On November 25, 2020, Hiveswap: Act 2, the second of a four-part video game developed by What Pumpkin Games, Incorporated and based on Andrew Hussie’s webcomic Homestuck, was released on Steam to mixed reviews. Continuing where Act 1 (released in 2017) left off, Act 2 follows Joey Claire and Xefros Tritoh’s adventures through the dark and dangerous planet Alternia, as they head towards Jeevik Island for its upcoming Jeevik Week party to meet up with Tetrarch Fiamet and Cridea Jeevik.[1][2] Throughout the game they undergo multiple trials and tribulations, such as having the first station blown up right in front of them by Trizza Tethis’ drones, searching for ways to blend in with the trolls, traversing through the dangerous Alternian wilderness, and puzzling and fighting their way through multiple train cars filled with highbloods and violence. They finally reach their goal to take out the train’s conductor drone and reroute the tracks to get to Jeevik Island in one day instead of three weeks. However, while they are on the bridge just outside the purpleblood car, looking at the horizon, a wild, winged lusus (thought to be Fiamet’s) appears and hits the train with a giant, green, fiery blast right on the rustblood car, destroying it and sending Joey, Xefros, Byers, the Troll Call trolls and other lusii into the ocean. The game ends with a shot of the now-destroyed train, sunk in the water.[3] Hopefully Joey and Xefros end up surviving the crash in Acts 3-4, since they are the protagonists of the game and there are two acts left. The same goes for all the Troll Call trolls except Baizli Soleil (who was pushed onto some spikes by Xefros, killing him), given that you could interact with them, and ten (originally twelve[4]) of them (Martsi Houtek, Cirava Hermod, Folykl Darane, Kuprum Maxlol, Lanque Bombyx, Tyzias Entykk, Tetrarch Elwurd, Mallek Adalov, Ardata Carmia, Chahut Maenad, Barzum Soleil and Marvus Xoloto) are shown in the final cutscene during the crash; plus, they might become more important and hold greater roles in Act 3.[5] At one point Marvus says that no one important to the plot will die, meaning that the very least, all the random background trolls in the rust/bronze and gold/olive cars are almost certainly dead.[6]

Things were not working out for Homestuck. Viz Media had acquired the rights from Hussie to publish Homestuck books in a multi-million dollars deal in 2017 (Hussie kept the intellectual property rights). They were very involved initially, advertizing Homestuck at every convention and slapping it on their front page, but then started distancing themselves from publishing the books after the poor release of The Homestuck Epilogues, refused to fund Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon, and stopped funding the development of Hiveswap.[7][8][9][10] On February 11, 2021, it was announced in a Patreon post written by Hussie that the Patreon for Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon (which funded Hiveswap) would be frozen permanently due to personal attacks and criticism targeted at What Pumpkin’s staff, and the comic would be funded through private commission in order to complete the story.[11] On April 13, 2021, YouTuber Sarah Z uploaded a video named A Brief History of Homestuck, which was researched in 10 days, and used bad sources for a lot of the information about Hiveswap, The Homestuck Epilogues and Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon. Sarah used Giovan_h’s article on Hiveswap with wrong information spun from information leaked to him from an old design sheet from What Pumpkin Studios New York by George Rohac (who was known to be the architect of the Hiveswap Kickstarter, and had left What Pumpkin in early 2014), saying that Hussie and What Pumpkin were mishandling the Kickstarter money and The Odd Gentlemen (who were originally going to develop Hiveswap) were not to blame.[12][13] At one point the video mentioned Hussie and What Pumpkin’s mismanagement, mistreatment of employees/workers and refusal to pay them, toxic behavior towards the Homestuck fandom, and them not crediting the employees/workers at the end of Hiveswap: Acts 1-2.[14][15][16][17] Sarah presented the rumors as merely speculation and not conclusive fact. Shortly after the video was uploaded, the Hiveswap Kickstarter posted a very formal backer-only document named Update #36, which addresses some of the accusations made about Hiveswap‘s development. Hussie (who claimed the delays were justified because of a lone insane employee in the three-dimensions team in 2015) and Cindy Dominguez (President of What Pumpkin) harassed Sarah, despite not even watching the video. They sent her embarrassing, childish legal threats for deformation, which they then retracted. This resulted in a fallout and led to What Pumpkin going into radio silence.[18][19][20][21] On April 20, 2021, What Pumpkin silently updated their website to announce that after Viz Media published The Homestuck Epilogues on January 14, 2020 and Homestuck Book 6 on March 10, 2020, Hussie left What Pumpkin in May or June 2020 to work on new projects unrelated to Homestuck such as Psycholonials, and, despite still retaining ownership of the Homestuck intellectual property, has discontinued all creative involvement in any future Homestuck projects, meaning that the company brought him in to try and help resolve the Sarah Z issue, only for Hussie to just make things worse.[22] Redditors Mazzilla-Madness and ThatJellyfish12 think that Hussie’s departure led to Viz ceasing publication of the Homestuck books.[7][8][9][10] Most of the other employees were found to have left as well, before and after the announcement of Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon‘s cancelation and the threats, such as Cohen Edenfield, James Roach, Toby Fox, Shelby Cragg, Phil Gibson/Poinko and Hillary Esdaile/Rah-Bop (who left in March and April 2018); Kate Mitchell (who left due to internal drama in July or August 2020), Taz optimisticDuelist, Daria Yeliseyeva/Xamag, and Pip Dillistone (who left in December 2020).[23][24][25][26][27][28][14][29][30][31] In late May 2021, Viz terminated their big Homestuck/Hiveswap merchandise deal with Redbubble.