Vast Error

As described on the MSPFA page for the comic, Vast Error is a story where, quite simply, "Twelve trolls play a game." This description is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the original description of Homestuck (which the comic is inspired by), and was written with intentional ambiguity to keep the mystique and illusion of the actual story alive, as well as to poke fun at the traditional plot of the average fan-made Sburbventure. Vast Error is the 2,302nd fan adventure created on its host site, Mspaintfanventures (MSPFA), and is currently the most popular ongoing adventure on the site with over 3,000 favorites.

The current version of the comic began on the 25th of March in 2013 (3/25/13), though the comic itself makes repeated reference to its original 'arc number', 322, which represents the 22nd of March 2011 (3/22/11), or the start date of the beta version of the comic on the now defunct MSPA Forums. The story contains foul language, violence, gore, and other adult themes. At its inception, the comic received only 1-3 updates per year, but starting on the 18th of December 2016 (12/18/16) it began to update regularly with the help of its newly formed development team. During its hiatuses, the comic was completely planned out, and in the process the original concept was modified extensively. It officially it migrated to deconreconstruction on February 11th, 2021. All the pages on MSPFA except for the ones in the first act were removed. The final page on MSPFA is now a link to DCRC.

Vast Error is still ongoing, and is currently on Intermission 2, Side 2.

Vast Error has been noticed by What Pumpkin and members the Hiveswap Dev Team. Arcjec can be found in two backgrounds (One accompanied by Ellsee beside him) can be found in the background in the Friendsim route of Wanshi and Murrit can be found in the background of the Friendsim route of Nihkee . Both added in by artist/animator Poinko, who has made track art for the comic on Vast Error Vol. 4. There is a running joke between creators that Hiveswap steals Vast Error's ideas and that they will be sued, along with the idea that Vast Error is the most popular Alternian webcomic and that the cameos of the cast seen in Friendsims are cosplayers.

Inception

Vast Error was created by austinado and Sparaze, and was infamously coined in the past as a "deconstruction", or as austinado puts it now, a "deconreconstruction" of its source material, Homestuck. The comic contains several major archetypes and themes of Homestuck, its 'fantroll' community, and the typical fan adventures created for and by that community. Most notably, the main cast of the comic, the trolls, are all lovingly based on tropes commonly found in characters created by the fanbase.

Besides these and quite a few other notable uses of Homestuck's concepts, Vast Error has been stated by its creators to take place within its own contained reality and mythos. There is little connection to the plotline of Homestuck aside from the idea of the troll species and the usage of a universe-ending game, and even then these concepts have major changes as to their purposes and how they function.

Acts

ACT 1 - "Slow, Yet Infinite." (Started 3/25/13, ended 10/20/17)

INTERMISSION 1 - "Hello Again." (Started 10/20/17, ended 10/31/17)

ACT 2 - "Pop 'Em If You Got 'Em." (Started 10/31/17, ended 10/31/19)

INTERMISSION 2 SIDE 1 - "Guess My Name." (started 2/23/20, ended 5/15/20)

INTERMISSION 2 SIDE 2 - (Title currently unknown) (started 6/9/20, ended 2/12/21)