#and they used caliborn as an excuse

[homestuckconfession]

let's not forget Caliborn is canonically a proshipper

.

[nekropsii]

Why do people call Porrim an MRA??? it's such a bad take I can't even begin to fathom the logic.

Uuuuugh. Okay, to my understanding, the logic is predicated on two concepts:

Kankri is Correct, there is no Misogyny on Beforus.

Since Beforus has a Matriarch, "complaining" about the Oppression of Women on Beforus is the exact equivalent... Men complaining about men being oppressed, despite us living in a Patriarchal society.

This is a terrible argument, because... Porrim literally explains in detail that that is not the case.

Yes, Beforus has a Matriarch... A Superficial Matriarch, where the woman in power is more of a Figurehead than anything. Law Enforcement and Politics are handled mostly by "Higher CIPs" - Ceruleans, Indigos, and Purples - which are predominantly born (hatched?) as men. ... If all of the Social Order and Politics are Enforced and Dictated by men... Then that... Is a Patriarchy.

So, we have it directly explained to us that Beforus is Superficially a Matriarchy, with a Governing Body largely composed by Highblood Men, who canonically benefit from the subjugation of women, because having women be of generally lower class than men means that... Men can cull women, potentially on the basis of being women. You know, that social system, enforced by the predominantly male-lead government that allows for what is essentially the ownership of people you deem incapable of caring for themselves as pets? The system that will take any excuse in the book? Sure, that may have been a social rule implemented by their version of HIC, Feferi fucking Peixes, but it's still being used as a weapon. Just because something was made by a woman, does not mean it cannot be used as a weapon against women in the name of misogyny. You think Alternian Culling doesn't work the same damn way?

There's a sharp cut of irony you have to feel at the fact that Porrim literally says that conversations of Misogyny on Beforus are often shot down using "The Matriarchy" as an excuse. If Misogyny wasn't a thing, why the fuck are Rufioh, Kankri, and Cronus literally, textually, purposefully Misogynists? Why the hell is Latula like that, then? I don't think this is a 1-to-1 allegory for the real world, man- Troll World Building has NEVER been a direct, clean allegory for the real world. I do not think she was ever intended to be read as an analogue to Men's Rights Activists, I think she was intended to be read as an Alien Feminist. If anything, this feels less like an MRA, and more like someone getting shut down for trying to have a conversation about how Misogyny Exists in, like, Thatcher-Era England or something. Well, there's a Female Prime Minister, isn't there? Misogyny is over, clearly.

Porrim is constantly posed as an Exposition Fairy on the same level as Aranea, just... With Politics and World Building rather than Character Analysis. Porrim is portrayed as cool, collected, and correct. Do you think Andrew Hussie - literal Andrew Hussie - would portray a fucking Men's Rights Activist with that level of grace and style? Because the answer is no! Every time a character is a Misogynist in Homestuck, they are comically terrible! Rufioh, Kankri, Cronus, fucking Caliborn! Hussie is a lot of things, and yeah, some of these things are bad, but none of these things include the label Misogynist. Hussie is well known for... Not doing that, actually, that's, like... A major appeal of the comic. The female characters in Homestuck are known for being really, really well written and really, really well handled!! If there was a Men's Rights Activist in Homestuck, we would know about it, because that character would be comedically terrible, constantly dunked on by everyone around him, totally bitchless, and posed as a relentless fucking menace who does not deserve to breathe the same air as any of the women in the story. You know, like Cronus! And Not Porrim!!

Also, can we all take a moment of silence to ponder how much of an L it is to have your entire point of discourse be based in the idea that straight up literal actual Kankri Vantas is correct? That is capital e Embarrassing.

[lovelyrotter]

i am curiose 👁️ abt the equius -> lil cal -> striders theories

oh shit aight [cracks knuckles] im not as good as others at organizing this stuff but imma do my best

so basically in terms of classpecting Lil Cal is ridiculous. dude has a lord of time, bard of rage, AND a prince of heart all mixed up together. however you wanna interpret caliborn, gamzee, and hal existing inside lil cal is up to you but for this theory we're lookin at them as separate entities kind of like system members in a plural way cause thats just what makes the most sense to me conceptually. but ANYWAY thats three powerful classpects all running around butting up against each other. time rage and heart is an insane combination so why is lil cal not greating a passive AOE type gravity well of destruction just by sitting there? my partner and i think its because of equius being an heir of void. this classpect has always fuckin fascinated me cause like, he basically inherits nothing right? thats a literal read of it at least. void is fuckin weird and my autistic brain no matter how many wrinkles it has just cant grasp it which is, yknow, what void is and does

Heir of Void: One who Invites Manipulation of Void or one who Invites Manipulation through Void

take a look at the above blog cause its really well put imo. there are so many ways to interpret void in general and heirs are also kind of a funky class, but we believe that inside lil cal, equius has been using his void powers as a shock absorber. equius IS a shock absorber. what do you do with all that power but you cant let it get out? you try to keep it caged. the heir of void acts like a blackout blind inside lil cal whether equius is concious of it or not, whether hes an active separate conciousness who still identifies as equius or not. lil cal is also an heir of void purely because equius is there. void just kinda naturally cancels out the other more active/destructive classpects. hes the base to caliborn, gamzee, and hals acid

which then makes me go crazy thinking about beta dirk again like ive talked about before. i truly believe that lil cal had a major hand in making bro strider as abusive as we see in hs1. i believe that any dirk is capable of slipping into abusive/toxic behaviours. AR for instance maniplulated dirk and others almost every time we see him but thats also complicated as fuck, because i think that was him being backed into a corner. he had no other choice in terms of holding onto his automity basically. not excusing orchestrating dirks first decapitation but its a fascinating reason. i think Hal/AR is what Beta Dirk could have been like without lil cal's interference. the sexual abuse and throwing dave down the stairs? thats lil cal's work.

