#but with how john is set up as a narrative piece in HS overall i hate to say it but i doubt it'll happen

[lovelyrotter]

actually yknow scratch that last part cause the way the epilogues are written makes it pretty explicit that theyre not '''dubiously canon''', thats a gimmic, transmasc roxy IS hard canon. and it pisses me off even more when ppl write him off in favour of headcanons instead, which leads to MORE transmasc vs transfem rhetoric bc transfem roxy is a really popular headcanon. like hes still a trans character. in canon. roxy is still trans even using she/her in candy. THEY ARE TRANS and that is CANON. would yall do that if roxy was revealed to be canonically transfem?? would yall disregard their canonical transgenderness in favour of your cisgendered headcanon? bet yall you wouldnt. bet thatd feel way more uncomfortable for a lotta people. this is disregarding the obvious and usual amount of transphobia canon trans characters get anyway from cis people. this is about trans community in-fighting and inter-community weirdly gendered favoritism and the weird mirroring of the more typical 'boys vs girls' logic from cishet culture

why do so many people dislike or outright hate the concept of he/him transmasc roxy but at the same time love june egbert and insist that shes hard canon... like can we cool it on the transmasc vs transfem '''war''' logic..... can we cool it on the open hatred for transmascs both real and fictional.... can we not appreciate both because theyre literally the same kind of dubiously canon

[rosemary-is-in-pesterquest]

(I'm sorry this is long so you don't have to read my semi-thesis, but I have feelings.)

I really wish post-canon content was toned down a bit. Sometimes it feels like the new writers are trying to compete with Homestuck in terms of "comedy" and the jam-packed events that happened, when really I think most of the fanbase just wanted to see the aftermath of what a game like Sburb does to it's players. Especially since they took the family and business route and rebuilt a lot of human-based societal norms in terms of making businesses and having jobs, marriages, children, and even school there should have been more of a deep dive into those familial units and societal functions and it's characters.

Homestuck is a very plot-driven narrative that has huge cast of well developed characters. Throughout the story we get bits and pieces of more in-depth knowledge on each character (but obviously some are more favored than others). Close to the end of canon one of my favorite parts was just the characters sitting down and talking to each other, getting to know each other and learning more about their characters. This new direction with a character focus calms down the plot.

The first aspect is in terms of familial units. At most John and Jane were the only humans with stable home lives before the game began. (Side Note: For trolls, I can't say for sure what exactly is a stable home life except that Kanaya was relatively safe, choosing to go out on her own to slaughter daywalkers while Karkat objectively was constantly in danger due to his mutated blood). Overall, there is a lot of material for these character learning healthier ways of parenting and even more development for how human-troll couples like Rosemary decide to parent (as well as setting up nurseries, pupation rooms, etc.). Without lusii, it's only natural that trolls would have to raise trolls to adulthood, but it's a concept that's probably foreign and strange to Kanaya. Rose's mom was emotionally absent for most of her life, so there is probably a huge push and pull with them deciding how much independence to give their child(ren). If they choose to raise a human and troll as siblings would humans be "needier"? Would there be internalized xenophobia when it comes stereotypes that trolls are "stronger" and more independent? (I'll dive more into this in the societal section). Could this lead to animosity for each other? One valuing the freedom the other has while the other wishes she could be doted on more?

Another great character analysis would be for Dave (I'm sorry I have to talk about him, he's my favorite). What I did like in HS^2 were his interactions with Harry Anderson (as few as they may be). Like a lot of people headcanon, there would most likely be a lot of back and forth with him thinking kids are adorable, while also being terrified to be a parent, preferring the safety of a cool uncle role. In both these instances, there's the theme of "breaking the cycle" either by unlearning unhealthy behaviors or choosing not to have kids at all (not that I think Dave would be abusive, but that he would prefer to just not have the opportunity to screw up, also connecting to how he refused to use his powers when they ended up feeling like too much responsibility for him to handle).

Lastly, the xenophobia arc is overblown and makes no sense. First of all, if Karkat, Kanaya, (and even Gamzee), have romantic (some more than others) ties to humans and Terezi is not on Earth C, and Sollux and Aradia are acting as observers, it makes no sense that humans and trolls are segregated (and they are, Harry Anderson goes to an all human school). Even if somehow Jane miraculously orchestrated that, literally no other human has a problem with the trolls. Roxy even made a matriorb for Kanaya so she could continue to produce trolls on Earth C. It makes no sense. The amount of control Jane has makes no sense. Maybe she has supporters, but even then if the troll populations is supposed to be the majority due to the rate that they are produced compared to humans, it just, the whole set up falls apart when you apply logic and the actual canon character motivations.

That being said, I absolutely think an allegory for racism could totally work in HS^2. English class? Required. Alternian? An elective (or "foreign language credit"). History class? Completely biased and culturally insensitive to trolls or barely covered troll culture at all. Trolls have thicker skin, so less protective equipment is provided to them during science and PE classes. Trolls with large horns have to sit in the back of the class to avoid blocking other students' views. Trolls being discriminated against for violent tendencies or more likely to have "attitude" problems. The list goes on and on.

And if you want to make a political statement? Why not have Karkat already be president (so he's not basically doing nothing with Dave for years, then make a new character human supremacist (NOT JANE), give them the dumbass inappropriate name (you know instead of giving a sexually charged name to a minor), and somehow have them win the next election.

(Another bullshit thing was Karkat was gonna run for human president, or just president but he was competing against Jane? If the president acts as the ruler for all of Earth C then again Karkat would have majority unless they do an electoral college type thing? Unless I'm just completely misremembering facts.)

On a lighter note, I also think it's just hilarious that the players just live on Earth C in homes like everyone else. Like you walk by Rose and Kanaya on the sidewalk like "there go our lesbian goddesses, bless".

(Again sorry for the length and rant. I hope this makes sense and any errors can be overlooked/corrected in the notes. This is just the type of story I wish post-canon content was instead. Just a bit more nuanced. I had to look up some things in the Epilogues and HS^2 to fact check and there are so many times the text just outright says what it was trying to hint at. Like, instead of letting us draw our own conclusions, it outright explains the conclusion that should be drawn. They put the dom in subtext.)

ANON YOU ARE SO FUCKING RIGHT ABT THE XENOPHOBIA SHIT, AND EVERYTHING ELSE TOO.

Also, I feel like the writers possibly did forget a President of a state isn’t the world ruler (or this actually confirms my theory that hs2 Earth C only has America LMAO). If they really wanted to make the Jane vs Karkat scene seem extremely dire, why didn’t they just do an empire thing instead?? Given that hs2 Earth C only has one fucking place, they might’ve as well done a Empress candy Jane storyline, since Jane is literally the heir and Karkat actually did respect the Alternia empire and wasn’t into actually overthrowing the empire.