HSL: Hiveswap Act 2 Thoughts! 

Marvus is still the good clown IMO because: 1. He helps Joey get the ticket from Zebruh (presumably killing him as a nice bonus) 2. Not only leaves Chixie alive but helps her perform her rebellious slam poetry to the wide audience in the save environment. 3. Tooks on the role of judge and pretty much *is* the reason for the court in the first place (I believe that jades and teals wouldn't let Joey pass their car otherwise) 4. Defends Joey from the purples (makes up this murder game so there's even a chance of surviving the clowns, roots for Joey when she fakes the murders, releases Xefros eventually) He's still the great troll who helps lowbloods and aliens, spits revolutionary raps, and who is far less violent then other purplebloods.

"All clowns are kind of rage-coded" I just love this sentence

an interesting point about Marvus is that he actually keeps the promise he makes to joey in a rather ingenious way, him proposing his death game to the other purple bloods is pretty much the entire reason joey and Cefros can make it through the highblood car without Chaut and the twins straight up murdering them. Also, Chaut gets suspicious of every "death" joey commits, but Marvus assures her that no its fair game for jo and to get off her back. It isn't until purple is rolled and Baizli decides to get impatience that Marvus decides to let the slightly less nieve Xefros go and save her. Marvus while definitely a purple blood and comes with all the bad that comes with it, is actually probably one of the best our characters meet. Protecting Joey from the demented desires of the other purple bloods by playing a game to satisfy them.

Personally I think marvus can be trusted with the bigger picture. Namely, because of a spoiler moment where. If you inform him of chixie's intention to stage a protest at jevik week, he not only keeps her from hurting herself, but also gives her a greater platform by offering to help her stage a digital protest via his act, which is stated to be the opening act. Marvus strikes me as having realized that fooling around with the less privileged is peanuts compared to the fun that he has pulling the wool over his fellow highbloods' eyes

does anyone else think having hauntswitch come out after hiveswap act 2 would be a good idea? i'm really hyped to jump back to jude, and to get to know dammek, of course, and personally, i think switching gear to hauntswitch would be a good break from the adrenaline rush that was the ending of hiveswap; a way for all of us to calm down after the events and all. plus, getting left on a cliffhanger and jumping povs would be interesting.

I'm imagining Joey and Trizza having a death by glamor type showdown.

So in the very end joey tries telling marvus she didn't actually kill anyone and marvus already knows. I think its supposed to be not only toughing her up but also he knows the other highbloods aren't going to just let the lowbloods through without a show and was protecting her.

I'll be honest, even when he's making you kill people Marvus still seems like a nice and cool guy, covering for your absolutely atrocious attempts to fake murders because they are hilarious and thinks that with her sheer lack of fear of him she must be down to clown.

I also saw a few comments saying Marvus does keep his promise to Joey by making her go through with the fake killing game to appease the rest of his castemates, and while I am a Marvus simp that may be making up excuses for him, I do think it's really fitting that he has Joey go through with the killing game as his surname, Xoloto, is a term used by juggalos to *describe a fake clown trying to be in your juggalo crew*. I always thought using the surname, "Xoloto" for him was kind of mean since it's something used to call out posers and Marvus never seemed like a poser to me, but I regarded it as another 'oh it's just them slapping clown terms on him bc hes a clown", but Hiveswap Act 2 puts a really interesting perspective on how he can be considered a Xoloto, as he does make Joey go through a fake killing game in order to appease the others, and in turn, he tricks them into believing that the murders are bonafide so she can get past safely. Because of this, I like to view the evil clown side of Marvus as performative and fake, in a sense because he is literally and figuratively, a Xoloto.

