Hiveswap Game Content Discussion Thread - NO SPOILER TAGS

Pet treats && Lamp/Cabinet ==> Pffff, I actually hadn't realized yet how there are so many things with mouths around here: dolls, paintings, stickers, pictures... even the Lord English castle has a mouth! xD

Pogs && Box ==> That would indeed be pretty silly. On the other hand, I'm surprised Joey doesn't think of it as a serious idea considering how much she hates those pogs.

Oh man, haha, plainWonder's right, sneaky "tombs" and "crypts" reference right there. I would have totally missed that, haha.

Ballet slippers && Box ==> Huh, "extra pair"? Where's her main pair then? Is it at the ballet school itself, perhaps? That would make sense.

Also, I always love it when Homestuck/Hiveswap decides to go down the route of discussing metaphors literally.

Pogs && Lite Brite ==> Ahahaha, yes that does sound really similar to each other. Thank goodness Lord English doesn't have a pog leg.

Pogs && Jude's door ==> Pffff, it would be amazing if that's the ending to Hiveswap: Joey gets a heartful reunion and then Jude is suddenly like: "What did you do to my pogs?!" xD

Pet treats && Jude's door ==> Well, at least that confirms Jude's pet would EAT those things. That means it's at least a SOMEWHAT normal pet.

Oh boy, now it's time to move on! Now we should be right at the top of the stairs. I wonder if the stairs themselves will also be part of what's loading now or it if it will load separately?

Also, I'm really curious to see all those pictures above the stairs!!! We've seen plenty of them in concept art before, but it'll be really cool to see them up close in the game now, and see what Joey has to say about them!

Plus, I also just realized we haven't seen any pictures of Grandpa so far, only Joey's drawing of him and the paper figure. Meanwhile, we HAVE seen pictures of Joey herself, Jude, Tesseract, Ms. Claire, and the babysitter already.

I wonder if Jude's got some pictures of Grandpa in his own room? That's probably something we'll only discover in Hauntswitch.

....


Oooooooooooooh!

Gosh just look at all those things.

Let's start on the right: looks like a picture frame was broken there! Probably by the monster when it was chasing Joey to her room. I wonder if we can pick it up and look at it and/or put it in our inventory? I wonder what's on the picture...

Or maybe it was just a little mirror? We can't immediately see any picture lying there and just some glass shards.

What are all those small colourful things on that desk? They kinda look like mini-Scalemates to me and/or like those Pokémon substitute dolls. xD

There's also a paper with some colours on it on the desk... I was wondering what that is, but plainWonder's probably right that it's one of those games (I have no idea what it's actually called) where you can like put your hand in and show little pieces of the paper one at the time (okay I'm explaining this terribly you probably all know what it is anyway xD).

And then... THE PICTURES!!!!

First of all, the Ms. Claire picture! Looks like it was a gift to Grandpa (who has now officially been confirmed as being named Jake in B1, not that there should have been any doubt about it)!! "To my biggest fan" or something? To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if he never actually came for the dancing (I mean, we haven't really seen any hints yet that Grandpa/Jake likes dancing/dancers), but just because he thought Ms. Claire was beautiful.

And plainWonder made a very good remark, we can see the initial of Ms. Claire's first name, It's A!!!! He does have a good point that it sounds familiar and that we've probably seen it in concept art before. And I believe he's right that when we first learned that I theorized her first name would be Anna! To fit in with people's theories that Nanna's real name would be Anna (before we met Jane) and the meta poke at it in Pony Pals!

Anna Claire does sound really nice, and it would fit nicely with the 4-6 letter patterns in the first names and last names of all members of the human Prospit Dreamer family, and even Joey and Jude follow that pattern (yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense that they would be Prospit Dreamers ).

After that, there's some really adorable pictures of Joey, Jude and Tesseract, n'awwww. Including some pictures of Joey and Jude as babies right near the picture of Ms. Claire at the top!

And then, the pictures to the left are the ones I'm REALLY excited about, and which we've sadly also already seen in concept art before. First of all, the picture of Nanna, Grandpa and Halley! I'm just really glad that Grandpa didn't entirely forget about Nanna and carried her around with him, in a certain way.

Also, looks like there's also a picture there of just Grandpa and Halley, possibly taken after they'd ventured off alone.

Then, the wedding picture of Grandpa and Ms. Claire!!! We've also seen that before, but something that just occurred to me is that Grandpa appears with EYES there! That's a first.

Which is also making me realize... Ms. Claire is always depicted with eyes as well!

So in that regard it seems like adults are being drawn differently in Hiveswap than they were drawn during Homestuck, that's pretty interesting to see!

Heh, I also just realized that if you think away Ms. Claire's eyes she'd kind of look like Mom! And her eyes do look somewhat similar to Rose and Roxy's.

Next up is the picture of the babysitter with Joey and Jude! I don't really have anything new to say about that, other than I just noticed she's also wearing her cat symbol on there! Nice.

And finally... the picture of Grandpa and the deer. Oh deer god (sorry), Dammek's probably going to get pretty angry about that when he sees it, considering his relationship to deers.

Actually, I imagine there'll be plenty of Grandpa's exploits that he wouldn't approve of.

Alright, that's all I've got to say for now. Let's see what we can examine closer here!

...Welp, okay, we can't examine anything at the top of the stairs. Let's just assume that frame was attached to a little mirror or something and didn't have a picture.

Pffff, Joey's "mostly-great" family. Yeah, I wonder what she'll have to say about Grandpa when we examine his pictures. :/

Ooooh, so now we can see them from a bit closer and examine each of them individually! Hell yes.

Uh... that picture of Baby Joey up there. Is that... her on top of a cat? That reminds me of the picture of Tesseract with a cat on Joey's door. I wonder if one of them (or both) are cats of Mom and possibly related to Jaspers/Mutie? I wonder if Joey will mention something about it when we examine the picture! plainWonder has a good point that perhaps Ms. Claire had cats herself too?

Also, d'awww, in that one picture of Joey and Tesseract she's actually being licked by her dog, n'aww.

And look at all those toys in the picture of Joey and Jude with their babysitter. I imagine they'll have had a lot of fun times together! Is... is that a Loch Ness-like monster toy in the foregound? xD

I really like how you can tell the difference between the older and the new pictures, by the way. Not just by the picture itself which of course doesn't have as much colour gradations, but also the frames! Those frames of the older pictures look much more decorated and gold than the new ones, which seem like more modern and normal picture frames. That's a nice detail.

Alright, let's start examining the pictures closer, I'm really curious what Joey's going to say about them!

Pfffffffff, "GLAMNIFIQUE"

That entire little piece of narration as she examines Ms. Claire's picture is brilliant. Sadly, no comment about the message/name on it though.

Good dog, best friend! D'aww. Also, I just realized that Tessseract's tongue looks a bit greenish in that picture, hehe. I also think it's pretty funny how Tesseract's eyes are not on the picture, making it almost seem like he doesn't have any, just like Bec.

D'aww, so Joey wanted to make a picture of Ms. Claire, Jude and herself together. Yeah, it doesn't look like there's any pictures featuring Jude and Ms. Claire together. I still wonder what the deal with that is, but I really wouldn't be surprised if he was only born after her death, considering Ms. Claire died when Joey was still a baby.

I mean, I find it highly unlikely that Jude's actually a meteor baby and crushed Ms. Claire upon landing, but I guess we just don't know!

Oooooh, so those pictures of Joey and Jude are school portraits! Makes sense, especially considering how Jude seems to be having a hard time putting up a proper smile. And actually, I like how Joey's smile also looks faked, when you compare it to the more natural picture of her together with her babysitter and Jude, where she's with a more natural smile!

I wish they did backgrounds for school portraits at our school too.

And yeah, I also didn't have a clue what diptych meant until we just looked it up, haha. So apparently that's literally just the name for a combination of two pictures like this.

Welp, Grandpa never told Joey anything about Nanna. Looks like he kept that to himself.

I wonder if he ever told about Nanna to Ms. Claire?

Also, hehe, yes Nanna was sort of Grandpa's "sister" and at the same time she wasn't. Joey, be glad you don't know how the actual story is behind that.

Pffff, Joey thinks Nanna might have died young. I love how it's basically the opposite of that, with Nanna having lived a long life until John landed, and even then after 13 years she came back to life (sort of) and after the end of Homestuck she's still alive and kicking (x2 combo!). Oh Joey, if you only knew.

Also, plainWonder has a good point about how Joey doesn't have a second cousin YET, considering how John has yet to land on Earth, haha.

It's pretty sad that Grandpa and Nanna didn't stay in touch. Otherwise after Ms. Claire's death perhaps Grandpa would have left them with Nanna and they could have grown up together with Dad! That would have been an interesting alternate timeline to see, one where John grows up with not just a dad but also an aunt and an uncle!

Well, it's good that Joey realizes the bad sides about Mom, that while she's trying very hard she's definitely not flawless.

Also GODDAMMIT, Joey's in the dark about how Mom grew up just like us. xD

I mean... I guess we do know a little bit more than she does, what with the room inside the Skaianet lab and all, but there's still quite some unanswered questions about all that.

Guess that's something we either won't ever know, or will only find out some other day.

...Eesh. plainWonder just came up with the theory that perhaps Grandpa found her after her meteor landed and observed her in the Skaianet lab, as she grew up there. That's... kind of a bit dark to think about.

Let's move on!

....OH MY GOD. THE REACTION TO OBSERVING THE WEDDING PICTURE IS SIMPLY THE BEST. Sadly, he was indeed born with those spectacles on, ahahahahaha! xD

That's an amazing meta joke.

(Also, let's all be glad he wasn't born with the moustache instead)

I also just realized how you can see the bridge between Jude's glasses, while there's no such thing for Grandpa! Another indication how it's glasses that cannot be removed?

Huh... that reaction to examining the Grandpa/Halley picture is quite fascinating! I actually hadn't realized yet how Grandpa made such an immense 180°-turnaround on animals. He seemed to care a lot about Halley, but then he became a hunter!

Did something indeed happen that made him change his mind, like Joey seems to be suggesting here?

That's something I've never thought about before, but I have no freaking clue what could have possibly caused it. Especially not something Halley could have done...?

...Eesh. That reaction to the Grandpa/deer picture is pretty cold. Yeah, it looks like Joey and Grandpa were very different from each other. I like how there's a sneaky stab at how Grandpa is normally never depicted with eyes and thus didn't look at her, but still. That's pretty sad to hear.

