This update explains why it required so many genetic codes to create Doc Scratch:
“t1CK t0ck 8r8k H34DS honk HONK”
Six codes, six genetic components! Lil Cal + Caliborn + Gamzee + Equius + Lil Hal + Magic Cue Ball.
As opposed to Bec, who was made from one code (MEOW) and one genetic component (Halley).
I struggled with the same concept while formulating this theory, because Calmasis from CoTL sounds more like Caliborn than anything else. Basically I’m thinking the actual Calmasis will be the true union of Caliborn and Calliope, possibly even the Caliborn who made “HOMOSUCK” and is about to face Yaldabaoth.
Consider what Art!Caliborn says:
THE ATROCIOUS HATERS AND WEAK CHILDREN WILL SAY THAT I AM A MONSTER. THAT I AM THE BIGGEST BAD GUY. AND THAT MY EVIL CRIMES NEED TO BE STOPPED USING TANTRUM PUNCHES. BUT NO. I AM JUST A SIMPLE ARTIST.
I HUGELY INSIST. THAT I WALK THE PATH. NOT OF A VILLAIN. BUT OF AN ARTIST!!!
I mean, I think it’s pretty clear Art!Caliborn is not the one whose soul is trapped in Lil Cal and eventually becomes LE. And Calmasis’ description of “antihero and chief antagonist” indeed easily describes Art!Caliborn. So maybe he ends up fusing somehow with some form of Calliope, and that union forms Calmasis.
Regardless, tons of evidence supports an Alt!Calliope + Gamzee + Davepeta fusion, and I really think I’m on to something here. Whether or not they’re actually Calmasis (or form part of them) doesn’t really matter. I mostly chose to call them Calmasis as a placeholder name, for lack of anything better to name them. (Notice how I said, “For now, let’s call this fusion Calmasis.” Emphasis on “for now.”)
I mean, hey, maybe their fusion ends up being Zazzerpan? Or maybe they end up fusing with Art!Caliborn, too. We don’t really know. But for now, they need a name, and Calmasis seemed like the best one.
We already know Lord English is a fusion of the souls of Caliborn, Arquiusprite, and ½ Gamzee.
But what if there’s a Calliope counterpart? A fusion consisting of Alt!Calliope, Davepetasprite^2, and ½ Gamzee.
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Waaah! I recently hit 413 followers! This is so awesome! Thank you, everyone! ^_^
As a thank-you, have a low-quality selfie of me dressed as Roxy!
Remember John's MAGIC CHEST?
In here you keep an array of humorous and mystical ARTIFACTS, each one a devastating weapon in the hands of a SKILLED MAGICIAN or a CUNNING PRANKSTER.
This sounds eerily familiar.
A “MAGIC CHEST”...
...containing a “mystical ARTIFACT” that’s “a devastating weapon”...
VRISKA: The legend says there's some mystical ancient treasure hidden somewhere out here in the furthest ring. VRISKA: I'm assuming it's some kind of weapon. It's said that if you use it, or like, activ8te it in some way, [Lord English] can 8e defeated forever.
...“in the hands”...
..."of a SKILLED MAGICIAN or a CUNNING PRANKSTER."
JOHN: i thought for sure i was a goner, when suddenly i poofed away from his tentacly grasp like houdini’s slippery ghost. later i rematerialized to seize the tactical advantage!
JOHN: i am like the ultimate prankster now… nanna would be so proud!
John is now both.
The level of foreshadowing and callbacks in Homestuck, retroactively or otherwise, never ceases to amaze me.
Better late than never, I suppose. This ended up taking me longer than I thought. Plus I procrastinated on posting it. >_<
So, a bunch of battles take place:
The Condesce vs John, Roxy, Rose, and Kanaya (+ Jasprose, Nanna, and Jane)
The Felt vs Jake (+ Jane and undead army)
Cans vs Arquius (+ Dad)
Clover vs Karkat
Jack English vs Spades Slick vs Dave, Terezi, and Dirk
Bec Noir vs PM vs Jade
Yaldabaoth vs Caliborn
Hussie vs Vriska
Lord English vs the Ghost Army (including Meenah, Tavros, Aradia, and Davepeta)
The Fraymotifs are awesome! I love the Zazzerpan tornado callback from [S] Enter, and also Kanaya reading a book and applying lipstick while the others attack!
I’m guessing Kanaya never bought any Fraymotifs, or she would have used them. (They are insanely expensive, and I think Vriska and Terezi were the only ones who earned tons of boondollars. Plus Kanaya was focused on frog breeding.)
Roxy’s Void attacks are glorious. I have no words.
Wait, when and how did Die get his doll back?
Arquius attacks Cans by summoning robo-horses and bashing him repeatedly with the fridge containing Gamzee. Hilarious yet ominous!
