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Homestuck Webcomic #5
Homestuck, Act 4: Flight of the Paradox Clones
631 pages, ebook
First published June 12, 2010
5 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Hussie
87 books434 followersAndrew Hussie is the creator of MS Paint Adventures, a collection of webcomics that includes Homestuck, as well as of several other webcomics, books, and videos.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 17, 2017
There's a reason people say Act 4 is where Homestuck really kicks off. We get introduced to so many new and important things and characters in this act (hello Davesprite!!), and set up stuff that needs to be set up. Like the intermission I just felt myself understanding things a lot more this time around - everything regarding Jack Noir and Spades Slick, for example, and why exactly Jack went rouge. This is definitely one of my favorite acts. [S] Descend is probably my favorite flash of all time too.
January 13, 2024
ACT 4:
i love act four !!! there are so many cool character-defining moments in this and plot picks up a little bit which i certainly appreciate.
Anyway here's what I want to talk about.
Photosensitivity warning.
SPOILER TIME :O
i love this panel the colors are so very awesome together and i don't know what to say.
LITTLE GUYS
i like the way WV, PM, and AR interact with each other in this act. i like that we don't get dialogue in their parts and that scene with the campfire is really really cute.
DAVESPRITE
EB: you're the orange dave.
EB: hey no offense, but do you think i could talk to the real dave for a second?
TG: god dammit
TG: i am the real dave
TG: you know the one who saved your life
D:
ngl when this happened i almost cried. i love davesprite. like i love him so much and i have no idea why john would think to say that. like it's so awful to think about the timeline i'm in ending and going into another one as an "extra" version of myself. like there's already a freya there. it would be awesome because i would love to be my own friend i think that would be so cool then i wouldn't have to write RPF of myself anymore ! but it would suck to be forgotten by people who i literally gave up my autonomy to save.
interested to see where this goes as dave and ds become diverging people.
I FELL FOR IT:
i did. halfway through writing this i realized i just believed it when they said end of act 4.
and then they did it again.
it's cool.
TROLLS:
i really enjoyed the kid's interactions with the trolls in this act. CG and john are so funny together. i want them to be friends so bad. GC and dave are funny together as well and i'm super into GC's silly pictures.
anyway, i don't wanna write anymore i want to read act 5 so, i'll leave you here. i hope was somewhat comprehensible.
i love act four !!! there are so many cool character-defining moments in this and plot picks up a little bit which i certainly appreciate.
Anyway here's what I want to talk about.
Photosensitivity warning.
SPOILER TIME :O
i love this panel the colors are so very awesome together and i don't know what to say.
LITTLE GUYS
i like the way WV, PM, and AR interact with each other in this act. i like that we don't get dialogue in their parts and that scene with the campfire is really really cute.
DAVESPRITE
EB: you're the orange dave.
EB: hey no offense, but do you think i could talk to the real dave for a second?
TG: god dammit
TG: i am the real dave
TG: you know the one who saved your life
D:
ngl when this happened i almost cried. i love davesprite. like i love him so much and i have no idea why john would think to say that. like it's so awful to think about the timeline i'm in ending and going into another one as an "extra" version of myself. like there's already a freya there. it would be awesome because i would love to be my own friend i think that would be so cool then i wouldn't have to write RPF of myself anymore ! but it would suck to be forgotten by people who i literally gave up my autonomy to save.
interested to see where this goes as dave and ds become diverging people.
I FELL FOR IT:
i did. halfway through writing this i realized i just believed it when they said end of act 4.
and then they did it again.
it's cool.
TROLLS:
i really enjoyed the kid's interactions with the trolls in this act. CG and john are so funny together. i want them to be friends so bad. GC and dave are funny together as well and i'm super into GC's silly pictures.
anyway, i don't wanna write anymore i want to read act 5 so, i'll leave you here. i hope was somewhat comprehensible.