I would love to hear Grandpa's side of the story sometime. We know what Nanna thought of him, we know what Jade thinks of him, and we know what Joey thinks of him, but how does he look at all those things? I'd love to hear his own thoughts about why he left Nanna, why he left Joey and Jude, why he is the way that he is...

I guess... maybe the answer actually lies with Jake? We know that Jake learned that he prefers being alone, so maybe Grandpa also never saw himself as being really capable of raising Joey and Jude and that's why he simply avoids everyone?

Pfff, so if we try using any of our items on these portraits we simply get the same prompt and examine the pictures anyway, haha.

Alright, looks like we're done here! Let's see if there's anything more in this room before a new one gets loaded.

Kind of weird those purple smears on the right side...

GAMZEEEEEEEEEEEE *shakes fist*

Alright, at the bottom of the stairs a new room gets loaded! Looks like there's a window here, and to the right downstairs there seems to be a picture! So there's probably more stairs here to go further down, I imagine there won't be anything else here other than the window?

...

A STATUE!!!!!

Oh god that looks A LOT like a Denizen statue!

And plainWonder's right, it's probably meant to look like Abraxas! Seeing as it appears to have feathers AND of course that is supposed to be Jake's Denizen, so it makes sense that there'd be a reference to that Denizen (I mean, I guess Typheus would also have been possible, seeing as Grandpa DOES have a Typheus Minion ).

Haha, that's a really cool way to get Denizens into this, I wonder if we can examine the statue and see Joey's reaction to it.

Also, I wonder if we can look outside the window?

Pfff, "what is this guy so happy about anyway?" That reminds me of John's reactions to some of the pictures in his house.

But uh, Joey does raise a pretty good point. Grandpa must have gotten it from SOMEWHERE, so where did he get it from? Did he already visit the B1 session at this point and was that statue somewhere over there? Was it somewhere in the Frog Temple? As a matter of fact, does this mean Grandpa had already visited the Frog Temple prior to moving there together with Jade?

Looks like we can't look out the windows here!

Pogs && Abraxas statue ==> Ahahaha, I like how it's like Joey's making a sacrifice to please the gods or something. Also, there she goes again with using the word "serpents".

Pfff, I love how for a second it's like there's something mysterious about the statue and that it actually swallowed the pog or something. But no, that would be quite silly. xD

Pet treats && Abraxas statue ==> Joey really doesn't like snakes, does she?

Cherub Key && Abraxas statue ==> It probably reminds you of snakes because there are Cherub snakes depicted on your key, Joey.

Also, I guess they are SORT OF related to each other, in the way that both of these things have a mysterious connection to Sburb, and we have no clue where either of these things come from and how they got here in the first place.

Ballet slippers && Abraxas statue ==> Congratulations Joey, you just succesfully managed to dodge a snake statue. That's one step towards dodging real snakes, right?

Ooooh, I thought this would be all in this "room", but further up ahead there's a really cool coat of arms of Grandpa's, apparently! I love how there's blunderbusses on it on one hand (interestingly the first time actual firearms are shown in Hiveswap!), and on the other hand also a dog head which seems to be a reference to Bec!

I mean, obviously it's supposed to reference Halley, but I like how the eyes are depicted so small that it almost looks like they aren't there, just like with Bec.

Okay, so let's first examine that coat of arms, where we left off last time.

...

PFFFFFF, okay we can't even examine it. D'oh! >.<

Alright, let's move on the-

OH SHIT.

THE POWER IS OUT ALL OF A SUDDEN.

Welp, that came very suddenly. It's kind of like how Rose started out in her house without any power and had to navigate through it... only this giant manor is of course much scarier in the dark than their house was.

I wonder if there'll be a way to turn the power back on again? Maybe that's why we have to go to the basement?

Also, now her flashlight would definitely come in handy!

Oooooh, I like how the music has changed into a darker remix of the house theme.

D'aww, poor Joey. She's back to her scared pose from the beginning of the game.

Obviously this means Mom is nearby, only her presence could cause such a blackout!

Oh man, after having talked to Jude I kinda want to go back to the previous rooms, to see how they look in the dark now! The zoom-ins should also look ver differently now that everything is dark, eeeeesh.

And this should also mean that now the light switch in her room no longer works!

Okay, let's see what Joey and Jude have to say to each other.

....Pffff, Jude's still remaining very calm about all this.

Also, I'm kinda surprised Joey describes this as late afternoon, isn't it more like early evening/night, what with how the sun has been setting and it's been getting pretty dark outside? That's at least how I'd describe it, personally.

...Wow, even the family portraits on the stairs look so much creepier in the dark.

Huh, plainWonder has a good point that Joey's tv and pc shouldn't work anymore now, seeing as the power's out! So the computer, which we couldn't turn off ourselves, should now be shut down, and it should be impossible to start the Bubsy game on the tv again.

Oh wow, the lite brite doesn't work anymore either! So apparently that also works on electricity, I didn't expect that! I would have expected it to work on battery power, but apparently not.

I like how there's more light in this hallway than on the stairs, because of the light shining through the window over there.

Also, I bet the hallway where Joey's room is and especially the stairs to the attic should be REALLY dark now?

...Wait, I take my words back. The hallway of Joey's room looks pretty okay and... There's a big light shining down in the attic hallway? That's weird, I didn't notice there was a window there?

Also, I just noticed the jewelery chest is closed again! Even though it should have remained open after what we did earlier. And now it seems like we can't open it again! Looks like a small bug.

God, I really love the details of the shadows in the dark, even when you zoom in on items to look at them closer.

D'AWWWWW, poor Joey. It's pretty funny and sad at the same time how her animation looks happy when she reaches for the light switch in her room, and then it returns to being sad when the light doesn't turn on.

Oooooooh, I like how trying to "play" on the game console now gives a unique piece of narration because the power's off! That's really cool. Same thing with the computer, haha! I really like that What Pumpkin remembered to implement these unique things for when there's no longer power.

Hahaha, so there's a room in the attic stairway that's invisible from the perspective we're looking at it here, but shines down on us! That was really good thinking to provide a window here, to make sure we aren't in the complete dark here in these rooms.

The attic provides an even spookier aura through the window of the attic door now.

On a sidenote, I just had the funniest thought that it would be amazing if their family has a fireplace down there somewhere and all of a sudden it turns on, just like when Jade tried to sneak past Grandpa's stuffed corpse and suddenly the fireplace is lit.

Fortunately, this time there shouldn't be a stuffed corpse there to scare the hell out of Joey.

...

Or is there?

I just had the grim thought that we don't know yet what happened to Ms. Claire's corpse (if a corpse remained after whatever the hell happened to her). Did she get a funeral (like Jaspers)? Did she get cremated (like Nanna)? Or did she get stuffed (like Grandpa and Poppop)??

I highly doubt her corpse has been stuffed, what with how this game is also targeting some younger audiences, but you never know!

...I'd laugh if plainWonder's right and instead it's Colonel Sassacre's corpse! xD

On the other hand, on the off chance that Joey and Jude DO play Sburb at some later point post-Hiveswap/post-Hauntswitch, I kinda hope for Joey that they do have some sort of remains of Ms. Claire, so that she'd be capable of reviving her as a Sprite.

Anyway, enough of this silly business, let's move further downstairs!

Ooooh, there's a piano down there! It doesn't look like someone's played it in a very long time though. Did Ms. Claire perhaps play the piano? That's pretty interesting, considering how playing the piano has so far mainly been associated with the Egbert/Crocker family, but now we've also got something tying it to a different family!

I wonder if Joey and Jude even play any instrument at all, like the B1 Kids and B2 Kids do. Maybe not, seeing as Joey's already got her dancing. I wonder if Jude's got anything?

There's also some weird African mask there apparently? A souvenir of one of Grandpa and/or Ms. Claire's travels?

Oh boy, let's move on to the next room now!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. That is one GIANT hell of a living room!

Looks like there's a fair share of trophies here as well (and unlike the ones in Jade's house, these ones seem to be of real animals ), so that means the trophy room is going to be one hell of a place.

Pfff, I like how there are some toy darts on the TV as well.

And just look at all those things lying around! Some headphones and a walkman, video cassettes, books, niiiiiiice!

There's also a bunch of stuff still on the table there, looks like they haven't cleaned up after they had a meal there.

Ha, and of course, some blue lady references in the background.

plainWonder just made the observation that that clock in the background is actually ticking! That's actually really cool, what with how far in the background it is.

There's a pretty filled bookcase in the background!

Also, goddamn those squirrels on top of the tv. I know it shouldn't really be that funny, but something about them wearing those Grandpa-like hats just cracks me up.

I just noticed those doors leading outside over there. I guess we probably can't/won't open them, what with the danger outside?

There's also some other doors in here, I wonder if we can enter/examine them all?

Oh man, I also only just noticed that chalk box beneath the piano! And it looks just like WV's and Terezi's boxes, that's really cool.

A very unrelated thought just occurred to me, that so far there haven't been any references to the Wizard of Oz yet in Hiveswap, unlike the abundance of references to it in Homestuck!

I wonder if there will be some references to it at some point.

Anyway, enough of that, let's see what we can examine here.

Alright, looks like for now we can just examine this corner of the room, everything up to the tv, and to examine the rest a new room will have to load.

Let's first walk a bit more to the right...

Another bookcase! With a bunch of stuff I would normally not expect to see on a bookcase.

Pfff, Joey's descriptions of Grandpa's books are pretty funny and sad at the same time.

Also, the first taxidermy reference in Hiveswap so far! Though I bet there probably won't be any implications about using taxidermy on humans, haha.

Pet treats && bookcase ==> Huh?! Does this suggest Jude's pet might be a cat? I can't immediately think of a different kind of animal that would also chase mice around.

Is that the cat we saw Baby Joey climb on in the picture, or the cat we saw Tesseract jump at in another picture, or another cat entirely?

But... why would Joey be so upset by a cat? Does she just really not like cats or...?

Oh man. Ohhhhhhhhhh man. I really like plainWonder's theory that perhaps Jude's pet is a MUTANT CAT!!!! That would make a lot of sense, considering Mom definitely owned a mutant cat as a child (Mutie), so it's actually kind of likely that she donated a mutant cat to Jude!!!!

