Since I know the act counting system with some hindsight, I'm gonna be splitting the pages in a slightly more sensible way from here on out.
(4117) This is actually a much better introduction to Jane as a character than any of the betas got! For one, in the narration Jane's avoidant nature is obvious, while also juxtaposed to her more strict/uptight tendancies. Unlike Nanna(sprite), Jane is a fangirl of the betty crocker organization, which is... odd to me. I also have to wonder, it's stated in-text to be multi-global, so... is it KNOWN that the batterwitch is an alien? Or is that just something Jane knows? I'm assuming we'll get answers eventually. The reason I find Jane's affection odd is in part because of Nannasprite's lack of it as per her backstory, but also because I'm still slightly stumped on how a scratch actually... WORKS. Is this a different batterwitch than was in Nanna's world? And if so, in what way? Is this the same one, but she got reset as if she were part of the red universe rather than the blue universe? Or did her returning to alternia- WAIT. WAIT THAT'S IT, ISN'T IT. She went to earth, and fled the galaxy back to alternia to make a deal with Damara, then when she came back found a completely different, yet similar, version of earth... is that actually the explination??? That seems so weird and roundabout.
ANYWAY This was supposed to be about Jane let's get back on track. I appreciate that her room is full of posters a nerdy 15 year old would have. It harkens back to John's room but somehow feels more authentic to me, I can't put my finger on why. Maybe because it's coloured?
(4118) Oh ok we're just switching over immediatly???
(4120) Ok the fact Jane likes "fake fauna" and the joke with Jake's text is how real it is is actually very very good that one got me. I'd also again like to point out how Authentic this room feels as well, I really do think its just the colour in the posters that makes me feel like they're actually loved. Weird! Anyway, Jake's room is. well, weird is an incorrect term. It's eccentric. Unlike Jane, Jake's descriptive narration seems to hint at how utterly simple he is. There's not a lot of nuance, avoidance, or inauthenticity in the text. It's straightforward while still being silly. Again, this is a much better introduction than either of the main kids got. There's also something about how badly Jake wants to plunder tombs while being utterly obsessed with the surface level. There's something there... just like with Jane comparing her pranks to the "japes" of her friends...
(4124) I actually love the recipe modus in concept even if I can't spell it for shit.
(4125) This is probably a throwaway gag but I need to analyze it anyway. How the fuck does MEAT and a book about shaving get a hat???? The gun and tophat I can understand, but... potted plant, scrying book and MATRIORB????? What in the absolute shit???? The only reference I can gleam from that is that it somehow relates to when Aradia found the hat and that That, somehow, leads back to some kind of cosmically improbably association that leads to Sburb alchemy letting it be alchemized in the stupidest way possible. Very weird. The alchemizing process is already pretty weird but this is making it even moreso.
(4127) Originally I was going to make a comment about the difference between how few women John had on his posters/how he talked about his Liv Tyler poster vs how Jane treats the women in her posters, but then the narration was completely overtaken by Jane and Jake's weird... Everything. Ron Swanson is something I can forgive, but the blue dudes are mostly just freaking me out. Why is there a troll Howie Mandel?? Why did Jake send Jane a poster with a cock just hanging out?????? Jesus. Including the fact he gave the guy the same mustache he's gonna grow one day... it all feels extremely funky and weird. I'm a little stumped on thoughtful commentary since these pages are kind of slapping me with shit I didn't even know to be prepared for nd expect. You can kind of tell this is the part of HS I read the least.
(4128) Who. Who would WANT a spoon that tells you what to do. God that would drive me up the fucking wall. Like even sidelining the fact it's 100% being used for controlling people, why d. why do you WANT a UTENSIL that TALKS?? Jane is so weird.