lil cal has 3 extremely violent people floatin around inside him (caliborn, gamzee, equius), two of them having intense and poorly managed fixations on intimacy/tenderness and sex/kink in general, and one deeply scared, angry, and traumatized splinter of Dirk himself. an absolutely toxic combination and one that set Bro up for failure since he was sent into the beta timeline. Bro Strider is absolutely a Doomed Dirk. i do not count AR as being a violent person, at least compared to the others, but if while in Lil Cal he's still angry at Dirk then who knows what their interactions wouldve been like while Beta Dirk grows up. We do get to see a window into what AR couldve been like inside Lil Cal when we get into the Doc Stratch stuff because Doc Stratch is basically AR but creepier, which... actually leads me to believe way more that by the time Doc Scratch is A Thing, AR's personality has been melded into something/someone else entirely. but they talk + type pretty much exactly the same. its absolutely crazy i hadnt noticed that until recently. everyone wondering what AR would be like if Bro Strider made him? points to Doc Scratch unfortunately

but comin back from the inevitable Hal Tangent(tm), like its fuckin fascinating because while i do count Equius as contributing to Lil Cal's general toxicity (mostly through his learned caste bullshit) i also think, again, that hes the only reason why we never actually saw Bro draw Dave's blood. not even a drop. he cut his shirt symbol yeah but his shirt was intact.

we see Equius getting stressed over breaking shit accidentally basically the whole time hes alive. i mean fuck the whole glass of milk gag in one of the final alterniabounds while you play him. its pretty easy for me to read that as him being generally anxious about being too strong for his enviornment, especially too strong to touch anyone he cares about, and that when he does eventually end up breaking smth/hurting someone, it impacts him. like a lot. he could easily hurt Nep if hes not careful so hes gotta pull back and be suuuper gentle like all the time. and him having that kinda temperament combined with his classpect makes me think that he'd use his void powers to protect and cloak and supress. he embodies the void. he becomes 'nothing' and therefore he becomes anything he wants.

basically, Equius is a tempering force inside Lil Cal and thus a tempering force over Bro too because hes constantly scared of and stressed over breaking shit and hurting his friends. he knows how dangerous Caliborn and Gamzee are. Gamzee killed him easily after all. So he can't let Bro actually touch Dave. Bro might not want to touch dave anyway with how Caliborn sexualizes platonic touch. but Bro still needs to make Dave STRONG enough to survive the game, Eq can help with that at least

[davekat-sucks]

caliborn isn't the worst on the poll because he was entertaining. a fun villain. cronus is a nothing character who's whole purpose is to be a diddler. easy choice for worst one

Caliborn is the most entertaining and carried Act 6. Without him, most people would have drop out of Homestuck for the story getting too long. Cronus should be the worst for sexually harassing others and using humansona-kin as a means to shield himself from shitty behavior. He's basically like any other fedora wearing bastard that claims they are sad to have been born in a high privilege, renaming their title or status as something in the minority, but still acts horrible to said people in the minority and keeps the high privilege around. It's why Cronus would rely on Kankri to shield or back him up. Cronus and Kankri's relationship is a foil to Eridan and Karkat's friendship. The Dancestors enable each others bad behavior (even if just subconsciously on Kankri's part) while Eridan and Karkat, would at least point out the flaws and acknowledge that there is something wrong. But sadly, all it matters is on things like if they are part of a progressive group or has physically and mentally hurt Dave. Eridan is suddenly trans because of Pesterquest, so now he is instantly forgiven for talking down on lowbloods, wanting genocide on them, and blowing up the Matriorb. Caliborn is hated by the fandom because of the toxic masculinity label that he is suppose to represent the Homestuck fandom (mostly from 4chan). Nobody even remembers that a Cronus had flirted with Eridan, a child in the Openbound Ministrife. And if they did, they excuse him because Eridan RELUCTANTLY went along as part of a joke/gag. If it's played as a funny with most people not being fans of Eridan in the first place, it's FINE!

[blueberrymarf]

🫐🫐🫐((((Hey all!!! This is my first actual post on Tumblr, I’ve mainly used it to see fanart, fanfics and such AND because of my hoe @hazardgrrrrlll. She has great reposts you should check her out😝🫶🏻. ANYWAYYY I thought I’d post some of my fics on here and see how they do since I’ve mainly been using Wattpad!! Here’s a dumb ass Caliborn x Reader fic I made that no one asked for.))))🫐🫐🫐

If y’all end up liking this I’ll post more!!!!

Partners in Crime

((Caliborn x Reader))

How we had met? I don't particularly recall, I just remember quite a bit of bickering and snarky comments in the beginning, which slowly subsided to less of that within time, which I became thankful for.

how I had ended up here- I had no clue at all.

Ever since I had met Caliborn, we've seemed to almost click, and that's surprising- because we're the type of people who don't just "click" with others- more so him so, I guessed I was special.

"Uh? Hello? It's your fucking turn slut."

He mouthed off to me, loosing his temper as he waved his hands frantically in front of my face. He seemed to dislike me always drifting off but, as I don't blame him, sometimes I honestly can't help it- I just space out.

I snapped back into reality.

