We got a sneak peek of a weird character cleaning a discarded faygo bottle off of the beach. And we also know that caligulasAquarium [CA] is one of the 2 trolls we’ve yet to meet. We know they are kind of an asshole. So now it’s time to meet them.

Eridan Ampora. We meet him riding a seahorse while armed with a neat blue harpoon gun. He is above a vast ocean while a storm ages on around him (yet there’s no waves?”). A huge white whale breaches the ocean and charges at him. He doges and shoots the whale with a huge blast of the rifle. The whale falls back into the sea, probably dead.

As this is a double introduction we cut to cuttlefishCuller [CC], the last troll to meet. Her name is Feferi Peixes. She is under the sea and a dead whale has landed on the surface above her. She captures the whale in a net and drags it to the dark depth of the ocean. Tentacles rise from the darkness and the whale is consumed by a creature about 1000 times bigger than it. A tentacle monster the size of a small town. These had been Lusus, though we don't know who the whale belonged to, the tentacle creature belongs to Feferi. Eridan’s Seahorse is his lusus. They return to their hives.

Feferi lives on the ocean floor. Eridan’s hive is a pirate ship crashed onto an island. His hive is covered in piles of gold and gems. He's got some viking wizard statues, harpoon guns, maps, and some books. He says he is nearly of the highest blood color, simular purple to Gamzee. He is from a line of sea dwellers, genetically distinct from other trolls. This likely refers to the fins coming out of his cheeks.

Eridan’s openly genocidal, wanting to kill all land dwellers. This being anyone who isn't Feferi and himself. We learned he had commissioned a doomsday device from Vriska to accomplish this, though that plan failed. He has an interest in Military History and Legendary Conquerors. He’s based his personality off of this.

Feferi’s hive is full of sea creatures, cuttlefish and sea ponies. There's a bunch of bird cages (for cuttlefish). Her blood color is fuchsia. This is apparently the highest one. I had assumed it was Gamzee for some reason, but it's apparently Feferi. She is the Heir apparent to be the empress. This would normally make her the target of assassination attempts from the current empress, but her gigantic lusus is protecting her, for now. Her lusus is called The Rift's Carbuncle, Emissary To The Horrorterrors, or Speaker of The Vast Glub.

However, as she's aware the game will soon doom everyone, any royal aspirations are doomed with it. But she’d want to make a point of caring for all of the unfit and infirm, and wildlife. Though her idea of caring seems to be more like imprisonment as it's what she is trying to do with the cuttlefish. Fortunately her bird cages dont secure them. Unlike Eridan, she wants to reunite with the land dwellers.

Last time we met Aradia Megido. A troll with very powerful telekinetic powers. Despite her powers though she seems completely without emotions, desires, or memories. Aradia gives off ethereal vibes and can hear the dead. We start today off with a look at arachnidsGrip [AG]. AG has glasses with one lens being solid, one robotic arm, fangs and blue makeup. But this is all we get. Apparently we the readers are not cool enough to learn more about this character. For now they are just arachnidsGrip [AG].

Sollux pesters Aradia. She is floating just outside his window but he doesn't know this. Sollux apologises for freaking out on her. He says he doesn't mind not being the leader, he just wants to play the game. Aradia informs him that he won’t be playing the game yet. She tells him to look out his window. Before Sollux can even see her she snaps him into an instant sleep with her powers. He passes out right into the mind honey. Sollux wakes up much later. We're told he has dreams of visions that will help guide his allies. He’s now the last to log in and needs to log into Karkats server. We see his lusus is still fine but there is an intense meteor shower occurring all around him. Upon awakening he accidentally consumed some of the mind honey he had passed out onto. This causes his eyes to shoot intensely powerful laser beams Cyclops style. This destroys everything above him, likely vaporizing his lusus.

Now we are the cat-troll living in a cave. We'd seen this character briefly before but didn't get an introduction. Safe to assume this is arsenicCatnip [AC], her real name is Nepeta Leijon. She has cat-like facial features. Pretty much the :3 face, with fangs. She's wearing a blue hood, a blue tail, and an oversized green jacket. She lives in a cave and likes roleplay. She empathizes that she likes “Friendly” roleplay. Not the dangerous kind that gets people hurt. But she also likes to hunt large beasts with nothing more than her claws and fangs. Her cave's littered with the blood and corpses of her kills. She uses the blood to paint “wall comics”. Her claw gloves are her primary clawkind weapons. Her lusus is a large 2 mouthed cat sleeping in the corner named Pounce De Leon. Nepeta seems aware of her lusus’s fate, but not when it will happen. But we're shown it’ll be a cave-in. I am not sure we are always shown the fates of lusus in this way. But, it isn't surprising to see weird time skips and flash forwards at this point. Though they're written like they are from someone's perspective. Karkat pesters Nepeta. He reluctantly role plays with her to recruit her into the red team. He refers to her as the “autistic girl”. As if he and every bloody character in this thing isn't neurotypical in some way. Karkat, Terezi, Gamzee And Tavros are already in the game. He needs her to log in from Travos and wants grimAuxiliatrix [GA] to log in from her. But, much like when Terezi tried to recruit her she says she needs to talk to someone first. Karkat's annoyed by this but can't actually do much about it.

