more stuff is jumping out at me now that I’m looking at the circumstances of the paradox clones’ landings!

the fact that Rose’s meteor killed all the aquatic life in the lake it landed in has been compared to her denizen’s extinctive appetite for fish a thousand times before; but Dave’s meteor also destroys a record shop, signifying the importance of the destruction of the giant record on his planet. Jade’s meteor doesn’t land near her home at all, and she has to travel by boat to her new home (where the temple of the frog is). I’m still musing on the exact symbology of John’s landing, but then John’s overall position in the narrative is less clear cut than others’, so perhaps that’s fitting.

what’s most interesting about this to me, though, is that while Dave and Jade’s landings symbolise their ‘cosmic’ significance to the story - the Scratch and Yellow Yard were not literally Dave and Jade’s land quests in the game, but rather parts of the role they play in reality - Rose’s appears to be a straightforward allusion to the quest the game wants her to undertake and that she actively rebels against. as if Dave and Jade’s evasion or subversion of their game duties are predestined, while Rose’s is entirely of her own flat-out refusal to participate.