(4129) Now THIS deserves commentary! Unlike the Beta's gifts to each other, the Alpha's are "coordinated" but... selfish in nature. Both Jake and Roxy gave Jane bunnies that reflected themselves more than they reflect her, Jake even giving his a miniature whip so there's no misjudging what kind of bunny it is. And Dirk's gift, while less immediatly self-serving, is described as NOT being innocuous. I hate spelling that word. This whole bunny situation paints a different picture than the Beta's bunnies did, since the bunnies always represented the power of friendship in one way or another, and these seem to symbolise strained friendships at best.
(4131) This man does not change across timelines. I'm honestly impressed.
(4135) Oh my LORD. Girl why do you put up with this. I will never understand brand loyalty, even in fiction. One of them flashes "OBEY", another "CEASE REPRODUCTION", "SUBMIT" "CONSUME" and "STAY ASLEEP". Interesting observations I couldn't have made if my sister wasn't reading this with me because I CANNOT read text fast enough to catch it. Your subliminal messeges can't work on me, I'm illiterate!
(4136) Damn, these two talk like lunatics. Reading out loud with these two is very difficult. Either way, I'm surprised Jake also hasn't wrapped his head around most of this, especially knowing the joint birthday gift seemed to be premeditated on his part as well as his and John's meeting. Is this a motif of faith emerging? We genuinely haven't had much of it, and Jake being our first "real" hope player to introduce the idea of faith for the sake of itself is pretty neat I think. This convo also well re-establishes that Jane is strict and Jake is surface-level, her dream could be segnificant but he takes it on the immediate, surface-level understanding, while Jake's minor grammar mistake has Jane acting like a teacher and Jake like an annoyed teenager (fitting). Do all Maids of Life have a thing for being avoidant and teaching people lessons?
(4139) How did they get the logo on the poster to change? The chest can be electric but... is the poster actually just a screen? What the hell.
(4142) Jane keeps making all these mental notes about what she wants to do when she takes over the company. It's slightly overambitious and also slightly sinister. Her brand loyalty is more like an obsession with her own future wealth. It's so odd.
(4144) I actually really appreciate the way Calliope is a direct contrast to the way Karkat used to do things, not just because of her grey text but also because she's genuinely just a helpful sort-of guide that wants the best for Jane and her friends. The way Jane puts everything down to talk to her tells me everything I need to know about their friendship, really. Jane also confides in her about slight annoyances with Roxy, which is very accurate to real life. I imagine Calliope with a british accent and it's very entertaining. I also have to point out how Calliope wants to play her own game and then compare notes with Jane. Much like the trolls, she's simultaniously better educated, while also being non-omniscient, and I think it's explored more... thoughtfully with Calliope than with the trolls (what with most of them being smug bastards who always pretended to know better than the humans). I just generally think I'm going to really enjoy Calliope as a character. (Also, haha, the red harring/slight hint of Roxy's feed having blacked out moments which is falsely a callback to Rose's feed. Cool beans!!)
(4145) John Crocker just sounds.. Wrong. There's something about how he's best known for being a comedian and actor, juxtaposed to the "baking chest" and general crockercorp insignia. I'd say this is a reference to Nanna also disliked the corp in John's timeline, but John arguably hated the brand more than she ever did, so... Maybe John's role as Heir of Breath, in being repurposed for a normal life, really was just about him following his own story, circamstances be damned? He seems wholely disconnected from the Crockercorp nonsense despite his name, and I feel like it'd be in-character for John if he knew some stuff, some Serious stuff, but was more concearned with his own flights of whimsy rather than the giant evil corporation he shares a lineage with.
(4146) That's just straight-up Feferi's tiara. It never ceases to amaze me how, despite the fact that she's gone, Feferi is so influencial that there's pieces of her in this story where you'd least expect them. Something about life itself being her progeny? Her witchly work tying her to all life in an ephemeral way, just like Jane with Space and Damara with Time? Lots to think about.