Oh man, that's my favorite theory about Jude's pet right now.

Either it's a (mutant) cat, or a snake. Calling it!

Tap shoes && Bookcase ==> Well, that's a mystery I didn't think needed solving, but dang if it didn't just get solved, so nice job.

Ballet slippers && Bookcase ==> Looks like Joey's not much of a reader and rather prefers her videogames and TV shows!

Joey's actually got a surprisingly large TV, for being in the nineties. Did rich people (like Grandpa) often own such large tv screens in the nineties already (or eighties even, considering this tv might have been there already since Joey was a baby, before Ms. Claire died)?

Pogs && TV ==> Pfff, I highly doubt throwing a pog at the TV would cause an explosion, Joey. xD

Pet treats && TV ==> N'aww. I could imagine her trying to feed an animal that appears on the TV, just like how she pretends to feed her animal posters.

Tap shoes && TV ==> Ooooh, isn't this the first time Fred Astaire is actually mentioned? I remember that we already saw he did quite some stuff with Ginger Rogers when we looked her up on Wikipedia, but I don't think it had been mentioned in Hiveswap yet, right?

Ballet slippers && TV ==> Eesh, poor Joey. It's really sad how she has to spend so much time alone while growing up, because of the abnormal situation she is in and not having any friends at all.

Oh wow, so that's not an ordinary remote control! It has so many functions, it actually kind of sounds like more modern technology with the smart homes and all.

Also, apparently they've got a garage! I wonder if there's a car there? That would be the first time we see a car of anyone other than John and Jane's father.

And we can apparently "scavenge" the remote? ...For the batteries, perhaps? I highly doubt they'll be useful, but let's see.

Actually, let's first try out the item combinations, just in case "scavenging" the remote will make it useless for item combinations.

Pogs && Remote ==> ...That sounds like one hell of a weird pog. I can't blame her for not liking pogs, in that case. 0_0

Pet treats && Remote ==> Well, that confirms something we'd been wondering about a few days ago: Tesseract DOES enter the house normally, it's not that she always remains outside.

Tap shoes && Remote ==> Pffff, that would be pretty weird, to control the TV by tap dance. Good way to get some exercise though. xD

Ballet slippers && Remote ==> Hahaha, to hell with remotes, Joey says! Long live dancing everywhere and anytime.

OH SHIT, we CAN retrieve the batteries from the remote! E-cell batteries, apparently. Gosh, how many different types of batteries are there in this house?!

Also... dear god, that probably means new item combinations? Unless it gives the same information as the other type of battery, for most combinations?

Huh, apparently there is also an option to "heft the remote" now.

Ahahaha, yes wouldn't that be lovely if she could just take some magical remote with her that can help her on her quest. xD

On the other hand, considering this is Grandpa we're talking about, I actually wouldn't be surprised if he built some useful functions into it or something.

So okay, it indeed gives the same bits of narration for the things in Joey's room. In that case, let's start with the item combinations just outside the attic and work our way down from there!

Batteries && Slinky ==> Wait... do slinkies really need batteries to operate? I never knew that.

E-Cell Batteries && Flashlight ==> Oh man, the struggle is real. I've had this issue lots of times in my life, where I think a particular type of battery fits and it turns out it doesn't. xD

Batteries && Caterpillar ==> Uh... 6 pairs of eyes? Where are the other 5 pairs then?

Also, she mentions them sensing the light, so for a second I thought the caterpillar's eyes might have looked differently in the dark now than they were in the light, but I don't immediately notice a difference.

Batteries && Golden globe thingy ==> Pfff, another combination that prompts her to spin it. This time no Joey animation though, sadly.

Batteries && Sufferer doll ==> Oh boy, can we not? xD

"He looks like he might enjoy it" ...

...

LET'S CARRY ON. 0_0

Batteries && Statue ==> "voice modulator that makes you sound like a skeleton" If that actually exists, dear god, point me to it because now you've made me curious. xD

Batteries && Lite Brite ==> Haha, so there's an outlet right behind it! Actually, have we even seen any other outlets in this house yet?

...Oh, plainWonder's right, there were outlets beneath Joey's gaming television, I forgot about those.

Anyway, this reminds me of what I was wondering yesterday after the power went out, about whether or not the lite brite worked on electricity or on batteries and thus if it would still be on or not after the power went out, haha.

Batteries && Jude's door ==> I highly doubt these batteries would even be small enough to slip them under the door in the first place.

Batteries && Universal Remote ==> Eeeesh, some more frustration towards Grandpa there.

Interestingly, this implies that Joey and Jude don't use the remote, and the tv for that matter, very often?

Anyway, that's it! We've done all the possible item combinations so far featuring the batteries, so let's move on to examine some new items!

Batteries && Beanbag chair ==> Yep, (un?)fortunately, the beanbag chair isn't a massage chair that runs on batteries.

Pogs && Beanbag chair ==> Can't possibly get more 1994 than this, am I right?

Cherub Key && Beanbag chair ==> Shocking revelation! You decide not to have a mental breakdown about it though.

Ballet slippers && Beanbag chair ==> Beanbag chair rises up on their echeladder to the highly-touted rank of BALLET BLOCKER. xD

Ooooh, so that's a cassette player over there, not a walkman! And this seems to be one of the few things in this house that Joey and Jude actually share with each other.

Huh, we can "salvage" it. Oh god, are we getting another pair of batteries here? xD

Cherub Key && Cassette player ==> Oh boy, insert spooky music here! Because of the key's presence, music comes out of a cassette player that isn't turned on and has dead batteries... Yikes!

Just like how it seemed to have some mysterious effects on the slinky as well...

Jeez, what the hell is that key even made of? xD

I'm also suddenly getting Revolution (the tv series) vibes, what with a magical trinket that activates devices that have become powerless.

Tap shoes && Cassette player ==> Pfff, when she started talking about tapes I first thought she was going to make a tape/tapping pun, haha.

Also, I don't think I've ever heard of Enya before, but I just looked her up on Wikipedia and it seems she's pretty famous in any case! Ireland's most succesful solo artist, that is pretty impressive.

And yes, it wouldn't work to listen to that music with those dead batteries... unless you've got a mysterious Cherub Key nearby, of course!

Ballet slippers && Cassette player ==> I assume a rose in an iceberg is a reference to Enya? xD

Hahaha, okay, so scavenging the cassette player doesn't actually make Joey put those batteries in her inventory. Aww, but I wanted to see a battery + battery item combination!

Hey look, there's a gameboy! Which we can apparently ALSO scrounge for batteries, haha.

So, this confirms that Joey isn't the only gamer here, Jude does like playing videogames as well!

Batteries && Gameboy ==> Pfffff, I hadn't even caught it until plainWonder pointed it out to me, but "lil' hombre" is probably meant to refer to "boy" as in Gameboy. xD

Ahahaha, I just love the lengths to which they're going to avoid literal namedrops.

Pet treats && Gameboy ==> A third option would be to press it against your screen and try to feed a virtual animal on it, like a Tamagotchi or something.

Ha, "the illusion of choice"! Oh man, that is giving me so many Homestuck character select screen flashbacks.

Tap shoes && Gameboy ==> Wait, Tatanga? Who's that?

*looks it up*

Oh, it's a Super Mario villain! From a few really old games.

I've played quite a few different Mario games, but none of those coincidentally.

Alright, looks like we're finished in this part of the room!

I thought there was only one way to progress further (by clicking somewhere further in the background to move there), but plainWonder spotted very nicely that we could also click near the piano!

And oooooh, that makes us look at the room in an entirely different perspective!!!!

So apparently the front door of the house is right there! I bet we probably can't/won't exit? I wonder what it looks like outside on that part of the house, though.

And there's a coat rack over there! Some pretty colorful clothing over there! I wonder who it belongs to.

Dear god that's one giant trophy hanging right above the front door. 0_0

And it looks like there's even a picture hanging on the wall of when Grandpa killed it. :/

Hehehe, "Pet Vet - The doctor is out"! That immediately reminds me of Aranea's "the sylph is out" silly business in Openbound.

That stuffed wolf though... that doesn't look too good. One of Grandpa's earlier experiments with taxidermy? :/

I really like that we're now getting a much closer look at the universal remote. That is indeed a preposterous amount of buttons!

Also, that stuffed bear right next to the door reminds me of the bear behind the clock on the other side of the room.

(I am also conveniently going to ignore that deer bear monstrosity on the other side of the front door)

What's with all that dirt right in front of the doors though?

Examining the bear trophy now...

Yeah, Grandpa sure does like leaving a lot of useless/terrifying crap around everywhere, doesn't he? :/

Of course, opening the door doesn't actually work.

Wait, Joey's scared of running into weirdos both outside and inside her home. I wonder who she classifies as weirdo, considering other than the monster there's nobody else inside and only Jude outside. Are Jude and his pet the weirdos?

Oh yeah, almost forgot to do the item combinations here!

Batteries && Bear trophy ==> ...It's indeed a good thing that this bear can't be activated to actually move around. 0_0

Pogs && Bear trophy ==> 10 points for coming up with amazing puns on the spot go to Joey!

Pet treats && Bear trophy ==> ...I think it's the latter, Joey. xD

Cherub Key && Bear trophy ==> THE PUNS. THEY DON'T STOP.

Tap shoes && Bear trophy ==> JOEY. STOP. YOU'RE KILLING ME WITH YOUR PUNS. XD

Pet treats && Front door ==> Hahaha, "guardians"! ...Actually, there's the deer trophy, which of course reminds me of Dammek. For a second I was entertaining the thought that these 3 were all refereencing actual Guardians, but eh, probably not because what would those other two even reference?

And anyway, what is it even with all these deer motifs throughout the house? Is that just to get hilarious/sad reactions out of Dammek in Hauntswitch? xD

Cherub Key && Front door ==> Wait, there's not even any lock on this door, like, at all??? That's really weird... and also unsafe.

Maybe Grandpa just always loses his keys and decided it would be handier if none of his doors would need keys at all? Honestly, I wouldn't even be surprised if that was his reasoning.

Batteries && Deer trophy ==> ...Yes, let's also file that idea under "can we not"? xD

Ballet slippers && Deer trophy ==> Oh deer (yes) god, I hadn't even realized yet how Grandpa and Joey both have stuffed animals, though in a totally different way. Eeeeesh.

