Just wait until you get to the [SPOILERS REMOVED] hey, what the--oh, stupid antispoilery thing. Okay. NONSPOILER VERSION--Just wait until you get to the specifics of why they're talking about "reds" and "moirallegience". It's really cool, AND really complicated. Kind of like, well, everything Homestuck, I guess.
I thought reds was about blood castes but now I’ve read a bit more and stuff like:
CA: you dont wwant to be our auspistice cause you dont wwant to get locked into that sort of relation wwith her i can respect that GA: No Thats Not It CA: yeah it is your real feelins run pretty awwful RUDDY methinks evverybody knowws it CA: especially that assblood karkat he and me havve you so pegged about that its upright silly
makes me doubt that a bit, especially if we’re talking about Kanaya being attracted to Vriska, who is pretty decidedly not redblooded.
I am excited to get to whatever those spoilers were~ So excited.
Oh, yeah, Kanaya's great for femshipping from the very first time we see her. Compare--way back in acts 3 and 4--her reaction to the suggestion she likes Rose versus Tavros's reaction to the suggestion he likes Dave. (Tavros freaks out and denies it, Kanaya changes the subject.) There was another liveblogger who, while reading acts 3 and 4, used to refer to Kanaya as "accidental lesbian" because up until she got to where you are she thought she was reading too much into Hussie's writing.
Freaking out and denying it can be just as suspicious as changing the subject!
I totally missed that. Kanaya is pretty hard for me to read, or at least she was until I got enough information about her.
Hahahahaha Kanaya totally headcanons Rose as a troll badass. God that’s so cute. But who wouldn’t have a huge crush on Rose, brilliant queen that she is.
AT: wHERE DOES IT GO, AG: I have determined from your consorts that there is a terri8le monster deep underground. AG: It guards a hoard of treasure 8igger than either of us can imagine! AG: It is called a denizen, and it is the 8oss of your whole planet. AG: Tavros, you will go and face your denizen. AT: wON’T THAT BE, AT: tOO DIFFICULT, AG: It will 8e the most powerful adversary you have ever met. AG: 8ut you can handle it. I 8elieve in you!
OH MY GOD STOP NO. We have seen where this goes and it is nowhere good! Vriska you sit your butt down and let the boy do his puzzles.
Fucking finally, I have met all the trolls. So here’s Erindan Ampora, who is some kind of like noble among trolls because his blood is so awesome or something? He wants to kill all the land-dwelling trolls, or at least that’s what he keeps saying. He doesn’t really mean it, since he’s made friends with the other trolls. But hey, I’ve been there. You say you’re going to do something, and then you decide not to, but how are you going to admit that to anyone? Especially to yourself.
He’s an asshole in the way most 12-year-olds are assholes–aside from the wanting to kill people part.
And here is Feferi Peixes, who would be next queen of the trolls if all the trolls weren’t about to die. She is responsible for keeping Erindan from killing everybody.
It looks like she has multiple lususes, the horsefish and the giant monster that eats other lusus, which is kind of heartbreaking since she’s basically feeding it kids’ parents. I mean, I know she has to, but it’s still sad.
She seems nice enough, like she wants to make a big difference in troll society, and she’s very down to earth for a princess who is being raised by a giant monster.
Erindan introduces himself by killing a huge white whale (okay I know all lusus are white), and then we find out his weapon is a harpoon gun named Ahab’s Crosshairs.
Oh my god. This is some cray nonlinear storytelling.
I mean, I’m not happy to see the plot threaten to split off again, when what I want to know is how things are going with John and maybe their exiles, but I will admire the talent.
Sollux has two dream selves, and Aradia doesn’t have one at all? That’s incredibly suspicious.
And Aradia was dead and all, but does this mean she never had one, or that she used it somehow? Maybe it had something to do when Sollux showed up all glowy and killed her somehow.
FCG: LAST SWEEP’S EVE WAS PROBABLY THE LAST HAPPY MEMORY I HAVE IN FACT. FCG: WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO FOR THE LAST HOLIDAY? FCG: ANYONE? FCG: I REMEMBER MY LUSUS HAD BEEN GONE FOR DAYS AND I WAS STARTING TO GET WORRIED. FCG: BUT THEN HE FINALLY RETURNED, TRIUMPHANT. FCG: HE BROUGHT THE FRESH BEHEMOTH LEAVING INTO OUR HIVE, AND TOGETHER WE DECORATED IT. FCG: AND FCG: I DUNNO FCG: THAT’S ALL I CAN SAY, I’M GETTING A LUMP IN MY SQUAWK BLISTER.
I am the biggest wubbly wuss. This totally has me halfway to crying. Poor Karkat.
FCG: NOT THAT I EXPECT YOU TO GIVE A SHIT BUT PERSONALLY I AM ALL TWISTED UP ABOUT BLACKROM STUFF ESPECIALLY. FCG: HONESTLY I DON’T THINK I WAS CUT OUT TO HAVE A KISMESIS, I THINK MY STANDARDS ARE WAY TOO HIGH. FCG: DID YOU KNOW THAT… FCG: THIS FEELS SO INSANE TO ADMIT, BUT FCG: OVER THE COURSE OF THIS ADVENTURE, AT TIMES I ACTUALLY BEGAN TO SUSPECT I WAS MY OWN KISMESIS.