(4147) The fact John had beef with Harry Anderson... it really makes me think my prev speculations about his Heir of Breath-yness influencing what he does more than circamstances could. It seems an accomplished breath player (or at least one old enough to appear accomplished) will inevitably "disconnect" from their world in such a way where they're part of it, but just doing their own thing. I think I'm slowly getting closer to that myself and I cannot fucking wait.
(4148) It is just a straight-up book, isn't it? Could you have just... a normal book modus? Notebook modus? I think I'd vibe with that.
(4150) OH this is actually very cool. For a small fee, it lets you turn gear back into grist. I wonder if this is something Sburb naturally offers late-game players because of the need for late-game copius amounts of grist, or if it's something too niche for the game to consider? It'd probably be very valueble to void sessions above all else, as is why Jane has it in the first place.
(4153) Ok this is actually a really good gag. It shows off both why this tiara is probably not very good to use, but also the massive leaps in technology that Alternia brings coming to Earth. The whole "cease reproduction" thing is also part of the Condesce's plan, isn't it? To replace all life on earth with trolls. I wonder if this is her ambition because the trolls' session Made earth but failed to repopulate it with more trolls. Does she feel entitled to this place? Probably! Either way, poor Jane and her Thoughts.
(4156) It's interesting that the tiara doesn't interact with what Jane types. It's also interesting that Rose just. stacked so much alcohol in the house with a toddler in it that she, apparently, didn't drink any of herself. I also like that we see Roxy's design before we learn her name. It's, again, a diff vibe from the Beta's and a welcome one. I also have to talk about how good Jane and Roxys colours go together. Cotton Candy up in this business. I have dual ocs with this same colour palette its so good. ANYWAY. Roxy being day-drunk is only a problem for as long as it impeeds Jane's ability to get what she wants, meanwhile Roxy's rebellion against the state is only as hardcore as being besties with Jane will allow. She badmouths the company and it just goes completely unheard. She also makes flirtatious remarks about Jake that Jane ALSO dismisses. It seems like it's baked into their dynamic, that moments of sarcasm and bullshittery HAVE to be met with avoidance from Jane, to the point that serious topics are treated with the same amount of eye-rolling and skepticism because it's just how Jane's learned to function in this friend group.
(4160) Not Only does this indeed confirm that Jane is grounded because people are trying to assassinate her outside her house, but it also confirms that her dad is leniant enough with her that he just straight up lets it slide if she's cute enough about it. Dadbert (Dadker? no) is that kind of parent where on first glance he's the ideal, but the more you think about it you go "Huh. Hm."
(4164) Jake inherited his guns from Jade just like she did from him. This whole family's obsessed with firearms.
(4169) Here, I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that, not only does Jake not have any movies he DISlikes, but he also doesn't grow out of any of them, his obsession only grows and grows. I'm highlighting it because it'll be contrasted with John later on.
(4171) Jesus christ. I don't even have any commentary other than. Jake what the fuck? There's something about how he inserts himself into the role of protagonist, but there's equally something about the fact that he wants to be Taught how to be couragous, and Taught how to fight for people. These are qualities he, on some level, knows he does not posess, but also lacks the self awareness to distance himself from the movies he watches. He's in love with Neytiri almost as a juxtaposition with the way Dirk criticizes her. He wants to be emeshed in his fantasies rather than have them criticized, but the criticism is exactly what drives him towards fantasy in the first place. If I may parallel it to Jade, who indulges in fantasy out of loneliness rather than an "i'll show them" mentality, shows how she also... handles fantasy better in general? She just IS a furry, and there's no real tw oways about it, she does it for the love of itself, while Jake's love of movies is really just a want/need to be something more than he actually is. It's strange.
(4172) ONCE AGAIN the same parallel from the prev paragraph is established, with the added bonus that the thing he describes as "a crazy dream" is actually the only thing that DID come true. Once again, Jake's fantasies are about escaping his own reality entirely. Even comparing him to John seems... fair but a bit more nuanced. John, too, loved shitty movies for the sake of themselves, and used them less as Escapism and more as Role Models. Big difference since, again, John will outgrow his movie obsession.
