Homestuck/Tropes J-L

>LAND OF JUICE AND LUNCHMEAT

You stand on a giant slice of bologna as you scan the landscape, filled with sandwiches and gigantic glasses containing various juices. The tropes beginning with J, K, and L seem to like living amid the delicious scenery. Legends say that a powerful Denizen sleeps at the very bottom of the biggest juice glass of them all.

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"You retrieve your UNBREAKABLE KATANA. A real hard sword for a real hard dude. It was said to be forged by an ancient Otaku Master over the heat of a roaring manga fire."
 * Jaw Drop: Karkat is the last person you'd expect to have a reaction like this to anything, but...
 * Once more with feeling.
 * And again!
 * The Jail Bait Wait: Marquise Spinneret Mindfang for The Summoner. It should be noted at this point he wasn't even born yet.
 * Jet Pack: All rocket-based means of transportation in the comic have the same red-and-yellow flame pattern. John has a standard issue jetpack, Bro has a rocket board, and Vriska has Rocket Boots. Vriska handed out the code for her boots to her teammates, allowing Terezi to make a pair of wings, and Tavros a Flying Car. Gamzee has the Unireal Air: A unicycle with rockets attached to it. It's about as useless as it sounds.
 * Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: Any visual representation of the plot would look like an eight-dimensional Gordian Knot.
 * Hussie has gone on to describe Homestuck in its current form as "a webcomic that is also a puzzle".
 * The Jimmy Hart Version: One of Vriska's leitmotifs, "She's a Sp8der," contains a version of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme "He's a Pirate."
 * Joke Weapon: Dave's Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff-inspired SORD.....
 * The Joy of X: Data Structures for Assholes, a vitriolic sendup of the For Dummies instructional book franchise.
 * Kangaroo Court: "On Alternia, there is no such thing as a defense attorney, or a defense. In a courtblock, the word defense itself is offensive."
 * Katanas Are Just Better: Dave has one, but it breaks later.
 * Played straighter with Bro: One katana slice is all it takes for him to cleave a meteor headed straight for his and Dave's apartment perfectly in half.
 * Outright averted with Dave and Jack; Dave's strongest swords are based on European swords, and Jack, despite technically having a katana as part of his prototyping, has his sword obsoleted by being able to blow things up.
 * However, Jack still almost constantly uses his sword (at the very least on-screen), presumably because he prefers his murders this way.
 * Exaggerated and parodied with Dirk Strider.

""All of Act 5 could be subtitled “Jack Noir Kills Everybody” and that’s pretty much the guiding principle I had in structuring it from the start.""
 * The Key Is Behind the Lock: Jack needs to cut open a pumpkin, but he's without his knives. After some improvisation, he pulls off the lid to reveal... a whole bunch of knives.
 * Kid From the Future: Jade's penpal, J, claims to be her grandson. This turns out to be mostly true in Act 6 (the hitch is there are two different Jades).
 * Kill'Em All: As of the End-of-Act 5 flash, every single one of the kids have died at least once (either their dream selves or their normal selves), 5 of the original 12 trolls are still alive (and they've all lost their dream selves as well), all of the Guardians are dead, one Exile is heavily wounded and three of the other four are dead as well (Serenity also survives), and the Scratch just happened, effectively ending both universes and killing everyone who didn't make it out except Lord English. This leaves characters in the post-Scratch universe, the sprites (all of whom -- except Davesprite, who comes from a Bad Future -- already died anyway), Jack, and Andrew Hussie. And this is all out of a cast so huge that the characters page had to be split into 14 different sub-pages just to hold all the information about them.
 * From Hussie's tubmlr account:

"Oh god, you're right! There are still a few characters I haven't killed yet. I almost forgot about them."
 * After the end of Act 6 Act 1, Robot Hussie comes to a shocking realization:

