Hiveswap Friendsim: Volume Fourteen Review (Big Blue Dude)
I gotta be real this chapter was... not as good. I feel like it messes with the pre-established lore of homestuck.
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(MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER AND HOMESTUCK BELOW)
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For starters, Karako. He is absolutely adorable, but the ending where he dies doesn't really make sense. The Dark Carnival was a fabrication made by Doc Scratch to get the purplebloods to further Lord English's goals. Washington D.C. was briefly renamed Dark Circus in the Alpha-kid timeline, and Vriska and Meenah eventually wandered into a dream bubble OF a carnival that they mused mighta been the place, but they almost immediately realize that's probably not the case and it's just some rando abandoned carnival (with a tatoo parlor). I mean yeah it was kinda funny but... eh.
Secondly, It's weird that sea-dwellers are that strong. It's been stated before that Equis's strength is relatively unique to him. But the writing repeats at least 3 times in the space of maybe 5 minutes, "Damn, they're so tough." One guy literally get's gored by some sort of little shop of horrors plant knock-off and he just walks it off. It retroactively claims Polypa told you they were tough but, in her chapter, it was pretty implied that she just snuck up and ganked a guy, and any difficulty was in that sea-dwellers are well guarded and influential VIP's. Feferi got shot clean through and she DIED, and she's higher on the hemospectrum than they are. Granted it was a little different but... still.
Finally Marsti. I just... do not get what they're going for. She seems to imply she just cleans to clean but the second she sees Folykl it's like she's almost turned on. She seems genuinely fed up with you and your lack of awareness all the way to the end of the "good" route but is suddenly smiling with you like you're pals anyways. It almost feels like it's treating you as borderline unintentionally racist to lowbloods based off of assumptions you make so yeah, guilt-tripping. Fun.
The character designs and songs were great, as were the backgrounds. As far as art goes this chapter did maintain the quality. And, granted, I get the adventures of the MSPA reader are absolutely non-canon, and friendsim is here to tide the fanbase over until the next installment of the main game, but I was always under the impression the worldbuilding was accurate. Like everyone interested in the deeper dynamics of Alternian culture could finally get a peak. It feels like either
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This is newly developed canon and we have to live with it, or
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I'm overthinking it. Which judging by the size of this review is quite possibly the case but we're 14 volumes in and this is the first hint of acanonness I've noticed.
Still eagerly awaiting the next one but coming off the last installment this chapter was a bit of a let down.