ok so hiveswap is totally accessible even if you havent read homestuck. basically the only confusing things are the trolls, which are the main alien species relevent to the plot. here’s the things that might be confusing
trolls basically just use more complicated words for simple stuff, which is kind of The Whole Joke Of Their Existence. things might seem confusing but they’re just using a bunch of synonyms with more syllables. like, just bust out your thesaurus, it’s pretty easy to figure out what stuff is but there’s a lotta SAT words
their native planet is called alternia, but they only live there until they come of age, which is around age 15, which is 7 alternian sweeps. after that, they get drafted into the troll military and go off to conquer more alien planets to add to the massive alternian empire. shit’s rough, yo
instead of parents, trolls are raised by big animals they call their lusus. it’s pretty cute… most of the time.
trolls have a caste system based on blood color – red is the lowest status, pink is the highest, and the rest fall on the spectrum in rainbow order or w/e. purple & pink-blooded trolls are royalty, but they’re also aquatic and have gills and stuff. the caste system is one of the major pillars of troll culture, and it permeates pretty much every aspect of their society.
pretty much all the technology is made out of bugs but there’s never really any explanation for this, you guess is as good as mine, dude
overall it’s pretty accessible, from what i can tell, but i’ve been entrenched in this homestuck junk since i was fourteen so i legit cannot tell what’s understandable from an outside perspective anymore. i’m just way 2 used to elaborate homestuck bullsh*t, i’m sorry
Aries: Reads a tumblr astrology post and takes it seriously without realizing it’s actually an elaborate Homestuck joke.
Taurus: Learned all their astrology from Homestuck astrology posts and doesn’t realize it.
Gemini: Learned all their astrology directly from the Homestuck webcomic.
Cancer: Learned all their astrology from Sailor Moon before they ever heard of Homestuck.
Leo: “Why isn’t this Leo post specifically about me, though? It’s getting me completely wrong. Maybe the other signs’ posts are about me instead. I think my other planets are probably exhibiting a little more strongly than the author thinks and maybe bounced into all the other signs today. Oh goddammit this is actually about Nepeta.”
Virgo: Can’t get over how bad the formatting on the post is and hasn’t noticed it’s a Homestuck post yet.
Libra: Lie about astrology? On a tumblr post? Who would DO that?
Scorpio: Gets nothing wrong, because Homestuck is extremely accurate about Scorpios.
Terezi: Delights in booping people off the edge, so picks Pharah, Lucio, and Orisa on maps where that’s possible. Sometimes when playing Lucio, keeps her ring on green every time Karkat steps into it to annoy him. Says hello immediately after killing so they see it in their killcam. Also enjoys playing Mei and Symm.
Vriska: DPS main. Tries to tell everyone what they should do while they play. Some roll with it better than others. Rose hates taking direction from Vriska and convinces her healer-main wife to stay with her so Vriska’s plans go in with no healer. Occasionally creates some real good situations and helps them win. Loves playing Sombra and Soldier and rushing past the choke points and capturing the point while the enemy flounders.
Karkat: Vocal player, calls out enemy positions for the benefit of others, sends Ultimate Status and Healing Requests pretty often. Plays a lot of tank, mainly ones with shields. Plays defense heroes when he’s not on tank, mainly Bastion and Torbjorn.
Kanaya: Healer main, also kind of sucks at video games but enjoys doing things with her wife. Plays a lot of Mercy and Lucio, can’t aim well enough to happily use Ana. She picks up Symm from time to time and is quite good at strategically placing her turrets to surprise people.
Rose: Offense main. Plays a lot of Reaper, is Zen when they need a healer so she can drop orbs and keep killing people.
Dave: Big flanker. Picks a variety of characters and tries to flank with every single one of them regardless of their natural flanking ability. Likes playing S76, due to his resemblance to general FPS characters, but will play Mei, McCree, Genji, Tracer, Winston, Lucio, or whoever else he’s feeling at the moment. Really feels shitty to get flanked and killed by a Mercy.
John: Reinhardt main, often gets bored of holding his shield and charges in to die, mostly to Kanaya’s chagrin, who tells him to stop doing that. Often plays S76, Junkrat, Winston, and Pharah.
Jade: Sniper main, frustratingly effective at it, forcing everyone on the opposite team to try to pop behind walls at all times while they kill each other. Plays Lucio sometimes too. Calls characters by their actual first names while she plays.
Roxy: Offense and Tank main, loves McCree and Sombra on offense, and D.Va, Zarya, and Orisa on tank. Can be seen emoting in every PotG. Gets a lot of PotGs.
Dirk: DPS main, almost never picks healer. Plays a lot of Genji, McCree, and Tracer. Refuses to play characters he deems easy, such as Bastion, S76, Junkrat, Winston, Symmetra, Torb, Pharah. Fights with John about this.
Jane: Mei-n. (Mei Main). Loves McCree, but isn’t always good enough at aiming to like playing him. Likes flanking a fair amount, and plays enough Mystery Heroes to be pretty well rounded at all characters and able to change in a pinch.
Jake: Loves aiming characters, such as McCree, Soldier, Hanzo, and Zen. Doesn’t like flanking very much, enjoys a direct confrontation fight best. His heart really gets pounding in a one-on-one deathfight.
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