"Hold that thought.
 * As of the end of Act 6 Intermission 2, Hussie himself was added to this extensive list.
 * Kill the Cutie: We're shown the death of Nepeta, Feferi, Tavros, and Kanaya's dreamselves, as well as John, Tavros, Feferi, Kanaya, Jade, and Vriska's real selves.
 * Killed Off for Real: Grandpa by Tavros, Tavros by Vriska, Feferi by Eridan (who also dooms the troll race to extinction for good measure), Equius and Nepeta by Gamzee, Eridan by Kanaya, Mom, Dad, and Bro by Jack Noir, and Vriska by Terezi. Of course, there's a good chance that another way for bringing the dead back to life will become available when convenient.
 * We also have have the exiles (save for PM and WV) by Jack Noir, Snowman by Spades Slick (which dooms the universe due to Snowman's 8-Ball powers), Doc Scratch (as a consequence of Lord English' emergence), and implied to be the case between the Handmaid and the Condesce. Really, you'd need a chart to figure out who killed who for real and who's still alive in some form.
 * Killer Rabbit: Killer cuddly toy Rabbit, no less.
 * Kink Meme: Yup, it has one.
 * Kiss of Life: If a player dies while they still have a viable dream self, a kiss to the dead body will cause the dream self to become their new body. So far the only character who has undergone this procedure is Sollux with Feferi administering the kiss. Karkat and Terezi attempt to revive Kanaya and Tavros, respectively, but their dream selves were already dead. Fortunately Kanaya is a vampire.
 * More recently Rose and Dave, by John and Jade respectively. Complete with jokes about Karkat's shipping diagram.
 * Kitsch Collection: Each of the main character's guardians collects something weird;
 * John's father has clowns (harlequins, rather).
 * Rose's mother has wizards.
 * Dave's brother has (wait for it) nude puppets.
 * Befitting his granddaughter's eclectic interests, Jade's Grandfather collects many things. Big Game trophies, suits of armour, decrepit mummies, photos of women that have been bleached by years hanging in the windows of beauty parlors...
 * Klingon Promotion: In troll society heiresses to the throne (like Feferi) were expected to challenge the Empress for the throne once they reached maturity.
 * Kneel Before Zod: Gamzee forces Equius to do this by shooting an arrow through his knee.
 * Knight of Cerebus: Jack Noir, although funnily enough not initially: in his first appearances he's just an overworked pencil pusher, albeit one with a mean streak. Then Jade's present to John fell into his hands and since then he's risen on a tide of bodies to become the Big Bad.
 * Eridan and Gamzee may also count, due to the both of them killing off for real and doing more permanent damage to main characters than even Jack. They even started out relatively harmless like Jack.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Thanks to the series's Post-Modernist mannerisms, there's a lot of lampshades throughout the story. Aimless Renegade provides one of the best here.

You need to take a moment to wear something ridiculous before you continue your spiel..."

