The Midnight Crew is a group of antagonists originally paid to appear in Problem Sleuth through a donation by Mayonaka, their original designer during a series of tabletop games. However, since their use in Andrew's following adventure Homestuck, they have grown to be major characters within the story.
Biography[]
In Problem Sleuth[]
- Second-level bullets represent branching paths; branching paths in italics result in dead ends.
The Midnight Crew does not technically appear in Problem Sleuth, but they appear in the extra episodes. This takes place in extra episode 13, which is after PS #995 in Chapter 14.
They were summoned by Problem Sleuth to take on Demonhead Mobster Kingpin, but then changed their alliances to DMK's side due to a slight mishap with a set of some Hunk Rump cards. Being instulted by the cards, the Midnight Crew decides to team up with Mobster Kingpin, turning him into Shadow Mobster Kingpin. With their new ally, they fight the protagonists on the deck of the Chicago Overcoat. The Midnight Crew then summon the labor wasps to fill 'em with midnight. The protagonists are then assisted by Past Future Pickle Inspector with his Catenative Doomsday Dice Cascader to deal a whopping 1 point of damage to the Midnight Crew.
- The Midnight Crew then realize they share a name with an unrelated religious group from Nigeria.
- Then the Probability Theory Wasp Professor starts retconning multiple previous events, and meddles with Death's Tome of Wayfaring Souls by making a plot hole in the book.
- Or after Professor Wasp's retconning, the Honeybee Professor and the Clown Bard unsuccessfully end the Wasp's meddling, and the Midnight Crew enlist the help of a Weasel Wraith to defeat the protagonists. The Weasel's contributions make the crew murder the Professor Wasp.
Although their appearance is not strictly canon in Problem Sleuth, one of the panels is featured in [S] MIDNIGHT CREW: ACT 1031. This may imply that the universes of Problem Sleuth and Homestuck are connected.
In Homestuck[]
In Homestuck, the Midnight Crew were created from the same character templates as Jack Noir and his Agents in the trolls' Sburb session, and became exiled to the trolls' planet, Alternia. Spades Slick, possibly with the help of the rest of the crew, proceeded to make this town, rebuilding society in the style of a noir cityscape, and began to run all types of criminal operations parallel to the Felt. The Midnight Crew were four of the exiles that helped the trolls with their session of the game.
Each member of the crew comes equipped with five weapon slots and one inventory slot, much akin to how Problem Sleuth characters would have five inventory slots and one weapon slot. Their hats default to having color-based candy stored inside of them already, and that slot is not shown when interacting with their inventory as it is assumed you would never want to take them out from the hat anyway. The five weapon slots all carry various weapons, and all the weapons suffer from that pretty annoying and kinda dumb glitch in the form of playing cards, which each crew member holds in their inventory slot. The deck of cards is used as a container for even more weapons, or sometimes it is used as a prison for those who need to be kept alive until a later date.
The ace card of each member's particular suit is their weapon of choice, which they often use in a very violent fashion. Curiously, other cards can be combined to make new items, such as combining the ten of spades and four of diamonds (Ten-Four) to make a communication radio that can be used to talk to other crew members.
Members[]
Spades Slick[]
The leader of the group. He wields the Cast Iron Horse Hitcher and his secondary weapons are knives and blades. He has a low tolerance for a lot of things, but he especially hates clocks. He is violent and resentful, but very capable and extremely dangerous. He has no patience for the Felt's time shenanigans, and although he does not appear to have a particularly well thought-out strategy in mind when dealing with complex conflicts, his methods are nevertheless effective. The exile of Karkat Vantas.
Hearts Boxcars[]
The tall, brawny-looking member of the group. He wields a TV antenna and his secondary weapons are axes and maces. He is the safe cracker of the team, opening safes using a less conventional method: tearing them right off the wall using his brute strength. His jaw can expand to a frightening degree, demonstrating this ability by biting and swallowing Eggs' head right off of his shoulders. Hearts is also known for the fact that he ALWAYS ROLLS BOXCARS. The exile of Tavros Nitram.