That guy is a troll we've yet to meet. centaursTesticle [CT]. They choose that name for themselves. We’ve only seen this guys creepy silhouette. This was during the scene where grimAuxiliatrix [GA] removes Travos’s legs with a chainsaw. We can learn a lot about this guy from this conversation. He’s not at all receptive to Nepeta’s roleplaying. He seems to be all business and always fully serious. He’s also a classist as blood color seems to determine a trolls class. Also their text colors seem to represent their blood colors. He accuses Nepeta of having "loosened morals" for having “fraternized with the base classes”. Nepeta doesn't care about blood color or classes. Nepeta mentions that CT uses a bow. Also CT has seemingly no idea how to actually use a bow. This means Nepeta is actually a better hunter as he is. She's actually taking out large prey with nothing more than her claws. CT apparently is against killing beasts as he venerates them.

CT claims Aradia and him have made a deal that he will co-lead the blue team. It seems she’d made this deal with everyone on that team. The collective ego’s of everyone on that team just seem to have made that possible. Nepeta tells him she will be joining the red team. This really seems to upset CT. He claims she is too delicate to associate with base blooded hooligans. Painfully Nepeta obeys CT’s demands and lets Travos know she can't join the red team. Travos is ok with this. He mentions this happened during the dangerous role player event that caused his injury. So perhaps it's better that Nepeta stays with the blue team.

A few times we’ve cut to a girl who seems to have strong psychic powers destroying the frog ruins. We now get to meet her. Her name is Aradia Megido, she mentions she had interests such as Archeology. But, but she no longer remembers any of that. She says her current calling is to destroy the mystic ruins she found because she's bored. Like Sollux she hears the voices of the dead and they guide her. She’s always been able to hear these since an accident involving a kind of role playing caused an accident. This accident also killed her lusus. Instead of building her own home she’d apparently been living in the ruins. This is also where she had also discovered the game. Knowing this game would destroy her civilization she gave it to Sollux to adapt and play. She’s named the game SGRUB (like SBURB). She got him to get 12 players for the game including herself. He believes he’s the leader of the blue team but she says that isn't the case.

Her modus is a Ouji Board she can only gets items if the spirits will it. In this case she's given the Bing CrosbyTop used by Spades Slick. She says she had found it during an archaeological dig. She has no idea who the person is but she finds its mobility practical.

grimAuxiliatrix [GA] is pestering her. GA has genuine concern for Aradia. She mentions that today is the day that Aradia wanted to doom everyone. GA tried to remind her that she doesn't actually need to follow the will of the voices in her head. But, this doesn't seem to work. Aradia and GA will be on separate teams but GA offers to help should Aradia need her. It seems Aradia's transfixed by whatever will is controlling her and ignoring GA.

Aradia checks in on Sollux in a conversation we’d read before. The one in which she informs him of the ploy and he tries to abort the game. She’d then go visit his home. Or at least the roof of it where his Lusus is chained up. Sollux’s Lusus isn't a threat to her as she uses her powers to hold the creature in the air above her. She holds the creature while she responds to some chats on the cosbytop.

arachnidsGrip [AG] pesters Aradia. AG seems to know everything Aradia is doing. She asks if she has hatched her plan against Sollux yet. Aradia is working on that. AG also mentions that the plan is that she and Aradia would co-lead the blue team. AG mentions that she had a present for Aradia that she will find later. Aradia has no reaction to this. AG wants a “team” name for the pair of them. Apparently they had some kind of beef in the past and have only recently begun collaborating. Aradia seems to tolerate this arrangement but doesn't actually seem to like AG. AG just seems to talk considerably more than she listens.

Last time we met Travos. He’s odd, especially for a troll. He’s not afraid to show vulnerability and isn't ashamed of his interest. At least not to the audience. Though this isn't why I dislike the character, these are positive traits. The reasons I don't like will come later. Also that creepy expression on his face.

During his zoning out flash forward thing Travos has gotten a few messages. Firstly arachnidsGrip [AG]. This one is new, the troll under Scorpio. They are mean. They inform Travos he is on the red team while she is on Blue. She points out his team has “blind girls” and points out his disability insinuating team blue is for disabled people. Travos doesn't want to talk to her but also doesn't seem to be doing much about it. He mentions he’s given a name to his self esteem, on the advice of grimAuxiliatrix [GA]. He named it Rufio a character from the Peter Pan based movie “Hook” (1991). This gets him ruthlessly insulted by AG for having imaginary friends. She instructs him to stop listening to GA and she rambles on like a dang coke fiend for a bit before leaving.