"Sorry Caliborn-" I looked down to the chess board- avoiding eye contact. I moved one of my knights. "And- yet again- I will forgive you- because- " he stopped for a second, as if he was contemplating something, " because- I feel like it. Besides- you're the only one who'll actually play chess with me anymore- and ugh don't even get me started on my sister- that bit-"

I put a finger just above his lips. " I get it. You don't have to explain. You've told me."

Caliborn nodded calmly, looking me in the eyes as he slowly shifted his glance back to the board. He moved one of his pawns which knocked yet another of of my bishops down. He had most of my pieces. He was awful well at the game, even though sometimes he would cheat, as far as I've seen, he hasn't cheated at a game with me in awhile. That was odd. But, I didn't complain. A sound arouse from his laptop. "Probably that whore Dirk." He smirked, "I'm going to have to pause our game for a little-"

I rolled my eyes smiling, he was such a dork when it came to Dirk and drawing each other sexual pictures. As Caliborn read what was on the screen his smirk slowly turned to a scowl, he turned his head to face me quickly. "We need to find a way of getting me out of here. I need to get this fucking chain off." He dangled his leg infront of me, exposing the metal cuff on his ankle. "I honestly might just have to fucking bite it off." He responded, straight faced. I backed away slowly- not wanting him to lash out at me, he seemed to be in an angered state of mind. I didn't want any trouble.

" Caliborn...are you entirely sure? Can't you bleed to death?? I could always try to get it off-"

"No- no- we've tried. nothing gets this damned thing off and you know it (y/n)

." He turned to the corner of the room, "now, if you'll excuse me, I'd highly recommend you don't watch this. We know what a sensitive bitch you are. " I went to the outside of the house, waiting for him, my heart beating out of my chest. Caliborn was my only friend here, he was the only person I really knew here, the thought of him dying or getting hurt overwhelmed me, but, as always, I was probably over reacting. At least that's what Caliborn tells me. I mostly just go along with whatever he says.

————————————————————-

I felt as if things were nearly peaking to the bridge of insanity as I saw Caliborn emerge from the house, walking towards me, AK 47 in hand. I was stunned. His leg appeared to be torn off and replaced with a metal artifical one. It was impressive, yet frightening. "y- you look- hot." I croaked out- nearly making any sense.

Caliborn perked up from his usual scowl which slowly turned into a smirk. " well," he arched his back, " of course your lord is what you would refer to as... h o t." I looked him up and down, making sure he was alright, my mind wouldn't rest until I've over analyzed mostly everything. I came to realize one of his fangs were missing.

I raised an eyebrow, but, I kept my mouth shut, I didn't say a word. I assumed he must of lost his tooth from the tremendous bite he'd just taken. Although I didn't agree much at all with the decision he had just made, I had to admit, I wanted to get out of here just as bad if not more than he wanted to. Of course you might ask, if that was the case, why didn't I just leave? Simple. I had nowhere else to go. Let alone did I know where to go.

Caliborn was all I had in all definite honesty. He's all I knew, I mean, aside from his sister Calliope, but she disappeared quite a while ago. I had no idea where she went, neither did Caliborn, obviously, he didn't care. He just wanted her dead. That was that, and nothing in this world could change that. I've tried multiple times trying to change his views, they're not changing anytime soon.

Caliborn slid his gun sideways behind my back, he pushed me along forward with it. "come on bitch, we're getting the fuck out of here." He chuckled, instructing me to follow him. I nodded in agreement, as I tagged along with him. his hands gripped his gun tightly, keeping it near his chest, as if something were out to harm us. His breathing became heavy, he suddenly tensed up.

I was rather confused being that there was no one there. As we began to move further and further away from the home step by step I saw a clown like person with horns. Caliborn immediately aimed his gun at the clown like person, rage roared inside him. Or was that fear? I could barely tell.

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 2,343

Kanaya: Answer CA.

Author commentary:

Get ready for this awful child. The obnoxious, romantically tragic, genocidal fuckboy of the group. It should be a familiar online archetype to most by now. Earlier I referred to Nepeta as being somewhat a writeup of the enthusiastic fandom type, which could be summarily branded as the "Tumblr fangirl." And in that sense, she reads as a less focused rough draft of Calliope, who brought more clarity to that role later. So thinking in those terms, you could also view Eridan as a writeup of the "4chan nastyboy," and therefore an unfocused draft of Caliborn, who similarly distilled that role. I think there's a lot to say about Eridan, particularly as a raw precursor to that villainous presence in the story later. I'll wait until he's on-screen before diving into that, though. Just setting up here! You've been warned.

The fact that Eridan's being so loose with strange romantic terms is how you know we're getting awfully close to the troll romance info dump. It's like a Geiger counter that's starting to beep like crazy. Eridan has something in common with Karkat in that he appears well versed in the subject of romance. Later we see that, even though they don't like each other much, they sort of act like "bros" when it comes to this subject. However, Karkat treats the subject more academically, with a sort of hobbyist's enthusiasm, and seems to carry a certain respect for the knowledge. Whereas Eridan clearly tries to exploit his knowledge of romance to his advantage, behaves manipulatively, sort of in the vein of a pickup artist (and a very unsuccessful one at that). We detect signs of this here. His entire scheme with the doomsday device appears to have more to do with roping Vriska into a blackrom relationship than it does with his interest in wiping out land dwellers (still a valid motivation, but secondary to his sad romantic pursuits). He also uses his romantic insights to manipulate people in other ways, even if he's not trying to court them. Like pinning Kanaya down as a natural auspistice and using it to get her to set him up with Vriska. Maybe even "mediate" between them, since that's what she apparently likes to do with Vriska anyway. In fact, the more you unpack what he's doing here, if you understand the ashen quadrant, the more it actually seems like he is hitting on Kanaya, with kind of a backdoor approach. He's proposing a menage-a-clubs, with him and Vriska. He literally never stops working all possible angles to fill his quadrants.