Cans does his fourth wall-breaking attack by punching everyone out of the panel and onto LOFAF. Remember, Karkat was last here in Echidna’s lair, and he woke up when LE did the Rainbow Death Laser on his dream self. So now he can battle! ...With Clover. XD
So Crowbar kills Jake, and apparently the Condesce kills Rose and Kanaya, because Jane does the Lifey Thing on all three of them.
John uses the Fear No Anvil hammer! Nice callback!
It looks like Nannasprite attacks the Condesce with heavy objects from John’s house? But it doesn’t seem to affect Condy, and instead hurts John and Roxy?
Jake. Jake what are you doing. XD
Casey’s undead army! Hooray! I can mark that on my bingo card!
Dirk uses a Zilly Santa weapon!
When Dirk dies, Terezi and Dave use an amazing Fraymotif. From what I can tell... Terezi does the Mindy Thing, and envisions (at least) four alternate paths.
Then Dave selects the most favorable path’s timeline? Or he merges the most favorable choices into one timeline? It results in there being three splintered, living Dirks who then seem to merge.
And Slick somehow has two cuestaffs, one in staff form, another in gun form? I’m guessing the Slicks merged, too, then. So a timeline merger makes the most sense. Either way, nice callback to Slick riding the horse hitcher!
Dad is so powerful and strong, he intimidates Cans and Arquius! That really says something!
The battle between the dogs makes a nice parallel to a Cherub mating ritual, with PM as the Cherub heroine.
Interesting, though, how PM has a red background, while Jack has a green one.
Glimpse of Yaldabaoth’s face:
Vriska vs Hussie. This is hilarious and ridiculous! Also I guess this is a Problem Sleuth allusion? (And also looks like Caliborn’s art style, haha!)
As the interlude of “Eternity, Served Cold” (song from [S] Caliborn: Enter) plays, Alt!Calliope approaches the Green Sun, the processional cracks in Paradox Space are nearly complete, Lord English faces the ghost army, and Caliborn defeats his denizen and obtains the house juju and God Tier clock. This is... incredibly ominous, to say the least.
Also, the God Tier clock is stopped dead center with the Time symbol, I suppose indicating Caliborn’s earned immortality?
Serenity brings hope to the heroes! (I assume this is Serenity flying to different locations, rather than multiple fireflies?) Interesting how it first focuses on her body spiral, especially because [S] Caliborn: Enter ended on the red sun spiral right before this part of the song could begin. (Post on this here.)
Another callback!
The Mayor and Serenity reuniting is so adorable and heartwarming! :’) <3 (They’ve been separated since sometime before Year 2 of the meteor journey)
Tavros’ lance is made of Fiduspawn host plush bears, haha! (Apparently he had this weapon in [S] Make her pay.)
Aradia uses her Time spell while she, Meenah, and Tavros attack Lord English. Hehe, I love Aradia, and also I love all these callbacks!
Looking at it closely, it looks like Aradia makes Time for them, freezing LE in time, like she did before with Bec Noir. Meanwhile Meenah attacks very similarly to Dirk’s soul destroying spell; she must be stealing his Life force. (Shouldn’t it be cyan, though, like Jane’s Lifey Thing? Although, actually, Feferi’s Life powers are fuchsia, too. I suppose the color depends on the Life player’s color.)
Then it looks like LE tries to speed up the time Aradia made? Or otherwise do some sort of Timey Thing that resembles Dave’s record being scratched and then repaired. And then he breaks free.
Okay, this looks familiar, like a callback. But I can’t place where it’s from. This is bugging me!
This scene from [S] Game Over is the only similar reference I can think of, but it’s too different:
Ghost Army attacks! And also Shrek with his son Eridan ...who does not have ghost eyes? Hahaha, what even?! (Hello there, god tier Sollux and Latula ghosts! Nice to have sprites of Mage, Doom, and Mind garb!)
Davepeta! Undertale reference! THIS. IS. THE GREATEST. THING. EVER! I love this so much I am giddy!
I mean, Heart+Time basically IS Determination! So perfect! Also Davepeta has 33 HP, with reference to Nepeta’s number and how Davepeta uses the B33 emote.
A pink dream bubble next to a shrinking green bubble. More foreshadowing of the Green Sun’s destruction and the creation of a Pink Sun?
I’m really worried for Jane. I hope she’s not dead. We barely got to see her fight, and her showdown with the Condesce happened offscreen. This isn’t right.
Heir of Grief is such a lovely song! As is the sequence with the Beta Kids.
On LOTAK, Gamzee’s still in the fridge and crying. I never thought I’d say this, but... I... actually feel bad for him. :(
Love Crowbar’s stunned reaction to Jake defeating the felt. Also, victory for Karkat! He defeated the smallest, yet MOST DIFFICULT Felt member! Also Clover’s so kinky! XD (More on Karkat and Clover here.)