I do not like clowns. I do not like clowns one single bit. ...But somehow I've managed to come around a bit on Marvus. He's genuinely friendly to Joey, and makes it clear he knows full well that Joey isn't actually killing anyone. Talking to him after receiving your assignments, he says so. And not only that, but he sets things up to make sure she isn't hurt. He sends her on a meaningless task he knows she can't actually complete, waits for one of the other clowns to go after her, then tells Chahut to set Xefros free, so he can kill them and save her. And on top of that, if you tell him about Chixie, he's actually helpful, advising her that she doesn't know enough to safely perform and then get away at Jeevik Week, and offering to collab with her later. He wants to HELP her rebel. And since I got Lynera killed my first time through, I was just waiting for some gruesome, horrible jade splotch somewhere in the clown car, but- nothing of the sort. It almost makes me wonder if, even if she lost the trial, that she won't still pop up in act 3 from some place on the train where she'd been hidden. Really, it even makes me wonder if that bit about 'clowns being the most oppressed on Alternia' might not actually be total bullshit. "alright xef lemme ask u- how often do u actually deal with purplebloods? see one once a week at the grocery store, maybe? and then u just keep your distance, mind ur business, wait for em to leave. well guess what- i dont got that luxury. im around this sh*t. all the time. seein horrible things happen, and u just gotta smile and laugh and pretend u ok wit it, or else u becum their next target. every nights a whirlwind of suffering and death, and if i dont put on a good show then next thing i know that whirlwinds gonna be comin my way in a hurry" Course, that's just an assumption that could still very easily be disproven. Still though, he gets Zebruh killed so he can't possibly be all bad.

what happens to the twins is so viscerally upsetting and i mean that as the highest compliment. great job team. i genuinely thought that there would be some kind of way to prevent that from happening just because it was like such a horrible thing to happen to these kids but haha! gotta live with that one

about joey claspect,you forgot to mension the fact that joey try to bring LIGHT to the cases.

I'm honestly shocked you didn't have more to say about barzum and baizli from a classpect perspective because this act really does a whole lot for understanding them. Baizli shines as an heir of doom to me, inheriting limitations as they are permanently bound to their twin, and of course, in death, baizli *becomes* pain for barzum, as barzum seems to have felt all the pain of baizli's death continuously. Barzum however is more like a bard of breath, in the early part of their story their classpect acts near identical to baizli's, representing their unbreakable psychic tie and how they're both ok with that. Things take a turn in baizli's death, which we could view as barzum's bardic crisis, as barzum, for the first time in their life, is alone, seperated, detached, proper breath terminology. All of which makes me incredibly exited for act 3 and beyond.

Tbh I thought Boldir looking at the camera/player was a 4th wall break while Marvus, dear Marvus, looks creepy as he stares to at camera.

the fact that wanshi was at least partially the real culprit is so infuriating to me because I KNEW IT. I KNEW IT AND I DIDN'T HAVE THE CHANCE TO BLAME HER IN MY RUN. it was just so obvious because she spent the whole train ride filing her claws w a sharp object LIKE. HFKDHAKBDKF.

hope act 3 comes out soon

I have to point out that the trial itself for Joey's search for clarity is its most apparent as a potential Light-bound. Remember that, like Rage, Light-bounds are also tied with truth. She's the fussiest in the trial in searching for the true suspect despite everyone else's chagrin. She synthesizes different information and learns what to make of them. I'd argue that Act 2 is also an arc for Joey equally because, through Xefros, she's served the full truth of how messed up Alternia can be.

Something I thought of is that Marvus says that no one important to the plot will die and Baizli dies which mean Barzum *is* important to the plot so I can't help but think that with Barzum going insane over Baizli's death with her screaming, laughing and writhing on the floor what if Barzum becomes a threat to Joey and Xefros wanting to get revenge on them for killing Baizli (Xefros did say that he and Joey killed him together) which in a worst case scenario could result in a inverted situation were this time it's Joey who has to kill to save Xefros and just to add more pain to this idea what if Joey has to use a gun to kill Barzum to save Xefros after all Barzum is a purple-blood and Joey is only a human so Joey is at a severe disadvantage both in strength and durability. just an idea I had.

I still trust Marvus because if you talk to him in between the "murders" it's obvious he knows you haven't killed anyone and while Maenad keeps pushing for more proof Marvus keeps saying you've done enough, If Marvus wasn't there to mediate between Joey and the clowns then Joey would have been eviscerated immediately by Chahut.

