#i think the only reason i managed to get through homestuck was because there was a lot of text between clicks

[catgirltoes]

Anyways this observation was prompted by an attempt to express that I tend to be bad with television and film, and visual novels especially, because I find the mediums hard to get into.

'Media' isn't really the plural of 'medium' anymore. 'Media' means specifically, like, news media and social media and things that directly communicate information (some sort of semantic narrowing), which makes it weird to use it to describe, say, the the materials with which a piece of art are created. Oil painting and watercolour are mediums, not media.

[calware]

would you ever share a list of your fave fics to reread ? Id love to hear your recommendations and faves

sure thing :) i'm only going to list works that have been going on for a while (or at least have gotten past the very beginning of the story) and that i've read all the way through. i'm also not going to list any of the super iconic fics i like because this list is already pretty long. these are all based on stuff that i personally find more interesting to read about, mostly focused on the human characters and not a lot of romance

i don't really know if these first two count but they're too good to not include:

Jade Route by spicyyeti

a post-epilogues comic centering around jade, this is my favorite homestuck fanwork. i especially love the artwork and the way it frames the story. it is reaaallllly hard to read it on a phone so make sure to read it on a computer or tablet

House of Dirk by imarriedacherub no rating - graphic depictions of violence - 13,570 words - 20 chapters (unfinished) A sitcom about completely normal and well-adjusted newlyweds Dirk and Caliborn attempting to make a good impression on their son, Dave, and his boyfriend, Karkat.

another comic, this one hosted on both ao3 and mspfa (though the ao3 version has more pages). i like how ridiculous it is. will probably never be finished, sadly

moving on to the actual fics:

Reallocated by breezefulskies mature - chose not to use archive warnings - 324,756 words - 65 chapters (unfinished) Hal finds himself stranded aboard a certain meteor, impact-bound for Houston, Texas circa 1995. And everything spirals out from there. Because sometimes, when a system seems to be just short of defunct, all that is required is to take a step back and reevaluate the materials at hand and redistribute your available resources. And so, with birth comes a countdown on a cycle that begins as it ends: In the red.

hal is mysteriously sent to earth via unknown means and finds himself raising a baby as best as he can, which, given that he's glasses, is not easy. this is my favorite homestuck fic, not just because it's about hal, but also because i love the focus on family dynamics and the plot as it unfolds. begging everyone to read this, i can't say what happens exactly without spoiling things, it's just really really good. at the moment, it updates once a month

Ersatz Abyss by katreal mature - no archive warnings apply - 120,092 words - 39 chapters (unfinished) You look into the mirror to find your own face looking back at you. You laugh. And then you cry. Last, you try and figure out how you got to this moment. The Auto-Responder had long since resigned himself to an artificial existence, his only dwindling hope for escape hinging on a promise that has yet to be fulfilled. Then one day he wakes up, Dirk nowhere to be found. What's the point in getting what you want, if you can't show off a little?

another great hal fic. i managed to get my roommate (who has not read homestuck) to read this and they really enjoyed it, so i'm sure you all won't have any problems liking this one either. there are a lot of fics out there of hal getting a body, but this one is very different in that it's not the happy ending that you might first think it is. this fic perfects the feeling of everything snowballing into a bigger and bigger problem until it all falls apart

Falling for the First Time by nobrandhero teen - no warnings apply - 63,818 words - 11/17 chapters The game is over, Alpha Earth resets to 2009, and Dirk's bro doesn't live up to expectations. The movie director who appears so chill and stoic in interviews is actually a talkative, needy dweeb like his teenage counterpart. It's not a bad thing, as far as Dirk's concerned.

for whatever reason, i'm a sucker for fics where the characters somehow end up on earth again post-game, and out of all the fics that follow that concept this one is my favorite. sadly, this one barely touches on jane and jake, but it's pretty interesting to read about what dirk and roxy are getting up to with their guardians (and the earth) restored to their previous conditions

The Haunted Harley House by hemoanarchists teen - chose not to use archive warnings - 78,462 words - 23 chapters (finished) There is an old house you built a long long time ago, alongside someone very close to you. Now as you don a new name, slipping back into society to care for a descendant, to whom tragedy has left you as her only family left, you take her to the house, the house that bears your family name. You really shouldn't have been surprised when he came to join you. It is his house too, after all.

