Trickster Mode Takeover

[King of Clubs]

What if you need the sucker in order to become normal again and Gamzee destroys it. That would be absolutely terrifying.

[Sir Adamus]

What if you need the sucker in order to become normal again and Gamzee destroys it. That would be absolutely terrifying.

Then the old fashioned method of bringing them to their senses will be required.

Murder.

[spaceguineapig]

Your hamster's. That are so majestically in flight. They are not trapped to run the wheels of time and space.
I'm scared and excited to see Dirk.

They are clearly Guinea Pigs, it says so in my username, srsly Honorhunter, get with it

[CosM-Theorist]

Perhaps it's a bit far-fetched, but in retrospect, this trickster stuff seems not only less benign, but surprisingly led up to, and far different, perhaps, from our own theories.

Let's think about something: many people have theorized that Trickster-mode "removes your inhibitions" and makes you follow your true desires, removing any negative feelings. But, somehow, that doesn't make sense to me. Would Jane really feel the way she immediately confesses to about Jake, particularly after his blatant insensitivity? Maybe unlikely, but even MORE unlikely is Jake reciprocating those feelings. Would he really feel that way after having been under the delusion for so long that he and Jane were simply "friends"? It would seem a gigantic mood swing. Furthermore, why would the removal of inhibitions make Jan want to kiss Roxy?

Perhaps this could be the result of generic crazy Trickster-ness, but I suspect something different: that Caliborn is somehow involved in "controlling" the actions of the kids. First of all, in the opening of this part, we see Caliborn get the eye swirls that the the Trickster kids are shown having, but that isn't particularly compelling. Caliborn also states that the jujus would help things fall into place for his arrival, but that still not suggesting his direct control. What does however is this; Doesn't the dynamic between Trickster Jake and Jane and normal Roxy strongly resemble the "Pornography" that Caliborn asked Dirk to draw? Might that not be an explanation for their strange, off character actions? Next, Caliborn has some sort of screen that can see through the presumably Roxy-caused void in the session. Might this also be used to negate Roxy's void invisibility, allowing Jake and Jane to "see" where she was? I don't recall if Caliborn has access to a transportalizer, but it wouldn't surprise me if he is revealed to have one.

Furthermore, while somewhat comical, the motif of "candy" appears all over the place. The ==> candies, scotty dogs and other midnight crew candies, candy corn, and now, the lollipops which seem to lend a new meaning to the phrase "suckers" uttered by Scratch. This seem to go strangle far back, and for a more frightening piece of evidence, go look at the album cover for Homestuck Vol. 8. The pillars of the planets caused by god tier ascension make the planets frighteningly resemble lollipops. I don't fully know what all this means, but I'm sure we'll find out very soon.

I'm probably wrong, but I figured I might put this crazy crackpot idea out here anyway.

[frostedWarlock]

What if you need the sucker in order to become normal again and Gamzee destroys it. That would be absolutely terrifying.

That would be one terribly coded powerup. The SBURB developers would hang their heads in shame.

[starlitWhistler]

If they turned 360 degrees they'd wind up right at the same spot they were at cause 360 is a full circle.

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Frick.

Then another 180, I think.

I'm away from school 2 days and this is what happens.

[Tianyu]

That doesn't necessarily mean it'll stop. I mean the sucker only initiated trickster mode, every other engagement of it has had a different mechanism.

How about wacking directly the tricksters with it ?

[Sir Adamus]

How about wacking directly the tricksters with it ?

That's just risking exposure to trickster-ness.

They're either going to get out of it by being killed and ascending the God Tiers, or they're going to come to their senses and eventually figure out how to switch it off (like Kanaya and Porrim with their Rainbow Drinker-ness). In fact, there are a myriad of ways it could happen, but hitting them with a crowbar seems unlikely to work tbh.

[Honorhunter29]

They are clearly Guinea Pigs, it says so in my username, srsly Honorhunter, get with it

oh god. I am a disgrace. I have disgraced this forum and all who inhabit it. I have no honor.
I must hunt for it again.

[TheOthin]

It's not clear if the crowbar's effect is in any way retroactive. It seems like it could potentially undo it out of the past, but that could get into unstable time loop stuff that I don't think we're going to see here.

[spaceguineapig]

oh god. I am a disgrace. I have disgraced this forum and all who inhabit it. I have no honor.
I must hunt for it again.

Are you Prince Zuko?

(this is making me think of Zuko going on a quest to find the elusive SPACE GUINEA PIGS)
(He traveled the world to collect all 5)
(Once together they made the ULTRA-PIG, a being so powerful it cannot be expressed in words)

[Honorhunter29]

Are you Prince Zuko?

(this is making me think of Zuko going on a quest to find the elusive SPACE GUINEA PIGS)
(He traveled the world to collect all 5)
(Once together they made the ULTRA-PIG, a being so powerful it cannot be expressed in words)

Ding Ding Ding!!
Gamzee does seem pretty frustrated with Trickster mode right now.

[writerlyAmbition]

Okay, people who don't like the Tricksters: I get the feeling that you just don't get what their point is. And I don't mean that in a pretentious 'Ugh you just don't get it' I mean it in a 'I think you've missed the point of why they are the way they are.'

