Hey y'all! I've been taking a group of friends, some completely new/blind readers, others LONGTIME readers through the comic for the rerelease! and as we've been going through these upd8s I've been giving everyone some pointed questions to kind of help facilitate discussion! I'll share the questions I've asked so far, organized by upd8/page number
Upd8 1 (9/11/2025, pgs 1-43)
-So far this story has been formatted like a text adventure, with tons of video gaming abstractions and systems baked into the presentation. Why do you think that is?
-We're introduced to our (presumable) protagonist john, and one of his mysterious internet friends by the username "turntechGodhead" or [TG}. What are your impressions of this TG fellow?
-We saw a few other users (and even saw one get mentioned!) in John's chumlist, one "tentacleTherapist" [TT} and another "gardenGnostic" [GG]. Do those usernames give you any ideas as to what kind of people they are?
-John's got an interesting desktop goin on, and is a bit of an amateru programmer! Any insights onto what's up with the files on his desktop?
2x upd8 combo (9/11/2025, pgs 44-82)
-And with that, the aforementioned TT makes their first appearance! They speak in pink text. First impressions of this TT character?
-This captchalogue stuff sure is a headache! Fetch modii and sylladexes and strife decks, oh my! How do you think it all works? More importantly: what kind of fetch modus would YOU have?
-[S] pages make their debut! These are pages with sound to them. Any expectations for what future [S] pages could entail?
-Anything about John's home at large stick out to you? anything in the decor you find striking or charming?
-we leave off on a fairly haunting cliffhanger! Is this kind of prose what you expected going into this webcomic? How does it set the stage for you, any current predictions?
upde8 3 (09/12/2025, pgs 83-213)
-A fair bit of character interaction going on here! looks like we have pronouns on all of John's internet friends now! Seeing as we've heard from each of them at this point, how are impressions of these characters going?
-and so we see Dad egbert, and had our first Strife! What do you think is *up* with this relationship, it seems pretty wholesome so why so adverserial?
-we're now playing the game proper! So far it seems HEAVILY inspired by the sims and seems to affect the real world. Does this weird interplay between Sburb's gaming abstractions and the comic's own narrative abstractions draw you in more? or maybe it's a little hard to keep track of? How do you feel about it!
-What even IS this game's goal. We've got alchemy and sprites and... an ominous countdown? What are we DOIN here, folks?
-that deep impact poster really clued us in on present predicaments, huh! Any other details you've seen so far that feel like they might be allusions to something else?
And as of me writing, that's all I've got! I'll try to tack on any other questions that I ask our group as we go upd8 by upd8 here in this thread!
And now, I turn the floor over to y'all! You got any fun discussion questions to toss into the mix? would love to hear what's gotten your own reading groups talking!
oOoOoH mAn, I dO sO lOvE sEeInG nEw FaNs TaLk AbOuT tHesE hOnKiN mIrAcLeS.
i Uh... WoN't SaY mUcH, BuT i Do WaNt To GiVe A wArNiNg tO aLl My MiRtHfUl JeStErS oUt HeRe NoTiCiNg MiRAcLEs:
dOn'T sLiP oN OiL ):0)
i'Ll SeE yOu AlL aGaIn...
ArOunD www.homestuck.com/003912
The Real Homestuck?
That's the friends we made along the way!
mIrAcLeS ):0)
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRealHomestuck/s/2gCp8ku8rH
@gamze Hee, it has been a BLAST seeing the new readers in our group run wild with theories based on what they've seen so far! I'll be sure to (tactfully, in a way as to not color their perceptions since I and tha other oldheads in the group have an oath of silence when it comss to speaking of future content!) warn them about mothafuckin miracles in some way shape or form!!
sImPlY wOnDeRfUl, KeEp Up ThE gOoD wOrK!
The Real Homestuck?
That's the friends we made along the way!
mIrAcLeS ):0)
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRealHomestuck/s/2gCp8ku8rH
A new week, a new set up updates, a new set of questions!
upd8 09/15/2025 (pgs 213-247)
[End of Act 1]
-We now meet our second kid, TT, in the flesh! She’s one cool lass named Rose Lalonde. Is this how you expected her to look/act? Does she behave any different IRL than online?
-Her mysterious purple box which she lightly kicked into a cupboard is…. Mysterious! What could be in the box, any guesses?
-Previously, Rose mentioned night had fallen on the east coast, while it was still daytime for john. Any idea where these kids live?
-Do you think Mom Lalonde is actually in some weird devious passive aggression jousting match with her daughter? Or is it just typical teenage angst?
-We saw more meteors making impact than just John’s! Do you suppose those are also related to sburb?
-What exactly is the deal with the laboratory next to Rose’s house? Who just up and lives next to something like that?
-So john just… “alchemetized” an apple? What the fuck was that supposed to accomplish? Do you think the shape the alchemized item made has any significance?
upd8 09/16/2025 (pgs 248-357)
-Years in the future, we see a wayward vagabond stumble upon yet another spirograph, just what *is* the deal with these things? Do you think they carry some special meaning?
-We see the beginnings of Rose’s own Walkthrough! We also see a few of the “short, frantic” walkthroughs other people left. Anything strike you as odd about those guide timestamps?
-Rose being unable to strife with that grimoire is an ominous portent… Any thoughts on the seemingly eldritch forces that have just been put into play there?
-John Managed to take a bite of the apple after all! And… Something changed. John and Dad seem to be okay, but where on earth is their house now?
-A walkaround segment! Where you get to play a lil game and click on stuff! We told you there were sound pages and flash games, were you expecting anything like this? Has this changed your expectations on [S] Pages moving forward?
-Wayward Vagabond seems to be able to enter commands directly into John’s psyche. What purpose does this serve? Is shit even related to the game anymore at this point?
-The sprites can be prototyped a second time! But what’s up with their behavior? We saw it split in two when the house warped(?) and now it’s being awfully picky about what it prototypes next…
-What do you think the living situation w/ this "GG" character is? The Bec person looking after her seems reasonable at least!
-OH PSYCHE! We meet TG in the flesh, otherwise known as one Dave Strider! Looks like he lives in an apartment with his brother. More importantly, it looks like this segment is in the past! Were you expecting flashbacks and time perspective fuckery when getting into this?