Aradia & co.

[calamityCons]

I want to chime in and mention that Doc Scratch does in fact have power over the narrative. He has taken over the story before, for about three months, and I was there during those updates back in 2011. He's definitely got too distinctive of a silhouette to be the t-posing asshole in the fucking hallway, but I wouldn't count him out yet. He very well might have some hand in this shit.

[sigmatic]

I want to chime in and mention that Doc Scratch does in fact have power over the narrative. He has taken over the story before, for about three months, and I was there during those updates back in 2011. He's definitely got too distinctive of a silhouette to be the t-posing asshole in the fucking hallway, but I wouldn't count him out yet. He very well might have some hand in this shit.

Right, what's up with the fuckin T-poser out here flexing and shit? Do you think it'll be a new character or someone we already know?

[Generalrabogolfo]

I want to chime in and mention that Doc Scratch does in fact have power over the narrative. He has taken over the story before, for about three months, and I was there during those updates back in 2011. He's definitely got too distinctive of a silhouette to be the t-posing asshole in the fucking hallway, but I wouldn't count him out yet. He very well might have some hand in this shit.

Right, what's up with the fuckin T-poser out here flexing and shit? Do you think it'll be a new character or someone we already know?

I bet its dirk having 22 layers of irony

[thorondraco]

I want to chime in and mention that Doc Scratch does in fact have power over the narrative. He has taken over the story before, for about three months, and I was there during those updates back in 2011. He's definitely got too distinctive of a silhouette to be the t-posing asshole in the fucking hallway, but I wouldn't count him out yet. He very well might have some hand in this shit.

Right, what's up with the fuckin T-poser out here flexing and shit? Do you think it'll be a new character or someone we already know?

It is either Alt Calliope, for the form has distinct feminine qualities and while cherubs are in fact hermaphrodites they seem to have male to female parallel builds. If i am not mistaken the builds the children have depend on the parents too. Good cherubs win, the dnd alignment mimics the parents. Bad cherub wins, the alignment flips between these 'builds' as it were.
Aliens are confusing.

Alternatively, its possible its some manifestation of the Reader themself. What this manifestation is, its hard to say. Ultimate self equivalent? Something else entirely?
My evidence is the blank look of its form plus the feminine attributes of it. And literally the legs are the only feature mentioned of the reader at all cause apparently they are the only distinct part of their form. And it seems like the reader always leans towards feminine wear but that could be either here or there, albeit if we are talkin bout core essence stuff?
Homestuck is steeped in lgbt and has been for a long time, least since the trolls appeared.


A very likely path for the reader is ceasing to be a YCH. And possibly doing something to ensure that reality does not cave into itself. Or if it does he can at least save the homestuck characters he has befriended.

[thorondraco]

I want to chime in and mention that Doc Scratch does in fact have power over the narrative. He has taken over the story before, for about three months, and I was there during those updates back in 2011. He's definitely got too distinctive of a silhouette to be the t-posing asshole in the fucking hallway, but I wouldn't count him out yet. He very well might have some hand in this shit.

He operated very differently. For example, he showed what appeared to be already drawn panels through his picturebook. He didn't seem ot have any actual control over the evens, he was just recounting them. He could act as a narrator but he couldn't but wasn' an actual narrator i guess? He can't create the story he just knows how it will go.

He is definitely involved without question but that doesn't mean he is the one controlling reality.

Also random thought, what if the Horror terror has some connection to Marvus somehow?

[calamityCons]

He operated very differently. For example, he showed what appeared to be already drawn panels through his picturebook. He didn't seem ot have any actual control over the evens, he was just recounting them. He could act as a narrator but he couldn't but wasn' an actual narrator i guess? He can't create the story he just knows how it will go.

This is textually false. Doc Scratch does in fact have influence over the story. He has a verrryyy subtle hand about it, but he does have direct influence on the Troll's universe and its sequence of events due to his direct interference. He created the circumstances for him to bring Lord English into the world, in the same way Andrew Hussie was portrayed to do in the story up to that point. Of all the meta-narrators, like Alt Calliope and Dirk Strider and such, Doc Scratch was the very first.

Even if he isn't behind the situation per say, it is difficult for me to believe he doesn't have his puppety hands involved in the situation in at least some way. It would be out of character for him to see an opportunity to completely fuck someone over and not take it.

[Flame_Warp]

I want to chime in and mention that Doc Scratch does in fact have power over the narrative. He has taken over the story before, for about three months, and I was there during those updates back in 2011. He's definitely got too distinctive of a silhouette to be the t-posing asshole in the fucking hallway, but I wouldn't count him out yet. He very well might have some hand in this shit.

Right, what's up with the fuckin T-poser out here flexing and shit? Do you think it'll be a new character or someone we already know?