(4174) The way Jake imagines the bunny timeloop is actually more in-line with Jujus, or rather an item paradox in general. It assumes silly circamstances in order to have an item wind up where it needs to, instead of a timeline wherein an item progressively ages like normal through an abnormal span of time. It's both understandable on his part, but also complicated and kind of revealing of Jake's general symbolism. He also remarks that Jane LIKED Dirk's gift, which wasn't the impression I got from how she described it.
(4175) "He's your best bro and all, but the dude never makes anything easy." Add this to the list of things Jake says that are very revealing. Him and Jane BOTH seemed to have developped habits to sort of "survive" in an unideal friend group, and at this point there's no Source of strife for said friend group. They're simply a mess because of the circamstances of each of them and, unlike the betas, they don't have a breath player to lift them up and out of the dredges of certainty when they need it. That's just my guess though, since Jake as a hope player Should fill a similar role, but won't. For Jake Reasons.
(4177) So. What the fuck IS that thing? Jake's modus seems cool and all, but even without the giant Thing in his inventory, shit just seems very inconveniantly placed. And the amount of "finite" space he's given would be a cakewalk if he wasn't shit at organizing it. Jesus. Once again a fetch modus with a LOT of potential being kind of mishandled.
(4178) Sigh.
(4181) I LOVE CALLIOPE. Even Jake put everything down to talk to her even though he's usually a huge airhead about things. Once again it speaks to her role in this group dynamic, however individual her interactions usually are. There's also something about the fact she respects continuity while ALSO trying her best to progress the plot, she really feels like a narrator in training. Maybe that's just be projecting though.
(4183) Jake's faith in Jane is both heartwarming and also... heartbreaking, in hindsight. Not just because of who Jane will become post-game completion, but also because in another timeline, that faith he had in her was all she had of him. Jake, once again, seems like an oddly empty person, or rather one that doesn't go beyond surface level, which parodies/juxtaposes the way John was introduced as an everyman - someone who lacked depth by accident rather than by design. Again, Jake is an interesting parallel to that because he SHOULD be plenty complicated, with everything he's surrounded by, but he so heavily shields himself from what's around him that it feels like his circamstances sort of... hinder his lack of depth rather than Actually adding depth. It's hard to describe, and maybe I'm being stingy/not generous enough with my reading of Jake, but that's the vibe I get so far.
(4185) Oh god this was such a fucking mess. The first half of the conversation is actually a pretty good look into the "status quo" of things with these two, where Jake habitually tries to save face and impress Dirk as much as humanly possible while still being the biggest boyfailure around, while Dirk is... well, Dirk. He's obsessed with things being "earned" and people properly proving themselves, hence why Jake falls hook line and sinker for it in order to satiate/collaborate with his "friend". Friend there in quotes because I think these two would work better as friends to enemies to lovers rather than just friends to lovers. Because this is such a fucking mess. "My real friend with real feelings"? This shit is dire, because YES he's talking to the autoresponder, but he's also... only being honest with the responder because it ISN'T Dirk. Jake's closeness and his real feelings are only discussed to what he percieves as a wall, instead of him being able to be honest with Dirk from the get-go. Jesus Fucking Christ.
(4186) He's two seconds away from actually talking about how Dirk is a difficult person, but he just. Doesn't. Once again, surface level Jake can't admit there's any depth to what Dirk does, or any real issue with it, just calls it "annoying" and tries to move on. God there's... So Much in how he can't ask for help from his "best friend" that, ONCE AGAIN, shows off how much more dysfunctional this friend group is when compared to the Beta's.
(4190) Jade had a way of "keeping the flora in check" and the flora in question is a pumpkin that's growing out of hand, which colour-wise shares the attributes of the Strider that's currently making Jake's life difficult. God.