---

So we could PLAY (A) HAUNTING MELODY on the piano... If I wasn't convinced Joey dislikes the instrument.
Call it a hunch, but the instrument isn't really well kept, after all.
She made it into her vet cabinet.

When we LOOK at the instrument... The polished keys beckon. Which brings to mind John's responses to the shit commands he got in early Homestuck.
... Shit in this context has meaning for both the intended reaction the response wanted to spur from John, as the insincere intent with which the command was given.

But Joey seems to indicate she can't play the instrument, I guess because she never learned how.

... The PLAY command confirms this hunch, and it also serves as another Homestuck shoutout.

BATTERIES + PIANO : Heheheh, indeed, it would have been clever if we could have triggered an A, D, E note!

CHERUB KEY + PIANO : Ooooh, when Joey holds the key, a soft song starts to play in her mind. Naggingly familiar, she calls it, yet bewitching and alien.
So, could it be that when the key is activated, the song that plays during the cutscene is a Homestuck remix? ^^

POINTES + PIANO: Power up those ballet moves! ... I figure HOT CROSS BUNS could be a workout video song, like something Jane Fonda exercises to?

Blaperile has the idea that maybe Dammek thinks the cherub key (that he probably has) is something that could've belonged to his ancestor!
Let's put aside the fact that lowbloods don't care all that much for ancestor myths, he could have found the key in a box bearing his symbol, intriguing him.

Taking a closer look at the gnu trophy painting, it becomes apparent that Joey didn't just try to 'heal' the mistaxidermified wolf, but also this painting, by covering it in tape.
The decorative nobs on the painting's frame look kind of like skulls with open mouths. (Lord English/golgothasTerror reference?)

Joey snarks at her Pa again in the description. ... I've had to make a double take a few times already when I see her mention her PA in all caps. I keep thinking "wait, who is Joey's Personal Assistant?"

---

So! Onwards, to the right, we start to make our way to the other side of the room.
More appearances of blue ladies! ... Yeah that interest of Grandpa never stopped being weird even after we got to know Nanna/Jane and her assigned cyan colour.
And now, with that lady lamp...

Also, Grandpa shot the Walrus from Alice in Wonderland. Well, at least some good came of the hunting addiction, that guy was a prick.
But seriously, Jude or Joey must've put that bowler hat there. Raising the question, did Grandpa wear bowler hats??

... Should I be scared that we can take a closer look at the blue beauty collection?
... Okay phew, that was actually pretty sensible. Also, more indication that Joey is attracted to girls.
Well, sure, the lady in question IS dancing, but I don't think that is why Joey would like to meet her.
Also, having zoomed in, we can spot the lamp underneath the lampshade. It replaces the head and just kind of sits there on the neck. Creepy.

Oooh, and here we could view another part of the living room, if we clicked at the bottom of the screen.

Those big windows, though. There's a monster visible in the backyard.
... I just hope it doesn't spot us when we pass the windows???

Okay, the windows aren't interactable at least?

Also, that tiger chair has a third claw on the headrest. That can't be comfortable.

Okay, we passed the windows without incident.
Onwards to the next part of the living room. I figure it's the one we could reach from the first screen when we entered this room.

---

Oooh, the rooms on this end are covered in prints, handprints and paws! Guess that the kids use this door to enter and exit the house most?
Well, granted, they probably leave for school this way.

Then there's the other blue lady lamp. The graffiti on the wallpaper says it all.

... Why does that lion have a rageface? ... That definitely isn't 90s. It's like someone made a painting of one of Grandpa's failed attempts at taxidermy.
... Grandpa made a painting of one of his failed attempts at taxidermy, didn't he?

There are a couple of pony figurines and plushes here. Also, something that looks like Dexter Laboratory's Cosalagoopagoop.

BOOK CLOSET : Welp, so Tess knocked these books off the shelves and they've just been lying there for three years.
Joey's "you're not good housekeepers" comment is spot on - for both her and her brother, Grandpa, and the babysitter.

POGS + BOOK CLOSET : Heheh, first time Joey really mentions something about the game played with the pogs.
"SLAM SESH", sounds pretty much what I did with Flippos.
I presume "sesh" is short for "session".

Oooh, seems like the doors are actually openable. But that's not for now, not yet.

TREATS + BOOK CLOSET : PFfff, this must be the only time Joey would even have considered withholding a treat for Tess.

POINTES + BOOK CLOSET : Now I'm picturing Joey doing a grand ballet leap across the book pile. So graceful.

Maybe the doors here lead to the kitchen? Anyway, that's not for now, like I said.

LAMP : ... Yeah, Joey. Yeah. That's probably why you didn't get rid of this.
BATTERIES + LAMP : ... It 'plainly' has power cord, apparently. I don't see it.
The other commands are not much better. This... Well, yeah, this is definitely cementing something with Joey.

LION PAINTING: 'It looks so real. Whoever painted this must have had a really good imagination, or they painted it really, really fast'. Pffff, perfection

TEDDBYBEAR OUTPATIENT CLINIC : N'aww, that is the cutest?? Also, "Arsala Teddybear" is the founder. Does that mean Arsala stems from the same root as Ursa, the latin word for bear?

The grandfather clock comes into view now, and I like how both in this screen and when we were further away, the pendulum is moving! That's a detail some games forget to include.

Hmm, using the items on the clinic doesn't work! Surprising. Maybe we can bring a stuffed animal to be fixed here, later?

I wonder, about the grandfather clock, whether those wings are from, like, an eagle, or just cast in bronze?

Hahahahahahahaha, I just read the time on the clock, and it's 11:11. Nice.
I guess the pendulum still moves but the hands are just stuck on that hour due to a fault in the mechanism.

BATTERIES + CLOCK : YEah, look at it go... Not moving the hands.

POGS + CLOCK : Again with the bear puns.

TREATS + CLOCK : Oh. Yeah, the clock is actually built INTO the bear. Eesh.

CHERUBK KEY + CLOCK : ... Oh yes. Joey mentions how something about the key and clock seems to match, and that's got to be a reference to Doc Scratch's snake-decorated clock!

POINTES + CLOCK : "Your ballet is like this bear-clock. Precise and FIERCE." Oh Joey.

Ooooh, the African masks to the side of the clock are clickable!
And, there appears to be a stash of paintings behind the clock for some reason.

Oh yeah, there was a door on this side of the room too, I almost forgot.

CHERUB KEY + MASKS : ... Yeah, a key through an eye would be macabre. Then again, so would a knife. Or a cigarette holder. And we've had those before in Homestuck.

POINTES + MASKS : Heh, pun on the word 'mask'/'masque'. I just knew it had to be a reference to something, didn't think it would be an actual type of performance, I was thinking more like masked balls.

Oooh, next to the door is a sneaky area to click on - the blue lady painting!
... Those arrows in the plant pot actually match quite nicely with the plant.

Huh, and we can use items on this painting! Does that mean something is hidden behind the painting? Or is there something we can combine with it??

... Oh god. Most of these ladies were friends with her mom?? ... Does that include the ladies that posed for the lamps, though?
I didn't think we'd get actual more info about these paintings.
They more of a throwaway gag with Jade, and there, it was said Grandpa got them from hairdresser parlors, faded pictures that were left hanging in the sun for too long.
... Well, to be fair, maybe Grandpa collected both.

Hmmm, but just like with the CLINIC, none of our items currently spurs a response. Dum dum dummm.

Maybe one of the doors here even leads to the cellar!
Hmm, the trophy room is probably most likely to be one of these, but then I wonder if perhaps the other is the kitchen with a door leading from there to the cellar?

---

Alright, let's go right!

...

HOOOOOLY SHIT THAT IS NOT THE KITCHEN. I REPEAT, THAT IS NOT THE KITCHEN.

What the actual fuck...

Wow, that's REALLY dark. And spooky.

I had a feeling the trophy room would be pretty scary with all the stuff there, in the dark, but this is definitely not what I was expecting!

And there's not even any MUSIC! Only some weird spooky noises in the background... oh dear god please don't let there be a monster here like plainWonder's suggesting.

Also, how the hell would Joey get anything done here in the dark! 0_0

Looks like she'll need her flashlight to accomplish anything here... and to get the flashlight working we need batteries, which I assume we'll be finding in the kitchen!

So maybe if we try doing anything in here, it won't really do much other than Joey or Jude suggesting to go to the kitchen for batteries?

Goddamn they did an amazing job with the spookyness of this room though.

Let's see...

Yeah, it doesn't matter where in the room we click, it seems.

Joey, you're not the only one getting the creeps from this room, me too. 0_0

Uh oh, Joey's also hearing something here, and she believes it's breathing... yikes! That's definitely suggesting a monster in here. I mean, there's not really another option, is there? Joey, Jude and Tesseract are the only living beings in this house (other than monsters), and they're all accounted for here.

Wait. That's not true, plainWonder's right, there's also Jude's pet.

...

Nah...

Or... could it? D:

Oh boy what will Jude have to say about this?

...

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE WALKIE TALKIE ISN'T WORKING, WHAT KIND OF SHIT IS THIS.

Oh god what is even going on in here, why am I suddenly getting all [S] Equius: Seek the Highb100d vibes up in here?! D:

So uh, what now? Is there anything else we can do but leave?

Do item combinations even do anything here?

...They do!!!

Pogs && darkness ==> Pfff, somehow Joey manages to continue slamming pogs, even in this of all situations. Oh Joey.

Cherub Key && darkness ==> Alas, the key only glows in the dark when it wants to.

On a random note, despite the fact that we can't see much of it yet, the things we DO see remind me a lot of Jade's Grand Foyer.

Okay, nothing left we can do here, let's get the fuck out.

...

OH JEEZ. "something heavy and wet slammed against it" uh what?

What... is that? I mean, those monsters don't really seem wet, do they? Jude's pet then...?

This is quite the mystery.

Oh hey, the walkie talkie works again now!

Eesh, Jude's got a good point that Joey should actually make restoring the electricity a priority, considering how it's so close to nightfall.

Huh... so to retrieve the attic key from the trophy room Joey would need electricity anyway? Where does Jude keep that thing?

Hmm... I tried thinking of something from Homestuck that could possibly function like this, and the only thing I can think of is that storage box where Jade's Dreambot was kept. I highly doubt Grandpa had that thing standing around here and Jude kept the key in there.

So I have no idea what the deal is with that!