carlah, a young girl who lives on earth c, has just been taken in by her uncle "jacob harley" after her mother's death. as time goes on, she slowly learns more about the true nature of her new guardians and the house they all live in. normally i'm not that interested in OCs but i love how intriguing carlah is as an outsider of the story. it's really easy to get invested in her as she uncovers a mystery we all know from the beginning and another that we have to learn along with her. shoutout to dysfunctional family dynamics

actually, while i'm at it, i'm going to recommend a bunch of other stuff he's written:

Atlantis Bound teen - chose not to use archive warnings - 33,263 words - 8 chapters (unfinished) Dirk tracks down an old friend

prequel to the haunted harley house but can also be read after (or separately). i really like the dynamic between dirk and vriska here, and i also love the way vriska's repeated reincarnation is utilized. vriska's journey through the newest iteration of her life while dirk watches over her is soooo captivating, especially when snippets of her previous lives are sprinkled in throughout. do you guys love cycles? personally i love cycles

Cherubian mature - chose not to use archive warnings - 54,011 words - 29 chapters (unfinished) The 5000 year time skip never happened, at the dawn of time the gods desperately try to guide the planet into a better future. But with tensions rising it feels like one bad day could bring everything crumbling down.

all of dante's earth-c god fics as a whole changed my brain chemistry and this acts as the beginning (and catalyst) of that overarching story. a lot happens in a very short amount of time

Transitional teen - no warnings apply - 1,860 words - oneshot a simple question what changed when you went godtier?

super simple but also an interesting exploration of the headcanon that players' bodies change when they go godtier. the twist is that each "change" is unique to each character and relates to their Self in some way

Monster under the bed teen - chose not to use archive warnings - 2,573 words - oneshot Skeletons in the Closet mature - chose not to use archive warnings - 2,910 words - oneshot Small Talk teen - no warnings apply - 8,944 words - 6 chapters (unfinished)

putting all three of these together because i believe(?) they're all part of the same narrative

[myfandomrealitea]

That discord server post made me remember the stark difference between Serverstuck (a minor populated server) and Degrees of Lewdity (strict adult-only server)

Serverstuck has the worst mods and owner I've seen because they're all Antis and abuse the rules by excusing anyone who are close to them & punishing others who are strangers, lying to people on why some got banned, and allowed sensitive political topic go unregulated

Degrees of Lewdity, despite filled with people who has crude & cursed-level sense of humor, has strict mods & owner, write the correct information on why some people are banned or muted (they even allow users to request to be ban from the server for mental health reasons), and immediately shut down any conversation of sensitive political topics that cause infighting between members

I feel safer in a server for an adult game development than a "minor friendly" homestuck rp server

While I do welcome servers that have a mixed age range, I don't think I've ever or will ever join a server moderated or owned by someone who is either/both an anti or a minor.

To run or moderate a server you need to be impartial, objective, socially aware, able to appropriately manage conflict and relatively socially seasoned. I've personally found most minors often lack or are incapable of most if not all of these qualities.

(And that's not me hating on minors or calling them ignorant. Some of those qualities are just things you learn or develop with age and time. Some adults never learn them at all, even, but they are qualities you need if you're going to, essentially, be in charge of other people.)

Sephiroth's Server Safety Tips

Always do a thorough check into who is advertising the server, who owns the server, and other members before joining a server where possible.

Once you've joined the server, immediately use the search function to look for key words related to topics you want to avoid, possible past conflict, bullying, ect.

Immediately check the server rules. Its a red flag in itself if the server doesn't have any. Also, 'just be nice' is not a rule. Servers should have clear, clean cut rules and regulations.

Don't be afraid to message server owners, moderators or users privately and ask questions. They shouldn't get offended and if they can't or won't answer questions about basic rules, server safety protocols, ect, you should reconsider joining.

Don't be afraid to ask around other people to see if the server is known or has a reputation, either. If a server is based on a specific fandom, for example, search through that fandom for any past mentions of the server or ask other fans if they've heard of it.

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Sword gays showdown, round 1 of bracket one

Propaganda:

For Dirk:

he literally fuckint cut off his own head so his crush would kiss him. also he made a robot that fights with a sword to terrorize said crush. also another version of him (,homestuck. complex timeline shit) keeps swords.in the fucking fridge?