I still think that Hallway A-Poser is probably Reader in some form or another. No defining features except killer hips and nice legs?

[thorondraco]

He operated very differently. For example, he showed what appeared to be already drawn panels through his picturebook. He didn't seem ot have any actual control over the evens, he was just recounting them. He could act as a narrator but he couldn't but wasn' an actual narrator i guess? He can't create the story he just knows how it will go.

This is textually false. Doc Scratch does in fact have influence over the story. He has a verrryyy subtle hand about it, but he does have direct influence on the Troll's universe and its sequence of events due to his direct interference. He created the circumstances for him to bring Lord English into the world, in the same way Andrew Hussie was portrayed to do in the story up to that point. Of all the meta-narrators, like Alt Calliope and Dirk Strider and such, Doc Scratch was the very first.

Even if he isn't behind the situation per say, it is difficult for me to believe he doesn't have his puppety hands involved in the situation in at least some way. It would be out of character for him to see an opportunity to completely fuck someone over and not take it.

Its easy to mistake that, but its more that what he does is not actualy different compared to whatever the hell everyone else in the story. He is simply a party who has omniscience and he simply knows what he has to do and when. Aside for the points where he is deliberately blinded by the Narrative because he needs to act on his emotions.
For example he didn't know slick was gonna kiss the queen. And of course nuking Vriska's face. He only has awareness of the narrative, not the power to control it. Doesn't even make panels.

The biggest evidence that he has no power over the narrative is that he is never seen again after John Retconed Vriska's death. As John was quite clearly altering the original path of the story, the path that Doc scratch was aware of and knows, if Doc had any power to stop him he would have. We would have had the Handmaid going after John while Doc tries to undo what John did.

And yea he obviously has his hands in what is going on in Hiveswap and Friendsims, but that doesn't mean he is the one creating the Narrative of Hiveswap and friendsims. Not the mastermind. Likely was sent the reader in order to act upon the Hiveswap plan.

Why is unknown. Its probably related to how John changed the narrative though. Doc scratch being helpless to change it back so he is going along some plan with unknown goals. Have a legacy that isn't his death being made irrelevant.

I guess a way to put it is that when he narrates he is narrating in second. He sees the story as written and recounts it, rather than being the one writing the script too.

[thorondraco]

I want to chime in and mention that Doc Scratch does in fact have power over the narrative. He has taken over the story before, for about three months, and I was there during those updates back in 2011. He's definitely got too distinctive of a silhouette to be the t-posing asshole in the fucking hallway, but I wouldn't count him out yet. He very well might have some hand in this shit.

Right, what's up with the fuckin T-poser out here flexing and shit? Do you think it'll be a new character or someone we already know?

I still think that Hallway A-Poser is probably Reader in some form or another. No defining features except killer hips and nice legs?

That or some representation of alt calliope, but i am thinking the prior.

Maybe that is like, the manifestation of his ultimate self? But its incomplete. The comparisons to a character sheet and a Ych might imply by the end the Reader becomes a character.

Okay weird semi chtulu stuff here.

What if they are applying a weird 'dimensions' thing here? In lvoecraft stuff there are often a description of realities of icnreasing complexity, with elder gods being from the more complex and abstract dimensions.
So what if this applis to homestuck in a way? and the Ultimate self is like, a cgi model compared to the sprites the characters are made of.

[ArchmageIsACat]

The biggest evidence that he has no power over the narrative is that he is never seen again after John Retconed Vriska's death. As John was quite clearly altering the original path of the story, the path that Doc scratch was aware of and knows, if Doc had any power to stop him he would have. We would have had the Handmaid going after John while Doc tries to undo what John did.

And yea he obviously has his hands in what is going on in Hiveswap and Friendsims, but that doesn't mean he is the one creating the Narrative of Hiveswap and friendsims. Not the mastermind. Likely was sent the reader in order to act upon the Hiveswap plan.

Why is unknown. Its probably related to how John changed the narrative though. Doc scratch being helpless to change it back so he is going along some plan with unknown goals. Have a legacy that isn't his death being made irrelevant.

I guess a way to put it is that when he narrates he is narrating in second. He sees the story as written and recounts it, rather than being the one writing the script too.

why would he try and prevent something that leads to the creation of earth c, and ultimately his master?

[thorondraco]

The biggest evidence that he has no power over the narrative is that he is never seen again after John Retconed Vriska's death. As John was quite clearly altering the original path of the story, the path that Doc scratch was aware of and knows, if Doc had any power to stop him he would have. We would have had the Handmaid going after John while Doc tries to undo what John did.

And yea he obviously has his hands in what is going on in Hiveswap and Friendsims, but that doesn't mean he is the one creating the Narrative of Hiveswap and friendsims. Not the mastermind. Likely was sent the reader in order to act upon the Hiveswap plan.

