ANTSY PANTS 4/13 UPDATE DANCE: IT DOESN'T GET ANTSIER

So, let's just get the general WOW factor out of the way up front.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Okay I think I'm good. I mean, talk about a satisfying climax. That was some of the funnest, catchiest music I've heard from Homestuck yet, plus seeing all the sprites go at it. The return of fraymotifs!! I know some people have been hoping for that. Really to see how they're used in this flash makes it seem like they were intended for god tiers all along.

Oh, also, I was right about my guess mostly, about it transitioning to Act 6 Act 6 Act 6 and having a big flash that settles the fight, while there's also more to come. Though I expected the 40 pages to be more lead-in to the finale proper, Act 7, rather than continuing to wrap things up. I've got a feeling these next 40 pages are going to be some of the most fascinating and emotional in the comic. And about 12 minutes of projected flash time left to spice up those moments, of which some amount of that is surely tied into Act 7 itself, which I still believe will be more of an epilogue-esque "THIS IS THE END" type thing than anything which involves itself in the resolution of plot. Ideally, because all that will have been taken care of already.

I don't know if all these updates will be out on midnight, but I don't think I'll be staying up to catch them. That was a one-time special occasion for the eoa6, since it's worth having as much time as possible to process THAT. But the remaining pages shouldn't be too much for me to handle. Although, I wouldn't mind if they ARE, per se....

And I think I'm done trying to guess where the update will go from here. At this point, I don't dare chance it. I'm just along for the ride as long as it'll have me.

So, what else is there to even say? That ending was pretty emotional, wasn't it? And we're learning some interesting things. Caliborn's powers almost certainly originate from the clock he seems to have gotten from Yaldabaoth (which btw did the glimpse of his face remind anyone else of demonhead mobster kingpin?), one that he almost certainly later entrusts to Doc Scratch. One which doubles as both a convenient shortcut to this session, as well as some kind of node which runs a computer code relevant to him. A clock that has also proved itself to be intrinsically linked to the revivification of other God Tiers, always flashing rainbow colors in a familiar fashion when it does. I have questions about this, and I hope and expect they will be answered.

While we're on the subject of Lord English... hmm. See... I guess I always kind of imagined he was more than what people made of him. And I think he is in some respects still! But... you know, I thought he'd maybe carry himself with more dignity than...

Look, what I'm trying to say is I didn't suspect his battle style would be like the spastic crossbreed of a pro wrestler and a trapeze artist.

It's actually pretty wonderful. And all this strife overall is just fantastic. It's so frenetic and fast paced I feel like I could watch for hours and hours and keep seeing new things and making connections I'd missed before. So, if it's cool with all y'all, I think that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I think he was probably starting to feel nervous. Jack could never deal with the sudden overwhelming feelings of love and loyalty that overcame him, especially once they took him over completely when he saw her die in EoA5. I guess they did for PM too when she saw her die in the Game Over reality, but when Jade was alive, well, and getting in the way of the revenge she'd sought after for so long, she found the inner strength to overcome Bec's instinctual feelings. I think this is when Jack, as well as the audience, realized she is stronger than him. At that point, it was already over.

The way I see it, the flash kind of brings to mind a lot of the feeling the comic had a long time ago, like the old strifes from Acts 1, 2, & 3. But upgrading them to be even crazier. So there's a lot of zany silliness, but you can also get emotionally invested behind it because it's The Final Battle. I think the tail end of the flash is what sealed the deal with that dramatic song. But even while watching Jake goof around with the Felt like a bunch of morons, I still thought it was as epic as it was ridiculous. I guess it's a perception thing.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention this but I thought I heard this too. How curiously foreboding.

This was something that occurred to me after the fact like a fridge moment thing. I haven't gone back to see if Dave actually broke it or not. I was hoping I wasn't the only one who thought of / noticed it.