June 2, 2017
I'm definitely glad I started taking notes on what the hell was going on with the last chapter. Because good lord, I don't think I'd be able to keep track of everything otherwise. Strangely, though, it's starting to make sense in all of its insanity. If that makes sense.
So, Act 4 explains a good chunk of the overarching plot of the story - John and co do something to royally mess up their "game", which leads to the destruction of not only their world, but others. Or maybe just one other. Wherever the Trolls are. Or where they're from, anyway. They're kind of in a place called the Void at the moment. I'm not sure if they even have a planet anymore. Maybe? I suppose it all depends on what part of the time spectrum you're looking at.
There is much back and forth - future Dave goes back to the past to stop John from doing something stupid and getting himself killed, and then fuses with past Dave's kernelsprite, which spares him from having a Calsprite.
Each of the players starts out on their own level, and as they progress through the game, they cycle through the various worlds, so that John starts out on his level, then progresses to Rose's, whereas Rose starts on her level, and progress to someone else's.
The guardians make several appearances, at times saving the players, until they ultimately all teleport to the Void together (with the exception of Dave's brother).
The Trolls make their first physical appearance in the story, and much trolling is done. So much trolling is done, in fact, that their various dialogue time skip quirks start making sense.
Continuity rights itself as Rose destroys an important journal, while the secret copy that Dave makes gets stolen before he can destroy it himself.
The Mayor of Cans and co show up every so often, with most of their sections dedicated to building the back story of AR and the mail lady, as well as that of Jack Noir. Which is where things went wrong, actually. Jack Noir, I meant.
And then, it turns out that Spades Slick is the Jack Noir of the Trolls' game, but he exists in John and co's world as a webcomic...you see why I need notes?
John reenacts the bunny scene from Con Air. Twice. And it was glorious.
The chapter ends with the destruction of the white castle/moon.
I don't know whether I should be proud, or scared that I'm starting to understand how the convoluted time line works. Mostly, I think I'm just impressed that Hussie manages to keep track of it all ahead of time. I've seen stories with less complicated time lines that can't manage continuity. That's some dedicated writing, right there.
So, Act 4 explains a good chunk of the overarching plot of the story - John and co do something to royally mess up their "game", which leads to the destruction of not only their world, but others. Or maybe just one other. Wherever the Trolls are. Or where they're from, anyway. They're kind of in a place called the Void at the moment. I'm not sure if they even have a planet anymore. Maybe? I suppose it all depends on what part of the time spectrum you're looking at.
There is much back and forth - future Dave goes back to the past to stop John from doing something stupid and getting himself killed, and then fuses with past Dave's kernelsprite, which spares him from having a Calsprite.
Each of the players starts out on their own level, and as they progress through the game, they cycle through the various worlds, so that John starts out on his level, then progresses to Rose's, whereas Rose starts on her level, and progress to someone else's.
The guardians make several appearances, at times saving the players, until they ultimately all teleport to the Void together (with the exception of Dave's brother).
The Trolls make their first physical appearance in the story, and much trolling is done. So much trolling is done, in fact, that their various dialogue time skip quirks start making sense.
Continuity rights itself as Rose destroys an important journal, while the secret copy that Dave makes gets stolen before he can destroy it himself.
The Mayor of Cans and co show up every so often, with most of their sections dedicated to building the back story of AR and the mail lady, as well as that of Jack Noir. Which is where things went wrong, actually. Jack Noir, I meant.
And then, it turns out that Spades Slick is the Jack Noir of the Trolls' game, but he exists in John and co's world as a webcomic...you see why I need notes?
John reenacts the bunny scene from Con Air. Twice. And it was glorious.
The chapter ends with the destruction of the white castle/moon.
I don't know whether I should be proud, or scared that I'm starting to understand how the convoluted time line works. Mostly, I think I'm just impressed that Hussie manages to keep track of it all ahead of time. I've seen stories with less complicated time lines that can't manage continuity. That's some dedicated writing, right there.