Let's hope act 3 takes less time to release. Otherwise it'll take years to finish the game

I took a close look at that critter at the end and... At first I assumed that that was a dragon, but their wings have contour feathers, and there's also mammal's hind legs and a tail that could be from a rat or maybe a reptile? Head's got either very large feathers, or a crest of some sort. So... That was a gryphon, or like a chimera or something. Probably a lusus, which could mean they're someone's parent. Does that fit any of the blood color themes that we've seen so far? ... Wasn't Gamzee's dad a mythological animal hybrid? *Eyes Marvus suspiciously* XD

All the trial softlocks were rage-coded

if you talked to marvus BEFORE bringing the faygo, he knews you didn't kill anyone!

Another Tagora moment tying himself with Space is when you choose him & Marsti to help you get fine art. Talk to Marsti to get the garbage and then head to Tagora. He'll tell you that he's going to troll Galekh by blogging about how 'avant garde' said lump of waste is and that the true focus is the viewer's own thoughts about the physical body of the piece rather than the piece itself. Galekh will convince Amisia to accept it as true art for this. This is likely an elbow to contemporary pieces and the shock art genre that relies more on the audience's reaction. However, there are also those who find it distasteful, but decided to reluctantly accept it as part of art's evolution- like Amisia. Funnily enough, Galekh's own fetch quest in finding worthy literature can also get a similar reaction out of him. Talk to Wanshi. Get one of her Warrior Cats-esque books. Get back to Galekh. He'll criticize the heck out of it. Amisia turns out to also like Soldier Purrbeasts and defends the book- threatening to read more of its pages out loud to Galekh until he acquiesces. Probably says something about her as a Mind too. Both indigobloods involve deconstructing what's usually considered 'cultured'. If you choose Mallek to help you out in Galekh's task, Galekh will be pleased at how the work Joey & Xefros sent him by explaining how the writing is full of deconstructions. As for Amisia, if you choose Remele (another Space-bound) to mold the garbage into a figure, she'll be delighted with it. She'll shrug off that it stinks, but she likes the form anyway. If you'll have Cirava to help you get art, they'll take a photo of Joey. I guess it's Cirava's way of saying that Joey is a piece of art herself? Continue to Remele and she'll draw Joey in a typical Reclining Lady pose. Showing this to Amisia and she'll be ecstatic at how horrendous the figure is. Hm, there are a few changes from the Friendsim traits of some characters compared to Act 2 like Barzum & Baizli explicitly saying they're not there to murder anyone when you play their route. In Act 2 however, Baizli seems to be gleeful at the prospect of killing Joey.

The thing that people don't seem to understand with Marvus'sgame is that it was rigged. When you look at the sprite of the clown wheel, there is only 1 purple section, and it's much thinner than the other ones, so either he got super lucky to land on it or he planned it (note that he honks the nose multiples times before spinning the third time, probably to trigger it). Also, has he said in the jade-teal car, that was his way of letting Joey go through the clown car without problem, by setting up a fake killing game so that the clowns will let her pass. When Joey talks to Marvus when she has to kill a purpleblood, she tells him that all the other murders were fake, and Marvus responds that he knows and accepted it. However, when Baizli goes to kill Joey, Marvus' asks Chahut to release Xefros, which can mean two things: 1: Either he knew this was gonna happen and just let his plan go into motion 2: He didn't know, and released Xefros so that he could save Joey. Also, another way to look at Baizli's death is that, has he his a Doombound, this was dated to happen, but also, considering that Barzum is a Breathbound, she is "liberated" from Baizli. I think she is gonna have a much more important role in the future chapters (maybe finding her brother's mask and wanting to take revenge on Joey ?)

She SERVED DOOM!!! 😮 Im having an existential crisis about wanshi's classpect I need more from her

The official team announced on their curiouscat answer that her birthday was just days ago- January 11th. A Capricorn. Looking at Bronya using Joey and her flavor text includes a time when she dyed her hair purple one time to try getting her father's attention. Combine this with her potential aspect, she's either CAPRIPIO- SIGN OF THE RISKTAKER or CAPRIPIA- SIGN OF THE BRUSQUE.

