>Start thread for MS Paint Adventures

The idea was that Lord English's defeat was circumstantially simultaneous with his birth.

Aw yes, more time paradoxes.

Like how Rose's walk-through helped the trolls get through their session and create the universe Rose was born in.

Hey, think we could get an RP off the ground?

Is MS Parp still a thing?

We tried an RP twice. First time it fell through before it even started. I have no idea what happened to the other as I dropped part way through to focus on school.

It is still weird we see the defeat first, and then his birth, though; it would make more sense if we see his defeat after that, but... We don't. Not really. Even if you take the happy tone of the Snaps as as much evidence of his defeat as you need, we see Caliborn instigating part of his rise in them.

It's a little to a lot jarring, especially since we don't actually see exactly what happens with the Boon right at the end.

Huh, I think I mellowed out on a lot of my upsetness with that. I still think it's poor, but, not as much as I used to, and it's stopped bothering me. Yay.

MSPARP is still a thing, but it's at mxrp.chat now. Still the same thing as before the name change, though depending on how long its been since you last used it the accounts system might be new.

As in, you have to make an account to use the site, but it's just a 'Choose a username, password, and give us an email address' deal. Which makes moderation like a bazillion times easier. You can also optionally give your birthday, which just determines whether you can opt into sexual or 'extreme' content (which is mostly sexual) so it's pretty ignorable. Well, it also lets you search only for people in your age bucket if you want, though that doesn't affect group chats. I'd definitely be up for doing something on it, it's just a nice site.

There were some roleplay things before the ones Satoshi mentioneds that got some mileage, I think. The one I was a part of were alright, though like any fansession it fell apart. It's the fun before that happens that counts, though. Hm, thinking about that old stuff, how's the Overseer Project doing, if anybody knows?

In other news, I started writing a Homestuck fanfiction. It's a no game AU on a Generation Ship, with the focus on Rose and Kanaya. It's on Ao3. Not much written yet, though.

Okay that's enough plugging.

edited 2nd Feb '18 8:27:49 PM by RaichuKFM

I like generation ships. I'll bookmark.

Has any “normal” session ever been portrayed to completion? All the canon ones were atypical for one reason or another, and fansessions don’t get finished. I guess the Beta Troll session is the closest we’re going to get.

Probably not. Sburb seems like a game that's meant to be broken.

I say that, but Rose's whole character arc goes against that until it never gets any follow up.

So, uh, maybe? It's kinda similar to the Fate series in that you could theoretically complete the game/war without breaking any rules and actually get the ending you're supposed to get, but because people suck that won't ever happen because someone is bound to cheat to get ahead.

Couple more things that bugged me about the finale:

Vriska's plan goes off without a single hitch. Like, that's not how things are supposed to work in stories. At least one thing is supposed to go wrong in order to ramp up the tension. And yes, characters did die but only to be auto-rev'd by the team's healers. Perhaps Jane and/or Nannasprite should have been taken out or have their abilities limited or something.

Also why didn't more trolls fight the Condesce? That would have had some catharsis.

Also we never actually see the four main characters fighting together as a unit.

Jane does in fact get taken out or at least KO'd

Then it is the Rogue for a save

As fast paced as Collide was there wasn't much more room to ratchet up tension

Unspoken Plan Guarantee

Homestuck's ending violates this trope really hard, and it shows.

There's argument for "oh, homestuck was subverting the trope like it always subverts tropes" but that doesn't mean it is good. Tropes exist for a reason after all.

edited 4th Feb '18 2:26:27 PM by EpicBleye

I would argue that tropes aren't sacred in inviolable rules. Because they aren't

And the whole comic has had plans failing to come off exactly right so maybe they were due a win

I didn't say they were. What I said is that tropes exist for a reason.

In this case, the trope exists as a storytelling device in order to increase entertainment and provide better writing. Subverting the trope added nothing to the story, and in fact left people with a feeling of "what was the point if we were told exactly what was going to happen?", which is one of the facets of this trope's existence.

edited 4th Feb '18 2:30:27 PM by EpicBleye

I can see that argument.

Personally, though, I didn't mind that. I mean, Vriska's plan just kinda came out of nowhere and ultimately ended in a win that neither the characters nor the audience understand, exactly. Vriska thought the Boon would defeat Lord English without really knowing how, though she has an idea. Then it... Does? But whether she was right or wrong or half-right about the method, we don't see. And that's kind of a big deal in and of itself, but the fact that it means the Kids being stuck in there is also unresolved...

Homestuck has broken the guarantee going the other way (The Exiles' plan is the biggest example), which is generally thought to have worked I think, so I don't really think this is a matter of playing with expectations too little or too much?

The plan was less of a plan as one clever tactic that got improved by unforeseen events (Jasprose and Jane) and then picking teams for the fighting. So when stuff outside of the plan happened (for instance, Jade waking up) it just, didn't really change anything. Almost any success would have looked like the plan working, unless the fights had run into each other.

Also, uh. Vriska knowing about Slick and The Felt's arrival was a little strange, Condy seemingly not having rainbow bullshit anymore not even handwaved, and Lord English not blowing up the dreambubble his final battle is in is... Idiot Ball?

Huh, maybe Hussie should have written the Felt and Slick barging in on things as an unforeseen event?

Homestuck Averting Unspoken Plan Guarantee in the last act, I thought, was pretty cool. I'm so used to plans like that failing; it's cool to see them pull it off.

Oh, cool.

And that right there's why I try to avoid using objective terms to refer to work quality or writing.

Which I probably goofed somewhere in that last post.

no it's objectively bad

case closed

Honestly my problem was less the Unspoken Plan Guarantee (although it was pretty anti-climactic) and more the fact that it was Vriska's plan.

Everyone passively accepting that Vriska was in charge of everything as it meant they could surrender their own cognitive responsibilities because thinking is harrrrrrrrrrrrd

Yeah, ok. I did have some problems with that admittedly. Like I said a few pages back, the story ended up giving Vriska too much sympathy.

It's like Fablehaven. Seth continues to disobey everyone and make stupid decisions, but the story keeps saying he's right to do it. It's frustrating.

I would argue that calling it Vriska's plan is giving her too much credit. Really it's more like 'Vriska accurately describes the status quo and laid out some board guidelines for how they should approach things, and then everyone else decided how they'd follow those guidelines.'

Like the only specific bit that was 100% Vriska's idea was 'have Jane move between the various battlefields, giving out healing as needed.' That's a pretty small part of the chaos that was Collide.

Also the suppposed main hero and the supposed main villain don't face off in the final battle.

Again, plot-driven finale to a character driven story.

What are you talking about? Vriska and Lord English totally faced off. :P

John also punched him in the face at one point.

Wasn't the final battle though, based on our current understanding

Since we don't know what the house did