Homestuck/Tropes A-C: Difference between revisions

[[Homestuck/Tropes D-F|==>]]

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* [[Accidental Innuendo]]: Invoked in-universe, [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006272 from Karkat's POV] when John sends him and the others a letter in a bucket. Played with even a bit more before, as Jade chastises John and tells him to "throw [a bucket] through my mysterious portal"

** Rose's chumHandle: [[The Problem with Pen Island|tentacleTherapist.]]

* [[Adults Are Useless]]: Played With. Each kid has a guardian ([[Bumbling Dad|Dad]], [[Lady Drunk|Mom]], [[McNinja|Bro]], and [[Reality Warper|Becquerel]] -- who's a dog), but they all do their [[Hero of Another Story|own cryptic things]], and rarely interact with or help the kids. Each of them have done awesome stuff before. Bro sliced a city sized meteor in half, Dad caused chaos after being captured, and other miscellaneous actions. While they do help out a lot in helping the kids survive, we didn't get to see them do a whole lot in terms of assisting in the game itself before they all died.

* [[All Just a Dream]]: [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/scratch.php?s=6&p=005732 Here], Doc Scratch [[The Reveal|reveals]] that, from the [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/scratch.php?s=6&p=005674 coin flip onwards], he had [[Half Truth|actually been describing]] a [[For Want of a Nail|doomed alternate timeline in which Terezi let Vriska carry out her plan]], and that, in the alpha timeline, Terezi had [[Self-Defeating Prophecy|foreseen that outcome and stabbed Vriska to avoid it]].

{{quote|{{color|green|<small>GT: And here i was thinking i had the most exciting and adventurous life. It turns out im just some chump on boring ass monster island in the silly old PRE apocalypse.</small>}}}}

* [[Affably Evil]]: Eridan (who is loosely based on a wannabe supervillain) wants to commit mass genocide of all land-dwellers, yet his shameless flirting, creepiness, and flamboyance have made him the entire fandom's [[Butt Monkey]].

* [[Air Jousting]]: Featured [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002771 here.]

* [[Alchemy Is Magic]]: A machine called an alchemiter makes various objects based on codes punched into punchcards. John explains a part of the logic behind it with [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002745 this update].

** Three of the storyline trolls have special blood: There's Karkat's mutant candy-red which ''isn't even on the hemospectrum''; Feferi has the most highly-ranked shade of purple of any living troll, making her the future Empress. Kanaya's blood is pretty rare as well, and she comes with a number of exceptions to general troll rules. It's possible they and their ancestors are the ''only'' trolls of their blood colors on account of being created with ectobiology rather then being born the usual way.

** [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]] The zodiac signs on the troll's shirts (along with their text color) match the color of their blood, with the exception of Karkat.

* [[Alien Geometries]]: The final form of Skaia is certainly non-euclidean.

** The Furthest Ring does odd things with both space and time. The longer you're in there, the more indirect your path becomes. The further you travel, the more backwards your timeline becomes.

* [[Alliterative Name]]: Used several times for the characters' screen names: tentacleTherapist, gardenGnostic, gutsyGumshoe, timaeusTestified, apocalypseArisen, cuttlefishCuller, uranianUmbra, and undyingUmbrage.

** Jack Noir becomes the Sovereign Slayer in the kids' universe, and the Scurrilous Straggler / Spades Slick in the trolls'.

* [[All of Them]]: Used by various characters, though mostly Vriska.

* [[All the Myriad Ways]]: Time powers for Aradia and Dave work in one of two ways. Either they go back in time and attempt to change something, or correct the errors of their teammates, which dooms that entire timeline into oblivion., or they were [[You Already Changed the Past|always meant to go back in time]].

*** There are populations of Lusii on Jake's island.

*** [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Also]], there's a live-action, feature-length ''[[Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff]]'' movie, and a ''Complacency of the Learned'' novel series.

** There's also UU and uu's unknown Universe.

* [[Always Night]]: Almost every panel of Alternia is shown during the night, because the trolls cannot stand the BLISTERING ALTERNIAN SUN. The exception are panels featuring Kanaya, who is one of the few trolls who can stand the sun. [[Our Vampires Are Different|she's an Alternian Vampire. It's complicated.]] The one daytime panel not featuring Kanaya {{spoiler|shows why, as Terezi is blinded by the sun}}.

** The Midnight Crew has to take the cake for this. They have a chapter's worth of story, but have nothing to do with Homestuck. You're meant to think so, anyways.