CG: PLEASE DON’T TELL THEM ABOUT MY BLOOD. CG: I WANT TO TELL THEM, I MEAN I WILL TELL THEM. CG: LATER CG: ONCE THEY RESPECT ME AS A LEADER. GC: OK GC: 1 W1LL K33P TH4T S3CR3T 1F YOU K33P TH1S ON3 1 T3LL YOU GC: WH1CH 1S TH4T GC: B3TW33N YOU 4ND M3 K4RK4T GC: 1 TH1NK TH3Y 4LR34DY DO GC: BY3! GC: <3 CG: BYE
Ah, you've reached the troll romance! I made a gif-free and hopefully more comprehensible writeup on my website here: dizzy*pestermom*com/?p=trollquadrants
– Oh, but don’t read the comments, they go into spoiler territory.
Thank you so much! That is a big help. I’ve saved the link to consult back to later, if necessary.
I like how you were commenting on dramatic irony with regards to Kanaya's opinion of Rose, and then the narration goes ahead and uses the phrase "dramatic irony" directly in that quote in your later post.
Haha! Yeah, it’s one of my favorite literary concepts (for those who missed that 12th grade English lesson, dramatic irony is when the audience knows something the character doesn’t). And it’s basically the theme of this entire arc. Makes for really great tension.
Oh my god I love your stance on Vriska, it's so rare in the fandom. You see what she's doing to Tavros as horrible BUT you are not blind to her better moments. You are not prejudiced. That's such a rare thing. Now, I'm not sure what your spoiler screener will have to say on this, but just a reminder: all trolls are 13 years old. Including Vriska. When she jumped Tavros off the cliff, she was even younger. So, uh. Remember that when you judge her.
Thanks so much! Yeah, it’s hard to judge any of them too harshly when they’re so young. And unlike a lot of anime I’ve been watching lately, they actually do act mostly like 13-year-olds. And this is why we do not trust children with psychic powers. They do stupid things without necessarily being bad people. And they deserve some leeway because they’re still learning to be moral people, and obviously right now they don’t even have anyone to guide them except for the lusus and their own experience.
FCG: I’LL CATCH UP WITH YOU ABOUT IT WHEN YOU CATCH UP WITH ME ON THE TIMELINE. FCG: WHICH JUST HAPPENS TO BE RIGHT NOW. CGA: Say Hi To Me For Myself FCG: OK I PROBABLY WON’T DO THAT, BUT ALRIGHT HA HA. FCG: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE ANYWAY? CGA: You Mean Future Me FCG: YEAH. FCG: YOU’RE MESSING AROUND WITH YOUR CHAINSAW. FCG: WHILE TAVROS IS SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR. FCG: OH GOD. FCG: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK WHAT ARE YOU DOING??????? CGA: What CGA: What Did I Do FUTURE carcinoGeneticist 2 [FCG2] 600 HOURS FROM NOW responded to memo. FCG2: OK. FCG2: EVERYTHING’S FINE I GUESS.
More dramatic irony!
Except this time it’s really funny.
Aradia is such a good friend, helping Tavros get new legs. Except for not warning the other people in the room first. And possibly not warning Tavros, either. God, that would be a terrible wake up call.
Oooooh shit. I hope the great undoing means that Skaia is being undone, and not that our beloved trolls are going to have to suffer more. (I know they’re going to suffer more.)
And tomorrow I will make an audio recording from this page to the end of the upcoming video, per bladekindeyewear’s request.
About Vriska and Tavros's puzzles. It's implied that since the moment of Tavros's entry she's been sitting at her computer in her hive as his server, helping him lift stones into walls, instead of doing her own quest or at least something fun. I wonder if he ever thanked her for that or thought of how it looked from her perspective...
Huh, that’s interesting. I guess he kind of needed her to do that, since the hovercraft thing looks useful in terms of mobility, but not actually for doing that. Doubt he thanked her, though. And I doubt she’s any good at expressing just what she’s sacrificing, without being a jerk about it. Which is why I kind of love her.
Basically, Sexuality isn't a thing that exists for Trolls, Matesprits are close enough to human romance to be identified as such, Kissmesitude is romantic hate/rivalry, moirails are non-sexual life-partners/personal therapists, and auspisticism is like a cockblocking relationship counselor. Also, since it isn't directly mentioned in the comic; Kanays has a "fetish" for the female gender. She can still be attracted to boys but prefers girls, this is as close to being a lesbian as trolls can get
Troll gender is interesting; The actual Trolls are all genetically male, physically hermaphrodites(primary sexual characteristics), and culturally(secondary sexual characteristics) the same gender as their Lusus. With the Mother Grubs taking the role of the female when it comes to actual reproduction.
Knowing how sex works for trolls makes everything make so much more sense! So basically the trolls themselves act as male partners, providing sperm analogues and maybe egg analogues, and the mother grubs are basically the uterus. And it takes four trolls to reproduce. I am such a nerd, I basically now want a troll biology textbook so I can figure out how all this works. Like does the mother grub contribute genetic material as well, and possibly organelles like the mitochondria, the way Earth mothers do, or is she more of an incubator?
This reminds me somewhat of the Lilith’s Brood tetrology, where the alien species reproduces via a male and a female who give genetic material to an ungendered/third gender who mixes them together and impregnates the female. IIRC.