"KARKAT: THEY DIDN'T EVEN GIVE YOU ANY GRIST, YOU IDIOT. THAT WAS YOUR FIRST CLUE."
 * Language Equals Thought: "It should be noted that in troll language, the word for friend is exactly the same as the word for enemy."
 * Late Arrival Spoiler: Both averted and played straight. The Trolls becoming major characters is a major spoiler, but they appear as far back as Act 3, and were heavily hinted to be fairly important. On the other hand, the mere existence of the Alpha Session is a huge spoiler for Act 5, but seems to be fairly well kept, on this wiki at least.
 * Late to The Party: In the case of the Post-Scratch Kids, they missed the party by millions of years.
 * Leitmotif: Most characters have not only a song (or several!) associated with them, but also an instrument.
 * John has Showtime and Doctor as his themes. Showtime was his theme for much of Acts 1-4, whereupon Doctor more or less superseded it. Doctor has since been bootstrapped into being a theme for God Tiers, so the current "main" theme for John is nebulous. John is also associated with piano music in general, and organs to a lesser extent.
 * Rose has Aggrieve and Chorale for Jaspers as her main themes, the second having been bootstrapped from Jaspers. Like with John, Aggrieve stops being a noticeable theme for her sometime around Act 5. Rose is also associated with violins.
 * Dave has Beatdown, Atomyk Ebonpyre, and Sunslammer as his themes, the last serving primarily as a Recurring Riff. Dave is also primarily associated with synths, as well as guitars to a degree.
 * Jade has The Beginning Of Something Really Excellent and Frost as her themes. Much like with John, as of Act 5, her "main" theme is considered ambiguous. Jade is also associated with both bass guitars and flutes.
 * WV has Vagabounce as his theme.
 * PM does not have a specific theme, but is heavily associated with Sburban Jungle.
 * The rest of the Exiles do not have identifiable themes.
 * Jack Noir has Liquid Negrocity as his theme. He is also associated with trumpets and heavy guitars.
 * The Trolls in general are associated with the track Alternia, and primarily have different varieties of synths as their associated instruments.
 * Karkat has Crustacean, and is primarily associated with chiptune-esque synths.
 * Terezi has The Lemonsnout Turnabout and is primarily associated with harpsicords.
 * Gamzee has Blackest Heart and is primarily associated with honking.
 * Tavros has dESPERADO ROCKET CHAIRS, and is associated with faux-spanish flavored music, primarily trumpet synths.
 * Vriska has Spider's Claw and is associated with slow paced guitar synths.
 * Kanaya has Virgin Orb, and is associated with ethereal ambient synths.
 * Sollux has The La2t Frontiier, and is primarily associated with fast paced overdriven guitar synths, in addition to occasional duality themed songs, that alternate pace and style.
 * Aradia has psych0ruins, and is primarily associated with what is best described as a wailing or crying synth riff.
 * Nepeta has Walls Covered In Blood and is associated with Mario Paint music.
 * Eridan has Eridan's Theme and does not have a an identifiable associated instrument, more often echoing the instruments of other trolls.
 * Equius has Horschestra, and is primarily associated with slow trumpets and beats, which can only be defined as proud.
 * Feferi had Keepers and later, Love You (Feferi's Theme). She is primarily associated with faux-tropical music.
 * Lord English has English. He is associated with many instruments associated with the protagonists, including pianos, violins, and honking.
 * The Midnight Crew does not have identifiable themes, though they are all associated with dark jazz. They do however have instruments, seen rather than heard.
 * Spades Slick is associated with pianos.
 * Diamonds Droog is associated with saxophones.
 * Clubs Deuce is associated with oboes.
 * Hearts Boxcars is associated with cellos.
 * Skaia is associated with Skies of Skaia.
 * Major plot events will typically be accompanied by riffs from Upward Movement and Sburban Jungle.
 * This list is by no means comprehensive.
 * Lethal Joke Item: The Bunny. And the Catenative Doomsday Dice Cascader (described elsewhere in quasi-canon as "featuring loathsome POPAMATIC BUBBLE TECHNOLOGY"). Double subverted, it breaks but winds up wreaking havoc anyway. Also, presumably the WARHAMMER OF ZILLYHOO.
 * Let's Play: One of the series (or rather, a Let's Read) is in progress.
 * Letters 2 Numbers: Many of the trolls do this as part of their typing quirks, usually in a way that fits into some sort of Numerological Motif.
 * Letting the Air Out of The Band: "Let the Squiddles Sleep (End Theme)", the song used for "[S] Jade: Wake Up" seemingly does this, but it's subverted after it fades out and is taken over by a corrupted version of the Squiddles theme, which then further devolves into a mess of static and noise.
 * Level Ate: The Land of Little Cubes and Tea.
 * Lies to Children: Grandma Jade knew Jake wouldn't be able to comprehend the origin of his nakesake -- or the threat it poses to the Condense -- so she told him "English" is the name of the Baroness' ex-husband.
 * Light and Mirrors Puzzle: A key aspect of the interactive segments at the beginning of Act 6 Act 3, wherein Jane explores the Land of Crypts and Helium. Four colored lanterns at a shrine emit beams of light that reflect off mirrors in different directions depending on the color of the light. (Must be a wavelength thing.) There are TONS of mirrors around to reflect the light, and several switches that can only be flipped when one of the beams is shining on the switch. By having Lil' Sebastian rotate the lanterns, Jane can change which beams shine in which directions, and therefore which way the mirrors reflect them, and therefore which switches are flippable.
 * Lighter and Softer: Though Act 6 still has dark tones throughout, it is still more lighthearted than both parts of Act 5 were.
 * Like Reality Unless Noted: If you copy down the GPS coordinates that appear in one of the videos, and type them into google maps, you'll find real-life locations corresponding to John's neighborhood and Rose's house.
 * The coordinates for Jade's island correspond to an area of the Pacific Ocean with nothing... except a small underwater rise that looks as if it could have been an island with just a little more volcanic activity...
 * Limited Social Circle: John, Rose, Dave, and Jade aren't shown talking to any other kids their age. Except for the trolls, they literally have no one else on their Chum List. It is also not known if they even attend school. The only exception is Jade's penpal who claims to be her own grandson. (He's not. Well, not exactly).
 * Limited Wardrobe: Trolls (except Kanaya) think fashion is stupid.
 * Loading Screen: First when John installs Sburb here, and later when Dave does the same here.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: See the character sheet. Oh, sorry. Character sheets.
 * Lord British Postulate: It seems Eridan wasted a lot of time killing the NPC-equivalents on his planet, and they were "fast and angry as shit".