Bi and gay sibling solidarity 

For Zoro:

Literally training to be the greatest swordsman in the world. Has a special three swords technique (one blade in each hand plus one with the handle held in his teeth). I haven't read the manga or watched the anime but the live action adaptation gives me extremely gay vibes and based on the fandom things I've seen I'm not the only one

bro uses three swords. has one in his mouth. dont ask how the HELL he manages that. one day he will be the worlds greatest swordsman....after he beats the current greatest for both the titles of greatest swordsman and fruitiest swordsman. he's dramatic as FUUUCK like bro what the hell. has homoerotic fights with the local twink like everyday. directionally challenged, can and will get lost in a paper bag, doesnt know left from right...he probably cant read, too. hes too silly ngl

First of all, im in like episode 250 and so far he hasnt been shown attracted to any woman at all during the whole show so far, not even when one changed clothes in the same room as him and this is anime so you know there were other characters with bloody noses and shit. With that out of the way he wields three swords at once [two in his hands, one is his goddamn mouth dude. Its cool af trust me.] When he was little he made a promise to his best friend that he'd be the best swordsman in the world. Later she died in a tragic accident and left her sword which he still uses today. He also carries a cursed sword but he overpowers the curse with a combination of skill and sheer luck. He got stuck in a chimney. While his crewmates sail their ship he takes naps. He learned how to cut through metal by fighting a guy who could turn his body into metal blades. That's metal. He refuses to fight this liberal marine officer because she looks like his childhood best friend and its just understandably really awkward for him. He's autistic. He's a he/him bisexual lesbian. He's a gay man. He's ace/aro. He's whatever you want him to be babey!!

he has 3 swords, wields one in his mouth sometimes, his dream is to be the greatest swordsman in the world

three swords and big aroace-spec gay vibes

He not only has a sword he has *three* swords. He's absolutely gay there's no way to see this man as straight. Also one time he licked his sword for no reason and that was really funny to me so I had to mention it

Look, this man thinks about three things: Swords, His Captain, and Booze. He’s on a quest to be the worlds greatest swordsman. The Live action has a scene where he declares his undying, unwavering loyalty to his captain WHILE reaffirming his promise to be the worlds greatest swordsman. At this point His dream and his Captain are so intertwined it’s crazy. Man is so sword-y he’s got three of them. When one of his swords broke he carried its empty scabbard until he was able to give it a SWORD FUNERAL. He hears a sword is cursed and takes that as a challenge. He will literally tell his swords off for “bad behavior” when they “act up” due to being straight up cursed. He tests one by throwing it in the air and sticking his arm out to see if it is so blood thirsty and ill tempered that it will cut him. Even though he’s literally the first mate if you ask him what his role is he’s going to answer Swordsman.

He's dedicated his life to two things: becoming the greatest swordsman in the world and his captain, Luffy. 

He mastered the three sword style. Its his style. It would've been more swords but he could only fit one sword in each hand and one in his mouth. He wants to be the world's greatest swordsman, a deal he made with his childhood best frenemy (before she died falling down the stairs). He thought he was All That at the start and was almost completely decimated by the actual Worlds Greatest Swordsman. Now, after two years forced training with that guy, he's probably in the top tier no-doubt, and honestly could already be the best but we just don't know for sure yet. Also, did I mention: he's got the whole demon/devil imagery going on at times. And he has absolutely no sense of direction! plus is a total softie when it comes to Chopper and all the children who somehow gravitate towards him. And he loves naps!

One of the guy's main goals in life is to be the best sword fighter and he fights with three swords which I think is telling enough of his skill.

[abhorrenttester]

Alright, so I saw a video today talking about parallels between Homestuck and Undertale, and it mentioned the theory of Deltarune being a post-scratch Undertale, and that got me thinking, so I want to put my theory out there to see if anyone can make anything of it.

The scratch is a thing in Homestuck where, because the characters are kinda inside a video game and their universe is destined for failure, they damage the game's disk enough to essentially get it to crash and do a hard reset. This would replace their universe with a near identical one, and while they should be erased with the rest of the universe, they find a way to avoid that and go to this new universe themselves.

