#and there was zero hussie art in Collide? just no effort

[swimmingferret]

tbh it seems Homestuck and Game of Thrones suffered from the same problem of ‘writer is bored after nearly a decade of it and thus speed-runs the ending while throwing aside character arcs and actual story development so we get nonsensical shit that is incredibly unfulfilling and makes everyone mad since its so lackluster and crappy and no amount of good animation/effects will make up for substance without story’

like i get being tired of a project after so long but like i dunno, maybe attempt to wrap it up in a way that doesn’t utterly sour the rest of it because its clearly so crappily written and the end is just like ‘hey have this shit cause we’ll know you’ll eat it due to being fans for years’? I can’t even be bothered to really watch/read either thoroughly since I know they both have the same shit conclusions so I just occasionally watch/read the good parts and then get super mad at What Could Have Been if there had just been some passion in the writing at the end. 

[journeysintowebcomics]

Homestuck Liveblog #177

UPDATE 177: [S] Collide

Last time everything was set for the fights. Now Lord English was arriving to the dream bubble were the ghost army was, the Condesce had already been sighted in Derse, and all the varied Jacks are facing their respective foes. All in all, the stage is set, all that remains is for it all to start. So let’s get going into this!

Yeah, Lord English arrived and is already furious. Should I expect him to blast everything with lasers to kingdom come in ten seconds flat? That’d be anticlimactic but fitting for his power. It’s all a contrast for how his younger self is right now entering Yaldabaoth’s lair, having completed his game. There’s something in his hand but I’m not sure yet what it is.

Well it’s a foregone conclusion that Caliborn is going to win. Chances the fight will be shown? Zero. Hussie has a track record of not showing any conversations or fight with the denizens. Oh well. At least the art is nice.

After three years of constant flying, Bec Noir and the Mendicant have arrived to the other session, landing in the ruined remains of Prospit. Good location for a fight, given the Mendicant’s former home many years ago. The place is shattered even further because of their considerable power. And that’s when Collide arrives! It’s time. Flash file.

I’m already aware it’s a long show, so I’m prepared. I have also been told that it’s crammed to the brim with fights, and to be frank it’s very difficult to talk about fights when they’re happening onscreen instead of being written. There’ll surely be moments for me to react to, so of course screenshots and all will come. All in all, here’s [S] Collide, after all this build-up. Here we go!

That’s a simple way to summarize everything so far in terms of length. Look at how much content there is. Act 6 has been a very, very long act, hasn’t it?

I have said it before and I have said it again, I like this artist’s style. It’s rather smooth-looking, it’s nice.

...welp. Karkat sure didn’t last long. I guess the danger of being the very first charge is that you’re pretty much an easy target. On the bright side at least Karkat is awake now.

Fight 1 starts. It has been so long since anything like the fraymotifs was used. When was the last time? It’s rather creative and quick-paced. Kanaya seems to be holding her own rather well, despite not having any god-tier powers – even though she stands back while the most powerful moves are in action. Don’t think I didn’t see you hanging back and reading a book while that stone wizard is battering the witch, Kanaya.

It sure is lucky that the Condesce’s eye lasers aren’t vaporizing anyone now unlike last time someone got hit by them.

Roxy is taking this more seriously than the others, it seems!

Okay, Jake isn’t alone against the Felt, ARquius is there too, hitting with the fridge that still has Gamzee inside. Guess that guy is going to be kept there for the rest of Homestuck. I had completely forgotten he still existed. Ever since the big retcon Gamzee is pretty much a nonentity in this story.

Karkat, having been robbed of the big target, sees the fight and focuses on Clover. It goes as well as you may expect – Clover simply doesn’t get hit no matter what. That’s not going to make Karkat happy at all, is it?

...I can’t believe Jake kicked the bucket already. Welp. Thanks for saving him, Jane.

Everything over here is going like one expected it to go. I still remember the very first intermission; it was a mess too. That’s just how things go when the Felt is involved.

Damn the music is good.

It doesn’t seem like things are going too badly over the fight in Dirk’s planet, leaving aside that Dirk also got shot to death. At least Terezi and Dave’s fraymotifs seem to fix that, somehow. The exact details of how this happened are a tad too quick for me to wonder about.

After a while looks like the Condesce has nothing to worry about, she has her four foes floating with pretty much no effort, watching ARquius dodge Cans’ punches like there’s nothing better to do. Hah! Well yeah, it’d have been disappointing if it had been so easy their fight was over by now, of course the Condesce was going to get the advantage over them at some point!