October 26, 2024
this was the last good act of homestuck, when it was just a sci-fi comedy webcomic about 4 kids playing a sims-like reality altering game together. the comic was driven by reader submissions and suggestions in the forum's ask-box, which the author would creatively and humorously weave into the story. the alien race of "trolls" introduced into the comic were a funny and interesting parody of bad alien worldbuilding commonly seen in popular culture. for example, the trolls have human celebrities on their planet, but they are "troll" versions of their earth counterparts, such as "Troll Will Smith" and "Troll Matthew McConaughey." the comic doesn't take itself too seriously and is a fun multimedia experience taking advantage of the medium through which it is being told.
from act 5 onward, the comic's quality heavily declined. this was due to its immense popularity on the internet, and how its new and enlarged fanbase was mostly made up of teenagers who did not care about the writing, humor, story, art or nuance of homestuck and instead just solely focused on the characters. with the growth of the fanbase and demand for everyone's favorite character to get screentime, the author decided to try and appeal to these people instead of writing the story he actually wanted to write.
the comic's biggest problem is its length. it totals over 8,000 pages and 800,000 words. it ran from 2009-2016. originally, the author stated that act 6 would be shorter than act 5, and act 7 would be shorter than act 1. act 6 ended up taking up over half of the entire comic.
the comic also suffers from the rising popularity of "hyper-literalism," and how it became commonplace in fandom spaces for people to ridiculously over-analyze small and insignificant parts of fiction and absorb everything shown to the reader as fact instead of hyperbole or comedy. the alien planet of alternia, which was written as a strawman to parody alien movies, is taken way too seriously by the author and it falls flat on its face, giving the reader nothing. the abstract character writing and visual depictions of each character's life later engages in hyper-literalism and becomes confusing and stupid. each character in the story has one faceless adult role model, whom is obviously just supposed to represent the most prominent adult figure in their social lives. later on, the author states that these are the ONLY adult figures in their lives, and the only people who raised them. the abstract and unrealistic style of story-telling that manages to remain narratively efficient whilst also maintaining the story's comedic elements are lost when the author tries to portray these events as literal. dave's older brother's funny and innocent ninja training is retroactively deemed as actual child abuse, and dave goes on a terrible monologue about how he is "traumatized" and grew up with emotional issues because of the "abuse" he faced from his brother. pretending that dave swordfighting his older brother on the rooftop of his apartment is child abuse is laughably insensitive and an absolute failure at giving this comedy story any form of depth. these characters are written as normal children, they go to school, they have other friends and relatives, we are just not shown those aspects because they aren't relevant to the story. the author's obession with hyper-literalism destroys this intention and we are led to believe that each character has no real life friends, no other relatives, and they are completely socially isolated.
homestuck loses what made it special, attempting to turn a witty, abstract internet comedy into something more than it actually is. it loses its touch and becomes a bloated mess of pseudointellectual garbage, nonsensical and overly complicated plots, and retroactive changes that ruin the integrity of the work. this is what i consider to be the highest point of homestuck, when it was unapologetically hyperbolic and satirical whilst still having an engaging and fun story. i love the character interactions, artwork, unique ideas and the way the author flips stereotypical story beats on their head. to me, this is a reminder of what homestuck was at its best. it saddens me to think about what could have been, if not for the author's insistency on appealing to people that the comic isn't even for. so much missed potential.
from act 5 onward, the comic's quality heavily declined. this was due to its immense popularity on the internet, and how its new and enlarged fanbase was mostly made up of teenagers who did not care about the writing, humor, story, art or nuance of homestuck and instead just solely focused on the characters. with the growth of the fanbase and demand for everyone's favorite character to get screentime, the author decided to try and appeal to these people instead of writing the story he actually wanted to write.
the comic's biggest problem is its length. it totals over 8,000 pages and 800,000 words. it ran from 2009-2016. originally, the author stated that act 6 would be shorter than act 5, and act 7 would be shorter than act 1. act 6 ended up taking up over half of the entire comic.