I still think that the trolls showed in the cutscene at the end will hold greater roles in the next act. Excited at the idea of more Mallek content and how his classpect will play a role

Barzum is a breath player correct? Perhaps their disconnection is shown through them loosing connection to their twin.

I don't think this is just me but Act 2 wasn't as fun to play as Act 1. There were just so many fetch quests and almost the whole thing was on the train. It got kinda boring/repetitive. Omg the trial ughhhhh, I thought it'd never end. I liked the device of having Joey go back into the train at the end to complete her quest, but at that point I was so tired of walking through all of the cars. I wish there was a way to get from--say the purple car to the rust blood car--without spending minutes clicking through every single car in between. The part with the "deaths" and death at the end was well played (and sad for the twins, rip). As a whole though, I didn't particularly enjoy this one (especially compared to Act 1), but I still love Joey and Xefros and I'm interested to see what happens next in their adventure. Hopefully Act 3 delivers better (and sooner for goodness sake). I haven't lost hope yet!

I'm not sure if Thief is really his class, but Lanque's plan is essentially to take over the life of another, and he's willing to sabotage others' lives - Lynera's and Joey's for example - to do so. If Thief is his class, though, that makes him the same Classpect as Meenah, which is interesting.

Part of me still wants to go back to a previous save to save Lynera. The problem is I would basically need to replay the whole of Act 2, since I gave the pogs to Elwurd

I'm one of those people on Steam threads who were working the earliest to try and get 100% achievement completion. There are entire-run achievements for getting ALL the game overs, NO game overs, achievements for half a dozen or more ways you get your train ticket, the multiple trial outcomes (including the game over with Lanque), which horns Joey chooses, and so on. With all the people saying how repetitive Act 2 can be (and having down all of the above myself, trust me, I know), I still feel like I got more agitated and down replacing Act 1 more than anything else, but that could just be that retracing my steps through maps is something I'm used to more than just replaying introductory stuff, which was a lot of Act 1.

I love that I haven't even dived into the Hiveswap fandom yet (because I joined Homestuck a few months ago) and yet Marvus somehow is my favorite XD Also yes more Sea-dweller content my childdrrreeeennnnn

This game will never be finished

Awesome analysis! Got some good insight on stuff I missed :)

Really good to see you back :) "hugs" You deliver the best, as always.

35 views in one minute O_O

he’s back

I think light might fit Joey really well if you look at all of the ways she manages to get out of killing low bloods as lucky opportunities. The whole murder part of the train seems to be testing her ability to be resourceful. You could even argue that Xefros acted as Joey's luck by showing up to kill FOR her (since Joey saw killing the purple bloods herself as an unfortuitous outcome). I know Marvus let him go to do it, but really Xefros acts sort of like a deus ex machina in that scene. Joey is also the one who takes all of the risks which usually pay off in the end. That and a lot of dialogue in Act 1 points towards light. She's pedantic towards Jude when he refers to the snake as a serpent. She gets 5 puppy surprises instead of four, which she definitely considered lucky, the light bright, the symbol on her shirt. Her desire to be seen and dance. Just lots of light imagery and behavior. There's some life stuff there too, but it seems less generated by Joey herself as it is thrust onto her because of her mom?

I'm a light player and I completely trusted marvus. I GENUINELY felt betrayed the moment I read "I want to play a game"....... Whatever THAT says about him being tied to doc scratch lmao

I feel like Hiveswap is going to lean into a Wizard if Oz theme. What did them in at the end looked like a flying monkey, doc scratch is probably the wizard, Trizza is probably the wicked witch, Fiamet or Cridea is probably the good witch, ect. Homestuck itself had a Wizard of Oz reference in it after S Game Over with John and Terezi

Wait, there is an ending where you can catch the clear culprit? I didn't know Tegiri's testimony could even be skipped?