[32][33][9] On June 30, 2021, Sarah Z uploaded a video about the legal threats and fallout. Because of Hussie and the employees’ departure from What Pumpkin, Hussie and What Pumpkin’s incompetence, mismanagement, toxicity, and inability to fulfill promises, Hiveswap: Act 2‘s mixed reception, the failure of Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon, the Patreon’s shutdown, and the threats, members of the Homestuck fandom on Twitter and Reddit believed that What Pumpkin and Hussie had quietly canceled Hiveswap: Acts 3-4 and Hauntswitch (that game’s trademark expired on April 12, 2021 and has not been renewed[34]), therefore leaving Hiveswap dormant and unfinished and ending the game on an infamously unresolved cliffhanger, killing off poor Joey and Xefros, Byers, and all the Troll Call trolls and lusii, preventing Joey and Xefros from reaching Jeevik Week, forming a rebellion against Trizza and seeing Jude Harley and Tetrarch Dammek again; tragically cutting Joey’s dreams of becoming a ballet/tap dancer and veterinarian and Xefros’ dreams of joining the greater Thrashthrust Junior League and becoming a famous slam poet short, rendering them stagnant, with the remains of the derailed train scattered about the ocean; making Trizza, Doc Scratch (the manipulator), Fiamet and her lusus Karma Houdinis (a villain that does not get his or her comeuppance), and creating a doomed timeline.[35][36][37][38][39] On October 25, 2021, For Fans By Fans merged into Good Smile and discontinued 80% of all their Homestuck/Hiveswap merchandise (including the Extended Zodiac shirts) except the Joey Troll Hoodie. Twitter user TheRedSamurai01 thinks that For Fans By Fans discontinued the merchandise due to the expiration of their deal with What Pumpkin, meaning the Extended Zodiac shirts were dropped during the acquisition by Good Smile. However, the Joey Troll Hoodie was kept in stock until October 10, 2022, since it was an original work, and Hot Topic would begin selling it on November 25, 2022. ThatJellyfish12 thinks that the merchandise was discontinued due to a lack of sales, leaving What Pumpkin with no source of income, since their main fount of profit was merchandise.[40][41][42][43][44] On November 11, 2021, a Polygon interview with Hussie on life after Homestuck mentioned, “It’s a prime example of how — even years after Homestuck and Hiveswap were completed — the distance Hussie keeps between himself and his fandom doesn’t keep his work from spiraling out into controversy,” and reveals that Hussie treats his relationship with the Homestuck fandom as an “anti-cultic leader” and despises them.[45] This led to the Homestuck fandom taking the lukewarm cliffhanger ending to Hiveswap: Act 2 as the true ending of the game and criticizing it (the game), with Twitter users : VS Vriska Mod + FNF Fanzine and dualitySimplified saying, “The giant, survivorless train crash at the end of Hiveswap: Act 2 was a symbolic representation of things coming to an explosive halt.”[46] On January 3, 2022, Twitter user kayla temp pinned!! said, “whats a media yall can say you dodged the biggest bullet .. like listen things may be rough but at least i was never into harry potter AMEN this and homestuck …. I WAS THIS PERSON !!!!!!”, which resulted in Homestuck trending as a piece of media that people were glad that they did not read.[47] On April 13, 2022, Redditor cosmofex said, “From today to April 20, 2022, Good Smile US (peeps who bought out For Fans By Fans) is having a Homestuck merchandise “Blowout” sale. 20%+ off everything, which is great! What’s significantly less great is how calling it a blowout implies that they are trying to get rid of it all. With the massive reduction in what’s being sold in the first place, it makes me worry that there won’t be any official merchandise at all soon. :(“[48][37][49] For Fans By Fans would later have similar sales on November 11, 2022 and December 21, 2022, selling up to 85% off all their Homestuck merchandise before going out of business on December 31, 2022.[50][51][52][53] ThatJellyfish12 said, “The reason to why this is happening is that Homestuck merchandise has been selling really poorly in the last years, likely due to people leaving the fandom because of post-canon and all other controversies involving the franchise, this also likely explains the discounts, For Fans By Fans is probably trying to get rid of merch that has been gathering dust on their warehouses for ages and make at least some profit back.”[54]

However, while some members of the Homestuck fandom believe that Hiveswap: Acts 3-4 and Hauntswitch will never be released, there are others who still anticipate the games and said and believed otherwise. For example, Redditor YandereObama said, “People were saying the same about Act 2 over and over, but it still came out. The email drama indicates that What Pumpkin are still working on Hiveswap and fully intend to finish it, giving the expectation that all four acts will be finished.”[55] Redditor Sanctferum said in 2018, “James Roach said that neither he nor Toby Fox were involved in Hiveswap‘s development anymore, but he has also talked about music that he has made for future acts (“Old Secret”, for example, is an Act 3 song), so it is possible that they finished the Acts 3-4 soundtracks already. Of course should they end up needing an extra track or two for those acts in the future, they would be screwing themselves over by dismissing their musicians so soon. And it is hard to imagine Hauntswitch being at any kind of developmental milestone where Toby and James could have completed the soundtrack for it, as well, so assuming that it is still in the works (which seems likelier than before, seeing as how Viz can help fund it rather than Hussie having to kickstart the money from fans who already lost a bunch of money to the original Kickstarter and the Odd Gentlemen’s fraud), it might have a totally different tone soundtrack wise.”[56] Redditor Shaddy_the_guy said, “If I recall correctly, Act 3 was in the art/sound phase a few months back while Act 2 was in the final touches. The developers at What Pumpkin said they had something of a development pipeline set up for working on multiple acts at a time.”[57] Mazzilla-Madness said, “Theoretically Act 3 development started in September 2020, two months before Act 2‘s release, and should be still going. Hussie leaving What Pumpkin shouldn’t be that much of a problem, he wasn’t allegedly really active in anything. The lack of funds could be the main issue, there should be some leftovers from the Patreon if Hussie didn’t take those to “privately fund Homestuck^2“.”[58] Redditor CaptainArchmage said, “The last time I heard the schedule was kind of like this: part of the team would get the script down for the next act, while the other part of the team would finish the current act. So based on this, Act 3 has been written, Act 4 is being written, and Act 3 is currently being turned into the full on game. This may have been affected by safety concerns due to the coronavirus pandemic (and since posting, we’ve had a 3rd and 4th wave hit). Also note that, while something may work “on paper” when it comes to animation or art, the decision might be “this just doesn’t work” and one will have to rewrite sections. Sometimes, it happens.”