the comic also suffers from the rising popularity of "hyper-literalism," and how it became commonplace in fandom spaces for people to ridiculously over-analyze small and insignificant parts of fiction and absorb everything shown to the reader as fact instead of hyperbole or comedy. the alien planet of alternia, which was written as a strawman to parody alien movies, is taken way too seriously by the author and it falls flat on its face, giving the reader nothing. the abstract character writing and visual depictions of each character's life later engages in hyper-literalism and becomes confusing and stupid. each character in the story has one faceless adult role model, whom is obviously just supposed to represent the most prominent adult figure in their social lives. later on, the author states that these are the ONLY adult figures in their lives, and the only people who raised them. the abstract and unrealistic style of story-telling that manages to remain narratively efficient whilst also maintaining the story's comedic elements are lost when the author tries to portray these events as literal. dave's older brother's funny and innocent ninja training is retroactively deemed as actual child abuse, and dave goes on a terrible monologue about how he is "traumatized" and grew up with emotional issues because of the "abuse" he faced from his brother. pretending that dave swordfighting his older brother on the rooftop of his apartment is child abuse is laughably insensitive and an absolute failure at giving this comedy story any form of depth. these characters are written as normal children, they go to school, they have other friends and relatives, we are just not shown those aspects because they aren't relevant to the story. the author's obession with hyper-literalism destroys this intention and we are led to believe that each character has no real life friends, no other relatives, and they are completely socially isolated.
homestuck loses what made it special, attempting to turn a witty, abstract internet comedy into something more than it actually is. it loses its touch and becomes a bloated mess of pseudointellectual garbage, nonsensical and overly complicated plots, and retroactive changes that ruin the integrity of the work. this is what i consider to be the highest point of homestuck, when it was unapologetically hyperbolic and satirical whilst still having an engaging and fun story. i love the character interactions, artwork, unique ideas and the way the author flips stereotypical story beats on their head. to me, this is a reminder of what homestuck was at its best. it saddens me to think about what could have been, if not for the author's insistency on appealing to people that the comic isn't even for. so much missed potential.
October 6, 2025
I’ve loved this series since the beginning, but only now has it finally clicked with me
Everything the plot has been building up to has finally come together and I finally for the first time ever actually understand what is going on (of course thanks to there being two seperate recaps but also just the culmination of everything makes everything fit together in my mind so much easier, even if I will still forever be confused on how sburb and the dreams work)
It’s gotten a lot more serious, depressive and chaotic in this, while still retaining the same absurd humour, like a fucking entire manor plot based around a joke about the film Con Air, and even a fake out ending for no reason except that it was funny
The character development is also just incredible, of the main 4 kids honestly John is my least favourite now and even he is amazing, and then the trolls finally getting their time too, and without even knowing their names yet I already have two of them on my favourite characters list so I’m really excited to learn everything about them soon
Just an all around incredible act, and even things beyond the story like the art and music is getting even better too especially on pages like [S] Jack: Ascend & [S] Descend - I hate Andrew Hussie, but god he’s a genius
Everything the plot has been building up to has finally come together and I finally for the first time ever actually understand what is going on (of course thanks to there being two seperate recaps but also just the culmination of everything makes everything fit together in my mind so much easier, even if I will still forever be confused on how sburb and the dreams work)
It’s gotten a lot more serious, depressive and chaotic in this, while still retaining the same absurd humour, like a fucking entire manor plot based around a joke about the film Con Air, and even a fake out ending for no reason except that it was funny
The character development is also just incredible, of the main 4 kids honestly John is my least favourite now and even he is amazing, and then the trolls finally getting their time too, and without even knowing their names yet I already have two of them on my favourite characters list so I’m really excited to learn everything about them soon
Just an all around incredible act, and even things beyond the story like the art and music is getting even better too especially on pages like [S] Jack: Ascend & [S] Descend - I hate Andrew Hussie, but god he’s a genius
April 8, 2025
God the length of later acts really threw my memory of just how long the early stuff was. I expected Act 4 to be twice the length.