Well, first, his threat absolutely was his level of power. He has specifically been mentioned to be much more powerful than various other threatening forces, such as Bec Noir. He's completely invincible and has power that can break the fabric of reality if he wants. But there is a point to what you say, with a simple explanation: everything is still going as he wants it to. He has no need for the Condesce or his other pawns, so he has allowed them to meet their ends. This twist I think will still become clear shortly. After all, he does need their session to bear fruit, and he owes the kids a lot for what they did for him.

I probably shouldn't jump all over this one point since you're just voicing some of your many varied feelings, but it seems to me like you have to have a pretty specific image in your mind about how things are "supposed" to go to be disappointed by this fight scene. Either that, or you just haven't watched it enough yet. Maybe you should watch it some more. Maybe I should too. I think I will.

I disagree, this feels like something that's been built up to for a long time. I never really bought what people said about strife being a fruitless action or even that there really needed to be a ridiculously complex sequence of events just to resolve a whole lot of heroes and villains facing off. That said, this is clearly only PART of the finale, where all the lesser villains meet their ends, leaving only English and his machinations at center stage for the remainder of the climax.

I guess it feels fanservicey in the way that Homestuck has ALWAYS been fanservicey, by very nature of its production.

I think PM is going to be okay. She just needed to let out her emotions after finally defeating Jack. And yeah, a definite turn for the unsettling at the last moment of the flash. I think things are about to get really, really hairy.

I like your first theory. It's deceptively simple, perhaps quite clever. I don't know if LE will be duped that easily, though. It would also go against her theme of being hidden, unnoticed.

On the other hand, I don't like the idea of Caliborn crowbarring the clock to become immortal. I mean, for one thing, we've seen what happens when the clock is destroyed with the crowbar, and it was shown to be repaired. It could be something similar, though. We'll see soon enough, of course. It's surprising how much there is that feels up in the air even this late in the story.

I know what you mean, I was struck by the same thought. He was the one who felt as if something was "missing" way back in that overdramatic speech in Act 1, and in some hard to describe way he's always been kind of different from his friends or even any of the other characters period, even before he became retJohn.

Oh wow, good catch.

Holy. SHIT.

The apparent black hole thing really is interesting. It might not mean anything other than that there's now very much of a hurry to escape the session. It's certainly one of the more interesting consequences of this battle, and something I wasn't expecting. I wonder what that implies for Lord English, who had a similar energy field around him at the end of his fight segment. Not that I think he's about to explode, but if something was somehow able to kill him....!

A climactic Intermission 3 would be quite appropriate, but remember there have been pages after the end of some acts but before the beginning of the next, such as the rather lengthy segment between Descend and Act 5, and that's more than possible here. But, now that you've mentioned it, I definitely would like to see an Intermission 3 link, especially if it's a flash of some kind.

I essentially agree, the art is actually extremely diverse. Given the lead-in of guest art for the past 100+ pages, the incredibly frenetic pace of the flash, and the sheer diversity of the art going on all the time, made me essentially stop noticing. And I've quietly minded guest art before, but I really think it works to the benefit of the flash this time. It's just a lot of fun.

Everything about this is fantastic and amazing and I'd like to see some followup on it in the comic.

Again I should probably quit picking at minor nitpicks, and I don't even really disagree myself, but what's so great about Hussie's art anyway, normal HS style is boring at this point. I agree about being drawn out though. The only place where I really feel it is with Condesce's death. She was a big villain, but not THAT big. I think some of it was so that the songs could play out without being trimmed down (too much). Which is fine, a little extra content never hurt anybody.

Maybe it was because time freezing attacks were going on in lots of the other battles, and he remembered John had a time stopping hammer.

I doubt it's a temporary measure to have it on youtube, but having it embedded on the page I think is not going to last. Cascade had a pause button too, you know.

I wouldn't mind this either, not that my computer can even handle 1080p youtube videos, but being able to circumvent flash lag is nice at any rate. It would be funny if he created the official homestuck youtube channel to only host this one video and nothing else, but I could easily see that being the case. If he doesn't upload past flashes onto it, he might still at least post the remaining flashes, or the Act 7 flash, on there. And yeah, they're all flashes. I won't stop calling them what they are.