The only reason I made him say "powwwwoww" is because I wanted to type four w's in a row. This should be obvious to everyone. It's worth pausing here to behold how completely ridiculous Eridan's entire verbal existence is, when you take into account his silly double w/v quirk, which conveys an absurd "accent" of some sort, his run-on cadence, unyieldingly indignant tone, and colorful vocabulary that feels like a baffling mashup of pirate speak, soccer hooliganism, and the fuckboy joker always sliding into your DMs. His eclectic vocabulary and obsession with romance means that we suddenly get this whole rush of quadrant vernacular we hadn't heard before. Which is pretty intriguing on a worldbuilding basis, to start picking up how many average trolls probably allude to each other's romantic habits in casual conversation. Things like being "ruddy" for someone, or waxing this way or that. There's a whole manner of speaking about this stuff that can only be picked up through enough exposure to contextual banter.

Okay, "savvvvy" was just another excuse to type four v's in a row. Calling myself out here at every turn. "Being a kid and growing up. It's hard and nobody understands" is another Homestuck tagline. I'm just going to keep making note of these when I see them. They will always do one of the following: 1) reference dying too much 2) address the difficulties of growing up 3) involve the fact that nobody ever really knows what the hell is going on 4) insinuate in some way that I am a buffoon, a liar, a sadist, or a megalomaniacal genius, or 5) all of the above. In fact, this entire note can be a tagline too.

[greenyball]

ok so the idea is this: vriska finds out about pizza tower somehow and she wants to re-enact it, so she convinces (threatens) everyone to play along.

being the most chaotic character, as well as the one orchestrating everything, vriska takes on the role of pizzahead

karkat would be peppino because he is also angry all the time, he does not know what a pizza tower is and just wants vriska and everyone to stop with their shenanigans (and the only way to do this is by playing along)

dave is gustavo because of silly shipping shenanigans (davekat = pepstavo) and to guide karkat along the way so he doesn't get hurt or lost or wanting to quit or smth

nepeta is brick because she was the only one willing to act like an animal (unfortunately she acts like a cat and vriska could not convince (threaten) her to act like a rat)

john (the egbert) would be john (the pillar) because vriska thought it would be funny, she uses statues of john as the pillars

the mayor would be gerome because he really cares abt john or smth idk you get the idea

caliborn would be pepperman because they're both assholes and "artists" (also the juxtaposition is funny. the greatest threat in hs is comparable to the first boss of pt)

jake would be the vigilante because of his skill with guns and also because he wanted an excuse to wear a cool sheriff costume.

no idea who the noise could be (my original plan was jane, but... idk really...)

if you want to add more ideas feel free to do so and if you want to send a pipebomb to my house also feel free to do so

do you guys remember when i came up with the worst idea ever

ok so basically, it's pizza tower, but with homestuck characters, it's not an au (i mean if you really want it to be then go ahead), i'd say it's more of an idea for a mod/texture pack

i call it... towerstuck

and yes, i will actually post more about this, and there's nothing you can do about it ::::)

[eternityservedcold]

which (if any) of the tboi chars have a breath aspect?

and also what about muse and lord classes?? :o would anyone have them or nah?

eden (they/them) is the maid of breath, jacob (he/him) is the prince of breath, and isaac (any pronouns) is the rogue of breath!

maid = one who creates their aspect or creates with their aspect

prince = one who destroys their aspect or destroys with their aspect

rogue = one who steals their aspect or steals with their aspect, and gives it to others

breath = freedom, independence, apathy, etc

though, in my troll tboi au, isaac is actually the seer of time because you cant have 2 people be the same aspect. (or, at least, that is the limitation im working with) also, sorry for yanking another canon class... i honestly forgot theres a canon rogue of breath... also also, i have some Thoughts about muse and lord. i will put them under a cut though

im gonna get this out of the way first: i dont really think muse and lord are classes unto themselves. i saw a "theory" that they were "fusions" of two classes (witch + bard for lord, maid + seer for muse) and i was like YEAH SO TRUE

i think they would only ever exist in a 2 player session, because those 2 players need to fill multiple roles in order to get anything done. thus, the only way a muse or lord could exist is as a muse/lord of time and a muse/lord of space. you cant classpect with them in a useful way because you eliminate all of your aspect options except space and time (the bare minimum for a session)

also i wouldnt think they would have much value for classpecting even if that werent the case/my headcanon because they basically dont mean anything (what does commands (with) aspect mean? what does inspires (with) aspect mean? how can they be useful on a team? what do they say about the character? etc) and are only an excuse (a good excuse, but an excuse nonetheless) for l🎱rd english to have the powers he has

of course its also possible im being very silly about this and theyre explained in depth somewhere and someone will send it to me and ill go "ahh it all makes sense now"

regardless heres iscah (older!isaac) as a lord (or archivist, according to the theory i mentioned) of breath because despite that it is some very potent imagery. she/they only for iscah please ^__^

featuring a completely different outfit from caliborns because i think it would be cool if the "master" classes were personalized! i tried to keep the general homestuck design philosophy of "looks and 'feels' complicated but is actually very simple" but let me know if i failed LOL

[autisticsupervillain]

LE!Gamzee AU.

After Lord English is defeated at the end of Homestuck, it didn't exactly destroy him. It just killed Caliborn and then shifted control of the fusion down to the next most dominant personality, that being Gamzee.

Now, Gamzee's turn to evil, in my mind, wasn't him being mind controlled or showing his "true colors" or such. It was a decision born from everything in his life constantly shitting on him. Losing Tavros after having his religion inadvertently ripped apart whilst simultaneously going through withdraw was just the thing thay got him to go "fuck it". His future self, via Lil Cal, had offered him a way out. Told him about the Mirthful Messiahs who would destroy this wretched reality that had taken so much from them and create a paradise, a Dark Carnival, to replace it. The fact that LE's grand design gave Gamzee an excuse to take his aggression out on his friends, whom he'd begun to feel didn't truly care about him, was just an added bonus.

But, with Caliborn now dead, that idea seems dead as well. Gamzee now has to cope with the fact that everything he'd done had been for nothing and that he was kidding himself if he truly thought Lord English was going to create a paradise to replace the world.

The Equius part of the fusion is particularly miffed that Gamzee killed him and Nepeta for nothing, which helps inspire Gamzee to "atone" for it in his own way. While the Lord English fusion isn't as powerful as it was, Gamzee is quick to notice some of the more esoteric powers it possesses that Caliborn didn't think to use. Including the ability to directly influence fate and inevitability. So, he begins to use it to create the paradise he'd been dreaming of. Not for himself, as he thinks he doesn't deserve it at this point, but for the people he cares about. For Tavros, for being his first real friend. For Karkat, for being his dearest diamond. For Calliope, his beloved daughter whom he never spent enough time with. For Nepeta, as an apology towards Equius for all that he did. Gamzee's ultimate goal is to make Earth C perfect. A world without pain, without death or loss... a world without change. Gamzee's world was constantly changing, and that only brought him pain.

At first, it all seems to work. Nepeta and Tavros get brought back to life and are welcomed back to suspiciously luxurious lives on Earth C as things fall into place so their every need is met and their every traums has a way to be addressed. Meanwhile, Vriska's life slowly begins to fall apart, bit by bit. Penance for all that she did to Tavros. Gamzee claims it'll make her a better person in the long run, but even he admits he's enjoying getting back at Tav's tormentor.

But, the cracks quickly begin to show. Using fate this way is incredibly taxing, especially since Gamzee isn't a Lord and, thus, wasn't supposed to have access to such power to begin with. This is compounded by Hal fighting them every step of the way, even if Gamzee and Equius are able to keep him on lock for the most part. Furthermore, John isn't effected by Gamzee's manipulations thanks to his fate powers and Terezi is getting suspicious about why life suddenly seems to have it out for Vriska Serket. So, Gamzee begins to scheme of a way to increase his power, while searching for a way to get John to give up his Retcon Powers....

Appearance wise, LE!Gamzee varies wildly. Normally, when talking to people, Gamzee appears as himself, wearing a big purple version of Lord English's overcoat. His eyes occasionally flash brightly and green electricity will briefly coat his form in moments of strong emotion. His appearance will also change somewhat whenever Hal or Equius has something to add, with pointy shades or cracked sunglasses appearing on his face. Gamzee's true form, however, is far more unstable.

Gamzee keeps the purple coat in his true form, but he's much bigger. His legs are replaced by a Cherubic snake tail, courtesy of what's left of Caliborn. Hal's shades are a permanent presence, while Equius's horns can be seen hidden behind his own. Gamzee's form outright shapeshifts whenever the other components speak, becoming a constantly shifting mess whenever Hal tries to assert control over the two. The voices of all three components layer over each other in this form whenever Gamzee speaks. Gamzee's body is now constantly cracking with green lightning and his eyes constantly flash like Lord English's used to.

[classpect-crew]

Alright, friends, I’m about to catch a plane to go get my top surgery! (It’s about time, too. I’ve only been waiting, what, five years?) Anywho, I figured I’d leave you with a little epiphany I just had about Space and Time in a narrative structure.

Obviously, we know Space is related to physical art, while Time is related to music, but something hit me as I was scanning through Caliborn’s “Masterpiece” pages—the narrative here is almost entirely told through text, with only a pitiful excuse for claymation as a visual guide. This is, of course, as frustrating as it is hilarious, and we already know it’s intentional, since Caliborn is a truly terrible artist. Being the Lord of Time, he not only has a huge Space-shaped blind spot, but he actively mocks everything related to it when he can, since it reminds him far too much of his sister, the Muse of Space. (She, by contrast, is a fantastic artist, though she struggles at times with Timelines and the like. More on that later.)

What really stood out to me, though, is the sheer volume of text Caliborn uses. I mean, the kid goes on and on ad nauseum. It’s honestly art to read at times, punctuated with pauses and stops—another key trait of Time. While Space tells a story through visual mediums, Time tells it through written ones. Think about it: how many times in Dave’s conversations did he ramble on endlessly, even when there was very real and present danger happening at that very moment? His rap skills, silly as they are sometimes, are Time-related as well, not only in terms of keeping the beat and establishing patterns, but the very fact that rap is a storytelling medium of words.

We don’t see this quite as much with Aradia, though it should be noted that she spent a lot of time (heh) at the mercy of her Aspect’s more negative traits before finally experiencing her own metamorphosis and taking matters into her own hands. At this point, the way she speaks changes dramatically to reflect her newfound understanding of herself and her Aspect, from the dry and hollow sound of her ghost self to her more chipper and confident current self. The way Damara speaks in the dreambubbles is key to her personality as well—with those few she doesn’t outright detest, she’s fairly straightforward, especially with Rufioh, who easily understands her. But with those she doesn’t like, her speech is irreverent, hard to understand, and filled with sexual innuendo.

While every character in Homestuck can be analyzed based on how they talk, Time players express themselves through this medium more than others, while Space players express themselves in more visual ways. This can include art, of course, as we see with Jade and Calliope, but it also includes how they dress and present themselves visually. This is especially the case for Kanaya, who completely subverts the trend of Alternian trolls being fashion-averse. We can theorize this trend is due to Lord English’s influence over Alternia itself, seeing as the Beforan trolls don’t seem to have this hangup. Jade and Porrim are also very expressive in their outfits and outward presentation, and Calliope is utterly overtaken by concerns with her own appearance.

Hopefully that helps us add more to our framework of these two Cardinal Aspects! I’ll be doing some more analysis later this week, whenever I’m feeling up to it.

[homestuckconfession]

i think it’s okay that most of the characters say the r slur because 90% percent of them are super autistic, especially karkat

nobody is as autistic about troll romance as karkat and i appreciate that deeply

.

[dirk-has-rabies]

Bro Strider (ongoing as i add more sources)

im gunna clear something up for the people on tiktok (and probably other places) who think that just cuz they read the wiki that means they know everything about a character and their underlying story and personality.

Bro strider has a background. 

a statement that shouldnt be considered bold or cancelable.

let me start of by saying that this is an explanation NOT an excuse for his actions. Bro strider is abusive yes, that is not the argument, but HE doesnt think he did wrong.

pg 48 book 3 “in round 1 of daves strife with bro, he warms up against his old puppet sparing buddy, lil cal. bro operates cal so fast you cant see him. it is suggested this is a pretty common battle routine for the strider brothers, an extreme training regime to prepare dave for battle. its almost like bros training him to face the last boss. or it would be if the last boss had the slightest thing to do with this creepy puppet,which of course is preposterous.”

bro knew dave was coming before he was even born which we know since he was waiting with a pair of tiny shades for the meteor carrying dave. 

he orders an extra copy of the game not for himself but for dave just to make sure he can get in the game because he KNOWS that the end is coming. 

the first thing he does besides joke around and train with dave is save his life by cutting the meteor in half and then upon entering the game he instantly goes to the biggest boss he can find to fight so dave will be safer. 

bro is influenced and corrupted by lil cal. cal from day one is a juju containing the soul of caliborn, gamzee, and arquiussprite. the cal that bro has is a future version of the cal that dirk goes to earth with and an even MORE future version of the cal in daves nightmares. cal is corrupt and corrupts and controls those around him. He can move when bro isnt alive or around because he can have YOU move him. he has bro, dave, and gamzee move him in canon, dave not even realizing hes doing it himself. not even bec nior can turn away from cals influence as he disposes all the “trophies” except him as cal needs to move along to “hatch” so he has bec keep him. doc scratch literally calls him “the most important character is homestuck” even caliborn calls the evil puppet for what it is by telling alphadirk to chuck him out as he is a “nightmare who curses all who live in the same universe as it” 

staring into cals eyes brings out insanity (as seen by both gamzee and jack doing this) this is why bro and dave wear shades. it protects them from the puppet which he is tasked to protect and serve by fate. 

even dave calls out the puppet for being a large factor in bros personality on page 7749 of homestuck

DAVE: i guess it didnt help either that we lived with what we have come to understand may theoretically be the most evil doll to exist in any universe ever DAVE: in fact its my tenuous understanding that he came down to earth with that thing and like actually grew up with it DAVE: maybe... DAVE: maybe spending 30 some years being unseparable from that hell puppet had some effect on him?? DAVE: maybe if it hadnt been casting a pall over our apartment 24/7 since he took me in...

according to the skaianet documents: “He(jake) just set up an infant from the sky named Dirk(bro) down in Texas with a trust fund, setting him on a path to be of use to the company.” proving that bro grows up knowing about the game and is influenced by cal and HIC to get ppl to enter the game so she may take over. 

Bro cares about dave. Bro loves him truly, he just doesnt know how to do it correctly. a big part of his story resonates with people that were forced to help raise their siblings and ended up being the bad guy since the parent who should of been raising the kids never taught them how to do it correctly. bro was just a year or two over 20 when dave landed (hes 32/33 when dave is 13 according to hussie) he was not trained on how to raise a kid (not to mention all of dirk and bro is autism coded so most of his problems correlate with that) he was only trained to fight and to train others to fight. and so thats what he did. 

[ishades]

my most controversial take is that dave isnt bisexual

idk every relationship hes had with a woman save for one has just been him being taken in by bro proxies.

tz always has him guessing what shes actually feeling and forces him into strange and uncomfortable situations when shes not leading him to his death to teach him a lesson. theres her usual brand of blurring the lines between mocking and sincerity at times as well. shes impossible to actually get a read on but for most of their relationship in game its her puppeting him around and bolstering his loyalty with praise (flavor text mentions about daves bro keeping up with daves various blogs)

theres just always a sense of voyeurism when it comes to dave and tz and bro and tz. tz is a seer of mind for one thing, its complimentary class being heart lol. in the beta session she watches over him in a way thats reminiscent to bro and his various cameras filming dave at all hours and uploading it all online.

literally every person that ships him with his sister is just also vaguely into him hooking up with his brother-dad as well. theyre so obsessed with the idea of dave being utterly dependent on the goddess that is rose. hell excuse her alcoholism, hell quirk a joke, hell be tongue in cheek about how hes probably gay unless its for a theoretical mother he has or for his literal sister.

rose spends so long playing mental games with dave-- not to the extent of what bro did but her own brand. she is her fathers daughter. she spends so long playing these games theyre unable to be as close as either of them would like. he cant comprehend why she turns to alcohol when he knows she hated her mothers alcoholism. her actions are incomprehensible to him, just as incomprehensible as bros.

yes they make a suicide pact and carry it out. but its sad, rose planned to die alone without any consideration of how thatd make dave and the others feel because she didnt think it mattered. her suicide was a desperate cry for attention in the reaches of the vast unknown. and dave? dave whos so afraid of death refused to let her die alone. he didnt want her to die but he wouldnt let her be alone.

daves idk. daves loyal to a fault which brings me to jade. jade the girl everyone always expected him to get with. the girl karkat expected him to get with! its been implied multiple times he formerly had a crush on john in the comics-- a crush he put up on an incredibly high pedestal. (pesterquest is noncanon but he has a crush on john as well. still cant believe we got the title gayve strider dick rider or whatever. i blacked out when i watched that lets play route)

john shifts what the idea of being a man about in daves head. hes a hero like bro, a hero dave cant be. john is someone he emulates and tries to impress. the shades that are an integral part of daves identity are a gift from john. switching his bros shades out for johns gift lessens the hold bro has over him. he literally sees things through john lenses in a sense.

he thrives under praise and is unable to recognize jades teasing him about being sooooo cool as sarcasm. hes 13 shes 13 theyre both incredibly stupid about relationships but jade is somehow more passive than even dave during their session. he feels like he has to step in and act a certain way (back to the scratches influence on him and the girls) in the name of furthering the plot.

they were both raised with violence and a sense of isolation and so he goads her on. gets herself to slap herself in her dream to wake her up and tries to strong arm himself into being useful. jade sort of has to just let things happen for the plot.

theyre engaged in the strangest roleyplay of heterosexuality ive ever seen in any form of media actually. forcing themselves to act contrary to how they actually are / think / feel because its whats expected. its misogynistic wank fodder for caliborns folder.

davesprite and her date for a bit in the game over timeline but thats... thats original timeline first timeline ever dave clinging onto jade. his jade died ages ago. jadesprite-- someone who was at his side in a fight “died” and became part of godtier jade.

which is just... disconcerting when you remember that he also fought alongside bro against jack. bro was struck down and didnt get up. jade became a god.

davesprite never got to have the character arc of overcoming bros upbringing. he didnt have someone to confront him. he never recognized what bro put him through was abusive and he never properly analyzed how that played into his relationship with jade and it wasnt fair to either of them. jade needed someone and davesprite couldnt be that. 

jade wants him as a replacement for dave. she wants normalcy and davesprite is unable to give her that before he fucks off. 

its clear he has a lot of intrusive thoughts about incest but idk i think thats to be expected from his upbringing. not touching the epilogues bc those sort of assassinated everyones characters esp kanaya and jade imo.

i just think that itd be easier for him to sort of hide under the bi umbrella as a means of closeting himself and because hes at a point where he just cant let go of the idea of possibly having to settle down with a girl. even if he doesnt want that. coming to grips with liking men was hard enough for him (”how did you tell your friends?”) i think itd take at least a decade or two before he let go of the idea of him having to be open to the idea of liking women

[davekat-sucks]

I don't think I've seen anyone mention Karkats sexist comments. He's shit Tavros a few times for "playing games for girls" and said Dave hides behind his sunglasses that are "made for women". He also told Sollux girls would be disgusted by him. Weird that these insults circle back to women. Another way he parallels Caliborn i guess

Yep. But all gets ignored by the fandom or claims that 'he changed' for the better. Hussie used the excuse that Karkat calling Nepeta autistic was just 'acknowledging her mental illness' and not an insult in the book commentary. And there are people that actually believed that shit. Some may think him letting Meenah currently leading said war in Homestuck 2/Beyond Canon, is his way to show feminism, to redeem himself of saying sexist shit. But they forget the same girl he is prompting her up to lead to victory, is the same bitch that would become the Heiress who made the caste system that supposedly made him fear for his life if anyone found out he was a mutantblood. It's just that he gets special privilege because she is close to him. If Karkat did not lead the team for the Post Scratch trolls' session, she probably wouldn't give two shits about him and think he was a mutant freak.

[apathetic-graffiti]

As I don't usually mind headcanons for Caliborn and Gamzee being father and son... I don't really see their relationship as that much well since 1.) Gamzee was around 15-16 when he ghost parented both Cherubs and kept them isolated in some building in ALPHA kid's Earth. So calling Gamzee a father or a good one in fact... is kind of weird. 2.) Gamzee is a cultist and only took care of them due to him thinking that it's his calling / upbringing as a part of that cult. [[[[ If you headcanon them as such and then again, that's fine! I'm just looking for an excuse to analyze their relationship since it had only occurred to me, I don't do much analysis but I think that they're fun! ]]]] Someone most likely had thought of this but jesters / fools tend to have a good relationship with royalty for their satire and their tendency to speak the unbridled truth within their jokes. Although in this case, Gamzee is our fool as well as someone who's extremely important to the narrative and is helped with how the story came about, he's the guy that makes up laugh and keeps us entertained at times within the comic. Interestingly enough, his classpect actually suits him more than you think in my opinion, at least. Gamzee is a bard, this is a well-known fact, and in Celtic cultures bards are professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, however only a few of these that he had done.... Not to mention that they are poets in Gaelic and Welsh medieval societies. Bards also usually are employed by patrons, such as monarchs or nobles which is obviously Caliborn. He is his LORD or his literal GOD in the tales of the Mirthful Messiahs who he accompanies. Bards originally compose eulogies for his LORD, and sometimes Bards would compose a satire for their profound master. There are two things that are similar to Bards and Jesters, is that they have good relationships with their masters, in which had further developed during Caliborn's session and he became his most trusted henchman. In short, Gamzee is a story teller, an entertainer with wit and satire, self-awareness and overall a funny clown cultist who kept us feeling emotions during ACT 6 as a whole. And he who has a good relationship with his literal god due to his class and his overall schtick of being a clown/juggalo (further evolved species of fools).