That said, this is definitely where the comic REALLY hits its stride. The plot & worldbuilding is clearly all set in place, and things are starting to move in a more story-focused direction. (Seeing stuff and realising it's a seed for Act SIX was jaw-dropping.) And it's really good. I had to take breaks a few times to just sit there and go. God damn this is so fucking good. I fully understand why were all Like That for this comic back in the day.
I also can not believe how fast Hussie was churning this shit out early on. The "End Of Year One" panel showing up in Act FOUR had my head spinning. What do you mean that was all ONE YEAR. When the comic was first coming out I caught up during early Act 6, so I never experienced just what a whirlwind that early period was, but damn.
Overall, by far best act yet. Wow.
That said, this is definitely where the comic REALLY hits its stride. The plot & worldbuilding is clearly all set in place, and things are starting to move in a more story-focused direction. (Seeing stuff and realising it's a seed for Act SIX was jaw-dropping.) And it's really good. I had to take breaks a few times to just sit there and go. God damn this is so fucking good. I fully understand why were all Like That for this comic back in the day.
I also can not believe how fast Hussie was churning this shit out early on. The "End Of Year One" panel showing up in Act FOUR had my head spinning. What do you mean that was all ONE YEAR. When the comic was first coming out I caught up during early Act 6, so I never experienced just what a whirlwind that early period was, but damn.
Overall, by far best act yet. Wow.
September 11, 2025
Black should’ve been Toby Fox’s magnum opus not Megalovania
Super fun chapter of the story, tons of sick stuff happens like time travel, self fulfilling prophecies, Jack becoming a tyrant, and the backstories of the exiles.
I think this act also has some of the best music and art so far, like this is when Homestuck starts getting into its own convoluted plot and making sense of it.
The Andrew Hussie recaps are also nice considering some stuff isn’t really explained that well, just an overall great act.
Super fun chapter of the story, tons of sick stuff happens like time travel, self fulfilling prophecies, Jack becoming a tyrant, and the backstories of the exiles.
I think this act also has some of the best music and art so far, like this is when Homestuck starts getting into its own convoluted plot and making sense of it.
The Andrew Hussie recaps are also nice considering some stuff isn’t really explained that well, just an overall great act.
November 28, 2022
So good. So fucking good. I have to dock it a full star though, for making me read paragraphs and paragraphs of leetspeak. I understand every character needs quirks and a color, but leetspeak is just a bridge too far.
August 2, 2019
Tiny. print.
September 28, 2020
what the
August 13, 2021
I'm screaming!!!!!
March 26, 2023
Karkalicious
April 8, 2023
Idc i love it
I made my boyfriend start reading act 1 and he wasn’t very into it but he said he’ll keep reading for me and I’m crossing my fingers it’ll grow on him
I made my boyfriend start reading act 1 and he wasn’t very into it but he said he’ll keep reading for me and I’m crossing my fingers it’ll grow on him
January 20, 2025
Wow, my head hurts trying to log this information and follow the convoluted plot but I sure am enjoying this. Hussie’s writing is such a joy.