I'll break it down for y'all:

People complain about the focus on teen drama amongst the B2 kids - this has been a common complaint ever since the relationship drama of 'everyone wants to jump Jake's bones' came up however many sub-acts ago. The B1/trolls weren't immune either, because what else are they going to do isolated and stuck on a path for three years but development of relationships and character building exercises?

Hussie, ever vigilant and aware of what his fandom loves and hates, decides to be a literal genie and put an end to that madness. But he does so in a way that people will complain EVEN MORE about the way it is fixed; hence Trickster Mode.

It is the solution to relationship drama; see Jane professing her true feelings; see Jake willing to marry everyone. I bet when we see Dirk Trick out, he and Jake will be getting their mack on. Everything is fixed LITERALLY AS IF BY MAGIC. But it is done in such a way that it unnerves and confuses people, making them feel angry, making them complain.

Of course there were people who actually enjoyed the shipping porn (by which I mean the gratuitous appeal to people who ship, obviously) but you can't please all of the people all of the time; Hussie is savvy enough by now that he can please NONE of the people MOST of the time and still come out golden.

And then there's peeps like me who are aware of this and just go along with the ride. It's much more fun our way, come join us, we care but not too much and nothing is ever a disappointment.

[Sir Adamus]

-snop-

Doesn't stop 'em being really friggin' creepy though.

[Tianyu]

-snop-

Frankly, the story was stagnating before this came along. This and this alone justify the tricksters.

The fact that they DO are creepy as hell is irrelevant. When your story goes nowhere, send in the gunman (or, in that case, that magical suckers that turn people into sugar coated zombies).

However, I don't think this will "solve" everything, at least not in the immediate aftermath. Once the effect wear of in one way or another, the situation is going to be awkward, but completely different than before, which is the point.

[writerlyAmbition]

Doesn't stop 'em being really friggin' creepy though.

Being unsettling is their point. To upset you. The plan was to give you a creeped-out-boner. And you etc.

Frankly, the story was kind of stagnating before this came along. This and this alone justify the tricksters.

The fact that they DO are creepy as hell is irrelevant. When your story goes nowhere, send in the gunman (or, in that case, that magical suckers that turn people into sugar coated zombies).

EDIT : thinking about this, Gamzee and Eridan going on a killing spree had the same narrative function, break the statu quo that was a bunch of trolls depressing on a meteor.

I take it you were one of the ones who didn't appreciate the relationship stuff.

And Murderstuck was essentially culling the herd; there were a bunch of characters who had outlived their purpose (or didn't have one in the first place) that needed to be gotten rid of. And then some of them survived because they had unfinished business or somesuch (Kanaya most prominently, still not sure why Sollux is still half-alive though).

[Honorhunter29]

I take it you were one of the ones who didn't appreciate the relationship stuff.

I kind of liked the relationship stuff. It really defined them as having a different session, not only from a game level but from a personal level.

[spaceguineapig]

And Murderstuck was essentially culling the herd; there were a bunch of characters who had outlived their purpose (or didn't have one in the first place) that needed to be gotten rid of. And then some of them survived because they had unfinished business or somesuch (Kanaya most prominently, still not sure why Sollux is still half-alive though).

Sollux was practically dead, since he went to live(die?) in the dreambubbles with Aradia. Since then, we saw him less than some of the actually dead characters. And then he got revived as an abomination anyway.

[Kíeros]

Murder.

Hey, now. Murder is never the answer. On a related note, can you help me with my bio homework? What's the name for a group of crows?

The SBURB developers would hang their heads in shame.

Well, it's their fault for breaking the game in the first place, so it's their responsibility to get out.

Doesn't stop 'em being really friggin' creepy though.

I actually think 'being creepy' is more their point of existence than that all.

[writerlyAmbition]

Hey, now. Murder is never the answer. On a related note, can you help me with my bio homework? What's the name for a group of crows?

You hypocrite. That was practically a pun.

[TheOthin]

Sollux was practically dead, since he went to live(die?) in the dreambubbles with Aradia. Since then, we saw him less than some of the actually dead characters. And then he got revived as an abomination anyway.

And yet for some reason, it was established that he had some half that survived Cascade. That's one hell of a Chekhov's Gunman in any story, and this is Homestuck we're talking about.

[bloodyEmissary]

Hey, now. Murder is never the answer.

I dunno what planet you're from.
Probably some namby-pamby low-gravity deal.

[writerlyAmbition]

And yet for some reason, it was established that he had some half that survived Cascade. That's one hell of a Chekhov's Gunman in any story, and this is Homestuck we're talking about.

Plus his thing is two; I bet something ridiculous happened like his dead half went in the sprite and the alive half is still kicking around the dream bubbles with AA.

[spaceguineapig]

Hey, now. Murder is never the answer. On a related note, can you help me with my bio homework? What's the name for a group of crows?

Really?

[starlitWhistler]

Hey, now. Murder is never the answer. On a related note, can you help me with my bio homework? What's the name for a group of crows?

Haha.

It's nice to actually get jokes.