You know. More and more the trial section, and Joey's role in it, seems more indicative of Mind to me. Obviously Mind is tied to law on Alternia, as the teal caste is pigeonholed towards Mind. But here's the thing. This Mind aspect is present on the very gameplay. There are two valid endings for the trial, and a third that ends the story immediately. Meaning that there is a choice that must be made and all choices are imperfect. Joey is just the one who shoulder's the burden of it. This contrasts a lot with Xefros who isn't truly given a choice. Yeah he kills Baizli for Joey, but there is no scenario that exists where he would do otherwise. Rage is the aspect of realizing that sometimes there aren't any good options, that idealism just isn't going to cut it. So instead he fights for what he cares about.

thank you for the food kind sir

I loved marvus despite the killing thing he made us do. It felt a little out of character for him despite him being a purple blood clown for some reason. It felt like he was still trying to help you somehow

Im still wondering as to what happened during development that lead to the cut of zebede and charun.

did you forget about what Aradia was able to do in Rex Duodecim Angelus?

i now kin lynera cus of her death was so very heartbreaking (and turns out we have the same sign so shes my government assigned kin)

I want to watch this SOOOOOO bad but I really can't spoil this for myself! Damn it RU-vid algorithm be the tempting element here. haha

Act two pretty much convinced me that Xefros is a Knight of Rage and that Joey might be a Wich of Blood, or Maid of Hope.

I’m just gonna say it: Tegiri is Ernest Kline’s trollsona.

I didn't think there were multiple ways to get on the train, I just gave chixie Xevros's mic and traded her ticket with Elwurd for two, so I never saw half the stuff with Mavros. Also Zebruh got in the train

I'd be really interested in your opinion on the theory of marvis being not actually a purple blood

Xefros was literally called a page during the act

Marvus me boiiiii ::D

I always thought the farther you go down the hemospectrum the stronger the powers become like sollux is strong he can disintegrate you but Aradia can lift an entire statue, and she absolutely goes to town on Vriska, I think Xefros beating up azzdia is just Xefroses actual power

Marvus has a cane.

A lot of people seem disappointed with Act 2, but i thought it was great, better than 1, because many puzzles where actually hard and required you to think. Mainly the trial, of course. Though i still think that somewhere between "very easy" and "very hard" is the best option. And less running back and forth would be better. 0:53 I am sorry, but you spoiled literally everything surprising that happened in the act (except one thing at the very end, which i don't think was that important). 10:19 When there is a joke that to understand you must see Con Air, or real Juggalos, or a twitter post, or a forum discussion about Jake being hairy or WV being an imp - THAT'S metatextuality. But when English’s power is to make you stop caring about Homestuck, and characters now about the reader - that’s metanarrative, not metatextuality. 13:20 That was also a very Page thing, really similar to Jake saving Dirk. 15:20 And also as a Page, he helps Joey with seeing the truth. 17:10 Rage is *true reality*. And yes, on Alternia, the reality is death and horror.

I think marvus is a seer of time

:O

Asking without watching the "more spoiler section" of the video. Is friendsim recommended to play act 2? Obviously those small sims were the introductions for all of those new trolls but is having not played any going to damper the experience of act 2?

Homestuck is sadly mostly dead in this day and age, HS^2 is lacking and doesn't have the love nor care the original comic did, Hiveswap is in development hell for every 3-4 years until they decide to release an act, Hussie has moved on to Psycholonials. As much as i hate to admit it, the incompetence of development of Hiveswap and HS^2 has just left us with what could have been better. Move on to Psycholonials and any rare future Hiveswap/Hauntswitch acts, because HS^2 is most likely never going to improve.

is act 3 ever coming out?

englishpumpkinparty

but where does the MSPA Reader stand in terms of this story?

"super valid uwu" putrid.

eyy hating zebruh gang

i feel like we may see some ancestors but that might just be wishful thinking :(

The god of Homestuck lore analysis is back 😩

12:40

Can you guys outban me from Discord my tag is the same as this.

How tf is this game related to classpects? I just don't get it, it seems meaningless

Wtf is the deal with his voice here