Polar opposite to this encounter Travos then chats with Gamzee. Gamzee apologized for zoning out mid conversation even though they had not actually started the conversation yet. Gamzee is also on the red team and is cool with Travos. He’s actually somewhat nurturing towards Travos being more confident. They enjoy some slam poetry and discuss the game. The chain for the red team is that Karkat will log in from Terezi. Gamzee will then log in from Karkat, and then Tarvos from Gamzee. Then supposedly 4 others. We know karkat is in already but Terezi is off doing something in her forest. Then after faygo they have the worst rap off in all of paradox space. Fortunately, it doesn't actually show us any of it. I’ll be thankful for that small mercy.

Terezi is doing a thing in the forest. Which is to say she is in a forest which is burning all around her. In front of her is a giant scale. On one end is an egg, her lusus that she has never met. On the other scale is a giant skull. The skull is over an ominous button. We can guess if the egg hatches then the skull will depress the button. Terezi also mentioned that the day she meets her lusus the world would end. The reason she hasn't met her lusus yet is because it had not hatched yet.

Terezi explains that there is a dragon in the egg. The dragon is blind until it reaches maturity so it was able to psychically connect to Terezi and teach her how to survive without sight. She was able to access her dream self and vaguely see the world around it. To us is familiar, as is her outfit. She was seeing Prospit.

The fire from the forest was caused by falling meteors. This is much like what Rose experienced before entering the medium. The heat of these fires hatched the young dragon causing the doomsday button to activate. The dragon is immediately struck by a falling meteor and killed. We are told this one will be prototyped into a sprite. The doomsday device counts down from 6:12.

Last time we saw apocalypseArisen [AA] floating over to Sollux’s Lusus. Given the effects of the curse that Karkat had unleashed we could assume something bad was going to happen. The audience asks to “be the other girl” hoping to learn more about AA.

We start off with grimAuxiliatrix [GA]. She is riding on the head of her lusus, a giant flying bug with horns. She appears to be flying around Jade's tower, but most of it is submerged in the ground. The frog ruins are nearby, intact but very weathered and rusty. The audience isn't pleased with this and asked to stop being the “other girl”.

We now see adiosToreador [AT] in his room. He is bound to a wheelchair. His lusus is a tiny bull that flies around him. His name is Tavros Nitram. He likes fairy tales and fairies in general. Many of the posters in his room are just fairies with troll features. He wants to capture and train the various wildlife of Alternia to fight battles for him. These are apparently in the form of card games. He also enjoys “Hardcore roleplay” which leads to his accident. He’s also into slam poetry, though given how badly he gets destroyed by Dave we can assume he’s not very good at this.

He plays a card game called Fiduspawn with his lusus. He throws a ball which hatches into a weird spider alien face hugger. It attacks a “host plush” teddy bear causing another weird alien horse thing to burst from its chest. This new thing eats the spider thing that created it. Tavros then uses his mind control to take over the creator and do battle with his lusus. Though apparently that means he commands it to take a nap with it. I guess he doesn't like violence. He decides to also take a nap which is a struggle given his disability, and giant horns. Later he equips his jousting lance in his strife specibus. He practices with this weapon in hopes of becoming a Cavalreaper. But he suspects he will be culled for being disabled…

That's kinda f#%ked up. The trollian empire is brutal but that’s straight up bad eugenics.

On Travos’s wall is a poster for Pupa Pan. He wants a man to come with some Special Stardust so that he can fly and enjoy adventures. Though he mentions this desire to fly had been around long prior to his accident.

We are shown a future where Travos has Robotic legs built for him by a friend who likes robots. He seems to be in the same place the troll had been when chatting with the kids. He mentions GA was kind enough to remove his old legs with her chainsaw. We see his blood is brown. We also see that the troll with the mark of Sagittarius watches from the shadows. Travos mentioned this was the friend who was into robotics, he likes to silently watch and it's creepy. We’ll meet them later I am sure.

We got a glimpse of a troll floating around the frog ruins before. She removed the head of the frog statue seemingly with just her mind. Perhaps these are psionic powers like the ones Sollux. We still don't know who this is but she further destroys the frog statue just by giving it a little, uncaring kick. We can assume this person is very powerful. What we're given is that this person is apocalypseArisen [AA]. The one who was able to confirm the vision Sollux had. She's also the one the other trolls don't seem to like chatting with anymore for some reason.

