ACT 5 ==>: "Consider it in the spirit of the previous intermission, without it being an official one. I'd rather the arc not take too long, but I'm under no illusion it'll be that quick either. The Felt intermission lasted three weeks, and I thought I was still relatively economical with the pacing there. This one will probably be more involved, and require PLENTY of new drawing. Oh well, guess I'll take my time and make it fun.

I tried doing the suggestion box thing again for this, but at this point there are so many people trying to hit the forums all at once, it may just be impractical. It slowed the site down to the point where I couldn't even upload new pages! I'll probably make little surgical strikes, unlocking the box for ten minutes at a time at sneaky off peak hours, just to get suggestions for names and stuff like that. (In case you didn't know, the names of the planet and CG were reader suggestions, just as all the character names have been.)"

Also, Toby 'suggested' Alternia by naming the album Alternia, since it had been in the works long before he even knew we were going to get a whole troll arc, and Hussie just went with the name, making it one of the few non-reader-suggested names in Hivebent.

Try again.: The "real" name here isn't even Alternia. It reads "TROLLPLANET". The red and green letters to mark the incorrect and correct name entries are an X and a Y, respectively. While all of Homestuck uses this alphabet for Alternian language, post-Homestuck content utilizes a new, original set of glyphs, probably to avoid potential copyright issues.

Hivebent: This marks the introduction of a new Significant Number, 612. There are twelve 6-sweep-old trolls, their act starts on 6/12, their first and last names are 6 characters long, equalling 12 total. A sweep is equivalent to 13/6, or approximately... 2.16 years (that one was a happy coincidence, though).

Enter name.: Homestuck Vol. 5 was released at this time!

Try again.: Karkat was a name suggested by beesmygod and Vantas was suggested by hr.morgaes. Karkat comes from "Karkata," the Sanskrit astrological equivalent of Cancer, minus one letter. Additionally, his name may be drawn from "Karkinos," a giant crab from Greek mythology who fought Hercules, also the origin of the Cancer astrological sign. On the other hand, his last name, Vantas, is a prostate cancer treatment drug.

Karkat's posters, from left to right: "50 First Dates" with Adam Sandler, "Serendipity" with John Cusack (he talked to John about this one), "Hitch" with Will Smith.

Karkat: Examine slimy purple pod.: "For the subjugglators in their small numbers to keep such a large population under their control, it would be very useful to have the ability to psychically amplify fears through dreams. They may have directed their chucklevoodoos on every susceptible mind in the population. Each lowblood may have a little highblood voodoo doll lurking in their subconscious, making them too terrified to organize any sort of rebellion."

======> (1998): As you can see, the '==>' commands are replaced with '======> commands during this subact. Why might this be? Consider: ==> has 4 little -'s in it, ======> has 12.

======> (2002): So, before we dive into ~ATH, let's get the trivia out of the way: This is the same book from John's programming books in Act 1. The cover image is Death's face from Problem Sleuth. The quote inside the book is misattributed, it's from John Oxenham.

Here we see Hussie's computer science background showing. The specifics of how the language works, precisely are never made clear. But the most common interpretation is:

EXECUTE is the only way to actually make something happen. Unfortunately, every instance of EXECUTE can only occur at the end of an ~ATH loop. These loops are assigned an concept '(THIS)' and may contain additional ~ATH loops inside them '{ //ADDITIONAL GRAVES }'. The program only escapes a loop and executes the, well... EXECUTE code when the concept assigned to the ~ATH loop reaches the end of its lifespan. How the language is capable of detecting this is, of course, an utter mystery. But perhaps these reality-warping capabilities are why it is crippled with such programming limitations.

.DIE() probably allows you to close the program, or perhaps other subroutines or loops. Again, it's not very clear.

Karkat: Leave your room.: It's implied by the relative complexity of troll's homes that while every troll is allowed to construct their own abode, those higher on the hemospectrum are assigned more resources with which to do so. Also, more foreshadowing for Karkat's blood color.

Karkat: Examine neighborhood.: The abstracted design of Alternia's moons is of course very similar to both the 'Intermission moon' and the dreamer pajamas design.

RETCON WATCH: Oil on the right of the middle panel.

======> (2005): Further blood color foreshadowing.