Why is unknown. Its probably related to how John changed the narrative though. Doc scratch being helpless to change it back so he is going along some plan with unknown goals. Have a legacy that isn't his death being made irrelevant.

I guess a way to put it is that when he narrates he is narrating in second. He sees the story as written and recounts it, rather than being the one writing the script too.

why would he try and prevent something that leads to the creation of earth c, and ultimately his master?

Because the original course was undone. John changed how the story was supposed to go. I am guessing it ends with Lord English winning, the green sun continuing to exist, and all that shit Doc said about' ensuring his existence continues in other universes' happens. But that didn't happen. Lord english lost, the green sun consumed, as well as the rest of paradox space as they knew it.

Literally every single aspect of retcon from the story and now with pesterquest indicates the powers literally overwrite reality. That is why things are so chaotic right now in pesterquest. And more so, Aradia's statement that the 'powers that be' can't see into the void nor hear what is being said. This, was not their plan. The REtcon was not their plan. Because retcon happened outside of their sight.
Whoever they are.
Or at least if it was their plan it is still them altering reality to overwrite Lord english's bullshit and they had to make contingencies for John. John was bound to his friends in the end and was too terrified of the powers inherited.
Fuck we see John nearly pulling the same shit as the Reader just sitting on his ass being depressed. Just, not going after Caliborn.

So the logical conclusion, especially with hints of the Empress setting the kids up to accomplish goals and finish the session udner her terms, is that John overwrote Lord English's victory. How much it differs from the final result, short of paradox space NOT being munched by a black hole, is unknown. Could be the kids pull a victory out theri ass. Could be they lose and are enlsaved by the Empress to go after, a dark fate.

Also before you say 'they needed the retcon powers to close the loop' two things.

John literally says that using his powers makes things act like they were already going that route already, however contrary that truth is.

And DAve exists. dave literally could timetravel them far into the future of Earth C. and the result would be the same more or less.

[pfeffer-29]

Holy crap. I like Tavros now. I genuinely enjoyed reading his route. I always found Tavros's dialogue to be a drag to read in Homestuck proper, but in Pesterquest, he's endearing and--dare I say--a great character. He's doing his best in a world that tries to drag him down at every turn, and seeing good things happen to him was satisfying in a way most Pesterquest routes don't get to be. Also, the handling of his abuse at Vriska's hands was well-done and did not minimize the issue. Victims can be abusers, too, which is something Vriska's route seemed to forget, or perhaps didn't make clear enough.

And James Roach did not disappoint with Aradia. Her writing was some of the best I've seen in Pesterquest and her theme was great. I loved the stupid little time jokes and the timeline screwery and all of Aradia's dialogue. Go play it or watch a playthrough on Youtube. Just do it. It's worth it.

Suffice to say, this volume is my favorite thing to come out of Pesterquest so far.

[calamityCons]

Also, the handling of his abuse at Vriska's hands was well-done and did not minimize the issue. Victims can be abusers, too, which is something Vriska's route seemed to forget, or perhaps didn't make clear enough.

I appreciated this as well, it was absolutely necessary for this to happen and I'm so thankful that after this event, Tavros gets to have a fun day making his home more accessible for himself. That's quite possibly the least ableist thing that has ever happened to him in Homestuck and Homestuck adjacent content. I'm grateful for it.

[Khiara]

Tavros' and Aradia's route has been my new favorites!

I enjoyed the exploration around Tavros' personality--how he dealt with his self-esteem issues (which is relatable, especially when we talk about escapism /sigh), how he was tired with Vriska, and many more. The narration feels genuinely charming, and sure he deserved so much better.

I also laughed out loud when he said he'd say "fUCK YOU, BIATCH" to Vriska later. It's hilarious!

Meanwhile, Aradia's route was completely mindblowing and surprising! She gave my jumpscares, God! But I also enjoyed it a lot.

My favorite parts (besides the mindfuckery ones) is at the beginning where she talked about the beauty of death. Yep. Aradia is me, at this point.

[thorondraco]

I had confidence that they would bring that up about Vriska. Also like that hte reader was not so naive as to realize 'yea vriska can be cruel.' But was confused about what was going on with Tavros.
Vriska can't accept responsibility for her actions. Its not from a lack of remose, not entirely, just that she has no idea how to fix herself.
Also realized that we still have Ghost Aradia about.

Also i think we saw a crack in the powers of Retcon. Basically, when the Reader touched the house juju he ended up part of the Homestuck Canon. In that he slipped into the Alpha Timeline formed by the story.

Hiveswap and Friendsims are, while in the same reality, bound together by another story. By touching the juju he exited that story space. While with the power he can teleport anywhere in canon, he trapped in this Canon as a result.

Its like paradox space isolates a timeline for the story and keeps other stories away from it. Its possibly why we never see another species, look into another session. Because two stories are not meant to crossover unless they are directly connected.