Sollux and AA are chatting. They speak of going to a new dimension. The voices haunting them should stop once they get there. AA’s outlook is generally hopeless and depressing. But she’s mostly just emotionless, she mentions she doesn't remember anger. She mentions that Karkats anger is vital to him sabotaging his own plan. His sabotage of his own plan is critical to a greater plan. She mentions the voices never lie. This is familiar to the old ones that Dave and Rose can hear. AA informs Sollux that this game isn’t a way to save their world. Their world is already fated to be destroyed. They can only hope to preserve their species. She also lets him know that he isn't the leader of this operation. Someone else will enter the game before him. Sollux doesn’t like what he is hearing. As a Seer himself he’d know if this was true. He now wants to abort the whole game in hopes it will change something. He reaches out to Terezi to let her know. But she already offloaded the leadership role to Karkat. Frantically Sollux demands Karkat quit playing the game. This doesn't work. Karkat already accused Sollux of trying to put Terezi in charge as a way of weakening the red team. He now thinks that this is another attempt to gain an advantage. Also he’s already installed the game and has begun playing it with Terezi. This leads to the usual petty arguing that we’d come to expect. In doubt of his hacking prowess, Karkat runs the code that Sollux created. This was the Mobius Double Reacharound Virus, the one that makes computers explode. The code worked shortly after while Karkat was away from his PC. This is what caused the giant hole in the side of his hive. This code also curses everyone on his contact list to grave misfortunes. Specifically their Lusus will die. Karkats has become the first. It got killed in the explosion. We're told all the trolls except for one would prototype their Lusus. This would make their monarchs extremely powerful.

Apparently the prototyping process prefers the dead or doomed. Though this isn't required. We see Gamzee Holding the head of his sea dragon Lusus which looks to have been impaled somehow.

Sollux is beating himself up for even giving Karkat that code. He realized that he was just showing off and it cost everyone dearly. He decides to delete the code and all of his viruses so that cant do any more harm. He noticed one virus he had found was not one of his. He had found it, and it triggers only if the universe is destroyed. He mentions even if he deleted it, it's likely to have spread. It seems to contain an ominous gif of various pool balls. It gives strong vibes of “The Felt”

We are told that the code summons an indestructible demon into a void world. It will then rule over it. This Demon can also traverse time. And the creator of the code is the demon itself. We can see that this code has installed itself in a server that exists beyond the medium. One placed there by Rose to house the GameFaqs entries. This means this impossible to kill time traveling demon is not only already out but no longer bound to one universe. Sollux’s Lusus starts to act up. He’s apparently built his hive on Communal Hive Stem which is like an apartment building. He has his Lusus chained up on the roof of this structure. His Bicylops Lusus has a visitor, its AA floating in the sky around it.

Last time the story was focused on Terezi attempting to recruit her team for “the game”. This attempt was going poorly as her friends all had excuses to delay any commitment to the game. But Karkat wanted leadership of the team so Terezi just gave it to him. We then got a look into a future where Karkat is already in the medium, his home was covered in paint and modified by Terezi’s blind gaming.

We go back to a time prior to this skip to when Karkat was about to confront the crabby neighbour living below him. He had dropped a vault through his floor which was no dough upsetting to the one living below him. He faces a giant white crab monster.

He mentions this is his Lusus Naturae and Custodian. I assume that the custodian is the relationship between the trolls and these creatures, and a Lusus is the creature? Lusus meaning “freak” and Naturae Meaning untamed. This creature apparently raised Karkat. Trolls do not have parents. Karkat describes that imperial drones carry Filial Pails (based on websters this is just a bucket relating to offspring. I’ll leave that to your imagination. This bucket is tossed into a slurry by the Mother Grub who produces thousands of eggs. Those eggs hatch into larvae which metamorphosis into the more humanoid-like forms. After some trials in the deep underground a lusus may adopt them to raise on the surface. They use droids to build a hive, then once adults, they leave the planet. It makes sense that the Trolls we’ve met are only “teens”.

Anyway this fight isn't met with a cool animation sequence. We are given a bit of a cool track from Toby Fox but just told to imagine how cool the fight was. I guess someone was feeling tired that day. We are told that Karkat ended the fight by feeding the lusus. He describes the relationship as being codependent as he is protected by the creature but must also care for it on some levels.

Then we’re introduced to the next troll. We’d seen them as twinArmageddons [TA]. We had seen them before helping grimAuxiliatrix [GA] with her computer. We get the intro explaining how cool he is, almost Dave likes his coolness. But he is also moody as hell. We the readers are told to F#%K off. If I had to guess, the character's obsession with duality is some sort of split personality or bi-polar disorder.

Anyway we are introduced instead to a cat-troll living in a cave? Nope GA changed his mind and decided it's his turn.

His name is Sollux Captor, He confirms his bipolar disorder. He’s a computer wiz as we already know. He claims he can hear the voices of the dead with his mutant brain, or see visions of the the future? He knows this game he has adapted will somehow be necessary to save his people but he doesn't know how.

He apparently doesn't need an inventory modus as he has psionic abilities. In demonstrating his psionic abilities he manages to slice open one of his Beehouse Mainframes with a giant ninja star. This seems to be a server made out of a large beehive. Obviously slicing it in half made the bees unhappy. But he just makes them sleep with his power. He mentions the mind honey that came oozing out should never be eaten. He uses this to feed his lusus.

Sollux contacts Terezi. He has picked her as the leader of one of the 2 teams he’s planned for this game. He decides 2 teams will optimize their chances of success. Terezi is on board with this idea but isn't really sure about the whole world ending thing. Sollux points out he isn't the only one with this vision as apocalypseArisen [AA] had also had this. He also predicts before he dies he too will be blind like Terezi. Though everyone dies in his vision his death is the most brutal. Terezi thinks that Sollux might still just be a little melodramatic. She’d confirm with AA but she finds that AA is not fun to talk with these days.

Last time we met Terezi, the troll behind the handle gallowsCalibrator [GC]. She’s still in her room. She decides to equip her walking cane as her strife specibus. This counts as a canekind. She mentions she will need it for the Medium. This is very interesting as she somehow knows the Medium exists. Her current goal is to recruit her team members. She chooses arsenicCatnip [AC] as she frequently role plays with her. What follows is pretty much the kind of roleplay I saw many teen girls do in the early 2000’s. It’s weird and cringy with a lot of asterix. AC is some sort of lion with many mouths and baby cubs. While Terezi is a dragon of some sort. The scenario is that AC is preparing a meal out of something called a choler bear. She offers it to Terezi in exchange for not eating her cubs. After whatever the heck that was, Terezi asked AC to join her team for the game. But AC needs permission from someone named Blar.

She then contacted Gamzee in the conversion we saw earlier. Gamzee suggested she recruit Karkat instead. He told her he’d join whenever he's done spacing out on the beach. She assumes that will be an eternity and moves on.

Reluctantly she answers Karkat who’d just begun to pester her. He informs her he’s the leader now whether she likes it or not. He’s decided this is best. Terezi has decided she doesn't give a darn. She just lets him have it stating she didn't think he’d actually want to be leader and she really doesn't care. Karkat seems disappointed by the lack of a fight and let her be second in command. She instructs him that she will start a server and he will join it and “lead the adventure”. She also mentions she had no “Lusus”. It's not mentioned if we can assume this is the troll word for “guardian” though they had mentioned “Custodians” . She can hear her Lusus in her dream but believes that if she ever meets then the world will end. This inspires Karkat to deal with the crabby neighbour downstairs before entering the game. But we don't see this.

The story skips ahead. Karkat's home is now covered in bad drawings and has some odd modifications to make it taller. It's now located in a land with black islands and red water called The Land of Pulse and Haze (LOPAH) . There's also a giant hole in the side of his house, and a sprite near it. He sees Karkat calling himself the Knight of Blood. He is wielding a sickle called the “Homes Smell Ya Later”. The hero stands before his own toilet which is on an island and not in his home. Karkat complains to Terezi about who reminds him that she is blind. She tells him he’ll need to host the next player so the chain will start. She also knows about the meteors that will soon crash into her. Karkat doesn't know anything. He’s apparently not contacted any of the other players. But she reminds him that if they fail to get her into the game he's screwed. “A while” prior to this. We see the frog ruins. The same ones from Jades island and a meteor floating in the veil. They are now in a cave. Floating near them is a troll with solid white eyes and a tattered dress. She has the mark of Aries on her shirt. Seemingly with only the power of her mind she removes the head of the main frog statue. As this statue has a head in Jades time, this may be either a copy of the ruins or somehow a distant future version of them.

In a different place we see a trollian hand with many rings picking up a 2L bottle of Faygo from a beach. They complain of “land dweller rubbish”. One of the rings has the sign of aquarius on it.

So far in act 5 we’ve met Karkat and Gamzee. Karkat is some kind of angry kid who seems fed up with everything and has “ambitions”. Gamzee is just some sort of stoned juggalo.

We are with Karkat as he attempts to code using a Trollian programming language. This language sounds like looping recursive hell. He shows off a virus made by twinArmageddons [TA]. The virus will apparently make the target's computer explode. This also apparently curses the user and everyone it then spreads too. Notably this is importing 2 libraries Universe 1 and 2. He has no idea how this code works and is too proud to ask.

TA reaches out to invite Karkat to invite him to the game. He describes it as a game in which their civilization depends on them playing it. TA had somehow adapted the game using some kind of technology that apocalypseArisen [AA] (who we haven't met) found in a ruin. Boy does that seem like a good idea. Karkat also mentions that TA has a “mutant brain”. It seems like TA can hear thoughts or something but it isn't explained yet. More on the game TA explains there is a red and blue team. TA is leading the Blue team. Karkat is on the red team but he's upset he isn't the leader. TA chose gallowsCalibrator [GC] for that. The accusation is that TA chose a blind girl to lead his opposition so that he could win. Though Karkat isn't very vague about his jealousy over his self given status as a great leader. TA mentions he doesn't really care and if Karkat can get GC to agree to give him leadership of the team then he can have it.

After this conversation, Karkat notes that the resident below him is getting “crabby”. He needs to have an encounter with them soon. This is similar to the kids not wanting to face their guardians.

We are then taken to another character. This one we’ve met before as gallowsCalibrator [GC]. Her room is very colourful, but she can't actually see it. Though from what we know she can taste colours. So perhaps the semi transparent colorful curtains make the air taste nice? Her name is Terezi Pyrope. She has a wall covered in colorful dragon scales, dragon plushies called Scalemates. Terezi also enjoys roleplay. She describes it as hardcore justice and “orchestrating the demise of the wicked”. She has many Trollian law books in braille. Almost shocking such a brutal culture would have respect for accessibility needs. She also has a bunch of chalk drawings on her walls. She mentions she lives alone in the woods. Also she is currently the leader of the red team with 5 friends. The blue team also has 6 players.

She starts us off with a scenario. One of her Scalemates is on trial. She is the prosecuting attorney and the Judge which she calls the Honorable Tyranny. She is prosecuting Senator Lemonsnout, and defence isn't a thing in Alternia. She proceeds to slap the yellow plush to interrogate them. They’re accused of stealing beetle reserves. The key witness was murdered. It seems the green plush was stabbed by a dagger. However, the senator dropped his personal satchel containing illicit beetles in the courtroom. As the prosecuting attorney she can decide the fate of the accused. The Honorable Tyranny is apparently just there to be menacing. She borrows old movie tropes from Batman and no country for old men and flipped a coin. Though the coin flip is favorable to lemon snout. She reminds him that justice is blind and hangs him anyway. Lemonsnout hangs from Terezi’s treehouse along with many other Scalemates. She adjourns and ends the fantasy by licking the drawing of the Honorable Tyranny she made on the wall. She says the red chalk taste good.

We are currently in a new act. All the stuff involving human kids getting sucked into a video game will be put aside for a while. The story is now focused on these trolls and how they came to be in their own failed session. Karkat is the first of these trolls we get introduced to. We know him as carcinoGeneticist [CG] before this act.

We are still checking out Karkat's bedroom. His PC looks somewhat normal except the tower is a big purple larval sack. Also, there are way too many cords running to the display. He has a copy of game Grub magazine which we can assume is the Trollian equivalent to Game Bro. He also shows a DVD copy of the trollian version The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. This is mostly useless info, but he does mention “blue bloods” seem to be trolls with literally blue blood. The blue bloods are higher socially and snobbish.

A fellow troll pesters Karkat, terminallyCapricious [TC]. We haven't actually seen this one yet, though they did try to contact Jade at some point. TC considers Karkat to be his best friend. Though Karkat seems to hate this guy. TC is really into “miracles” and the drink Faygo. Karkat and TC talk about a big thing that twinArmageddons [TA] has going on. We know TA is the computer savvy one who was helping grimAuxiliatrix [GA]. Karkat has no idea what TA is up to though and figures it will be another project that wastes time.

We then go to TC, we see he is pretty different from the other trolls. He's obsessed with clowns. I had no idea what this was when I first read through this. These are references to a specific fandom for a band. More details on this come out later but to spoil it for your sanity TC is a Juggalo. I still don't know much about Juggalo culture but it doesn't seem like something I’d mesh well with. It’s also pretty much non-existent in my area. Anyway TC’s profanity laden introduction tells us his name is Gamzee Makara. He considers himself a fan of “clowns of a grim persuasion which may not be in full possession of their mental faculties”. He describes his as an obscure cult following some minstrels. These minstrels will lead them to a planet that doesn't exist yet. He mentions the cult's looked down upon by the rest of society. That's a bit of an ironic comparison to how the Homestuck community is sometimes viewed. Anyway his room is a mess of clowning/busking tools. This includes juggling pins, horns, and a unicycle. He doesn't know how to adjust the unicycle's height so it is too tall for him to actually use. There's also a lot of Faygo and pie tins of green sludge. His fetch modus is some kind of random nonsense. He claims to have no understanding of it and actively chooses not to. Also as he takes his husktop (laptop) it seems he can break the fourth wall and see the UI. The “pies” that he “bakes” are just pie tins filled with the Sopor Slime that is in troll beds. He mentions that he is not supposed to eat the stuff and it causes brain damage. He claims to not know this (despite explaining it) and blames his custodian. The custodian is apparently “out to sea”. We can see Gamzee’s hive is on a beach next to the sea. He’s equipped with a juggling pin which is a club type.

While on the beach he attempts to answer a pester from another troll. His inventory system tosses a bottle of Faygo into the ocean. He then just violates the “rules” entirely and just grabs his laptop out of the ui with his hands. This is pretty concerning, it also raises the questions of why modus exist at all. The modus, and other inventory systems are not a mechanic of SBURB, they just exist in the universe. It’s as fundamental as gravity, and yet this guy is so spaced out he can just ignore it.

The other troll pestering him is gallowsCalibrator [GC] (the blind troll). GC wants Gamzee to play a game with her. This is apparently the big mystery game that they had all been excited about. Ganezee agrees to join once he is back inside. Though GC knows he will just space out on the beach.

We’ve entered the 5th Act. My hot take from my original read of this is that the trolls kind of suck. I know they are a fan favourite, but I'll explain as we do this thing. One thing you may notice is the trollian language. It’s from The Elder Scrolls which apparently landed the writers in some hot water from Bethesda. But the archives use it, and provide a handy codex. Anyway we start out on –Turdodor Fuckball– Alternia. We're greeted with a character we have met before. carcinoGeneticist [CG] gets introduced in the same fashion John was. It is his 13th “wriggling day” (birthday). We learn his real name is –Bulgereek Nookstain– Karkat Vantas. We can see his room has grey walls and floors. His bed seems to be a big purple larval thing filled with green stuff. We can see a purple sky and clouds outside.

Much like John he is into bad rom coms and he has posters for them all over his room. The cast on these posters are just photoshopped earth actors with grey skin. Horns are also added, and the titles are ridiculously long. With more totally not controversial actors like Will Smith. He also is an amature coder. He has a cool Sickle in hopes of becoming something called a Threshecutioner. Karkat mentions he has a new chat system called Trollian and he is going to play a game with 5 of his friends. A game that doesn't exist yet. It seems this is a past event from where we left off, from before the trolls got into the game. He shows off his stuff. His bed is something called a Recuperacoon and it's full of Sopor Slime.

His modus is a system that puts his items in an encoded vault that he needs to hack to use. This is the least practical one yet. Taking the vault into his inventory doubled the weight and sent it through his floor. This means his scythe is now gone and there is a hole in his floor.

He also shows his programming manual. The ~ATH - A Handbook For The Imminently Deceased. This doesn't look like any language I know about but I pretty much only code in Typescript these days.

Karkat goes out of his “respiteblock” (bedroom) and onto his “extraterraneal landing slats” (balcony). He explained he designed and built his “Hive” (House). Trolls get taught to do this very young. He also lives with his Custodian (troll version of a guardian). He goes into a poem but cuts to a rant. Karkat likes to rant. He mentions he has grand ambitions but no real direction. He feels tonight will change this.

Note this isnt act 5 yet, I think we are in an epilogue for act 4.

The situation has become bad.

We start with Roses “final” entry to gameFaq.com. We vaguely saw in [S]Descend Rose's gate exploded. She explains here that she blew it up. She’s mentioned that both the troll and the old gods have told her this is a doomed session . With this in mind there is no sense in playing the game as intended. She's now hellbent on changing her fate. She’s also used magic to place her guide on a server that can exist outside of earth. Her hope is it will help “any future species” who may find it.

Meanwhile, hours after the Reckoning, the Warweary Villein(WV) is wandering a destroyed planet. He's wrapped in the bed sheets from John's dream bedroom. The Warweary Villein is now the Wayward Vagabond. He thinks back to the events that got him here. WV was for some reason spared by Jack. Perhaps it was to make him suffer being a survivor. Or perhaps Jack felt the WV was so little of a threat he just ignored him entirely. He saw John's dreamself over the body of Jade's former Dream self. She is dead. He takes her ring though we don't know why he’d have known to do so. The clouds of Skaia reveal events past, present and future. John sees himself near a castle and knows that is where he must now go.

The Postal mistress (PM) also crashes to the desert planet. Her clothing bloodied she fashions some new clothes from a Prospite banner. She has her sword the ground has a bunch of mailboxes around her. The Postal Mistress becomes the Peregrine Mendicant. She recalls slaying the Hegemonic Brute (HB). HB had attempted to take the white kings scepter from her and failed. She now holds the crowns of the white king and the queen. Using HB’s walkie talkie she summoned Jack. Her mission from him was to kill the white king and queen. These crowns would be evidence of that. Even though she didn't actually harm them, She’s tricked Jack. She's presented with the Green package. The package she absolutely must present to John. She finds him and completes her mission. John now finally receives the package from Jade, the one he should have received at the beginning. He just found Jade's dead body not long ago. Now he has the message that came with it. The message doesn't seem to be from Jade, it's someone else who says they convinced Jade to give him this present. John will meet them soon. It doesn't really mention who wrote but it does mention all the contents of the box.

There is a second letter which is actually from Jade. She mentions she can't see John reading but isn't sure why he looks sad. She’d lived on Prospit most of her life, and used the clouds to see the future. She knows that when John wakes up it’ll be because something bad has happened but she’s happy he is awake. The present is something that her “Penpal” had suggested. The penpal had gotten the idea from someone else. She knows these are items that John needs for some reason. She can't wait for him to wake up and she really wants to finally meet him in the real world. This is of course devastating. As John sits alone in his grief the tip of the sword is at his face. Jack has come for him and he wants the ring. But, he's interrupted by the contents of the box. It's the Bunny, in some new ultimate form. It is now modified with mechanical parts and seems to be fully autonomous. It’s also geared up with some crazy weapons including a hammer, 2 needles, a rifle and broken sword. Jack seems to know that this is and he is not going to mess with it.

On the desert planet the Authority Regulator (AR) is near some old frog ruins. He is wrapping himself in caution tape and seems to have found some arms. The Authority Regulator is now the Aimless Renegade. He witnessed The “Draconian Dignitary” (DD) use the MEOW book on a machine aimed at a dog. This created some sort of green energy and a puppy. AR hopped on his rocket board and flew out of the temple as it began to fire green light. He returned to the lab where John had been. John is still there though as he is in the dreaming world he is no longer awake in the lab. The lab is on one the asteroids affected the Reckoning and is currently being flung into a portal. AR decides it's his duty to protect citizens. He straps John to the rocket board with caution tape and sends him off into space. This is apparently safe, folks can just breathe in space. Jack flees the scene. Somehow he knows not to fight the mecha bunny. Meanwhile Jade's Grandpa is landing his spaceship. We see grandpa collect Jade's body and return to his ship. He leaves Rose's Mom and John's Dad Behind. John must have moved far from this as he doesn't see any of it. On the ship in the sky Granpa follows tradition and we see Jade's taxidermied body.

That’s pretty messed up there.

We see the white queen fly her ship into a portal she looks as Prospit is now in crumbles floating in space. She lands on the desert planet with her entourage. The White Queen becomes the Windswept Questant (WQ). We see her many years later finding and repairing the Egg ship. Then years later she is with WV, PM and AR in Can town. The mayor of cantown had been harbouring a secret. In his rusty knife all these years he had hidden a ring. The ring of power. John witnesses this. He sees it in a cloud.

Next to that cloud is another one with.. Awl damn it Andrew Hussie (AH) with another recap.

So as before I suggest reading that if you’re confused. Here are the many points I missed, or did not explain well enough.

• The Lil Cal sent back with the Bro baby is specifically the Dream version Cal. The “real” Cal got sliced up in the fight between Dave and Bro. This might imply that Cal is actually originally from the dream realm. AH mentions that Cal was so annoying to Dave that he was in Dave’s dreams. This would make Cal a manifestation of pure annoyance.

• A little more on the old gods. We know both Rose and Dave can hear them though Dave doesn't want to. This is because they are the “Children of Derse”. I think this is a balance. Derse kids get the old gods chattering in their heads. The Prospit kids get early access to the clouds of Skaia. Jade took advantage of this to help everyone.

• The reason that Daves egg hatched was apparently time. His bird wasn't trying to keep the egg from Dave by keeping it in the tower, it was trying to hatch it. It did so at just the right time. I don't think that was really clear enough in the story though. Dave sprite could have easily confirmed this.

• I completely conflated “Skaia” and “The Battleground” and had to go back and make a bunch of edits. Sorry.

• he confirms that it was Becquerel (Bec) that DD used the MEOW book to make. I figured that’d be a spoiler but I guess it is kind of obvious. He mentions it will make him “dangerous” though we don't know how yet.

• I may not have it clear enough. The battlefield changed on each player entering. So if a 4th player entered it would evolve further. AH hints at this. - he suggests one of the reasons Jack may have spared WV is out of respect for a fellow mutineer.

• the dueling pistols that were left with Jade's Grandpa were in Jade's room. I think AH mentioning that might be for a reason given the room recently blew up and scattered some stuff.

• The dog Halley was called “Harley” by grandpa as a result of a speech impediment. Harley is also Jade's surname. - way back when AR surrendered to WV, this was because the symbol for Bec was carved into the pumpkin WV was carrying. AH points out that AR was afraid of the events he witnessed in the labs.

• I didn’t notice that the “ships” found by the exiles represented the items used to access the medium. These were actually in the meteors which had hit their homes. Johns grew into a tree that became an apple ship that PM found, Roses was a wine bottle and the cork was the ship WV found. Daves was an egg and the ship the WQ had come in on. She found that ship split into two because Bro cut the meteor in half. AR didn't find a ship yet.