** Act 6 is in the same veins of the Intermission or Hivebent. It was however well predicted by the fans and Andrew has said it was meant to be obvious that the story would come around to the Post-Scratch Kids eventually.

** The kids have this as well though it's more subtle, shown mostly again with their hair. John is a jester, Dave a crow, Rose a cat, and Jade a dog. Dirk has a gull motif as well, but none of the other Post-Scratch Kids continue the theme, except possibly Jane with rabbits.

* [[Animation Bump]]: Most panels have some sort of animation to them, but it's also used shamelessly in terms of Sound Pages (Marked with an <nowiki>[S]</nowiki>). In addition to usually having [[Homestuck/Awesome Music|great sound]], later ones tend to have a dramatically different art style - compare John's first STRIFE page with [[Wham! Episode|<nowiki>[S]</nowiki>]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Cascade]] and you'd think they were two different comics.

* [[Annoying Laugh]]: [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003542 Calsprite has one.]

* [[Antiquated Linguistics]]: Hussie loves using obscure vocabulary.

** [[Real Life Writes the Plot|Due to Hussie biting off more than he could chew]], the battle between Rose and Jack comes in ''[[Avalon (webcomic)|Avalon]]''-like summary form from Doc Scratch.

** Gamzee and Karkat's [[Final Battle]] looks to be an [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|epic fight]]--until the conflict is resolved through [[The Power of Friendship]].

** [[Gorn]]: The only troll whose murder wasn't witnessed on screen was Nepeta's, and some of the stuff that happens with the corpses of the dead trolls later falls straight into [[Dead Baby Comedy]].

* [[Apocalypse How]]: Lots.

** Class 6 (Planetary Extinction) results as part of the Reckoning. The hours leading up to the end go up the scale prior to it.

*** This was downgraded to a Class 4 (Extinction of higher lifeforms) during the Post-Scratch Human session due to the machinations of the Condesce. She later alterniaforms the flooded Earth and colonizes it.

** Class X-5 (Multiversal Destruction) is the aim of Derse, although why exactly hasn't really been explained.

* [[Apocalypse Maiden]]: Mysterious troll apocalypseArisen / Aradia [[Apocalypse How|Megido]] sure seems to qualify. Most, if not all of the trolls think the kids are this.

* [[Apocalyptic Log|Apocalyptic Memo Page]]: Due to the nature of [[Timey-Wimey Ball|time]] in Homestuck, Karkat's final memo actually gets viewed by the people it most affects before it even happens.

** [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/scratch.php?s=6&p=005855 Fedorafreak's Serious Business messages] would qualify as well.

* [[Arc Number]]: "04/13", the date the comic began, has appeared quite a number times throughout the story, in obvious and obscure fashions. A compilation of the various instances can be found [http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/413 here.] The trolls have their own arc number, 612, detailed in the act that began on June 12. A third number has been introduced, which is the sum of the first two: 1025. Its first major appearance was the release date of [[Sudden Videogame Moment|Alterniabound]], October 25. A fourth number, for the post-Scratch session, appears to be 11/11/11, the date of the start of Act 6.

** Several of the Homestuck album prices are variations on various arc numbers.

** On Day 612, the 16th of December 2010 (12/16 backwards is ''61/2''1), Hussie released the video of John ascending.

*** And with 4 Kids, 4 Trolls, and 3 Carapaces, 11 people escaped the Troll and Beta Human sessions (ignoring Jade's bringing of their lands, as apparently that was preordained in its own way).

*** Also has a minor bit of retroactive meaning; ''MSPA'' became the longest webcomic on record on 2/11/11

** John asking after Vriska is this to Jade.

* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: "Slick, I can tolerate many things from a guest. Curt manners. [[Egregious]] womanizing. Murdering the help. Casual arson. Even atrocious candy bowl etiquette. But it is the [[Berserk Button|desecration of a priceless timepiece]] where I must draw the line. I'm afraid I must now insist that you take your beating ''quite'' personally."

** Also inverted in terms of Hussie's skill - drawing the high-detail cover for the "Heir Transparent" album in fact took him more time than it would have before he started the comic, simply because he just doesn't do that kind of stuff lately.

** He has an art team who make drawings for the flash cartoons, sometimes in different (he'll say better) styles.

** It finally struck static pages itself, as Andrew is experimenting with more realistic art. [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004705 This] is the first example of it, which becomes [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004709 more] [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004718 fine-tuned] [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004727 later.]

** The non-sound pages seem to be getting [http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=005539 kicked up a] [http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=005546 notch as well].