(4191) God where do I even begin. The way Jake puts AR's feelings before his own immediatly after it expresses even the Hint of a feeling would suggest this same thing happens between him and the actual Dirk, where any true vulnerability from Dirk is met with Jake bending over backwards to make sure he didn't offend his "very good friend". Coupled with the fact the robot has been "the bane of [his] existance" since he got it, it seems like Dirk mostly causes problems for Jake while also being the only "solution" to his mortal peryl. Like Jake DEPENDS on the guy because he's not too capable of taking care of himself or being resourceful, and Dirk uses that to keep an iron grip on Jake and his emotional state, making sure Dirk occupies a good 70% of it at all times. It's a very very big red flag, which is extra funny because AR's text will turn red later, making him a LITERAL red flag to Jake and Dirk's relationship.
(4192) Seeing my sister laugh and be infinitely entertained by the conversations between Green Idiot and Orange Dickhead has been an extra layer of unease on top of the squick cake that this entire interaction has produced. AR basically spells out that the "agreement" is that Jake walks on eggshells to care for Dirk's feelings, while Dirk/AR make Jake uncomfortable with the robot, and descriptions of the robot. Or, brobot. The brobot only has two settings, too, Novice and Impossible. There was 100% room to add another setting, or make the robot manigable in ways that doesn't put Jake within physical proximity to it, but that just wasn't on Dirk's mind. On Dirk's mind was conquering Jake, physically and mentally, and part of that included questioning his masculinity via not awknoledging the romantic subtext of the bot, forcing Jake to either keep shut about it or walk into an obvious trap where Dirk could accude him of harbouring secret feelings for the bot/himself. It's all extremely uncomfortable and, I'm gonna be honest, I don't like it. It's giving Tavros/Vriska energy to me, but in a different coat of paint.
(4195) HM. Okay. The dad/Dirk parallel is probably there just for the gag, but I'd like to restate that Dadbert is the perfect role model at first glance, but otherwise very flippent and irresponsible with his kids, Jane in particular with John not as much, since the circamstances are more normal. Dad seems more like a Parody of the Idea of Dad, which makes sense since non-player characters tend to be that way in Homestuck, but it's also worrying in the sense that... In this timeline, he was raised by an uncracked John. And in the other one, and unfulfilled but ultimately happy Jane. There's something about the idea of these two, when not reaching their full potential, falling into conformist ideals and raising their own kids to be nothing but little cogs in a machine, to the point it might become an obsession for them, or a demand, however unintended.
(4196) See this is what I was talking about. There's talk about how Dadbert used to pander to Jane's interests much like he used to pander to John's in the other universe, and I can't help but think about why an adult man has to be Convinced to have/indulge in interests of his own rather than just Pandering to whatever the other person in the house wants. It's like some part of him thinks the other people are more important than he is. Or, rather, that he hasn't had time or space to develop interests that are actually his own outside of the stereotype of "dad".
(4197) John was killed by a woman in a suspicious looking hat. Unlike with John's story of Nanna's death (where his fault was covered up by dad for the greater good), Jane's story about Poppop's death almost hints at her fault, but the truth is more sinister. I believe John was killed by the batterwhich, "suspicious hat" being whatever she was using to cover up her ginormous horns, and honestly? If John was just wasting the family fortune or dicking around with sidequests, it seems like it'd be benificial to do that. HOWEVER. What also comes to mind is Jane's convo with Roxy, about how the Batterwitch essentially gets you to "play the part she wants" in her schemes, and once you've done what she needed, she gets rid of you. The only thing I don't know, in that case, is what purpose John even fulfilled on her bahalf unknowingly (though, again, it's possible knowing his unfulfilled heir of breath status that he really WAS just a pawn for someone else all his life without realising.)
