Q&A: August 2024

Hello folks! It's been a minute, but here we are once again, ready and able to answer all your burning questions. There's a shitton of stuff to get through this time, so we've unfortunately had to cut a question here and there, but thank you to everyone who participated!

Let's get into it:

1) We know The Boys' heights, but how tall are the rest of the Trolls in Snowbound Blood?

EDDIE: Funny you ask that, since you can find a delightfully Xam-illustrated height guide to nearly all of the SBB characters in the DCRC store right here! Forgive the shill, but it IS kind of just there. Aumtzi and Ahlina are sadly not present, so you'll just have to imagine it in your head with the rough guidelines of "they're both on the short side but Ahlina is shorter".

2) How populated is the east of Repiton? It feels like a lot of what we've seen is only like hours away from Stronghold 21 at the most. 

EDDIE: There's probably some smaller communities on that side of the continent, like the village Gerbat lived in during Haustoria, but the biggest urban complex is for sure Stronghold 21. Repiton is a much, much smaller planet than Earth, and it's also going through rapid population decline and climate catastrophe, so it feels a bit barren and isolated on purpose.

3) How much has the lore of the previous sessions and the species that played them been worked out?

AUSTIN: Some sessions have actually been more or less completely plotted. I won't say we know every species that ever played The Game, because coming up with 140+ different species is the equivalent to creative manual labor, but we know the major ones. Any sessions that have real stories to tell have been mapped out and affect the troll's session, even if they don't recognize it.

4) What motivated the decision to set VE on Repiton and not just use Alternia and when was that decision made?

AUSTIN: I feel as though it's lost on the fanbase today because we've gotten so much information since 2011-2015, but in the early years of Homestuck? Shit was lawless. We pioneered the fantroll wild west. Making up reasons for every little scrap the comic fed us to make our sick, twisted fantasies come to life. Because we had no reason to believe we'd ever loop back around and get legitimate information!

Me and Heather made the call before Hiveswap was formally unveiled, though. So it was less due to breaking the rules of the story and more because we felt our direction was very far removed from what Homestuck was.

To put it in elementary school terms: we wanted to change what was in the sandbox. The current park didn't suit our view, so we begged our mom to take us somewhere else.

5) Fast-food tier list?

AUSTIN:

EDDIE: I don't have strong enough opinions about multiple chains to make a full blown tier list, but I will say that over here in the lands of Brazil, if you're craving a milkshake, there's no better place to go than Bob's. Their ovaltine shakes fuck severely. And I've always been really fond of Mini Kalzone for their strawberry and açaí smoothies and the aforementioned calzones. Had a lot of those back in my high school days!

6) How close do each of the main 12 live to each other? Is there a map showing this?

EDDIE: We used to have a map that laid out exactly that, but for the life of me I can't find it! Anyway, the answer is honestly not very close. Occeus is out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, Calder is in his fuckall rich guy underwater mansion, Albion is off in a tower at the top of a mountainous region, Dismas is in the middle of a canyon...

These guys really don't know how to pick reasonable neighborhoods, it is DIRE out there. I guess at least Arcjec, Sova and Serpaz have nice enough houses relatively close to SH21.

7) Happy pride month, who is the most homosexual in Vast Error?

EDDIE: Happy extremely late pride month!

Trick question, they're all GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GAY!!! I can tell you that the least gay one is that guy who showed up in the Turnin flash to make fun of Cobra Tate, though. Perhaps the only heterosexual cis man on Repiton? Chances are high.

AUSTIN: Rivers Cuomo also exists on Repiton, and he is also straight. Hope this helps.

8) What are the seasons like on Repiton? Not exactly sun/moons cycle, but weather patterns. 

AUSTIN: Generally speaking, I imagine the planet follows a relatively similar seasonal rotation that Earth does, but they last far longer and are focused far more on how the day/night cycles affect things. Hence "dark season" and "light season".

When it comes to the specifics, we know the dying twin suns don't sear your flesh. That sounds like a good start. Unfortunately, we also learned from Rypite in Snowbound Blood Vol. 2 that rain and wind on the planet are strong, and tend to branch off into bigger storms that ravage the planet or carry disease.