Looks like that will be something to figure out later.

Oh hey look, we can examine the walkie talkie again for some more new dialogue! Probably to serve as a reminder that restoring the power is what we should be doing next?

Yep, that's exactly what it is! And furthermore, now we know exactly where we need to be (not that I thought we'd need to be somewhere else for that ).

I bet that if we go through those big door now we'll end up in a darkened kitchen, find batteries for our flashlight, possibly have our first strife (!!!), and then go to the basement to restore the power?

Sounds good to me!

Before we head over there, let's first see what narration we get if we now interact with the trophy room door again.

Yup, some narration about the fact that we can't open the door anymore. God what even is blocking it...

Okay, movin' on!

...

Aha, here we are! Indeed in the kitchen.

And will you look at that, the radio seems to be drawing our attention. ...Both visually AND audibly? At least, I'm assuming that awful noise in the background is some kind of static coming from the radio??

Alright, so it looks like this place has enough light coming in. Makes sense, considering that the setting sun's lights are falling in through this window! Unlike in the living room and hallway.

Let's see what else we can see here...

The fridge! Look at all those pictures on the fridge.

The first thing I notice is that adorable picture of Joey and Jude with what appears to be a puppy Tesseract? D'aww!

Pffhehe, and then a picture of what seems to be Jude's face pressing against the camera.

And of course, he's also got a picture of Bigfoot on there. Not sure what I was expecting.

And a silly picture of Grandpa on it too.

Also a few silly drawings on it. Nothing "crappy" like John, Jane and Karkat's drawings on their fridges though. xD

And hey, a telephone/fax hybrid right next to the fridge! I bet the telephone wires have been severed by the monsters or something.

What I'm also noticing is the hamster tubes, that led all the way from Jude's room to here. Looks like they stop here, and just go in a full circle (just off-screen right now) before coming back to the same point! Well then.

And there's also the chinese food remains like we've seen a few times before in concept art.

Hehehe, the colour pattern on that towel on the kitchen table reminds me of Roxy's scarf.

Hey, plainWonder's got a good point that we can hear a clock ticking in the background! I hadn't noticed that yet.

God just look at all those dishes they have yet to wash.

Eeeeesh, there's a web with spider included up there.

I like how the spider is actually animated and moving around there.

Oh hey, looks like I was wrong, the hamster tube doesn't stop there yet after all! There's another split point, with one part going back into the full circle, and two parts going other ways. I wonder where they go?

Oh shit!!! Moving further to the right, it appears there's more to the right of the kitchen! Probably the basement door like plainWonder suggests?

Interestingly, one part of the hamster tube is going directly down (probably to the basement), but what with the other part that's just wrapping around the corner?

...OH WHAT THE SHIT. xD

I moved slightly more to the right and suddenly there's a distinguished houseguest mummy over there, that scared me way more than it should have, hahahaha.

Looks like it's blocking a door, but where does that lead?

...Oh!! Maybe it's another entrance to the trophy room? It would make sense if, after Joey's restored the power, she decides to enter the trophy room this way instead of through the other door, seeing as it's blocked by something.

Alright, that's enough of that. Let's start examining some stuff here!

Pffff, Joey finds it unacceptable that her fax machine doesn't work anymore now that the power is out. I wonder who she even sent faxes to in the first place.

Batteries && Fax machine ==> Wait, really? There used to be actual battery-powered fax machines? I didn't know that, I thought they always worked on electricity.

Ahahaha, I love how Joey's considering the notion of faxing pogs and pet treats.

Cherub Key && Fax machine ==> Interestingly, this seems to be the first time the narration is addressing it as "green key", instead of just describing it as her heirloom.

Ballet slippers && Fax machine ==> Welp, another combination that doesn't work.

Moving on to the fridge now...

We've got a "Look" and "Snack" option! Hmm... I wouldn't be surprised if their fridge is pretty empty, considering the way they're living.

At least it probably isn't filled with stupid swords.

...Yep, the narration is confirming as much.

"tipsy babysitter" TipsyBabynostalgic?

Whoops, sorry.

Batteries && Fridge ==> Pffff, that cracked me up. Some A+ advice right there.

Is it just me, or are we getting more and more negative comments about the babysitter the further we go through the house? It definitely looks like her alcohol use made her a lot less competent as a babysitter... :/

Pogs && Fridge ==> Goddammit how did I not see this coming. xD

Cherub Key && Fridge ==> Joey's just having a field day with all these fridge puns, ahahaha. I wonder if the Cherub Key would do anything special if it was kept in the fridge though.

Ballet slippers && Fridge ==> Thank god that was the last fridge pun, for now. xD

Let's skip examining the radio and the back door for now.

Hehe, the comment about Joey not knowing how to open the window unless by breaking it is probably foreshadowing what we've seen in those trailers, of a monster and a pidgeon flying through the window into the kitchen. Sneaky.

Batteries && Window ==> Huh, that's the first time I've ever heard "gen-Xers".

Pogs && Window ==> Pfff, Joey, if you keep doing this at some point you'll be left with no pogs at all. xD

Cherub Key && Window ==> No Joey, if there's anything Homestuck has taught us it's that windows are for breaking and records are for scratching instead.

Tap shoes && Window ==> This is incredibly silly! :B

Ballet slippers && Window ==> That... was a surprisingly deep comment!

And what she's saying is true, today's the day that she finally gets to take center stage and be a real heroine. And she'll even be using her dances in combat against the monsters, so that's also true!

Funnily enough, she'll even be creating her OWN spotlight now thanks to the flashlight!

God if Joey was a Sburb player there's no way she wouldn't be a Hero of Light, right?

Oh hey, I just noticed that we can now finally examine those hamster tubes!

...So it IS indeed for Jude's pet!!! Well, that finally confirms it's at least something pretty small (and should mean it's definitely NOT the thing that's now blocking the Trophy Room, nor is it a mutant cat), but then the question is of course why Joey doesn't like it!

Right now, the most plausible theory to me seems plainWonder's theory that it's a snake!

Pet treats && Tube highway ==> Oh okay, so it doesn't like the treats and has a specific diet. HMMMMM.

Nope, still no clue.

I'm suddenly reminded of how Becquerel also had somewhat of a specific diet, what with those irradiated steaks.

Cherub Key && Tube highway ==> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH GOD

OH MY GOD.

If that isn't suggesting snakes then I don't know anymore!!!!

Now that we are somewhat more sure that it's a snake, I'm starting to wonder what's so special about it that Joey doesn't like it. Is it different from other snakes??? Is there something about it that somehow connects it to Lord English/Cherubs in general and the entire story of this Cherub Key and these portals???

THE PLOT THICKENS.

The question is of course if we're ever going to see the pet during this game or if it will have to wait until Hauntswitch.

Ballet slippers && Tube highway ==> I... GUESS snakes are pretty graceful in the way they slither around?

Examining the sink now...

Pfff, okay so they've got a system for who does the dishes when. Yes Jude, I think you'll owe her quite a bit when this is all over. xD

Cherub Key && Sink ==> Muffled "sucker" in the distance, am I right?

Now we're examining the Chinese food box on the floor...

Pffff, such a dilemma. To wash the dishes, or to take the thrash out? Hard choices.

It's interesting to know that Mom is apparently a good cook! I think that's the first time we hear of such a skill of hers/Roxy's, right?

Pogs && Chinese food box ==> Ahahaha, plainWonder's right, another reference to Joey suspecting those Pringles cans are used for the pogs. I'd kind of forgotten she'd talked about that before.

Okay, first new thing to examine here is the bag of dog food!

...

Wait what? Uh... Joey claims here that Mom is out doing groceries right now, but didn't her earlier conversation with Jude suggest that Mom was at home after a long working day or something and couldn't be reached anymore? Looks like one of these two must be false. Unless it's something a bit more complicated, like she DID have a long working day and warned them during the day she'd be doing groceries afterwards before coming over to them?

Hmm... I'm not sure what to think here. Should I assume both explanations are true but simply incomplete, or is it an oversight of the writers? I don't know, but for now I'll just go with the assumption that both things we've been told are true!

Ballet slippers && Dog food ==> Pfff, I just love how Joey always come up with adorable excuses to do a little tap or ballet dance at any possible time.

...Season-All Magic Spice Mix? Lol, probably some kind of ordinary spice, but I dig it.

I love how it's another reference to Mom/Roxy loving magic.

Hey look, there's also a "get" option? Is this something we can actually pick up??? If so that's pretty sneaky because it's not very noticeable in the background and we almost missed it!

Before we do that, let's first do the item combinations....

Oh man! It's basically not doing anything right now and rather suggesting WE PICK IT UP FIRST! Oh boy, that came unexpected. Let's see!

Season-All Magic Spice Mix: GET!

Ha, I like that it also disappeared from the holder it was in. At first I thought it was just holding some cups or something, before we examined it!

Looks like it's time to look at some spicy new item combinations. ;D

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Pogs ==> "Turn twelve already, pogs!" ...I wonder, could that be a sneaky hint that Jude is supposed to be 11 years old? That would make a 3-year difference between Joey and Jude, sounds reasonable to me!

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Tap shoes ==> Pffahahaha, I love how on one hand it sounds like they were running out of interesting item combination narrations, and on the other hand they found a fantastic way to solve that problem, hahaha. I... really don't know which ones of those are spices and which ones are tap-dancing words. xD

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Flashlight ==> Ahahaha, return of the "JOEY CLAIRE, EXTRAORDINAIRE". Gets me every time. xD Also, another amazing pun to add to the pile.

Holy shit, plainWonder has a good point. I totally hadn't noticed the clock hanging on the dark wall just at the corner of the kitchen, and the ticking sound that accompanies it!

Alright, let's now go through all other item combinations with the Season-All Magic Spice Mix and see what we get! Starting with Joey's room of course.

HERE WE GO!!!!!

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Connect Four ==> Pfff, instead of winning Connect Four horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, Joey just wins it tarragonally, like a pro. xD

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Ms. Claire picture ==> ...I have a feeling we're going to be sick to death of all these spicy puns by the thyme (eyyyyy) we're finished doing all these combinations.

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Hot Steppin' poster ==> Somehow, I knew that was going to be her reaction. xD

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Story That Keeps Happening poster ==> Un(?)fortunately I do not remember this sneezing turtle from The Neverending Story.