(4200) I somewhat have to retract my statement about Dadbert being leniant. When he's serious, he's Serious, and Jane's safety really comes first to him, enough to lock her into the house and prevent her from leaving. Though, knowing he expected John to eventually be able to lift safes and other heavy furniture, is it really outside the realm of possibility that he expects this to be more of a wright of passage than an actual obsticle? It's always mindgames with these fucking guardians.
(4201) It... DOES seem strange, though, that John would fill his will with jokes instead of actual wishes. Very... overcompensating of him, in my opinion.
(4204) Exactly Because Jane's little... "spat" with grandpa John mirrors Jade's with Jake, I have to believe that John and Jake (in their older years) share those kinds of surface-level similarities as their younger selves do. If Jake in his youth is superficial and kind of incompetent, but in his later life very very decorated and complicated to the point of genuine worry and inability to care for a toddler, is it similarly possible that young John is, while seeming less accomplished than his older self, actually more in-tune with something that his older self lost along the way? Or, the other way around, older John might be just as concearningly ludicrous as older Jake because they both suffer some kind of... self-aggrandising yet unfulfilled bullshit. It'd certainly make sense for older Jake to be batshit with his eccentricities, but older John really just seems like the John we had at the start of the story, but Bigger, which is... odd. Roxy, Dirk and Jane aren't like that. Neither is Jade from what we've seen. There's something about John that's kept him stagnant. Maybe the lack of the actual breath aspect in his life? Maybe the Condesce? I should stop typing and get back to reading before I tire myself out with this bullshit.
(4207) Once Again, Jane is loyal to the company as a proxy to being loyal to herself. She isn't invested in the actual character of the founder of the company, because the person she's idolising is actually Herself! The thought of this is distressing to Jane, and while her own words give her comfort, it's not fully understanding the meaning of her own words which causes the stress. A sort of deluding herself into thinking she's loyal to others sort of thing, I dunno. There's definitely a theme of self service vs the service of others with Jane, especially with all this company business.
(4208) The continued thread of the way Dirk treats Jake, though it's compared to Roxy. In this situation, I'd like to highlight that, however difficult it is to work with Roxy it's not by design. She's drunk and can't take care of herself and it causes issues, meanwhile Dirk makes issues on purpose. Jane's insistance that things that are in her way are Bad further cements this by making it seem like the states of their friends are comparable, and only a breath or so after that does she aknowledge the dream that might pose a risk to Jake. There's something in here about Jane and Dirk both having controlling tendancies while Roxy and Jake both self-destruct in varying ways. Why does it always go back to sado-masochism????
(4217) "The page is dead, our hope is lost" is a very, very important phrase both in the Sburb gameworldbuilding sense, as well as just... narratively. For however dysfunctional this group of friends is, Jake IS kind of their only hope, in a lot of ways. They all need each other, and while in the previous paragraph I talked about how toxic that is coming from Dirk, I also think it's just... built into the game. Built into the Story, if you will, Jake makes us all the more invested in this team dynamic once we're reminded of how finite their lives are. I also have to wonder why Jane woke up so soon? Is this how space players are MEANT to wake up on their planets without interfierence (Doc Scratch and Vriska), or is this a fluke because of Jane's status as a singular princess of prospit now that her co-player is gone? It could be both/either. I also just realised while typing this that DS could stand for both Dave Strider, Dirk Strider, AND Doc Scratch. The biggest bad in this comic really is every echo of Time (aspect) possible, and that reflects on the actual comic itself too. The pacing is my personal enemy at times.
(4221) There's something to the symbolism of how Jane's tower reached for the heavens while Jake's was literally so close to the ground it was stifling by comparison. I think it's because of that sense of... when you have so much room to grow, and you're aware how much you lack? I'm tentatively filing that under "some page shit" since Tavros had the same issue with his disability and Rufioh, like knowing what you COULD be makes them feel bad about what they ARE, which ties into Jake's general... everything. The set dressing in this comic is truly impeccable because I just wrote a paragraph about an orb house in a jungle.