 * Also Lord English, an indestructible demon that has to be defeated by exploiting Stable Time Loops and various glitches. Note that this was a retroactive reference.
 * Long Title: Apparently all of the troll's movies have these, due to having run out of short ones in their longer-running society.
 * Louis Cypher: Doc Scratch, according to Hussie.
 * Love Dodecahedron: Imagine how complex things can get for the trolls, who have four different kinds of romance.
 * Love Triangle: A LOT, partly due to the nature of troll romance.
 * WV and AR are both infatuated with PM. PM has not demonstrated a real preference for (or interest in) either so far.
 * Eridan has (or perhaps "had") a thing for Feferi, who is in a relationship with Sollux. Eridan is also on the lookout for a Kismesis and sees Sollux as a possible candidate.
 * Nepeta has an unrequited crush on Karkat, who has (had?) a thing with Terezi.
 * Kanaya loves Vriska who is attracted to Tavros who's afraid of Vriska.
 * Karkat and Terezi have some nebulous relationship...but Terezi seems to be cultivating something with Dave. Then again, Dave calls his talks with Terezi an "interspecies partnership in incredibly shitty cartooning".
 * ...but later, when Karkat proposes that he, Dave, and Terezi form an "ndrangle" where both of them date Terezi (Karkat vacillating between red and black, Dave solely as red), his objection isn't to being Terezi's matesprit/boyfriend, it's that it would be weird to have a dating schedule/love ndrangle, which implies he's at least open to the prospect of dating her.
 * Lower Deck Episode: Part 1 of Act 5 is one for the Trolls, as it focuses on their session of Sburb without input from the Kids, and an "intermission" between acts 3 and 4 focuses on The Midnight Crew, with no indication that they're even connected to the main story until the very end, when Spades contacts Karkat (who, by the way, the audience could not recognize in person at this point) in the same way WV did John.
 * Luminescent Blush: Played with in that so far, it's only the trolls who have had this, meaning that it's anything but red.
 * Lyrical Dissonance: "Squiddle Song" sounds like a folk music version of a kids' cartoon theme... until it starts mentioning "all your friends are dead" and "buckets of blood" without changing tone.

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