[59] Twitter user Jarod – Miserable on main said, “It’s Polygon. They have a LONG history of dubious reporting, nonexistent researching and chasing clicks with ridiculous bad-faith outbursts and absurd takes which the authors don’t actually legitimately hold.”[60] Twitter user Eris, famous said, “Nah, the article writer was just an idiot. It (“…even years after Homestuck and Hiveswap were completed…”) wasn’t in quotes and people are obviously misreading to cause drama.”[61] Plus, some Twitter and Reddit users jump to conclusions without any evidence, work themselves up into a frenzy, send misinformation out, and make negative assumptions. Before Sarah Z’s second Homestuck video was uploaded, Therese Lanz began working for What Pumpkin in May 2021, creating two-dimensional environment art for Hiveswap: Act 3.[62] What Pumpkin Retweeted For Fans By Fans’ Tweet celebrating Karkat Vantas’ wriggling day on June 12, 2021.[63] In September 2021, Hussie began endorsing The Unofficial Homestuck Collection (developed by Bamboshu and Gio in order to preserve the Homestuck reader experience despite the depreciation of Flash). He Retweeted a signal-boosting Tweet about the Collection and listed it in his Linktree, along with Hiveswap, which he listed as “Hiveswap (2017-present)”.[64][65][66] On September 8, 2021, Hiveswap Friendship Simulator was updated to add all the downloadable content volumes to the base game, and on September 9, 2021, Gio said that What Pumpkin updated the game to use an up-to-date version of the Ren’Py Visual Novel Engine (7.4.x), using code that he wrote in the Hiveswap franchise, and implying that there might still be some employees working for the company.[67][68] On January 31, 2022, fans discovered that maritime-based writer Jennifer Giesbrecht, who had done some scripting for Act 2, had added “Hiveswap (What Pumpkin, 2021-)” to her Carrd. The discovery led people such as CaptainArchmage and Redditor PantaroP to take it as a clue that Hiveswap might still be alive.[69][70] On May 5, 2022, What Pumpkin Tweeted, “From today to May 9, 2022, Pesterquest and Hiveswap Friendship Simulator are on sale during LudoNarraCon, a Fellow Traveller digital festival celebrating narrative games. You can pick up either/both for 75% off!” This led to some Twitter users such as LucidaHuxlux and ◇Jooj◇ Tweeting things like, ‘This means Hiveswap is still on production, which means maybe we get Act 3 soon… which means…’ and “I’m gonna take this as news that y’all making Act 3.”[71] On July 16, 2022, Stuck at Home Convention had a mystery panel that turned out to be a very impromptu presentation from What Pumpkin artists Dagmar and Gilly. They revealed an amount of assets from Act 3, such as new troll characters (Cridea Jeevik, Fiamet, Vestri, Lonner, Helion, Jerann Mussel and an unnamed old ceruleanblood), concept art and backgrounds. Although they did not reveal Act 3‘s release date or who was publishing it, they said, “Art is along the way, programming is in progress.”[72][73][74][75] Stuck at Home Convention also posted a Tweet with a quote from Hussie, saying, “I’ve known about Stuck at Home Convention for a few years. It’s a good thing. I know something like that is very difficult to organize, so tell them we appreciate the hard work that went into it. Hope they enjoy whatever there is to see for Hiveswap. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of organized fandom activity these days, so a convention like that seems like the best focal point for the fans who still care about this.”[76] On July 18, 2022, James Roach confirmed his involvement with Act 3, saying, “Now that the Act 3 news is out of the bag (I’ve been trying not to talk about it because I don’t want to be the go-to news source for that), I’m pleased to say that I’m back for a few tracks, and I hope you like them.”[77][75] In November 2022, Hussie deleted all of his Tweets from his Twitter account.[78][79] On January 21, 2023, Roach said, “Should I put the Touhou trumpet in this Hiveswap song?” Twitter users told him to add the trumpet, to which he replied to one of them (stream floatplay/hutaopants) with a Saluting Face Emoji (a sign of respect). Roach said, “With Act 3 and beyond, I’m trying to branch out of my comfort zone and try different things, and one of them is exploring new sounds instead of my old standby instruments, and look, I’m not saying the ZUN trumpet is part of that, but it’s not not part of that. That all being said, Act 3 is going to have one of the most absurd clown anthems to date.” The following day, Twitter user UlvenAspiration asked, “Wait, Hiveswap isn’t canceled?”, to which Roach replied, “Ah, you caught me, it is actually.” I found this concerning, but also a bit odd, considering that A) Roach gave updates for the game’s music the day before, B) his Tweets about them each have a million likes (moreso than the Tweet about the cancelation), and C) he replied to stream floatplay/hutaopants with the Saluting Face Emoji after the latter told him to add the Touhou trumpet in Act 3. I told Twitter user Dead Crab/Emmy (who is still blocked by Roach for calling him names in 2021) and Everything We Know About Hiveswap about the updates and the cancelation, and said, ‘Either the game is indeed canceled and the music updates were fake, or it is still in development and James is just kidding around as part of some non-disclosure agreement.’ UlvenAspiration later replied, “More than likely joking.” Everything We Know About Hiveswap and metroid-fusion said, “Yeah, that was definitely a joke, James is a bit of an ass who tends to say a lot of stuff that is sarcasm or messing with people who are asking silly questions, but that is okay.”[80][81][82][83] On February 28, 2023, Roach said, “Act 3 music update: so far only one song with ‘p**s’ in the title, and I didn’t name it.”[84] On March 2, 2023, the Homestuck Discord said, “I am sorry that all the news tend to be like this these days, but whatever: Andrew Hussie’s Linktree has been wiped of all content, which included his endorsement of The Unofficial Homestuck Collection, and one of the few confirmations that he was still involved in Hiveswap (James Roach just posted about Act 3 music though so that is still on).”[65][85][86] On May 12, 2023, Pip Dillistone shared his experience working on Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon, revealing that one of the hidden purposes of the comic and Pesterquest was to cover the financial holes that Hussie put himself in after The Homestuck Epilogues, and the team did not know that until they began working on it, and that Hussie effectively deceived and threw them under the bus. He deleted the post shortly after the revelations.[87][88][89] This resulted in the Homestuck fandom believing Hiveswap to also be a cash grab, and they began saying that Act 3 would never be released. They also believed that Pip deleted the post and is regretting it due to breaking a non-disclosure agreement.[87][90][91][92] On May 24, 2023, Twitter user Olive Phillips/TangySpook said, “I really don’t think so. The whole darn affair from top to bottom on screen and behind was an absolute mess. I don’t even think we’re getting Hiveswap anymore. Someone did anonymously (so a fistful of salt) tell me there was in fact a plan to reboot the whole thing. Like the entirety of Homestuck, but after recent revelations came to light to the fandom at large and left an even further sour taste in everyone’s mouths… Yeah, no.”[93] However, some fandom members like Harry_Anderson_Egbert, ArachaicEquilibrium and Bro (Malachi) believed that they were “overacting to essentially nothing”, considering that the events involving The Homestuck Epilogues, Pesterquest and Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon‘s troubled production and Hussie’s behavior had occurred in 2019-2020, three years prior to the news of Act 3‘s development and four years prior to Pip’s revelations.[94][95][96] Looking at Phillips’ Tweet about “not even getting Hiveswap anymore”, “rebooting the whole thing” and “the entirety of Homestuck“, I think that she might have just forgotten about the news of Act 3‘s development, and meant to say that she thinks that we are not getting Act 3 due to the permanent closure of Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon‘s Patreon (which funded the game) and the revelations, and that the comic was planned to be rebooted, not the game. On June 5, 2023, James Roach joked, “Homestuck actually is not real, they just made it up for the notes.” Twitter users DarkMarxSoul and Shaddy Zaphod saw this as “an actual Homestuck music composer just making vague, unfunny, mean-spirited jokes about a franchise that is basically in permanent limbo with two properties on indefinite hiatuses, dancing on the grave of something that people cared about, and not valuing Homestuck or its legacy at all”.[97] On June 14, 2023, he Tweeted, “I promise it is being worked on.” Though Roach did not reveal what was being worked on or if it was Hiveswap: Act 3, Twitter user Davical Arts asked, “What you are working on if I may ask?”, and hemogloom replied, “It,” to which Davical Arts would ask, “It what???” two days later. alex/clownsharks said, ‘Ominous as heck, but alright, man.’ On June 15, 2023, Alex Burnenfeu Tweeted, ‘Maybe, but “It will never happen. It is a myth, a legend, a figment of imagination from the minds of the unhinged” is kind of funnier :/’, to which Olivier Mansuy posted a Graphics Interchange Format file of a Nerd Face Emoji. Roach would delete his Tweet on June 16, 2023.[98][99][100][101][102][103][104] On July 19, 2023, he Tweeted, “I was invited to do a panel at the Homestuck convention. It will be a general question and answer and an Act 3 Music Preview centered around Cridea and the in-game event Jeevik Week. I specifically asked Andrew Hussie for permission to share this, and he gave the okay. I will try to post the high quality previews without me talking or stream sounds afterwards.”[105][106] On July 22, 2023, five new screenshots from Act 3 and concept art of Cridea were shown at Stuck at Home Convention, and fans got previews of “Cridea’s Channel Intro”, “Cridea’s Hive”, the Jeevik Week theme, the Scythian theme and the Clown Area theme at 6pm. Roach would upload the first three previews to YouTube on July 23, 2023.[107][108][109][110][111][112] On July 26, 2023, Twitter user getsrodeon said, “A noteworthy example of Homestuck misinformation and assumptions is probably the anonymouse, unverifiable source claiming that the Epilogues and Homestuck^2 were only created because Hussie was in debt, in spite of the fact that Hussie had announced that he would be making the Epilogues since around the time Homestuck ended.”[113] EtchJetty replied, “”anonymous”, We Know who started that rumor, and it was not the Homestuck^2 writer who got misinterpreted (Pip Dillistone), it was a specific Big Account who decided to make it about himself (GooeyTime).”[114] On July 30, 2023, James Roach posted an unused “Strife” theme for Mallek that would have been used Act 3.[115] On October 8, 2023, he announced that he had been handed control over a new team of creatives, and updates to Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon continued from that day.[116] On April 23, 2024, Roach confirmed in an interview that Act 3 is still in active development. He stated, “There was a hiatus in production for a while, but like… I mean there’s a meeting happening right now. My role in Act 3 is… they just kind of let me do whatever I want, so I’m like a weird ghoul at WhatPumpkin where I’m just there in every… I’m in like nine different servers for different things, there’s the Stuck at Home Convention bridge team, there’s all of these different initiatives that now I’m like a part… like the de-facto leader on a lot of these things, it’s like ‘Oh, yeah, take point on the Stuck at Home Convention stuff.’ I don’t know what that means, I’m… I went to music school. I don’t know numbers, I am so sorry. But yeah, Hiveswap: Act 3 is in development. It’s crazy, it’s certainly more locations than the last one, it’s not all on one train with one Ace Attorney reference. You go a lot of places, and do a lot of things. I’ve written a lot of music for it. Toby Fox has written, I think, a couple, like one or two songs in this one. Clark Powell is back. I think I’m mostly done with music, it’s just like I’m waiting to, like… a lot of the time I get ahead of myself and write a bunch of songs for it, and then it’s like ‘Oh, we need to go back and like refine this a little bit,’ because now we know more about this. I think the writing is done, it’s just a matter of like assets and programming. I don’t know anything about that so I can’t really like give any cool details, but it’s happening. They’re working on it.”[117][118][119] On June 19, 2024, Jonaya Riley announced on Twitter, “As a producer on the Act 3 team, I am organizing an official panel for this year’s Stuck at Home Convention, and one of our writers/narrative designers has volunteered to answer some of your questions!”[120] On July 20, 2024, Hiveswap: Act 3 Rockin’ Fun Fest was uploaded to YouTube. In the video, Kim Quach, Roach and Riley shared news about production and a sneak-peek of some new art, character sprite animations (Fiamet, a drone, Tiagon, Onhors and Luxora) and backgrounds (Fiamet Zone, Cridea’s Room, a shopping mall, the Jade Caves (entrance, caves and train station), a hallway in space, and a giant heart), confirmed that Joey survives the train crash, and read some fans’ ask me anything questions to one of the writers for Act 3.[121] Later in August, fans discovered that What Pumpkin was hiring animators and artists for Act 3 on Indeed and Glassdoor.[122][123][124] On September 24, 2024, Twitter user HisoNoKami announced that he had joined the team.[125][126] On January 1, 2025, Homestuck^3 asked Roach if Act 3 was still in the works. Roach replied, “I’m cancelling it just for this, oooh! I’m so peeved, oooooooohhh!”, but hashtagged, “Anyway, I don’t make Hiveswap, but yes, it’s in production. I saw a cutscene from it the other day.”[127] On March 23, 2025, Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon writer Miles said, “Yes! Just to be clear, we are a different team. But yes. Hiveswap: Act 3 is still, AS WE SPEAK, in the works.”[128] On April 14, 2025, Roach stated, “I’m not in charge of anything besides music over at Hiveswap, but I pop my head into the work chat every now and then and things are coming along slowly but surely for Act 3. What Pumpkin projects are generally pretty small teams with day jobs, so these things take some time. Thanks for sticking with us, as a longtime Homestuck fan myself, I know how hard it is to wait for things.”[129] On August 2, 2025, Miles said, “Another thing I want to mention is that I’ve seen a lot of murmuring about the state of Hiveswap, and some worry that it’s “not happening anymore” because there haven’t been updates in a while, which is like, fair. So I wanted to take a bit of time here to emphasize to you guys that not only is Hiveswap still happening, but I KNOW it’s still happening because I’ve been doing some work on it myself, and I’m actually super stoked to show you guys more soon. Maybe at a certain… convention…?”[130] On August 8, 2025, Hussie sent Bamboshu and Gio a DMCA takedown demand and threatened them with lawsuits, leading them to take down The Unofficial Homestuck Collection.[131][132] On October 19, 2025, What Pumpkin held a question and answer on the Homestuck‘s official Discord server, where they said Act 3 was almost finished, Act 4 had begun development, and Hauntswitch was still planned and had a full outline/write-up waiting for when Act 4 would be done. Miles had joined the writing team for Act 4,[133] and Justin Bortnick was working on Acts 3-4 as a producer, writer, narrative designer and proofreader, with his website projecting Act 3 to be released in 2026.[134] On October 20, 2025, a Hiveswap Bluesky account and a Jerann role-playing Bluesky account were launched.[135][136] On December 13, 2025, What Pumpkin released a short preview section of Act 3 on itch.io, entitled Three Card Monte, with Cridea as a playable character.[137]

Fortunately, the Homestuck and Hiveswap fandoms have been keeping the webcomic, game and their characters alive in comics, fanart, fan fictions, fan projects, fan games, video game modifications and parody/roleplay accounts since 2015,[138] and did so between Act 2‘s release and the news of Act 3‘s development, resolving Act 2‘s cliffhanger, bringing Joey, Xefros, Byers, the Troll Call trolls and the other lusii out from their “watery grave”, reuniting Joey and Byers with Jude and Xefros with Dammek, giving them (webcomic, game and characters) new, better lives, and handling them with care. For example, QuintusHazard uploaded Rescue (November 29, 2020) to Tumblr and DeviantArt, in which Boldir Lamati rescues Chixie Roixmr from the derailed train’s sunken rustblood car, and stands in the ocean, holding the unconscious bronzeblood close to her.[139][140] Archive of Our Own user botgal wrote and published Reprieve (December 1, 2020), in which after successfully rerouting the train, the chaos of the past 24 hours with the purplebloods finally catches up with Joey, and she faints on her and Xefros’ way back to the rustblood car. Xefros is determined to make good on his promise of protecting her, and Elwurd shows him her private bunk, where he carefully slips Joey off of his back and lays her down on the bunk, removing her shoes and setting them on the floor beside the furnishing, cautious so as not to bump her against anything or knock her horns loose. He then pulls a sopor-layered quilt over her, bringing it to rest up near her chin, and thinks that Joey looks a bit more relaxed when she is all settled. He steps out of the room, closes the door and takes a seat with Elwurd, only for Remele Namaaq to chide her for her interest in Joey and trying to get on Xefros’ “goode side” and refer to him a matesprit, much to Elwurd’s confusion. Elwurd says that she thought that Joey and Xefros were moirails, while Mallek says that he thought that they were matesprits. He then orders some kind of finely seasoned and grilled meat with mashed ground tubers and a tall glass of something fizzy and green and sweet looking topped with whipped cream beside it. Xefros cuts a piece of meat and takes some bites. By the time Elwurd, Remele and Ardata finally glance back at him from a conversation they had gotten themselves into, the plate is empty, and Xefros is slumped against the table, utterly asleep, so they decide to leave him, at least for the moment.[141] Kakalot/xefrostritoh55 made his own alternate Hiveswap timeline on DeviantArt and Tumblr, beginning with an alternate ending for Act 2 in the form of a comic. In the alternate ending, Joey and Xefros go to the rustblood car and fall asleep. Several minutes later, Joey has a nightmare where Xefros must have gotten hurt and hugs him, begging him not to die and to stay with her. Xefros comforts Joey, telling her that he will do his best to protect her and help her find her way back to Earth.[142][143] Kakalot/xefrostritoh55 would upload three other comics and two pictures to DeviantArt and Tumblr, all of which take place on Earth and focus on Joey and Xefros, suggesting that they have formed a rebellion against Trizza and taken her down and found a way to get Joey home offscreen (an example of the trope “Offscreen Moment of Awesome”), with the former bringing the latter with her. In Prom dance (15 December 2020) and All Hail the King and Queen (1 May 2021), Joey brings Xefros as her partner for the prom dance at the end of her junior high school year, with permission from her teacher,[144][145] and they are elected king and queen.[146] In Diner Date (December 16, 2020), Joey and Xefros are at the former’s favorite diner. Having seen the spaghetti kiss scene from Lady and the Tramp as a child, Joey decides to do that trick with Xefros herself, using breadsticks.[147][148] In My alien little brother (20 December 2020), Joey introduces Xefros to 16-year-old Robert Bowman (Kakalot/xefrostritoh55’s Hiveswap original character), and the two of them form a close friendship, with Robert eventually viewing Xefros as the little brother he would have liked to have.[149][150] In Confession (24 December 2020-3 January 2021), Xefros wants to tell Joey how he feels, but he is too nervous, so Robert gives him some moral support.[151] He calls Joey to hang out and waits for her at the park.[152][153] After Joey arrives, they sit on the bench and chill and chat for a few moments.[154] Xefros struggles with his confession at first, asking Joey if she remembers the time in Alternia when he almost got culled (by either Trizza or Fiamet), to which she replies that she does, saying that she thought that she had lost him and felt devastated. Xefros asks Joey if she still has red feelings for mrstaylorthomas80. She says that he is way out of her league in many ways, and asks Xefros why he asked her that.[155] He reveals that it was because he has red feelings for her. Joey feels relieved and tells Xefros that when she thought that she had lost him, she realized that he means a lot to her, more than as a friend.[156][157] When Xefros woke up and they hugged, she did not want to let go and wanted that moment to last forever. Xefros asks Joey if she wants to be his girlfriend. Blushing, she holds his hand and kisses him, saying that she would be most happy to be his girlfriend; this suggests that Confession takes place before Prom dance, All Hail the King and Queen and Diner Date.[157] After that, Kakalot/xefrostritoh55 uploaded a trilogy consisting of I Pronounce You Mister and Missis Tritoh (29 December 2020), where Joey and Xefros have grown into adults and get married;[158] The Tritohs’ Newborn Baby (1 January 2021), where Joey and Xefros have a mixed human and troll son, and Jude and Robert are there to congratulate them;[159] and Faithful Steed (23 January 2021), where Joey and Xefros watch their 13-year-old son, Scott Tritoh, playing with Zoosmell (Xefros’ lusus) in the backyard of the Half-Harley Manor.[160] He also uploaded some comics and pictures that focus on Joey and Xefros’ adventures on Alternia, such as Don’t Give into the Rage (11 January 2021), where Xefros angrily attacks an indigoblood troll for messing with Joey as they are leaving Outglut;[161] Gastronomical Shock (12 January 2021), where Joey and Xefros are at the second train station and take a break to eat, and Joey orders what is most similar to food that she knows, only to find the taste of grub vastly different;[162] and Tap Dance Lessons (7 February 2021), which takes place after Act 2, and shows Joey and Xefros reuniting with Chixie, Bronya Ursama and Daraya Jonjet; Bronya and Chixie get curious when hearing Joey talk about tap dance and ask her to teach them, and drag Daraya into it as well, much to her displeasure.[163] He also has another alternate timeline in which Dammek also stays on Earth, and he and Xefros decide to continue the Grubbels there and recruit Joey as a third member.[164] Since the events on Earth in his alternate Hiveswap timelines take place after the events of Hiveswap and Hauntswitch and the first timeline includes the alternate ending for Act 2, this makes Kakalot/xefrostritoh55 the first person to keep Joey, Xefros and the Troll Call trolls alive, continue Hiveswap‘s story from where Act 2 left off, and give it and Hauntswitch‘s story something of a closure. Tumblr user Pixana/RainbowQvartzz wrote and published Dammek’s Daymare (December 15, 2020), in which Dammek tells Xefros about a daymare that he had about Trizza and her drones capturing them and culling him (Xefros), and Xefros’ Daymare (January 24, 2021), in which Xefros has a daymare about Dammek leaving him and tearfully tells him about it, and Dammek comforts Xefros and apologizes for his mistreatment, telling him that he (Dammek) was too caught up in the rebellion to give him (Xefros) the time that they should have spent together. Both fan fictions portray Dammek as being more caring towards Xefros, with Xefros’ Daymare depicting them as having reconciled and living with Joey and Jude in the Half-Harley Manor, and taking place after the events of Hiveswap and Hauntswitch.[165][166] Archive of Our Own users whydidmyusernamechange, calumTraveler, polytrichum, starprincess96, Random_Gummy_Bears_appears and Elilhrairah wrote and published fan fictions in which Joey and Xefros survive the train crash. In Experienced Morbidity (December 16, 2020), Joey finds Xefros with Galekh Xigisi, brings him to the shore and cleans a wound in his arm with an alcohol wipe.[167] At the end of INTERMISSION 2: Innocence Lost. (December 18, 2020), they struggle back to consciousness and meet Barzum Soleil, who has also survived the crash.[168] In Licking my Wounds (17 January 2022), Joey and Xefros are washed to shore, weakened, crippled and covered in painful, bloody wounds, and are forced to find the strength to move on. Joey reunites with Byers before discovering the devastating sight of the derailed train and some dead trolls. Xefros comforts her, and washes the blood from his forehead and soothes his burns in the lake, before they find and enter a jadeblood’s hive, where they treat each others’ wounds before falling asleep.[169] In does joey claire is gay? (March 19, 2022), Joey returns to Earth via a Cherub portal, covered in teal, purple and blue blood, having had a very bad time on Alternia, except for kissing Elwurd, and tearfully reuniting with Jude and pre-scratch Roxy Lalonde, the former of whom also reunites with Byers, who emerges from Joey’s pocket. When Roxy puts Joey to bed, she asks her if she (Roxy) saw someone die, if she (Joey) is a bad person for being alive, and if is it really okay to kiss girls. After her questions are answered, she tells Roxy about Elwurd, saying that she might not ever see her again, but chooses to believe that Elwurd survived to fight another day.[170] In Schrodinger’s Events: Chapter 8: Joey’s no good terrible day (April 20, 2022), Joey floats in the ocean, currently freezing, recently traumatized, in shock, having a pounding headache and tired limbs, surrounded by the scattered wreckage of the train, and wondering how she had even got to Alternia and how her life had ended up like this. She eventually comes to the conclusion that monster chases, scavenger hunts and traveling through space led her to the planet. Gazing upon the wreckage and trying to stay calm about the knowledge that there are trolls stuck in the train’s cars, Joey slugs through the water towards one of the cars, and climbs on top of it to search the water for anyone who would need help. She sees a few lusii dragging some trolls to the shore, and a few others swimming and running out of the water in a panic. Suddenly, Xefros flips the cart from underneath or behind and Joey falls into the cold water. Kicking back to the surface, she briefly catches sight of him, only for a claw (belonging to either the conductor drone or a sea dweller troll) to grab her ankle and drag her back under the dark water. This causes Joey to have a brief internal panic about being lost in space and doomed to never achieve her dreams of becoming a ballet/tap dancer and veterinarian. Just as she is about to lose oxygen and drown, Xefros heaves her out of the water, freeing her from the claw’s grip. Joey coughs up water as Xefros drags her to land. He asks her if she is okay, and she nods in response that she is fine, while hoping that Jude is fairing better.[171] In the two original lost chapters of ‘Til Death (May 31, 2022), when Joey returned to Earth via the Cherub portal, she had told pre-scratch Roxy about the traumatic things that she had experienced on Alternia, such as her, Xefros and the Troll Call trolls surviving the train crash, Marvus trying to keep tabs on the former two, a terrorist event at Jeevik Week, and the sea dweller trolls turning her in to Trizza, who held Joey captive for the Condesce, only for Xefros to burst in and save her. She had spent nearly two years in a mentally paralyzed fugue, having to be removed from school and tutored by Roxy. During that time, Jake Harley had come back on her 18th birthday, given Joey and Jude envelopes filled with stock certificates, foreign bank account numbers and access codes and property deeds, and told them that he had spent the last few years building a Skaianet base on an island far out in the Pacific Ocean to raise Jade Harley and cut ties with them and the Half-Harley Manor. Joey had angrily stormed out of the manor into her car, vowing never to speak to Jake again and driving out to the cliffside overlooking the cultists’ mansion, and decided to keep up her college grades, get into veterinarian school, move out of the manor, meet someone who loved her, and find a new home (bought with her own money) with a huge garden for every kind of pet that she wanted to keep. Jude then called her to tell her that Jake had left after she had, giving him (Jude) some excuse about the private jet waiting for him (Jake) at the airport. He had called Roxy and told her everything, and Roxy had been so incensed that she almost wanted to chase after Jake in her car and give him a piece of her mind. After hearing this, Joey wiped away her tears, almost laughing at the image of Roxy furiously chasing Jake. She turned the ignition in her car, heading up the Pacific Highway, heading to whichever small town in Washington seemed to have inexpensive housing and a big box retail store that she could work in for a while.[172] In 2023 (originally 2014), Joey is halfway through a knee surgery on a very overweight Labrador retriever named Chase (originally named “Rover”), when she gets an urgent call from Jude. Upon hearing Xefros’ voice, she drops the phone onto the desk and catches it before it hits the floor, cradling it against her ear in the way that she would hug an old friend, that same old friend who is now just 10 miles away from her current location. Xefros tells Joey that he wanted to come from Alternia to Earth in his spacecraft to see her one last time, due to him being near the end of his natural lifespan, while Jude tells her that he took the precaution of covering up his (Xefros) spacecraft (located in the Half-Harley Manor’s backyard) with a tarp to hide it from the government. This makes Joey think about the time in Alternia where she offered to bring Xefros and the Troll Call trolls with her to Earth, use her hundreds of millions of dollars in inheritance to find or build them secluded homes to live out their lives in peace, and using Skaianet technology to ensure that they would never have to interact with human society if they did not want to, only for the trolls to decline, too afraid of the unknown, no matter how she tried to make her case. One of them had gotten annoyed with her dilly-dallying and pushed her straight back through the re-activated Cherub portal back to Earth. Xefros then tells her that he wanted to see her because she is one of the truest friends that he has ever known, and Jude tells her that he will explain everything over dinner, and asks her if she can leave work a little earlier and pick something up from Kroger’s for dinner. After the call, Joey returns to operating on Chase’s knee. Thankfully, the surgery is a success, and Chase, having been lifted off the table, comes around from the anesthetic in one of the kennels. After a quick lunch break and halfway through dealing with a Karen who demands she “do something” about her daughter’s pet rabbit’s propensity for aggression, Joey recognizes the woman as one of her high school bullies, and recommends neutering and a better hutch. She heads on out to the office to write an apologetic email to be circulated to her colleagues, quickly changes out of her scrubs, and uses a back entrance to flee into her car and bolt down the highway. By the time that she remembers to get groceries before arriving home, Joey is already stuck in traffic, and thinks about having not seen Xefros for over a decade and going to get pizza with him.[173] Some parody/roleplay accounts on Twitter were made for Joey, Xefros and the Troll Call trolls to portray them as having survived the train crash, such as TxredTeal (December 2020), semEntykks (December 2020), Puzzlinaire (January 4, 2021), _xXstickit2meXx (January 12, 2021), EmotionalVampyr (January 20, 2021), joeyc_ebooks (February 2021), HIVESWAPPED (February 2021), xXStickItToMeX1 (April 2021), RealJoeyClaire (October 26, 2021), xXSTlCKlT2MEXx (March 13, 2022), et cetera.