Diamonds Droog[]
The tall, intimidating looking fellow of the group. He wields the Ultra-Violence Cuestick and is also associated with guns. Little is known about him, though he appears to have an extremely short temper. Despite his perceived anger issues, he is rather intelligent and cunning, being able to use the time powers of the Felt against them, and maintaining his composure and formulating an effective strategy while dealing with all of the Felt's time bullshit. The exile of Aradia Megido.
Clubs Deuce[]
A short and stout crew member. He wields the Crook of Felony, along with an assortment of other clubs, including the notably spectacular Bull Penis Cane. He is also the Midnight Crew's demolitions expert, and carries a number of bombs on his person. He has an innocent, child-like personality, taking simple, purposeless tasks very seriously, though his ability to perform these tasks is up for debate. He appears to have a terrible memory. The exile of Sollux Captor.
Shadow Mobster Kingpin[]
Mobster Kingpin who has been enveloped in a shadow by Spades Slick, seeing as Spades Slick thought the original MK was “not quite cutting it somehow” to join their group. He is not a part of the Midnight Crew in the Homestuck universe, probably to differentiate between the two adventures.
Trivia[]
- The quickest way of dealing with the Midnight Crew would of course be to just let PS unsummon them. Nobody would ever think of doing that though.
- The Midnight Crew adventure exists inside Homestuck. The URL is clearly visible on this page, and if someone actually went to that page with their own browser, it features a spade caked in blood.
- The name "Midnight Crew" has been in use as early as 1909 in a song by ragtime-era singer Eddie Morton, entitled "I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew". The thematic similarities shared with the song are a coincidence, but the line from its chorus "make her a member of the midnight crew" can be heard in the beginning of Black, the background music for [S] Jack: Ascend and can be found in its complete length in [S] Terezi: Play records. An acapella version is a track on Volume Eight and was used in [S] DD: Ascend more casually.
- Mayonaka's original idea about the Midnight Crew involved them having a leader, Prof. Mayonaka, who was the arch-nemesis of Lord English. After the Midnight Crew Intermission, Mayonaka created a non-canon adventure about the Felt which partially explored this idea. Mayonaka's pendant appears twice in the comic as a shout-out to the Midnight Crew's original creator.
- Oddly enough, the oil retcon is absent from the books except on the page where it covers Mayonaka's pendant.
- Spades Slick's hat appears to be a wide-brimmed fedora. Droog's hat appears to be a homburg. Boxcars appears to be wearing an akubra. Deuce appears to be wearing a Boss of the Plains hat or sombrero cordobés. Mobster Kingpin appears to be wearing a trilby.
- According to the Machine of Death mission book, the Midnight Crew takes place in "Noir 1922".
- 1922 occurs between the recession era, where Problem Sleuth also takes place.
Works by Andrew Hussie | |
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Homestuck Universe | Homestuck (Hivebent) • Hiveswap/Hauntswitch • The Homestuck Epilogues • Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon • Hiveswap Friendship Simulator • Pesterquest • Paradox Space • Skaianet Systems Incorporated • Snapchat |
MS Paint Adventures | Jailbreak • Bard Quest • Problem Sleuth (Midnight Crew) • Homestuck • Ryanquest |
Team Special Olympics | Blurb • Scriblettes • Whistles • And It Don't Stop • Neon Ice Cream Headache |
Other | Barty Anderson • Jandrew Edits • Wizardology • Namco High • Psycholonials |
Problem Sleuth Characters |
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Team Sleuth |
Problem Sleuth - Ace Dick - Pickle Inspector |
Hysterical Dame - Nervous Broad |
Four kingdoms |
Elves - Hogs - Weasels - Clowns |
The Four Heroes |
Villains |
Mobster Kingpin - Madame Murel - Demonhead Mobster Kingpin |
Deities |
Death - Godhead Pickle Inspector - Demimonde Goddess - The Devil |
Allies |
The Whale - Candy Mecha - Hearst - Hired Muscle - Honeybee Professor |
Minions |
Beasts - Whores - Thugs - Worker Bees - Courtesan Angels |
Non-Canon |
Midnight Crew (Spades Slick - Diamonds Droog - Hearts Boxcars - Clubs Deuce) |
Laborer Wasps - Professor Wasp - Zombie Astronaut - Little White Cat - Fuzzy Man Bear and Sarah |
PS HD - AD FAD ZAD - PI NB PPI FPI PFPI FFPI - MK DMK BHMK MM |