April 16, 2025
b oring
September 29, 2025
I love Johnathon
May 28, 2015
It all starts, with the Trolls. Homestuck, act 4, by Andrew Hussie. You are introduced to the Trolls, and they make there first physical appearance, and do so much trolling. The most important aspects of this chapter would start with Jack Noir, he serves as the queens right hand man of sorts, but for some reason, he absolutely cant stand anyone /especially/ the queen, and as Johns father, DAD escapes from the prison, and the mail delivery person takes a sword to deliver John his package, Jack uses a spring knife to sever the queen from her ring(of the two Homestuck rings being one black and one white, per queen) Jack then puts the ring on his hand, allowing him to wield much stronger powers, which he immediately use for wrongdoings. The Trolls are also introduced, they serve as the next 12 main characters over the course of the story, unlike regular 'human' affiliation to trolls, they look like humans, aside from different colored irises, grey skin, colorful blood, and orange "candy corn" horns, along with there many culture affiliations, the most entertaining of which would be, buckets, the various trolls 'mess with' John and Dave, apparently tricking John into killing himself, which dooms there entire timeline, but future Dave obtains TimeTables, deployable turntables used to accelerate or rewind time, which he uses to go back in time, and give advice, which stops John from being killed, and he stops Dave from mistakenly prototyping the demonic hell puppet, Lil Cal. John connects as Jade's server player, completing the loop, and as they set up things, much more leisurely given Jade has more time on her hands before she has to warp out to escape the meteor, they put off programming the sprite too long, and jades dog, who is something called a First guardian, meaning an immortal and omnipotent super-being, jumps into the kernel, which ejects the light and dark sides, the effect of this carries over to strengthening the Queens ring, giving Jack the power to hop through space and time to kill as much as he wants, and to release the Red Miles, tendrils of red spiky death, and as things wrap up, things go back to Dave, who's sprite Jade inappropriately programmed with a bird, prompting it to go to extreme lengths to protect the Egg which Dave needed to break or hatch in order to save his house, and self, Jade suddenly passes out due to her Narcolepsy and jack travels to Prospit, which is where there dream selves live, he slices off Prospit's Moon, crashing down to the Battlefield, and in a desperate attempt to save John's dream self, jade's dream self lets herself be killed by the meteor, pushing John out of the way. The actual story itself is much more convoluted and progresses to become more so as it goes on, but to digress from 2nd person for a wrap up, i still personally would be gladly willing to recommend this story to anyone at all, even though it gets extremely complicated, to the point where one paragraph cant even begin to explain the depth and complexity of each Act, but it is still, one of the best books/book series that i have ever read and i would gladly still recommend it to anyone i know.
October 23, 2015
...
I can't believe how much this made me laugh, fangirl and cry.
GOSH I CRIED! :(
This is one of the MOST AMAZING THINGS that I have ever read in my life!!
What the hell are trolls? Who cares?! I already love them!
John and Dave are so fucking perfect together, and ROSE! you are...so Rose :) and Jade my cute little girl I love you :3
John! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE WITH NICOLAS CAGE???
Dave, Rose, John, Jade...welcome to my heart. You guys are awesome.
I just feel so part of the fandom right now.
I dunno know what to say. I just love it.
I wish that more people could read this. This is AMAZING. I totally recommend this. This is totally WOW.
And I'm still confused. So confused.
PS: Hussie...that finale was one of the most epic things that I ever saw.
I can't believe how much this made me laugh, fangirl and cry.
GOSH I CRIED! :(
This is one of the MOST AMAZING THINGS that I have ever read in my life!!
What the hell are trolls? Who cares?! I already love them!
John and Dave are so fucking perfect together, and ROSE! you are...so Rose :) and Jade my cute little girl I love you :3
John! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE WITH NICOLAS CAGE???
Dave, Rose, John, Jade...welcome to my heart. You guys are awesome.
I just feel so part of the fandom right now.
I dunno know what to say. I just love it.
I wish that more people could read this. This is AMAZING. I totally recommend this. This is totally WOW.
And I'm still confused. So confused.
PS: Hussie...that finale was one of the most epic things that I ever saw.
October 23, 2015
to be honest
i was scrolling instagram
thn i came upon these weird zodiacs with horns
so i check it out
the top reason i started this weird complicating yet gradually awesome shit
is because of the trolls
they're
troll-full
basically this story is already troll-full even without the trolls
but the trolls made it even better
i was scrolling instagram
thn i came upon these weird zodiacs with horns
so i check it out
the top reason i started this weird complicating yet gradually awesome shit
is because of the trolls
they're
troll-full
basically this story is already troll-full even without the trolls
but the trolls made it even better
December 27, 2014
Good, but I must admit, a bit confusing. I'm glad there is a summary at the end...
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews