ELEVATORSTUCK Is A Fangame Inspired By A Truly Ancient 1930s-esque Retrofuturism Sci-fi AU I Made When

ELEVATORSTUCK is a fangame inspired by a truly ancient 1930s-esque retrofuturism sci-fi AU I made when I was a teenager. Features too much dialogue and three-dimensional under-the-hatch text arrays. Give it a play! (Mobile friendly!)

https://iconoclastcafe.itch.io/elevatorstuck

i think what’s on a person’s nightstand is very telling so reblog this and put in the tags the things you have on your nightstand

I got bored again

so i’m re-reading homestuck. currently i’m near the beginning of act 5. assorted thoughts:

1. rose is so fucking funny. fanfic writers never remember this

2. speaking of rose — her classpect means that in fanart and fanfic, her mysterious seer-iness is highly emphasized. but in acts 1 through 4, the mysterious one is jade. DREAM VISIONS! ENIGMATIC HINTS AT PROPHECY! TIME LOOP BULLSHIT! jade is THE mysterious seer-adjacent character. meanwhile, rose acts like she knows what’s going on but she basically never does. as a result, fanfic especially gives the mysterious-seer attributes to rose and jade is just sort of… there. (i am kinda guilty of this myself.) my new 2024 slogan: let jade be enigmatic as fuck!

3. the first time vriska ever appears — unless you count her username appearing without being directly referenced, which happens pretty early — is at the very very edge of a panel, in which you can see one of her horns. that happens a few times pre-act-five, especially in panels that involve terezi. honestly most terezi conversations pre-act-five get funnier if you imagine vriska looking over her shoulder like ::::/ or like ::::D

4. the fandom image of karkat is highly positive. the idea of his character is kinda locked to karkat as he appears in act 6 (maybe late act 5?), and fan depictions of early karkat (pre-sgrub, or simply early act 5) seem to retrospectively plaster his later characterization onto his earlier self. his general assholery is interpreted as blunted grumpiness that no one really takes seriously. that interpretation more or less makes sense for later versions of his character, but it’s startling how genuinely mean he is in early act 5! he’s such a jerk that in a conversation with early act 5 vriska he comes off looking worse! that’s HARD. and a really interesting facet of his character!

Fandom: Homestuck Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Archive Warnings: Major Character Death(s) Category: Gen Characters: Sollux Captor, Karkat Vantas, Terezi Pyrope Additional tags: Doomed Timeline(s) (Homestuck), Computer Jokes, Suicidal Thoughts, Or Are They Technically Homicidal?, Anyone out there wondering what the Mage class does, it's probably something like this, Existential Angst, Moral Ambiguity, Trolley Problem, ~ATH (Homestuck) Summary: CG: WHAT I'M ASKING FOR IS A HINT ON THIS PROGRAMMING PROBLEM I TOLD YOU ABOUT LAST WEEK, YOU RECALCITRANT BEESLURPER. CG: I'VE BEEN LOSING MY GODDAMN MIND TRYING TO COME UP WITH A SOLUTION THAT SEEMS LIKELY TO TERMINATE BEFORE THE END OF THE UNIVERSE. TA: 2ee, that2 probably your problem riight there. CG: WHAT. WHAT IS MY PROBLEM. CG: WAIT A SECOND, IS THIS ACTUALLY A HINT?! IF SO, IT'S TERRIBLE. TA: never miind. ju2t a 2hiitty joke.

Notes:

Quantum bogosort: A hypothetical sorting algorithm based on bogosort, created as an in-joke among computer scientists. The algorithm generates a random permutation of its input using a quantum source of entropy, checks if the list is sorted, and, if it is not, destroys the universe. Assuming that the many-worlds interpretation holds, the use of this algorithm will result in at least one surviving universe where the input was successfully sorted in O(n) time. -- From the Wikipedia article for "Bogosort"

This started out as a joke fic because obviously, obviously, any real implementation of Quantum Bogosort would have to be written in ~ATH. But I found myself engaging seriously with the premise, which gave it all quite a bit darker (though canon-typical) flavor. At the end of the day I'm always pleased to find new ways (for me!) to engage with beloved and familiar characters.

Fondly written for the Retcon Timeline gang. Happy 4/13, friends, and thanks for sharing a fandom with me. :)