[174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183] Puzzlinaire’s Tweets begin with Joey crawling out from under some debris of the train wreckage and trying to look for Xefros everywhere, until she finds that she is alone and Xefros is missing.[184][185] She meets some of the surviving Troll Call trolls and Dammek (who somehow came back from Earth to Alternia via the Cherub portal),[186] and tells them about the events on the train, the crash and Xefros’ disappearance, asking them to help her find him.[187][188][189][190][191][192][193][194][195][196][197][198] When Joey tells Dammek about the crash, he tells her that it was Fiamet’s lusus who destroyed the train. After she asks him why someone would do that and if someone is aware of her and Xefros’ actions, he tells her that depending on the actions that she may have made, Fiamet may have sent her lusus to destroy the train to intervene and prevent her and Xefros from getting into any further trouble, leading her to wonder if Fiamet is a bad troll.[199][200] _xXstickit2meXx’s Tweets begin with Xefros waking up on the shore, feeling a bit freaked out due to having seemed to have lost sight of Joey.[201] He sees the wreckage of the train and looks around for Joey, and begins thinking that she either went to Jeevik Week without him or died in the crash.[202][203] Joey rummages through the wreckage in hopes of finding Xefros, who hears her calling for him. He calls out for her, she hears him, and they eventually find and reunite with each other, with Joey tackling Xefros with a hug.[204][205][206][207][208][209][210][211][212][213][214][215][216][217][218] The conductor drone emerges from the wreckage and attacks Xefros. Dammek rains bullets on the drone and Byers flies around its head. It knocks Dammek back, however, and also injures Cornibuster (Dammek’s lusus), so Joey distracts the drone and Xefros furiously lifts it off the ground and smashes it repeatedly, inflicting major damage to it. Joey bandages Dammek’s wound, and Cornibuster’s leg while Dammek checks on the exhausted Xefros.[219] Other moments in the Tweets include Joey meeting Dammek and Tyzias while hiding in a dumpster from the Outglut bombings,[220] Lanque being suspicious of Joey when the latter noisily tugs at a heap of garbage,[221] Joey and Xefros’ encounter with the cultists responsible for the monster attack on the Half-Harley Manor,[222] Joey and Dammek using a Cherub portal to return to Earth, where the former finds the manor wrecked, Jude, Tesseract and pre-scratch Roxy missing, and her room still intact;[223][224][225][226][227][228][229][230] Joey talking to Elwurd about the Outglut bombings and the events on the train,[231][232] and Joey finding out that Trizza is being forced to cause destruction to Alternia and take selfies when she could easily get culled by the Condesce if she does not go along with the act.[233] On August 27, 2021, Sarcastic Pasta Games’ Glitch in the System (2018-2021), a fan game where YouTuber Jacksepticeye finds himself pulled into his computer to Wireland and, along with the rest of Possepticeye, ventures through different games to find out what or who is pulling the fragile world of his favorite characters apart, included a homage to Hiveswap, written by Redditor Ne-Dom-Dev and her friend, and featuring Joey, Xefros, Jude and Trizza.[234][235][236] DeviantArt and Tumblr user Moonticore uploaded her artwork for the Russian Hiveswap: Act 2 ZINE, After the train crash (September 18, 2021), in which Ladyy (Skylla Koriga’s lusus) and Folykl’s lusus emerge from the train wreckage while Cornibuster searches for Joey and Xefros.[237][238] Personally, I consider Rescue, Reprieve, Kakalot/xefrostritoh55’s alternate Hiveswap timelines, Xefros’ Daymare, Experienced Morbidity, INTERMISSION 2: Innocence Lost.‘s ending, Licking my Wounds, Glitch in the System‘s Hiveswap homage, After the train crash, does joey claire is gay?, Schrodinger’s Events: Chapter 8: Joey’s no good terrible day, ‘Til Death, and Puzzlinaire, _xXstickit2meXx, joeyc_ebooks, HIVESWAPPED, xXStickItToMeX1, RealJoeyClaire and xXSTlCKlT2MEXx’s Tweets to be the closest that we will ever get to Hiveswap: Acts 3-4 if they are indeed canceled. On April 15, 2021, Flameout56 released a Friday Night Funkin’ modification named Xefros Skin for Boyfriend, which replaces Boyfriend with Xefros, and uploaded a showcase of the modification to YouTube.[239] Despite the termination of Redbubble’s merchandise deal, Homestuck/Hiveswap merchandise can still be sold on other places like Etsy, cottonflurry and WizardStatues.[33][240][241][242] On June 20, 2021, Twitter user Frogue (of Mind) set up an account named Joey Claire in various places, where he posts Joey in various different places from other video games and cartoons.[243] On August 12, 2021, YouTuber Shadyyy uploaded a trailer to a Friday Night Funkin’ modification named Friday Night Funkin’ Versus The Grubbles, featuring Xefros and Dammek. He released the work in progress build on September 17, 2021 and September 20, 2021, and said that he would eventually release the full version after he finishes making the modification, though nothing has happened since.[244][245] On October 29, 2021, PolyNexus added a downloadable Spelunky 2 modification named Joey Claire from Hiveswap, with Joey as a playable character.[246] On April 13, 2022, Studio June, a fan collective dedicated to producing thoughtful, engaging post-canon content in the Homestuck and Hiveswap fandoms and named after June Egbert (a transfem version of John Egbert from Homestuck), released a fan-made sequel to Hiveswap Friendship Simulator and Pesterquest named Hiveswap Friendship Simulator 2 for free, beginning with Volume 1: Implication Theater. Unaffiliated with What Pumpkin and created out of love for the Troll Call trolls, the game takes place on Alternia and focuses on the Microsoft Paint Adventures Reader as he looks for his old friends, only to find that things have changed a lot since he last set foot on the planet.[247] The team behind the game consisted of many genuinely talented writers, artists and musicians from throughout the fandom, including creators who have worked on other major fan projects (including Befriendus, DistantQuest, Midnight City, the Pesterquest fandub and more), as well as artists and musicians who have previously worked on Hiveswap: Acts 1-2, Hiveswap Friendship Simulator, Pesterquest and Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon, like James Roach.[248][249]