Karkat: Check out magazine.: Alternian: "GAME GRUB - EXCLUSIVE LEAKS"

Karkat: Check out DVD.: 'Green' and 'blueblood' are used figuratively, as well as literally.

Karkat: Answer troll.: "Schoolfed" is actually a SBAHJ #15 reference!

Commonly accepted identities of the Mirthful Messiahs include: Violent J & Shaggy 2 Dope (the members of the Insane Clown Posse), Gamzee & Gamzee (whether drugged & sober or lowercase & uppercase), Doc Scratch & Lord English. Other possibilities include Calliope & Caliborn, or something like Lil Cal & Lord English. Ultimately, as Hussie says, it doesn't truly matter.

Enter name.: Gamzee was named by Alyssa after the forumgoer Gammy, as well as "Gamze", which is a Turkish name meaning "dimple" or "coquettish look". Makara is the Sanskrit counterpart to the Capricorn sign, as well as referring to a mythological Hindu creature with the hind legs of an aquatic creature and the forelegs of a terrestrial one (much like the Greek Capricorn)."

Gamzee: Ride one wheel device.: Acrobatic fucking pirouette.

Gamzee: Retrieve husktop.: Note the ICP watermark on the first panel. Exquisite.

Karkat: Check out one of his files.: In this program, U1 is supposed to be the troll's universe and U2 is supposed to be the kid's universe, even if they're switched around color-wise. Interestingly, U2 is preceded by an exclamation mark in the loop - this usually indicates a logical NOT, but it's unclear what meaning that has when considering lifespans - and the fact that the EXECUTE routines don't seem to actually do anything.

In any case, this code is the basis for Act 5's structure on the map page. Does that mean that the events of Cascade, where both universes expire in a conceptually simultaneous way, would be enough to fulfill the conditions of this loop, if there were a computer capable of running it?

Karkat: Answer troll.: 'kraft grubsauce' = 'kraft mayo', re: its unerring realness attribute.

Enter name.: The name Terezi was first proposed by cashewSquared, and Pyrope was suggested by Dragoshi. Terezi is the Albanian word for Libra (or Balance), but may also be a reference to Teiresias, a blind prophet from Sophocles' Oedipus cycle, and Homer's Odyssey. Terezi is also the Turkish and Ukrainian word for "scales". Her last name, Pyrope, is a type of red garnet. This is most likely a reference to her red spectacles.

Needless to say, 4+1+3 does NOT equal 8. But there's an explanation for that. Now, I'm not saying it's a particularly GREAT explanation. But I'll drop it when it's somewhat more relevant.

Terezi: Cut to the chase and begin LARPing immediately.: His Honorable Tyranny is drawn in red chalk, which matches his appearance later.

======> (2038): Ah, here's our first A6A6I4 retcon page split password thingy. In case you feel like skipping ahead, the password's FR4M3D. Unless you're passing through FROM A6A6I4, in which case: hello!

Terezi: Sentence the criminal.: The coin's scratched on one side? Can't see how that would be indicative of any concepts in THIS story,

======> (2046): RETCON WATCH: In the background of the second panel.

Terezi: Troll TC.: RETCON WATCH: Oil to the lower left of Gamzee.

A little later...: You can actually see Crabsprite all the way up on the top of Karkat's house. But he's too small to make out his features. What a tease.

======> (2060): This page is actually a redrawing of when John obtains the Wrinklefucker. 'Homes Smell ya Later' is of course a line from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song, implying that it was a component in its creation.

Karkat: Deal with Terezi.: "ADORABLOODTHIRSTY" becomes one of the various group memo names the story uses.

[S???] ======>: Alternian: STRIFE

'Music': "Showdown" by Toby "Radiation" Fox in Alternia

Yeah.: References to Dave's introduction here as well.

======> (2075): And another Dave reference. While Dave often likes to talk about how shit wants nothing to do with the hook it's 'off' of, Sollux is suggesting reconciliation between shit and the handle it became so forcibly separated from.

Sollux: Calm those bees down.: This panel is the base for Aradia putting Sollux to sleep later, and Hussie's SNOP much later.

Sollux: Recruit team leader.: Of course, adult cherubs are also extremely reminiscent of angels. But all this stuff, I don't think it ultimately means anything. Neither angels or cherubs seem to be in the service of any grand agency of paradox space. So let's just focus on Sollux stealing Dave's 'butler island' shtick.