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Magical Animal Companion Heal Rescue poster (god the combination of these two is a mouthful) ==> Oh, so THAT's what a poultice is! I didn't know there was a special word for that, I indeed assumed it was "just" a hot wet towel/bandage, but I just looked it up and it's actually more than that! Well, good to know.

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Star Avenue poster ==> I actually didn't know "ginger" was a spice too! I mean, I looked up what it was and what the Dutch translation for it is and I know that's a spice, but I didn't know it was "ginger" in English! So that's a spicy pun I didn't see (taste?) coming. xD

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Game Controllers ==> Ahahaha, so Joey blows on games. I didn't know "Linka the Planeteer" was a Captain Planet reference actually, for a second I thought it was perhaps a reference to Link, the Wind Waker, from the Legend of Zelda.

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Window ==> Yes Joey, that will definitely work. xD

But actually, I do wonder what we can use this item for later on.

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Wardrobe ==> Ahahaha, meta reference to how these Homestuck kids always wear the same clothes (unless their name is Jade or Kanaya ).

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Toy shelf ==> Well, as lon as it didn't end up in Puppy Surprise, I'm good.

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Books ==> The only person who'd probably actually spice up the book and then eat it is WV.

Alright, we're done in Joey's room, time to move on to the attic and work our way down from there!

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Attic door ==> Huh! So normally the doorknob on the attic door can't be turned when it's locked, but it can when there's spice on it? That's pretty weird, I haven't heard that before.

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Pile of junk ==> Ahhh, so that's probably a reference to Thanksgiving? What with the cornucopia and it being the month of November?

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Slinky ==> Somehow I doubt that spicing it up would disturb it. xD

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Caterpillar doll ==> I... don't immediately see how this is related to the spice mix? Unless it's just supposed to be that the caterpillar could use some spicing up to continue on its way upstairs.

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Sufferer doll ==> PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF, I can't believe she actually tried it out. xD

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Lite Brite ==> Moral of the story: never let your kids play with a lite brite without supervision.

...Also, I accidentally wrote lite bite. xD

Heading downstairs now!

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Abraxas Statue ==> Wait... crawdad? plainWonder has a good point, that does sound a lot like Crabdad... Oh god, that's ACTUALLY a type of lobsters?

Oh goddammit, that is amazing.

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Cassette Player ==> Yeah, that would be like adding stardust to a cartridge. Unthinkable, am I right?

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Blue Lady Lamp ==> Pffff, I love how it says "leaning on the pun" instead of something like "leaning on the lamp" like people sometimes say.

Going back to the kitchen now!

Heh, opening the kitchen door I just noticed how it seems like there's a bright light coming outside of it, making it seem like the light is turned on in the kitchen!

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Fridge ==> Welp, now we know exactly what's in the fridge. Even worse than what I imagined. D:

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Sink ==> Pffff, but she goes ahead and does it anyway. That's our Joey alright. xD

Oh wow, we're finished with the item combinations already! That actually went faster than I expected, I kind of feared we'd actually be stuck with doing that for the rest of our playtime today. xD

Alright then, to move on!

First of, let's see what happens when we examine the back door. I assume we can't actually exit it, but it was probably safest that we waited with doing this anyway.

Hehe, her comment about the backyard being more awesome before there were monsters kind of reminds me of John's comments about his backyard when he's looking at his Imp-infested backyard.

Oh man, there's actually an "Open" option. Let's see what happens...

....Ahahaha, yes Joey, raking the leaves right now would be an excellent decision.

Also, now that I think about it, it's pretty funny that Joey does have interest in raking the leaves but NOT in putting the thrash outside or doing the dishes, hahaha.

Oh man, time to go to the right of the kitchen and see what's up with the doors/mummy here! Earlier I theorized that the door behind the mummy leads to the trophy room and will eventually be used by Joey to actually go inside, seeing as it's blocked on the other side. I wonder what's behind the other door? A toilet, maybe?

Ohhhh, yeah, plainWonder's probably right that it's the basement door, that was kind of stupid of me that I forgot about that.

Oh hey, we hadn't interacted with the thrash bag yet! Good thing that plainWonder noticed that.

Heh... Joey comments about how the waste is right next to the fridge. And while she's actually making a pretty good point about it there, it's just making me realize that we kind of do the same thing in our kitchen. xD

Pogs && Thrash bag ==> Pffff, oh Joey. That would be really rude.

Pet treats && Thrash bag ==> As Vriska would say: all the pets, all of them!

Season-All Magic Spice Mix && Back door ==> Hey, that's actually not that bad of an idea! It probably won't do anything, but still. Good idea.

Pet treats && Back door ==> Oh, okay. I actually thought Joey beckoning Tessract with the pet treats would be an actual thing at some point! Looks like she won't do that though. I guess retrieving her from the dog house will probably be up to Dammek and Jude!

Cherub Key && Back door ==> Eesh, no locks on their doors? I get it, they're in a pretty safe town, but still. You never know what might happen (and I don't just mean weird monsters appearing out of nowhere )

Time to examine the mummy!

Yesssss, there's a move option! I mean, she probably won't be capable of moving it with her bare hands and will need something else for that, but I imagine it will be possible at some point!

"the rest of the house" ? Oh dear god, that means it DOESN'T lead to the trophy room! Oh man, what rooms are still out there??? Then it seems like this will be something for us to discover in Hauntswitch instead of in Hiveswap!

I wonder why Grandpa blocked their access to it... is he hiding something there? Is there some Sburb stuff there already???

Yup, Joey can't move the mummy.

PHARAOH NAPOLEON OH DEAR GOD. YES. THAT IS PERFECT.

Pogs && Pharaoh Napoleon ==> Oh my god, are those pants painted on? Pffff, can this get even better?

Pet treats && Pharaoh Napoleon ==> As long as Tesseract doesn't think the mummy is yummy, we're good.

Oh boy, looks like we're done here! Let's try opening the basement door.

I wonder, are we perhaps going to get a repeat of the trophy room, with it being WAAAAAAAAAAAY too dark, so we just go back into the kitchen, get the flashlight some batteries and THEN move down?

Also, I find it highly likely that there's a monster in there somewhere, considering the fact that we've seen no monsters in her house yet so far, other than what is presumably a monster inside the trophy room.

Ahahahah, so she briefly opens the door, then closes it again until we get the flashlight working! No creepy look into the basement like with the trophy room.

You know what that means right... time to examine the radio! And presumably get our iconic flashlight working!! This is going to be exciting.

I wonder if we'll be able to use our flashlight whenever we want?

I mean, not that it would be particularly useful, but I'd find it interesting to move through the rest of the house (where we could still see relatively well in the dark) with our flashlight and just see what it looks like.

Pffff, looks like we can turn the radio off just like that and get rid of the awful static! Hahahaha, if we only knew. Though to be honest, after a while my mind just began filtering it out and I didn't really hear it anymore.

Oh god that Rumbo indeed looks awful.

Hehehe, we can't press the buttons on the front and re-activate the radio. Joey intends for it to stay that way.

Welp, Joey just broke the button up there and doesn't mind. Looks like they probably didn't use that radio very often? Or at least, Joey didn't. Maybe Jude did, if I recall correctly he did like music more than Joey (I believe he used the cassette player?), so maybe HE would mind.

Pffff, I love Joey's reaction to the tuner button. She is so completely blown away by this.

I wonder what those plasters are for... oh man, are they just for keeping the battery holder shut? xD

Ahahahah, I love how Joey acts like she doesn't even know that there are batteries inside the radio, when looking at the battery holder.

Time to pop open the battery holder!

Hehe, I like that we can still see the pink plaster on top of it, after it's been popped open. And also when we zoom out again and just standing in the kitchen, we can also see it being open!

There are the batteries!

Heheh, yes it would have been pretty spooky if the radio worked without batteries. On the other hand, with that Cherub Key nearby, I wouldn't have been that surprised considering it also worked on the cassette player!

GOTCHA. GOT THE CORRECT D-CELL BATTERIES!

Ahahaha, Joey contemplates putting the pogs inside the radio. The exchange she's imagining slightly reminds me of a mixture of Terezi's "coin? What coin? The prosecution sees no coin" scene, Dave contemplating putting piss inside the apple juice bottle and sending the code to John, and John's "remember, you're dealing with the pranking master!"

Anyway, looks like we're sadly not capable of leaving the pogs behind here. They will live to see another day (or planet, maybe ).

Oh man, plainWonder brought up an excellent point that we can now combine both types of battery with each other and see what happens! Hahaha, I've been waiting for that for a while now.

D-Cell batteries && E-Cell batteries ==> Land sakes alive, we're cooking with petrol now!

Okay, enough of that sillyness! Looks like it's time to put the batteries inside the flashlight for real now!

BOOYEAH. DONE IT.

This would be an excellent moment for Joey to ascend on her echeladder. xD

Let's see if we can now "use" the flashlight whenever we want, or at least combine it with other items, which we couldn't do before (though I kinda doubt the latter)?

...Nope! Neither of those can be done. Yeah, makes sense that Joey wants to save the battery for when she actually needs it. That's the most sensible thing to do here.

Well, here we are!

It's surprisingly light down in the basement, especially on the stairs, I'm not sure why Joey was so insistent on having her flashlight working before going down here.

But uh... that music though! That's surprisingly haunting and dark, much more than in the rest of the house.

No monster to be seen though, for now.

Maybe that giant monster that chased Joey into her house was the only one that entered the house, for now, and is the monster that is stuck in the trophy room?

Perhaps more monsters will only enter as soon as that kitchen window gets broken?

ANYWAY, let's look around a bit!

First of all, eesh, that lowest step on the basement stairs is broken in half. That looks pretty dangerous.

Apparently their washing machine is in the basement? That doesn't seem very handy, considering you'd need to go up/down those basement stairs every time you want to do the laundry. Though I imagine it helps to not have too much issues with the noise upstairs, haha.

And hey, there's a letter hanging on the wall. I can read a few words, but not all of it. I wonder if we can zoom in on it?

And yup, there's that Typheus minion thingy! Which, now that I think about it, does suggest that Grandpa's visited the Sburb session already prior to finding Baby Jade.

Pfff, there's also a bunch of hats of Grandpa there. This doesn't seem like an ideal place to be keeping them, to me.

Those Hawaiian dolls also look pretty silly.

Is... is that a narwhal trophy? 0_0

And of course, a fair share of blue lady portraits here too.