* [[Artifact of Doom]]: The Thorns of Oglogoth are described as doom artifacts.

* [[Art Major Physics]]: Kanaya kicked Gamzee in the [[Groin Attack|bone bulge]], causing his hat, glasses, and shoes to be blown off. Then she punched Vriska and chainsawed Eridan in half before the glasses started descending ''on her face.'' AT A CONSTANT VELOCITY.

* [[Art Shift]]: The comic tended to shift into [http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Hero_Mode more traditionally drawn] panels for [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|suitably epic]] scenes, although by Act 5, half the pages are done in this style. It also switches into a [http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Scribble_Mode more scribbled and sloppy style] for silly or childish panels.

** [[Real Life]] people are usually represented using Photoshopped photos of themselves. When the Insane Clown Posse faces off against Alpha Dave, though, they're drawn in both the [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006766 normal] and [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006767 Hero Mode] styles.

* [[Ascended Meme]]: On the forums, due to the [[Cloudcuckoolander|community's general personality]], many forum polls had "WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE" as a non-sequitur choice. Shortly after this happened, Worcestershire sauce got a mention in the comic. There are many other examples, as Andrew Hussie incorporates [[Wild Mass Guessing|speculation]] into the comic.

** [[Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff]] was appropriated from a minor side project so the kids could engage in this in-story.

** "[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006472 Double pistols and a wink]", a memetic pose widely associated with Jake. On the other hand, an earlier line from Jake was the source of the meme, so it could just be [[Call Back]].

* [[Astronomic Zoom]]: All the time.

* [[As You Know]]: Future Dave and Future Rose's review of the events leading up to their appearance.

** Dave is also Andrew's avatar ''to a very minor extent'', but not directly. His dialogue is easiest for Andrew to write, often parrots what Andrew believes, and early on used borrowed actual quotes from Andrew's own IM conversations.

*** Bro's Alpha Universe counterpart is also Andrew's avatar, but to a much greater extent than Dave. He and Andrew seem to have similar ideas about irony, and they've both performed [[MST|MSTings]] of actual books by writing in them.

{{quote|{{color|#008282|GC: 1 4M UNF4Z3D BY YOUR HUM4N BLUHS}}}}

** You've gained all the levels. All of them.

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: The royals on both sides are entitled to enchanted regalia which grant them powers from the players' prototypings. [[Oh Crap|Then]] [[The Starscream|Jack Noir]] [[Klingon Promotion|gets a promotion]], breaking up the regular order of the SBURB session.

* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: Many of the alchemizations.

** God Tier ascensions intentionally invoke this too, as the entire Incipisphere glows when someone ascends via a Quest Bed. The ones hidden in the moons of Derse and Prospit do not invoke this however.

* [[Baby Planet|Baby Planets]]: All of the celestial bodies located throughout the Incipisphere.

* [[Badass Boast]]: "You're done with dying."

** Nepeta also has a pretty nice longcoat, but it's a little more cute than badass. Most of the time anyway.

* [[Bad Future]]: The future where John listens to Terezi about taking on the Denizen early. He dies and Jade never enters the game, leaving it unwinnable to Dave and Rose.

* [[Bait and Switch]]: [http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002565 Here], after heavy anticipation of Jade's first appearance.

** Again when it seems like Doc Scratch is expecting the [[Big Bad]] Lord English, but Spades Slick arrives at his door instead. Of course being omniscient, Scratch knew this already. He was just messing with you. Hee hee. Haa haa. Hoo hoo.

* [[Batman Gambit]]: The White Queen actually pulls off a rather impressive one. Her abdication and plan to have Parcel Mistress deliver both crowns to Jack ends up giving John the cyborg bunny, in the end giving the players an edge against Jack. She wasn't planning to turn the tides of the war between the black and white pieces, she knew white winning was impossible. Note that her actions and PM's did not at all affect Jack's rise to power or his inevitable gain of the White King's Scepter (he would've killed the White King anyway even without PM's arrival on Skaia). "Conceding ground can supply the only remaining advantage. The final hope for victory lies in patience and planning" had ''nothing'' to do with helping the white side - [[Fridge Brilliance|the advantage was intended for the players in their fight against the Black King, who is now Jack!]]

** This might fall under [[Xanatos Roulette]] instead, as it depended on the genocidal Jack Noir keeping his word even when it didn't benefit him; however, the White Queen might have known it would work due to a [[Stable Time Loop]].