======> (2088): Karkat has a shitty drawing stuck to his fridge, just like John's.

======> (2089): Gamzee's lusus seems to have fallen to some sort of seadweller whaling harpoon.

Sollux: Delete.: The text before the virus is a command log. 'rm -rf' basically means 'delete this folder', as Sollux is getting rid of all his hacking shit. Vi is a text editor, but it's Sollux, so he uses 'Vii' instead.

Enter name.: The name Tavros was suggested by Solaris and Nitram was suggested by perrybob. "Tavros" is Greek for "bull" and is also the Modern Greek pronunciation of the name "Taurus." His name resembles that of the Doctor Who villain Davros, the wheelchair-using creator of the Daleks - this allusion may not be intentional, but it fits with his disability as well as his later acquisition of robotic parts. "Nitram" is "Martin" written backwards. There are two possible connections for this. Operation Taurus was the name of a planned prosecution by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) against Martin McGuinness, and Mary Martin played Peter Pan in the 1954 musical. Nitram may also be derived from the word nitrates, which, when present at high levels in the water, produce a serious illness in fish called brown blood disease.

Note: perrybob is actually Perry Sullivan, a lesser-known music team member.

======> (2108): RETCON WATCH: Oil in the upper-left corner.

Tavros: Horsaroni: Spawntech -> Slumberbuddies.: This command name is especially reminiscent of how Problem Sleuth's various battle techniques were referenced.

Tavros: Admire posters.: Pupa Pan, and Rufio and whatnot, it turns into a whole thing. But let's come back to the description of Captain Hook. This description of an evil being missing an arm and an eye is used several times, and surprise surprise, fits both B1 Jack and... Vriska? HMM. We'll return to this later.

Tavros: Deal with AG.: 'Bugging and fussing and meddling. What's her deal?'

======> (2125): I really don't know why they couldn't have just replaced the dragon egg with some other sort of weight. Or moved the doomsday clock away from directly underneath that thing.

======> (2128): Terezi could not BELIEVE it when Davesprite told her humans had cotton candy too.

======> (2130): When Terezi 'found' the embezzled beetles in her mock trial, there was a 'SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT' sound effect. The text's reused directly from there, as well as Terezi's pose here.

======> (2131): 612 starting to pop up in places.

Be the other other girl.: "A curly ram horn is actually a pretty complicated object. I draw fast and loose and a lot of times emphasize gesture and stylization over precision. If you're looking for rigid fidelity to a couple of loopy horns I am afraid you're barking up the wrong tree!

They curl whatever way looks best for the scene."

Enter name.: Her name was suggested by Mikker and Megido was suggested by fizzix. It appears to come from Aradia, a goddess and witch from Neo-Pagan folklore. Megido is the place where a number of religions believe the final battle will take place (the word Armageddon is derived from the Hebrew name for Mt. Megiddo).

Aradia: Retrieve computer.: Jade also had an Ouija modus.

======> (2136): Alternian: "X OUIJA Y
(alphabet in Alternian glyphs)
GOODBYE"
(The X and Y mean no and yes, in this case).

======> (2137): Alternian: "BING"
"Who's this douchebag?" is a recurring phrase in these sorts of situations.

Aradia: Humor GA.: Three references here. One: Aradia's image uses Rose at her laptop as a base. Two: References Karkat's very first conversation with Jade in Act 3, about it finally being the day. Three: Immutable facts, records, and statementes about what is taking place.

======> (2153): "Sollux - Cyclops
Aradia - Jean Grey (including parallels with her death/resurrection to Phoenix, which augmented her powers)
Tavros - Professor X
Nepeta - Wolverine
Karkat - :( .......... he has red blood at least!
Terezi - Daredevil and Two Face
Vriska - hell, take your pick from her powers buffet
Equius - insert strong dude here
Gamzee - Joker, with a bit of the Two Face thing going on
Eridan - somebody from Harry Potter
Kanaya - somebody from Twilight
Feferi - insert under water hero here"

This quote is from 2011, AKA before Avengers, AKA when it was still lame to know a lot about superheroes. Well, it's still lame. It's just that society has come around to lameness as an acceptable trait to have.