I've been noticing something peculiar though. Throughout the house (especially in the living room and in the basement) seem to be a lot of stuff of Grandpa, but a severe lack of stuff that seems to be of Ms. Claire's, other than for example the jewelery box. Are the rest of that stuff mostly in the other part of the house, or did Grandpa get rid of her stuff after she died? :/

Alright, time to examine some stuff.

Well, at least their washing machine is apparently still functional. I imagine they'd have a hard time replacing if it got broken, considering the lack of adults around.

All-Season Magic Spice Mix && Washing machine ==> Pfff, yes. That's indeed a pretty preposterous idea.

Cherub Key && Washing machine ==> And remember kids, always remove your priceless irreplacable heirlooms before doing your laundry! xD

Tap shoes && Washing machine ==> ...Now I'm slightly curious if it's possible to active the washing machine once we've turned the power back on.

Or at least, if it perhaps gives a different bit of narration then when trying this item combination again.

Ballet slippers && Washing machine ==> No dryer? Welp, that can't be good.

Ahahaha, that piece of narration when examining the laundry. When it first said "all neat and folded" I was immediately like "Eeeeeeh? That doesn't look very neat nor folded", and then the next bit confirmed exactly what I was thinking.

Batteries && Laundry ==> I just want to find an excuse to say JOEY CLAIRE, EXTRAORDINAIRE whenever I can now. xD

Pogs && Laundry ==> I didn't expect this nonsense combination would result into some more sadstuck.

Poor Joey...

Cherub Key && Laundry ==> Well, at least polishing the key with the sock didn't cause some more weird behaviour from it.

Tap shoes && Laundry ==> Huh? I wonder if that's a box we'll find somewhere else in the basement. Maybe this is a hint that if we use the tap shoes on it it will cause an item to fall out of it, like with that box in the hallway closet?

Hehehe, I find it pretty funny that we can't examine that Typheus minion in the background. Let's just ignore it, shall we? xD

That unsettling knight with the shorts can be examined though...

All-Season Magic Spice Mix && Knight ==> Well, as long as it doesn't get haunted, that is.

Pogs && Knight ==> Oh jeez, why do the pogs keep causing more "Joey reflecting on life sadstuck". D:

Cherub Key && Knight ==> Oh yes, I'm sure those knights would definitely have some KEY issues about it. ;D

Tap shoes && Knight ==> I immediately shrugged off the fire-breathing lizard thing as just a funny joke referencing dragons, but plainWonder does have a good point that this could be a sneaky hint to that mysterious axolotl creature we saw in very early concept-art!

Ballet slippers && Knight ==> All Joey needs is some shades now and then she's the punning master. B)

Examining the Hawaiian dolls now...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOH, well will you look at that! That's some interesting background information!!!

This confirms that Grandpa HAS already been to the Pacific! Perhaps that for some reason he knew the Frog Temple was somewhere over there, but didn't know where exactly, and thus spent a long time exploring until he finally found it?

If that's where he's been putting his main focus, that would certainly explain why he's always gone from home for such a long time!

The Typheus minion does suggest he's already been to the session, so presumably by now he's found the Frog Temple and has made his first visit there? And maybe now he's mainly doing research into the Frog Temple and how to develop Sburb?

Anyway, we've advanced a bit more to the left of the basement now, and I suddenly noticed those colorful dolls in those boxes in the background... Are those Squiddles?

Batteries && Hula girls ==> Yes, that ukelele is presumably acoustic... and presumably fake.

Pogs && Hula girls ==> Huh? Really? I mean, earlier on after the references to a Japanese variant I looked it up and found pogs might have originated in Japan centuries ago, but perhaps Hawaii simply made a similar thing?

Pet treats && Hula girls ==> Yeah, they're pretty ridiculously big. Kind of like the Houseguests, actually. And especially that blue lady doll at Jade's house.

Cherub Key && Hula girls ==> I'm sorry Joey, what are we doing to you! xD

Tap shoes && Hula girls ==> Another hint that we're supposed to use the tap shoes on that pile of boxes! God, I wonder what's going to happen there.

On one hand I think an item might fall out, like in the hallway closet, but plainWonder could be right too that a monster is hidden over there!

Oh hey, we can zoom in on the blue lady portraits! Which, like plainWonder just noticed, indeed resemble the ones we've already seen!

...Oh. Oh dear. plainWonder's got a point, what Joey's saying here about that it's okay to ignore something supposedly precious to you as long as you're paying attention to something kind of similar... that could reference how in just a year, Grandpa will apparently completely abandon Joey and Jude and instead focus all his attention on Jade. That's pretty awful. :/

...Oh no. Oh hell no. I also just realized the same could be said about Nanna: from what Nannasprite told us, it seemed like Grandpa cared a lot about her. And yet... he abandoned her and never came back to her, and instead he's admiring all these blue lady substitutes.

That is freaking terrible. God, Grandpa.... :/

On the other hand... I'm suddenly thinking of Jake again, post-retcon Jake to be precise. He felt that he'd screwed up with everyone he cared about, and for a while decided he'd be better off alone and they'd be better off without him.

Maybe Grandpa went through a similar phase, but unlike Jake he had no ACTUAL friends who could talk to him about it and have him make up with those? So instead Grandpa continued down this path, isolating himself more and more and abandoning Joey and Jude, just like he'd done with Nanna before.

Welp...

Again, I reiterate what I said before. I'd love to see things from HIS perspective some day. We know Nanna's side of the story, we know Joey's and soon Jude's, we know Jade's, and we even know Jake's... but we don't know what HE thinks about all this.

Anyway, wow. That was surprisingly deep. Moving on!

The narwhal now...

Welp, yeah, it's a big house to dump a lot of stuff in. I guess the same could be said about Jade's home, haha...ha.

Pet treats && Narwhal ==> Even in death... this narwhal won't eat pet treats.

Random thought here: those tubes in the background, are those (or at least one of them) part of Jude's tube highway? I mean, the kitchen did seem to suggest the tubes went further down to the basement, at least.

Huh, looks like we can't examine the box pile in the background. Then perhaps the one we're supposed to tap dance at is further to the left in the basement?

Let's go a bit further...

HOLY SHIT THOSE ARE BETTY CROCKER BOXES. D:

Fortunately with the spoon logo and not with the fork logo, of course.

But... eesh.

I mean, yeah, I guess he did inherit the company like Nannasprite told us, but still.

Hmm... the fact that there's actually only one pile of this stuff in the entire house and dumped on top of each other like thrash makes me wonder what Grandpa actually thinks of Betty Crocker, considering what Nanna told us he and she felt like about the Batterwitch.

Hehe, no actual Betty Crocker logo on the boxes. Because of copyright, probably.

But I like that they're still very recognizable, with the red spoon logo.

And hey, there's the thing to turn the power back on! So this is probably the pile of boxes the narration was hinting at that we needed to tap dance on, and I suppose it will cause the pile to collapse and the switch behind it to become accessible?

Let's first examine that mug in the foreground though...

Eesh, looks like Mom taps into Grandpa's booze sometimes. Welp. Kind of like how Roxy tapped into her own mom's booze stash.

You can even see some stuff inside of the mug apparently... yuck.

Pfff, plainWonder's got a point that the caption on the mug ("I love 'staches") is probably supposed to reference this booze stash. Oh my god, those clever bastards.

Cherub Key/Tap shoes && Mug ==> Yeah, while Mom is probably indeed a great babysitter and cares a lot about them, just like she'd later do with Rose, it's still clear that she's got some issues of her own.

So, some skiing stuff over there! I wonder who owned it, was it Grandpa's or Ms. Claire's?

Batteries && Skiing stuff ==> Welp, another combination that wasn't implemented.

Cherub Key && Skiing stuff ==> Sudden resolution out of nowhere!

Looks like Joey doesn't know either who this stuff belonged to.

If it WAS indeed Ms. Claire's, then that's one of the few personal belongings of her that still seem to be around here!

That purple cloth around the skiing stuff reminds me a lot of Eridan's cape with Kanaya's blood actually, haha.

Ballet slippers && Skiing stuff ==> Well well, so Joey doesn't just practice ballet, she also studies the history of it! That's interesting.

Oh boy, time to acknowledge the Betty Crocker pile! Let's first examine the box at the side, I'm not sure if it will provide a different reaction or not?

Hehehe, a surprisingly small reaction to it. Looks like it's just general cooking stuff then and not really belongings of Grandpa related to Betty Crocker?

Batteries && Betty Crocker box ==> NAMEDROP!

I guess they probably couldn't use the logo, but referencing the name wasn't really a problem?

Anyway, I love the reference to how in B2 Betty Crocker does much more than selling just baking stuff.

Cherub Key && Betty Crocker box ==> Huh, okay, that's interesting to know that Ms. Claire was a good cook but this stuff ISN'T hers. Did Ms. Claire for some reason not like Betty Crocker and/or find it suspicious?

Aaaaaaand it looks like while Joey knows what Betty Crocker is, she doesn't know that her pa inherited the company. :/

Let's wait with using the tap shoes for now...

Hey look, examining the pile provides a different reaction! Okay then, then it should be safe to use the tap shoes on the box already.

Tap shoes && Betty Crocker box ==> The hint can be hardly more obvious than this. xD

Okay, let's look at the pile!

Pfff, a small hint that Betty Crocker was selling some shady stuff back in B1 too.

Also, apparently "circuit breaker" is the word for the thing behind it!

Trying to "move the junkpile" screams at us louder than ever that we need to use the tap shoes on this thing, haha.

Batteries && Betty crocker pile ==> I can't believe I almost missed the "step up your game" pun/hint. xD

Pogs && Betty Crocker pile ==> It's fun to pretend. Kind of like Terezi's investigation of Tavros' corpse despite already knowing Vriska did it.

Pet treats && Betty Crocker pile ==> Ahhh, the eternal Homestuck question of whether or not magic is real. Never gets old.

Oh boy, time to use the tap shoes now and free up the circuit breaker!

OH SHIT SUDDEN (short) CUTSCENE.

Well, that came unexpected!

It's taken a while, considering this is the first cutscene since the opening animation, hahaha.

I assume the next one might be once we encounter a monster?

I like how all the boxes are now moved to the side.

Alright, let's examine the circuit breaker! I assume once we turn the power back on we'll get a conversation with Jude?