So we really don't know the fate of anyone form Hiveswap. Cause the reader can't return to that story, not even with retcon teleportation.

[ThePungeonMaster]

A fantastic set of routes, a couple of my favorites, and definitely on par with Dave and Jade's routes.
Tavros was likely my favorite of the two. The writing for him seemed spot on, and really exemplified what people like about the character, myself included.
The way Vriska was handled in this route was extraordinarily good, and does a good job with the nuance a character like her ought to have, because, no matter how objectively shitty a person may be, she's kinda right. A character like Tavros would get dicked over from every conceivable angle on a planet as hostile as Alternia, and while Vriska is in the wrong in this case, it's hard not to be a bit convinced. It's also nice to see that "did nothing wrong" quote get addressed, as without this context it feels dishonest to her character.
Also, his bad ending on Prospit is the only moment in Pesterquest, with the exception of Dave's good end, that has almost driven me to tears. The reader being unable to force Tavros back into reality after allowing him to fly around on Prospit, despite them both knowing that it would be best for him really fucking hurts, it's a problem that feels almost too real.
Aradia was never a character that stood out to me on my first reading, so I wasn't nearly as invested in her character as I should have been, but her volume made me realize why people like her.
The fact that we've finally gotten some satisfying payoff on the Readers missing memories is fantastic, and how they handled the readers inability to return to the cast of the friendsim also hit really hard. Also, it's nice to know the writers know exactly how tired we are of hearing about cannon shit. Hopefully they do something of it rather than retreading the same "oh lol doesn't cannon suck" route, but after this, I have a bit more faith in them that something will be done on the matter. Really, the only thing that disappointing me about the route is how few actual time puns there were, and that the majority of the jokes were relegated to eyebrow wiggles at the mention of the word. You could have said ghost Aradia was "dead time", or that them escaping cannon was "running out of time". So much lost potential in the time based jokes department.
All & all, this volume did a lot to stave the fears that I've had with the writing team: It shows that they're not totally oblivious to the criticism thrown their way, and in these times, that's really all I need.

[dualfallen]

Tavros' route was whatever to me. Pesterquest has managed to redeem some characters for me like Rose, Jade, and Equius and I had hoped that this route would help me like Tavros. Nope, still just as big a weenie as he's always been.

Aradia's though was fantastic! I've always loved Aradia but she never got a chance to really shine in Homestuck. This gave her a great chance though and she was amazing! Her expressions were great, her time jokes and raising her eyebrows were hilarious, and I really appreciated how you see time rewind when you take the wrong route. Overall I'm so glad that Aradia got a chance to be really special for once, I've been waiting to see this for a while. She's incredibly relevant now since she helped kickstart everything such as by returning MSPA Reader's memories and helping make various changes.

Now that we have our memories back I wonder what can happen from here. I definitely subscribe to the idea that the mysterious figure is MSPA Reader, given how they seem to be ascending when it comes to power. We literally saw them merge with tons of splinters, perhaps they're becoming an ultimate self.

I also noticed it took exactly 21 seconds of staring with Aradia at the beginning of the route which was interesting how exact it was...

[Flame_Warp]

Man, personally when the friendsim theme started that hit HARD. Reader has really become one of my favorite HS characters, so that was just. Massively emotional. Seeing them, for honestly the first time, be the entirety of THEMSELVES, without someone else suppressing them.

[Drinosi]

I am SOOOO happy for Aradia's route! I always wished she had more time to shine in Homestuck because she was such an awesome character, but we never really got enough Aradia. This route I think was one of my favorites for Pesterquest so far! I love the eyebrow wiggle! Both the writer and the artist captured her so perfectly and I couldn't imagine a better route for Aradia. Getting to see three versions of her (alive, dead, and god) was so awesome! And did I mention the eyebrows? Her personality was absolutely perfect and I loved her rewinding time again and again and even hinting what to choose. The ending was amazing just getting to fuck shit up for a while! I'm so happy we have our memories back. I honestly don't think I have a single bad thing to say about this route. I have wanted more Aradia for so long and this was so perfect. Oh yeah, and that eyebrow wiggle!

So Tavros...I've never been the hugest Tavros fan, but I was never an Equius fan before Pesterquest and loved his route, so I was hoping to love Tavros too. Honestly, it was what I expected of Tavros. We played some games and helped him fix up his hive. I'm still not the biggest Tav fan, but the writing was great and so was the art, I just think its hard to make him a great character. (Just my opinion). I did love the bad ending where we got to go hang out with Vriska at the arcade though.

[sigmatic]

I did love the bad ending where we got to go hang out with Vriska at the arcade though.

that was like the funniest scene in the entirety of pesterquest, vriska stealing tavros's spotlight yet again