Jade auspisticizes Bec Noir and PM! But PM is so furious, she overcomes her Bec loyalty instincts and KO’s Jade, favoring her goal (Breath) over her bond (Blood).
That look of defeat on both Dirk and Dave... They know what must be done. :c
I am reminded of Dirk’s “shoulder to shoulder and to shoulder” line. Also Dave breaks Dirk’s Unbreakable Katana. For the first time since his death on LOFAF, Dave time travels to create stable time loops.
I already commented on the black hole with 2/3 of LOTAK and Gamzee, which is incredibly ominous.
PM slices off Bec Noir’s arm, KO’s him, and take the ring! This is not the first time a Jack has lost an arm to a kismesis who’s a queen.
Roxy takes down the Condesce?! Doesn’t Condy have an conditional mortality curse that her killer should inherit? Or was that transfer unique from the Handmaid to the Condesce? I guess it’s unclear. I’m incredibly skeptical of Condy being dead for good, though, considering her curse and how Terezi survived impalement (at least for a while).
It feels like Jane really got shafted in this upd8. She didn’t have much action or screen time, and basically her battle with the Condesce happened off-screen. If anyone should have taken down the Batterwitch, it should’ve been the heiress to Crockercorp. I guess we’ll have to see if Condy’s certainly dead.
That ending, though... That eerie ringing sound, the screen freezing and going static...
The clockwork mechanism being completely still and then fading to black on a white background... This is incredibly ominous. Not to mention those curtains didn’t close. (Compare Collide’s act closing to Cascade’s. In Cascade, the window curtains, though shredded, still closed.)
Some follow-up questions:
Where did Sollux go?
What happened to DD and CD?
How is it the comic went straight from A6A6I5 to A6A6A6 with no curtains closing to indicate the Intermission’s end?
But yeah, I am left with the strong impression this is a false victory. Lord English isn’t defeated, anyway, after all.
Wonderful flash, though! Major applause to everyone involved with making it! Looking toward to, yet incredibly uneasy and anxious about the upcoming finale.
Special thanks @hzapping for showing me how to make animated GIFs (ended up in the Clover post) and for helping me locate a bunch of reference links.
Today marks the 2nd anniversary of this blog!
Stats and highlights:
Posts: 105
Followers: 417
Total notes: 15712
Notes in past year: 10912
Notes in past 6 months: 1799
Top 10 popular posts in past 6 months:
Karkat x Clover
Classes Chart
Emerald Eye of the Storm
Dave the Archaeologist
Jack loses arm parallels
The Mirthful Messiahs: Lord English and Calmasis?
Classpect Profile Guide
“Maimed Clown. Undead Cat. Impaled Crow. Omnipotent Dog.”
413 Followers
2X3Prong Day
Most popular posts of all time (not including above, which are in bold):
Dave x Karkat Quadrants
John <3< Terezi?
Skaia’s clouds and Alt!Calliope
Vriska’s Return and the Alpha Timeline’s Fate
Vriskagram horse omen
Eight-ball dream bubble
The First Guardian of Beforus
Something I find interesting is how so many of my most popular posts involve “shipping” observation/speculation of some sort. I’m not sure if that’s a testament to the fandom (most likely) or to me being a Blood player (possibly) or both, but it amuses me.
In the past year, Homestuck has ended and the credits have rolled. Now we have Hiveswap coming soon and a possible epilogue to look forward to. Hopefully both will provide answers to many important questions that still remain.
As always, thanks for your support (and patience), everyone! Here’s to another year!
Everyone keeps debating what quadrant Dave and Karkat’s relationship is. Each has valid and supporting arguments, and they all make sense in their own ways.
But why limit it to just one? What if it’s actually ALL the quadrants?
It was said their love went beyond the four quadrants, transcending the grid entirely. Whatever that nonsense actually means.
Perhaps Karkat is following in the footsteps of his ancestor?
Okay, John's note that "it was gamzee," on the most obvious level, means Gamzee is responsible Nepeta's murder, not Vriska, whom Gamzee is framing and Terezi suspects.
But what if there's a deeper meaning to the message?
What if John inadvertently answered his own (and likely poor, confused Terezi's) question?:
"you don't need him."
Who's "him"?
"it was gamzee you idiot!!!"
By pairing together these two seemingly disconnected messages from John, maybe it'll plant the idea in Terezi's mind that Gamzee is the one she doesn't need. ...Unintentionally, at least on John's end. Granted, she probably won't even make this connection until much later, perhaps after more messages, but hey.
Inception, Egbert style.
ROSESPRITE: I kind of relish the idea of being a "less relevant" party member.
Rose always has gravitated toward Void more than Light.
The events of this update are taking place within one of Skaia’s vision clouds:
I bet Alt!Calliope is the one witnessing it!