{{quote|"''[[Narrator|You]] [[Running Gag|stop being the other guy]] in time for us to see that you have just finished quickly and cleanly subduing the...''"<br />

"''Jack.''"<br />

* [[Beyond the Impossible]]: ''Yes.'' Everything just flipping its shit further and further off the handle.

{{quote|'''Andrew:''' ''There was only one sure thing I knew when starting HS. That was that this thing would go batshit insane in ways I couldn't begin to imagine. In fact, it was practically the mission statement.''}}

{{quote|'''Andrew on [[Twitter]]''': ok i quit putting stuff on the internet forever because THE INTERNET CAN'T HANDLE ME }}

** Andrew considers ''Homestuck'' to be [http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt4ewcSGtC1r4j79fo1_500.png just a warm-up for something else]. [[Beyond the Impossible|Dear]] ''[[Beyond the Impossible|god]]''.

{{quote|<code>JOHN YOU ARE STUPID

STUPID STUPID DUMB</code> }}

* [[Big Yes]]: "YES. HELL YES. HELL [[Precision F-Strike|FUCKING]] YES."

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: Used in an interesting way. The troll alphabet is actually the [http://www.imperial-library.info/content/daedric-alphabet Daedric Alphabet] from [[The Elder Scrolls]], rotated 180 degrees. The first name suggestion translates as "Turdodor Fuckball." The "real" name, however, translates as "Trollplanet", which is obviously just a joke since the real name is "Alternia". The attempted insulting name for Karkat translates as "Bulgereek Nookstain". During their fight scenes, the word "[[Griefer|GRIEF]]" appears instead of the kids' STRIFE. Much later, we discover that the name of the Fluorcite Octet's ultimate attack translates as "Ancestral Awakening."

{{quote|'''Serenity:''' Help, my friend is stuck inside the big can building. You must hurry. He's not very bright and he doesn't understand when I blink. Are you watching me? Oh no, don't blink me, you don't understand blinking either. How do you people even exchange ideas without luminous rear ends?}}

* [[Bizarrchitecture]]: The players houses are built up basically by copy-pasting bits of the architecture they already have.

** Exactly how bizarre is unclear due to [[Rule of Funny]], [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp]] and [[Teasing Creator]].

* [[Black Comedy]]: ''Homestuck'' has ''many'' examples of this, often accompanied by [[Mood Whiplash]].

* [[Black Screen of Death]]: To be exact, the variant that has slice marks showing up on the (generally red, not black) screen, but nothing else; generally used for faster animation.

* [[Black Shirt]]: Modern-day TV personalities (mostly shitty rappers) who answer directly to the Condense, paving the way for her ascension.

** "[[Ghostbusters|Green Slime Ghost]]".

** Averted with Betty Crocker brand baked goods, Terezi's Crayola chalk, Tab soda, and Faygo soda.

** This was only to set up a joke, though: He [[Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff|warned her about]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|stares]]. 8^y

* [[Bloody Hilarious]]: The Felt's Headquarters by the time Spades is through with it.

* [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: Troll society takes killing relatively easily. Childhood on [[Crapsack World|Alternia]] begins with a series of dangerous trials designed to off the weakest of them; once the survivors pass, they're introduced to an essentially lawless society where everyone has to fend for themselves, compassion is weakness and your frienemies are likely to stab you in the back. Arbitrary cullings are commonplace. They don't seem to have a huge problem with murder in its own right, just when it happens to someone they actually like, in which case it's okay to get bloody revenge on their fallen friend's behalf. Trolls who would qualify as dangerous sociopaths and serial killers on Earth are just thought of as huge tools, except for [[Vigilante Man|Terezi]], who is well-liked (possibly because unlike Vriska, who kills indiscriminately, Terezi has a set of rules she follows). The actions of [[Base Breaker|Vriska]] are more understandable given the culture she grew up in--and it's implied she isn't nearly the worst out there, just the worst given characterization.

** Trolls are so inherently violent that being someone's [[Morality Pet]] is an integral part of their culture.

** It is first implied then later outright stated to be due to Doc Scratch's meddling. The pre-scratch version of Troll culture was too soft and the players failed hard at the game (because they were too weak and unprepared), so Doc Scratch (on Lord English's orders) manipulated their culture to bring about a brutal, violent, ''prepared'' group of teens the second time around.

* [[Blah Blah Blah|Bluh Bluh Bluh]]

* [[Chainsaw Good]]: Kanaya's weapon of choice, though it also doubles as lipstick (carrying over an old [[Problem Sleuth]] joke). She's used it for combat, but also for trimming shrubbery. Other applications include [[Half the Man He Used To Be|amputating Tavros' legs and killing Eridan with one clean strike]].