9) Is all sugar basically the same or are there different strands that act as varying things? Like Arcjec smokes them, but obviously they are eaten as well.

AUSTIN: The sugar that's smoked in Repitonian cigarettes is called "nicosucrose" and is purely made for the purpose of smoking and consumption. All of the medicinal soda is almost certainly made with sugars that function similarly, just with a variety of greater narcotic effects. Really depends on what you're ingesting and how you ingest it!

10) Does Repiton have pride month and who is/would be the most enthusiastic and least enthusiastic about it in the main cast?

EDDIE: I don't think Repiton has an official pride month exactly, because it'd feel not quite accurate to map that exact celebration lifted directly from Earth onto it? That said, I think Ellsee, Laivan and Sova would quite enjoy celebrating it!

Calder would think it's annoying and pointless. And gauche. Murrit would try to take the piss out of it because they're insecure and have hangups about what others think, but if she got over herself she'd have a good time.

11) HOW do Dismas and Murrit get in between each other's houses. I think about this every day please man. 

AUSTIN: Murrit actually has undersea tunnels that span to every major characters location. I got them drunk and they told me themself.

Yes, they are all filled with randomly generated traps decided by a Rubix Cube. And, yes, he does do backflips through them.

12) Would Sabine watch skibidi toilet or the repitonian equivalent of pure brainrot material?

EDDIE: I mean, he's an extremely online 13 year old. You tell me what the answer to that question is.

AUSTIN: I'm starting to feel old.

13) How does the general population feel towards (unbonded) non-monogamy in one quadrant?

EDDIE: We've talked at length about the social expectations regarding romance in various different places over our storied webcomic career, but to sum it up: more or less that it's a little weird and when are you going to actually settle down with a partner? I think the average repitonian wouldn't take that notion very seriously, sadly, and assume it'd be bound to implode at some point. Kinda the same way your average Normie Joe tends to feel about non-monogamy in the real world, funny that.

14) How does the date system work on Repiton???? is it the same as in Homestuck?? 

EDDIE: Definitely not the same, but god it's so stupid complicated for no reason. Please don't ask me to explain it.

AUSTIN: I could explain it. There are concrete answers to it! But I think it's boring and I hate social science that my fans can do for me instead. Why don't you tell me?

15) Has Ellsee ever gotten Occeus to dance with her?

EDDIE: Oh, I'm sure. That man is whipped, it wouldn't even be hard to convince him.

16) What's the consistency of Sopor Slime? Is it fairly runny, like dish soap, or is it thicker like honey, or perhaps even mayonnaise?

AUSTIN: Less than pool Jello but more than ground syrup.

17) Do any of the main cast play instruments?

AUSTIN: Serpaz has that accordion! I wonder what happened to it...

18) What is Edolon's favorite electric wizard song?

EDDIE: Perhaps the coward's answer, but I simply have to go with We Hate You. Gotta rep the stuff that's on his playlist!

19) Fave album this year?

EDDIE: If it's albums that have been released this year, to me it's a tie between Everything Everything's Mountainhead and MGMT's Loss Of Life, both bands that I adore and have been following for a very long time. If it's just albums I've been looping endlessly, then I'm contractually obligated to mention ionnalee's EVERYONE AFRAID TO BE FORGOTTEN as well, because I was hit with a spell at some point in May that made me obsessively listen to it over and over for several weeks. All fantastic! Give them a shot. :)

AUSTIN: I listen to an absolutely ungodly amount of music, but often I don't wind up getting to dive into many new releases because I'm always discovering music that's new TO ME, but not new timeways. I concur with MGMT's Loss Of Life being strong, but if I had to pick a couple I'd have to go with Charli XCX's Brat and Glass Beach's Plastic Death. Childish Gambino and Porter Robinson also released some solid tracks on their latest LP's! Spin Final Church and Cheerleader.

And that's it for this month's Q&A! Hope you guys had fun reading us go on and on about stuff. No comic commentary this month, I'm afraid - I simply didn't have time to get to it. I'll prioritize it for next month, though, since it's been a while since we posted one of those!

Catch you all next time. Stay cool, folks.

- Eddie & Austin