often photoshopped into other images.
  • T-Pose Dammek ^explanation The only transparent artwork of Dammek so far is a model of him from the game's 3D phase in the default T-Pose. Due to the memetic status surrounding said pose, jokes about the model were inevitable.
  • Mallek's ears ^explanation  Mallek's Friendsim sprite has visible ears despite his Hiveswap sprite and Elwurd's sprites for both games not having them, and a lot of fans have pointed this out and joked about it. It doesn't help that a lot of people have their own personal headcanons for what troll ears look like which they often include in their art.
• Memetic Psychopath: Zebede, due to supposedly murdering the previous beekeeper troll, has gotten this treatment. This post◊ (now deleted by the source) by composer James Roach doesn't help his status.
• Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Jewish fans are all over Stelsa, despite how she's most likely based off of the Jewish and Nerdy stereotype, and the fact that her teal-bloodedness in combination with her religion comes from a joke Andrew Hussie made on his old Formspring account about how Terezi was Troll Jewish.
• Moe:
  • Diemen has an adorable design that sports freckles and hair that covers his eyes, and his endearing mannerisms shown in the Friendsim throw him straight into this territory. It helps that he's a pretty big woobie.
  • The Caprira troll is absolutely adorable in the Friendsim, being a cheerful and somewhat silly Wild Child.
• Moral Event Horizon: Trizza razing down Xefros' home and slaughtering dozens of lowblood trolls with her drones. To get a background for a selfie.
• Never Live It Down: A lot of people can't forgive Zebede for writing a fanfiction about existing people and being clingy towards the MSPA Reader in his Friendsim route, even though other characters like Calliope and Nepeta have done similar things to the former that no one seems to mind, and there are far worse things he could do than be a bit needy (He does live far away after all).
• Nightmare Fuel: Now has its own page.
• No Yay: In general, a good chunk of the fans don't take kindly to lewds of most of the cast, because they're predominantly teenagers. However, asking for Rule 34 of Jude, Tirona, and to a lesser extent Boldir will get you dogpiled by the fandom, given the fact that they're (presumably for the latter) exceptionally young by the cast's standards.
• Replacement Scrappy: Poor Zebede is hated by a decent chunk of the fanbase simply because he isn’t the female Beekeeper troll that was shown during the game's 3D development phase. It doesn’t help that he’s an aspiring beekeeper himself.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • The Hiveswap Comics Contest could result in previously ignored or even disliked trolls that were featured in victorious comics gaining more fans. Skylla, Kuprum, and Folykl are particularly noteworthy examples, since they were both featured in winning comics with unique interpretations of their characters. Skylla's comic depicts her as being more of a philosopher than her simplistic Cowgirl appearance lets on, while Kuprum and Folykl's feature has a heartwarming and sympathetic take on the otherwise eerie duo.
    • Skylla was further rescued by her route in Friendsim, which shows her to be one of the nicer trolls, and quite strong for her blood colour.
  • While Diemen was initially fawned over due to his cute design, some fans began to turn against him after his reveal due to assuming that he would be a Flat Character centered around hotdog jokes. The Friendsim revealed that behind that cute exterior was a troubled yet kind-hearted troll who's just trying to survive, endearing him to many more fans.
  • Remele was often ignored after her Troll Call reveal either because she wasn't a Violetblood that people were hoping for, Lanque took more of the attention instead, or both. Her Friendsim route lead to her getting more attention for her interest in art (Even if it does involve stealing other people's ideas), the fact that she can kill a Purpleblood who was most likely much stronger than her, and the implication that Zebruh commissions her to draw lowblood art for him, but she charges him more than she does for other customers.
  • Karako was initially rather disliked due to his ambiguous (and to some, lazy) reveal and his design's similarities to Gamzee. The release of his adorable Friendsim route gave him many more fans, given that his character is nothing like Gamzee's.
• The Scrappy: Upon the release of his Friendsim route, Zebruh became universally despised by the fandom for his callous treatment of lowbloods (even compared to most other highbloods) and creepy behavior, especially towards the MSPA Reader and the comparitively well-liked Chixie. While Zebruh was most likely designed to be a Hate Sink, many fans still view him as a bad one, with several citing his uncomfortable route.
• Scrappy Mechanic: While it isn't made obvious in Act 1, by the time of Act 2 it's clear that there are different choices you can make that will likely be important in future acts, however they rely on leaving or giving away certain items that you don't know if you'll need them later or not, warranting multiple replays of the act to make sure you're prepared enough for the future acts, which can get tedious, especially with the trial segment. Not helped by the fact that Act 2 has many achievements that are mutually exclusive, so even if you'd rather watch a video or use exported save files to see the other outcomes, you still have to replay at least part of the game to get those achievements if you're a completionist.
• That One Level: Most people find the entire Teal-Jade car to be the worst part of Act 2. It mostly focuses on trial and error to figure out evidence, you must constantly talk to the people in the car for info, and the trial sections never make it clear what sort of items you use unless you constantly ask Tyzias for hints, not helped by the fact that you can only get different outcomes if you still have specific items with you, one of which you could miss in Act 1. Those points, plus the fact that it goes on for an unusually long time (at least two-thirds of the game), making replays much more tedious, don't really help either.
• Unfortunate Character Design: A few signs bear some resemblances to rather unfortunate body parts and gestures. For example, Fozzer's sign, Aro, looks like a pair of ovaries. Additionally, Taurist, the sign of Skylla, looks like someone giving off the double finger salute, as do Nikhee's horns, while the Purple sign Capries resembles a penis. Oops?
• Viewer Gender Confusion:
  • More than one person had no idea that Chahut was a girl until they saw her breasts, which were somewhat obscured by her identically colored hair.
  • Similarly, people only realized that Tirona was a girl when they saw her skirt. That, and Tirona is a feminine sounding name.
  • When Marsti's design was leaked, many people assumed she was male because of her masculine appearance compared to the other female trolls, but when she was officially released, she was referred to with female pronouns.
  • Almost everyone assumed that Lanque was female when his design was leaked simply because he was a Jadeblood, which are almost always female. That, and he wears makeup too. Then when he was officially released, he was referred to with male pronouns.
  • Troll Call in general is being very vague about some of the genders of the revealed trolls, which, when mixed with the lack of pronouns used in their bios and a good amount of gender neutral designs, has lead to this. The Soleil Twin's genders were unknown for a long time, even with their fairly feminine appearance (They are Purplebloods after all), until their Friendsim route confirmed them to be a girl and a boy.
• The Woobie:
  • Joey's father is never around and she's had to raise herself and Jude if only due to a semi-competent babysitter. She expresses extreme stress through the entire first act, and its easy to see that the kid really wants to just go home and get the day over with.
  • Xefros is a meek, awkward troll who has a hard time breaking out of his caste "mindset" and seems completely lost without Dammek around, who is complicit in his problems due to treating him less like a moirail and more like a servant.
  • Diemen, like Xefros, had his home destroyed (presumably in the same attack that destroyed Xefros' hive), but he also got his lusus killed, and other trolls view him as a freak due to his love of hotdogs, plus he's had many false friends throughout his life. However, unlike Xefros, he's a lot more prone to breaking down when talking about his life issues. Also, you can potentially kill him on accident when you're eating hotdogs with him.

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