I had missed this man’s strength. Hey there, Mr. Crocker, nice time to get out of the prison! Guess he had enough of watching things happen and just had to help ARquius. That’s bound to go well!

...Jade’s not having much success about calming Bec Noir and the Mendicant, apparently. Not that she’s trying too hard, anyways, her powers are more focused on keeping space in order – so to say.

I almost can’t believe Hussie really gave a moment to Caliborn fighting his denizen. After all this long, something like that is finally seen? About time! Not that there’s much time to watch, there are like...what, six different strifes going on right now? And there are three that receive more attention than the rest, the others aren’t that important.

Make that seven. Hussie himself is still hassling Vriska. Congratulations, Vriska, your big fight is against Hussie. Not the shining moment of bravery and fight against great foes you had expected, eh?

Oh, stop flaunting your control over everyone’s life-and-death status, Hussie, you jerk.

Caliborn defeated his denizen, as expected. The little guy is feeling damn proud of that, and the treasure he came to receive is right there – the house juju. There’s also his clock, the one that kept track of his resurrection – or lack of one – depending on what type of death it was. Right, even though he has the powers of the Green Sun and all, that clock still should be in effect, shouldn’t it? And by now there’s pretty much no doubt any death would classify as Just. The problem is how to actually cause his death.

The music has changed while that firefly flies around. I remember a similar tune like this one before in Homestuck, but I don’t remember where exactly.  Maybe I’ll remember later.

Karkat really isn’t taking well that Clover is pretty much defeating him without even taking this too seriously. Welp.

Looks like the fight with Lord English has its own music. That’s fitting!

Meenah and Tavros have survived more than five seconds, that’s promising! Not the same can be said about many among the ghost army – who are pretty much just standing around and being canon fodder while Meenah and the others do all the job. Why were they getting a ghost army, again?

About time they did something!

Davepetasprite isn’t doing too badly, maybe they were right and they really were going to be specially damaging against him. Then again, it’s two characters that are used to fighting – even if Davesprite didn’t indulge in fighting since Bro’s death, if I remember right.

Well that sure is something! I suppose that was to be expected, I think I once heard the creator of that game worked on Homestuck. Still, that was a reference I can’t really say I expected.

...well that’s one down. Without healing this is only bound to get harder over here. Mr. Crocker isn’t doing too well either.

There’s something meaningful in seeing short snippets of moments from acts ago, coupled with the Wonderkids’ symbols in the Homestucl house. Makes one look back at such moments fondly.

Nobody is doing well at all, damn it!

Nevermind, things suddenly started looking up! Congratulations, Jake, you defeated many mobsters pretty much by yourself. Mr. Crocker and Karkat finished their own fights too, that makes four finished. And right after that, Jade’s finally starting to do something more proactive in stopping the dogs from fighting further.

Nnnnnnevermind that too, she has been knocked out. The Mendicant must be very determined to fight, if she went against the princess of her moon and against the dog instincts part. Bec Noir is screwed.

Everything’s happening so fast. One moment I’m typing, the next moment—

Yeah, that. This is like the third time Dirk is decapitated during this webcomic. Knowing Dave, it can’t have been easy to go ahead and cut Dirk’s head off, but it’s over, Union Jack and Spades Slick are gone. So is Dirk’s planet – not a good omen, I remember the destroyed planets in the Game Over timeline all belonged to the kids that died. Well darn it.

It took three years in-story but this plot point is over. Must be satisfying to be done after so long.

...and this one is over too! Turns out that katana really did come handy, after all! There’s something very fitting in it being Roxy who managed to give the final blow here, not only she had to live in a world that was destroyed after everything the Condesce did, she also was the only survivor besides John from what happened in the Game Over timeline, where many deaths were a consequence of the Condesce’s actions. Great! I’m happy for her!

So this means the only antagonist left is Lord English. Hussie pretty much eliminated everyone else in an eighteen-minute long video. That was fast! And fun. I’m really impressed with the quality of this work. Also, the track here in the last six minutes or so is excellent. Homestuck always had great music. It’s laudable.

Okay, Collide is over. I think I’m going to put these two here...

It has been a long while since I had such completely positive thoughts about Homestuck. I’m glad I can finally increase points here. All in all, this was a great thing to watch! And I’m sorry it took me three days to do it, I have been rather busy over here. But it’s done! And I think Collide may be my favorite flash video in Homestuck. It’s simply so good. Hard to talk about it without gushing praise.

Next update: next time