[oldstriderbot9000]

HS^2/Epilogues accidentally did Ult Dirk kind of right.

This is gonna be a long one. 

So I figure I will make this, whether it gets shared around or not. I need to get it out of my system and on Tumblr. 

Lets look at what an Ultimate self is, in essence.

An Ultimate self is not the combination of every possible version of a person. So humanstuck Dirks aren’t going to be part of the Ultimate Dirk we are seeing in the comic. 

An Ultimate self is the combination of every possible version of a person in a certain universe. Ultimate Dirk is both a special case due to how Homestuck had 4 universes linked together, but also because of how his aspect includes all splinters of himself. For normal Ultimate selves I will use Rose and Dave rather than Dirk.

You have a start point, the origin point of the alpha timeline you could say, and every moment there are new branches of timelines and possibilities. From there, you have successful timelines and doomed timeline. An ultimate self will combine all of these. All version of Dave will include all timelines from that base universe. Rose as well, all versions from that base universe.

Perhaps there are timelines that diverge from the alpha with, say, a less abusive Bro, or a non alcoholic Mom Lalonde. It will also include timelines that maybe Rose was alcoholic before the game began, or even one’s where Dave may have had an even worse childhood. They all are diverging timelines from the same base. So Davebot and Rosebot both have all of those possible timelines in their heads and memories. 

Luckily due to their non organic makeup, it is easier for them to sort through all of it, without the biological aspect of emotions to get in the way. If they did have biological bodies, I have no doubt the process would leave them split and having very intense internal struggles. I know Dave’s who diverged from canon because they went apeshit and killed Bro. Davebot has those timelines in his head supposedly.

It is a internal war of all kinds of morals and stand points. Most Dave’s are pretty straightforward, but there are too many possibilities. 

The same can be said of Rose.

However, if we look at Dirk, he is a special case. 

I am not going to diagnose Dirk any mental ilnesses. But I will pull from both people I know and my own research/experience. 

Ultimate Dirk is the combination of not only all of his possible timelines from the base alpha timeline, but also all of his Splinters. One such splinter affects one of his main Splinters, and leads to severe issues. 

I am talking about Lil Cal. Yes, he counts as a splinter. ARquiusprite, Caliborn, and a portion of Gamzee were all put into the Lil Cal puppet. And considering how Caliborn has experience eating the soul/dominating the soul of others who inhabit the same body, I have no doubt he did as such in Lil Cal. But it was a mix then. And Lil Cal went on to affect Bro, manipulating his mind and making him even more fucked up. Instilling extremely Toxic Masculinity, Misogynistic behavior, etc into Bro over the years. Caliborn’s influence is big here, considering his own misogyny and toxic masculinity ideology. 

Therefore, all Bro’s that were affected by Lil Cal are included in Ult Dirk, but so are all those Lil Cals. 

So now we have an idea as to why he may behave so… well. Shitily. It isn’t an excuse, but a possible explanation. His behavior is vile. So now we look at Dirk in canon that we have seen. 

Dirk was so lonely he created a copy of his own mind, and it just spat his deepest fears in his face. I think Hal actually had a hand in Dirk’s self loathing, what with “being the same person.” Dirk already hates himself, and he hates his splinters as well. But he doesn’t hate himself for “internalized homophobia”. Nope. He is very accepting of who he is, and accepts it. The only thing is, he knows who he is and accepts it, and he hates who he is. Or rather who he sees himself as. 

So you put someone who hates himself, and combine him with all of his worse selves who also have a core of self loathing, and you get someone who truly loathes himself, and has an internal battle, with biology adding onto it, against himself. Because for all the bad versions, there are just as many good ones. But part of Dirk is self loathing. It’s almost at the core of who he is. Not to say he can’t heal and grow, I know he can. 

But we know Dirk wants the best for his friends, his idea of how to give that to them is somewhat flawed already when he is a kid, and he trie to move past it as an adult, but a lot of who he is is the puppet master. 

I believe the Homestuck^2 and Epilogue writers didn’t fully grasp this, in fact I think they accidentally portrayed him somewhat correct. Ultimate Dirk is an idiot who makes himself the bad guy to ensure his friends have a chance to be happy. Yes, he treated Jake and the others horribly. No doubt. That’s where they were wrong with him. See, it should be about a 50/50 balance of “bad” and “good”. He would still have left Jake, but perhaps a bit softer, with the idea of protecting everyone from who he is now. Because Dirk is fucking stupid and like that™. 

But yes, he is a piece of fucking shit in the epilogues and HS^2, so they fucked up there. But they kind of accidentally showed him properly. Ultimate selves are also really fucking messy. 

Pretty sure Hussie also just wanted another way to go further than God Tier too. So. Meh.

If you read all of this, thanks. I know it’s somewhat scattered, but I have a lot of thoughts on it as a whole. Not to mention that as someone who struggles with a God Complex, and with friends who suffer from Bipolar, BPD, and others who identify really strongly with Dirk and Ult Dirk, he just both frustrates me because I know he isn’t quite right, and also validates how I feel. But I have the brain to not go apeshit like him.