Pffff, I love how every single item combination is just basically screaming at Joey to FLIP THE DAMN SWITCH ALREADY. xD

Just before we actually go and flip the switch, I'm starting to wonder how the power went out in the first place. Did a monster come down here or something?

Which raises the question, is it still here???

Anyway, let's get on with it and FLIP THE SWITCH.

I wonder if it will immediately trigger another cutscene or not. Maybe it will just turn the power back on right here and that's it, or are we getting a montage of the power going back on throughout the house? Or maybe even summon a monster to this location and cause our first strife. 0_0

LET'S GO.

...

THAT SURE WAS A CUTSCENE ALRIGHT.

Oh man, turning the power back on startled a monster DOWN HERE!

I have a very bad feeling that if we head back now, we'll suddenly be jumped on by this monster and WILL ENGAGE IN OUR FIRST STRIFE.

This is really exciting!!!

On another note though, I like how the basement looks right now, with the power on.

I only just noticed that ridiculous giant purple doll in that pile in the background.

Oh shit... I just noticed a black moving thing just at the edge of the frame to the right, on the blue lady portraits. THE MONSTER IS RIGHT THERE.

I also just noticed that the black chain in the background is no longer shaking, like it first was before we turned the power back on.

Moving to the right ever so slowly.... god that monster looks scary. IT HAS SO MANY ARMS.

Anyway... it's time.

Time to face our destiny and face this monster in our very first strife!!!!!!

...Wait no, before we do, I just noticed how the back part of the Typheus minion looks a bit different in this light now, for a second I thought it was a giant Smuppte doll with a giant nose xD

OKAY.

THAT'S ENTIRELY ENOUGH OF ALL THIS STALLING

LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD

*One strife later*

Holy... CRAP.

That was AWESOME!!!!

First of all, I love how the Strife started out like the typical Homestuck strifes, with the "STRIFE!!!" text. It's just so awesome to see the return of that.

I absolutely LOVE how Joey started out in an abjuring pose much like John's during the early Homestuck acts!!! That's an amazing callback.

And then, all those punny attack names! God, there were a lot of them. Both from our side AND the snake's!!!

What I want to say is that I think it's really cool that we could use EVERY item during this strife, and get some unique reactions out of those!!! That just provided me with an immense amount of nostalgia to John's first Imp Strife, where he basically used all items in his inventory against the Imp!

I was kind of surprised that we couldn't use the flashlight itself against the monster, nor combinations of the items, but nonetheless, this was really cool!

After we first used the tap shoes, for a short time we were pretty clueless on what we needed to do to abscond! We tried the tap shoes again a few times, trying to click on the other parts of its body, or when it's looking away.

It took us a bit to figure out that we could use the ballet slippers to abscond AFTER we'd first used the tap shoes, haha.

And the music!!! God, that was really cool strifing music.

Man, this little Strife makes me so pumped for any upcoming strifes in the future!

Pffffff, I love how Jude's immediately speculating that it wasn't Joey who turned the power back on. And immediately afterwards he's complimenting her on her wilyness, haha.

Hmm, so yeah, Jude's reminding Joey/us that we need to go to the trophy room to get the attic key.

But... how are we going to deal with the problem in there? Another strife comin' up?

I mean... assuming there's a monster inside the trophy room and not something else? Considering the fact that we didn't actually see it and Joey just heard some stuff.

Or maybe we get another distraction before we end up there?

I love the narration when examining the basement door. YOU'RE MORE OF A SNAKE THAN IT IS. XD

Okay, exiting the kitchen and moving on to the trophy room then!

...Oooooohhhhhhh, right! We can now see the living room in the light! Gosh it looks so much less creepier now.

Alright, enough of that. Let's see what happens at the trophy room! Will there be another cutscene?

....A short one!!!

Yup, there's another monster in here! And looks like Joey could enter this time because it was no longer right in front of the door.

God that is a pretty weird looking monster. But a considerably smaller one than the serpent monster and perhaps more easier for Joey to handle!

Oh man, plainWonder's right that the house motif is also in the strife music! That's really cool!

Anyway, now we're getting a way better look at the trophy room!

It actually looks quite a bit smaller (both in length and width) than I expected, when we saw it in the dark!

What caught my attention first is the two katanas. They immediately remind me of Bro's katanas. I wonder why Grandpa had them?

And hey, some actual guns in here! Both in the trophy case in the background, and on display right above the katanas.

Pfff, another clock (on 11:11 of course) with a swinging pendulum.

And of course, one of Grandpa's precious globes! Which, like plainWonder pointed out, have got some pretty weird continents on them. Is it perhaps supposed to be a globe of prehistoric Earth, when the continents where shapped differently or something?

It would be interesting to examine that globe later on.

plainWonder just noticed the fireplace! Heh, just like in the foyer in Jade's home. Fortunately enough, this one doesn't feature a stuffed human corpse in front of it. xD

Nor is there any urn to be seen, like at John's fireplace.

Which brings me back to wondering what happened to Ms. Claire after her death. Did she get a proper burial, perhaps? It would be interesting if we could visit her grave in Hauntswitch or something!

Hey, a chess board! That's an especially interesting thing to notice here, considering how closely Homestuck is linked to chess metaphors. Talking about that chess board... it has no chess pieces? Hmm, that's weird!

My theorizing mind is of course immediately wondering if there's some metaphor to get from this empty chess board, but let's not dwell on this any longer, for now.

Aaaaaand of course some more deer trophies. God, this home is going to be one giant hell for Dammek, won't it? xD

Up above, near the ceiling, we've got some more interesting things. A talking fish, a sad-looking bear trophy, another narwhal trophy like in the basement, and... a white bird with a black wing? That last one is especially remarkable, it doesn't really fit in that much with the other trophies.

plainWonder's probably right that it's just a type of bird that has black on top of the wing and white on the bottom, but still.

I can't help but think of the white and black wings of PM and Jack Noir here.

Alright, wow, that's enough examining for now!

Let's get into this strife! And hope Joey is capable of handling this one.

Oh!!!! plainWonder's got a great point that the narration is pointing out that the monster looks HUNGRY! That could be a hint that we need to use the pet treats here! That's a sweet catch and sneaky hint.

Let's first try out some other items then.

Flashlight > Monster: WELP. That didn't work. The puns keep getting me though. xD

Tap shoes > Monster: Yikes! Looks like the monster can roar. That's pretty scary.

Looks like this monster is really good at blocking moves!

Batteries > Monster: I love how that battery slid back all the way to Joey for her to pick up.

All-Season Magic Spice Mix > Monster: Okay, so that doesn't do much either.

I guess it's up to the pet treats then!

And maybe doing that will give us a hint on what to do next.

Pet treats > Monster: Yup, he swallowed the treats! ...It didn't really do much though, but it was definitely the right combination, considering that the cursor changed to orange just like last time.

But what do we do next? Do we use the spice mix again, or something else?

...Nope! Not the spice mix.

Let's just try attacking then, with the flashlight, tap shoes, or ballet slippers?

...Huh, none of the above are the correc actions!

Do we need to give it even more pet treats? xD

....We do!!!! I didn't expect that.

So this time Joey didn't throw it right in its mouth, but to the floor. It made the monster move to the right! That's interesting. Maybe plainWonder's right and we're just going to chase the monster outside and shut the door, so we can examine the trophy room?

Pffffff, the target symbol has become a chomping mouth now. IT IS HUNGRY AND WANT MORE FOOD.

Oh hey, examining the monster again now gives a different narration! Oh yes, time for dessert, hahaha. I wonder if there was another piece of narration after the first time we used the treats too.

AHAHAHAHHAHAHAA, that was amazing. The monster indeed left the trophy room, and we got a wonderful victory & level-up scene, hahahaha.

The victory music and Joey's pose reminded me of John's victory dance/music after defeating the Imp, hehehe.

I didn't expect the leveling up part! I love how it's a spoof of Echeladders on one hand, and on the other hand also a spoof on stats in other video games where it actually makes you stronger in a way, whereas in Homestuck and now also here in Hiveswap it's mostly an excuse for sillyness, hahaha.

So okay, looks like Joey closed the door after the monster left the room, that was a wise decision.

Let's start examining some stuff in here now!

First of all, I just noticed how that knight's arm fell off and is lying on the ground. Anyone else immediately thinking of Jack Noir's missing arm here? xD

Oh wait, totally forgot that Jude and Joey got some more things to say to each other! Let's see. Because yeah, where even IS the attic key in here?

....Pfff, Jude simply refuses to tell where the key is. Wonderful.

Where even is Grandpa's desk that Joey's referring to here?

I doubt the key is in the armpit or in the glove of that knight, hehe.

....OH HELL YES. Jack Noir reference secured right there.

Ahahaha, it's a "little out of season" for equipping the armour. And also a little the wrong century, I think.

Batteries && Knight armour ==> My first thought was that this was perhaps referencing those chess creatures on the Battlefield that are loyal to the White Queen and White King, but oh my god, plainWonder's got a far better point that this is probably referencing the Imperial Drones and their loyalty to the Condesce!

Well played, writers. Well played.

Pogs && Knight armour ==> I only realized how funny Pog Epoch sounds after I said it out loud, hahaha.

Cherub Key && Knight armour ==> HMMMMMMMMMMMM... Joey's considering that there might be stuff hidden away inside the armour. Is this a hint that the attic key might be inside the armour after all? That's something to keep in mind.

In any case, none of the other item combinations really hint that we could do something to it. So let's move on then, for now!

...Is it just me or is the narration on the lioness head a reference to B2 Jack? Eye sockets that beckon for something to be inserted into them instead of actual eyes, a head detached from its body? That sounds suspiciously like how B2 Jack got the billiard eyes and how he died in Collide.

Batteries/Pogs && Cat head trophy ==> ...Huh, what's Joey going to put inside those sockets? In any case, she didn't insert the batteries nor the pogs, and I doubt she'll insert the pet treats.

...Oh god Joey's going to find some billiard balls in this trophy room somewhere, isn't she?

Cherub Key && Cat head trophy ==> HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM... Is this just a sneaky reference to Lord English's connection to both the Cherub motif and the empty eye sockets that got filled up? Or is this hinting that Joey's going to insert something red and something green in here (red and green billiard ball???).

Jade week! Yay jades, my blood class ^u^

Four weeks until troll call is filled up.