* [[Character Class System]]: The titles of Sburb players amount to this, each generally defining the player's aptitude and intended role in Sburb - the Knight class (Dave and Karkat) is obviously combat-oriented, and the Seer class (Rose and Terezi) is intended as a support role to guide the other players according to Doc Scratch.

* [[Chekhov's Armoury]]: Very many things. This comic is big on continuity. Will someone make a separate page like the Harry Potter one to carry all of this stuff?

** [[Ashes to Crashes]]: John topples the SACRED URN, spilling his Grandma's ashes. The work is nothing if not [[Genre Savvy]]: "In retrospect, upon mulling cinematic tropes regarding ash-filled urns, this outcome was a virtual certainty."

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]: The [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003911 introduction] of Gamzee, and more generally anything he says.

** Skipper Plumbthroat unleashes an [[Freak-Out|epic one]] in the [[Christmas Episode|Christmas album]] song [http://homestuckgaiden.bandcamp.com/track/the-squiddles-save-christmas "The Squiddies Save Christmas"].

** [http://tindeck.com/listen/hftk Nyan Karkat.]

** Oddly enough, since the ''actual'' meaning of the F-word relates to human reproductive methods, and the trolls' methods are vastly different, the word shouldn't mean anything to them. [[Aliens Speaking English|Then again...]]

* [[Cool Sword]]: Any sword that Dave gets is, inevitably, going to be one of these. But his most recent acquisition is worthy of mention, considering that it's Caledfwlch - mythologically, one of King Arthur's swords and one of his most cherished possessions. Dave and Davesprite are aware that it is an inherently cool sword, and that it's Welsh somehow but don't know the reference. Davesprite considers it to be [[Awesome but Impractical]], considering that Dave already has Caledscratch - which is Caledfwlch but better - as well as several other weapons that qualify as [[Disk One Nuke|Disk One Nukes]].

** One-upped with the [[Infinity+1 Sword|Royal Deringer]] he gets when entering God Tier.

* [[Cosmic Horror Story]]: While it had elements of this for a while, it becomes a pretty major part of the story as of [http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004748 [S] Jade: Wake up.] Warning: may cause gibbering.

* [[Cosmic Retcon]]: Even though it's stated that the protagonists are unnamed until their thirteenth birthday, flashbacks seem to indicate that a character's name is applied retroactively.

* [[Crazy Prepared]]: John's Dad, apparently. Take [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=005303 this page from 5-2]. The man keeps a ''spare car'' in his ''wallet''.

* [[Creation Myth]]: [[Word of God]] says that this is one of things Homestuck was supposed to be from the start. Universes are created when people play Sburb/Sgrub, and the new universe is based on the players and their actions. The trolls "created" our universe, and the constellations of the Zodiac represent them, not the other way around.

* [[Creepy Doll]]: Lil' Cal. He can simply appear with no explanation as to how he got there, sometimes displacing whatever was there originally, although this is usually just [[Gaslighting|Bro messing with Dave]]. Usually. His eyes don't help either. Cal's creepiness was further amped up when it was revealed that crossing him with a magic cue ball created Doc Scratch and that Cal was created by Gamzee's rage powers to terrify Dave after Dave showed Gamzee the bLaSpHeMoUs "Miracles" video.

* [[Crossing the Burnt Bridge]]: Subverted. Karkat thinks he's going to have to apologize to Vriska in order to get her to join the Red Team. When he finds out that Vriska's been kicked off the Blue Team, he instantly rescinds his apology, and apologizes to himself for even making it in the first place.

* [[Cryptic Conversation]]: The Trolls refusal to be helpful or coherent at all (even to past versions of ''themselves'') tends to result in [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]].

* [[Culture Justifies Anything]]: Vriska's defense for killing Tavros and [[Horror Hunger|feeding all those young trolls to her lusus.]]

** Sollux predicts that this is how he will die, being blinded immediately prior or during. He may have been partially right about that, although it's not clear what event he was talking about.

** Aradia vs. Vriska, from the former to the latter-- the most brutal sequence yet.

** B-2 Rose vs. [[Sinister Minister|Chaplain]] [[Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives|Fieri]]: [http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006770 2xEYESTAB COMBO.]

** The Empress vs. B-2 Dave and Rose: [http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006774 3x3DENT/SORDSTAB COMBO.]

* [[Cute Kitten]]: {{smallcaps|Refuse to acknowledge the absurd kitten.}}

** You fail miserably.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Split Trope Lists]]