My idea is that Undertale is a post-scratch Deltarune. While there is no game disk to destroy, Ralsei talks about how the dark fountains cause destruction that affects everything. Now, I have no clue how the rest of the game is going to play out (obviously), but I feel like each new chapter is going to involve the creation of a new dark fountain, and even if they are closed, the repeated opening is going to cause stress on the world. Maybe even enough to cause the universe to "crash". This I doubt, but since the game is all about control, it could be a thing where Kris, Susie, and Ralsei realize that the world is to far gone in the end to fix, so their only chance to do anything is to follow the ancient texts, and reset the universe, and there's something about Kris making the choice on their own, without the player's input.

Following this theory, they do so, and the universe is reset, turned into Undertale. But in Homestuck, a group of kids manage to make it through the scratch while remembering the old universe. So who from the Deltarune universe makes it through? Personally, I say three people. Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster. Sans and Papyrus are close, and while I've yet to see anything saying that Gaster is in the game, I feel like he is going to be a large part in the later chapters, so my whole idea is this;

The events of Deltarune happen. As the story progresses, and the world starts to fall apart, Gaster will appear. He is clearly connected to the Skeleton Brothers in some way, and while the main story will be progressing and his backstory will be revealed, he will try to find a way to survive the scratch. However he does, he ends up taking Sans and Papyrus with him. This makes them the only people to survive the scratch. Everyone else (except for the player, who is confusing and difficult to add to most meta theories) gets reset, and lives out their lives in Undertale. Gaster works for Asgore as his royal scientist (I imagine he would be able to manipulate Asgore into giving him the job if necessary). Meanwhile, Sans and Papyrus show up to Snowdin Town one day, and become people who live there. Gaster, motivated to try and get his original universe back, makes a machine. A machine which is intended to make everyone into the versions he wanted, but instead makes him into a part of the universe. That's why his machine which he "fell into" (used himself as a base to recreate his universe) ended up spreading him into pieces throughout the new universe. This is why characters seem to remember bits and pieces through resets. That's the part of Gaster inside of them.

Also, Sans. In Deltarune, although he has some meta moments, they are only for laughs. But in Undertale, after he has witnessed the universe reset itself and what that did to Gaster, he is more aware of the player's resets than anyone (besides Flowey). If he witnessed the UNIVERSE reset, then it would explain how he would be aware of the player's resets, and why he is so intense about it.

Papyrus kinda messes this up, as he is generally oblivious to the escapades of the player, even more than most. But, he isn't coming in until Asriel does, which makes me think that something big is going to happen to him, causing him to be so oblivious.

The only reason I'm giving this so much thought is because of how close Toby Fox is to Homestuck with his stories. I don't think he would steal a major story point straight from Homestuck, but he could use it as a base for what he ends up doing. It's clear that Undertale and Deltarune are intertwined with Homestuck, and the thought that they both end up using the same game mechanics to reach different goals seems plausible.

If nothing else, than this is my guess that Gaster will be important to the later story of Deltarune, and we will find out his backstory, and what the hell happened to him in Undertale.

[divineerdrick]

Homestuck Beyond Cannon Upd8 for September 14, 2024

Couple days late on this one, so let's get started right away.

Oh! But first we have a news post. It is the first upd8 of the month after all.

I mentioned content warnings on the last upd8. Looks like I'm not the only one. Yeah, those would have been appreciated. But hopefully James can follow through on his promise to get better with them.

The Karkat plush is . . . today! Apparently you can now preorder it, or at least you should be able to. I need to check on that. I think my previous support counts as my preorder, but I want to be sure. Don't want to miss out on the wonderfully grumpy plush with the awesome hair.

The Patreon is apparently the reason we're getting upd8s like this one, and James is trying to figure out how to bolster it. Makes me, again, appreciate all the work Andrew did on the original. He seems reluctant to do another visual novel like this, but who knows what the future holds. Wish I could support the comic again, but right now I don't have the funds. Admittedly, part of that is because I play Warhammer.

On to the upd8!

Er . . . after I fix the browser thing again >.<

Huh! I just noticed that the panel that we see while the game is loading is actually fake and created by the game window. You can barely see the outline there, but the big give away is the menu bar in the upper left. Neat trick!

Looks like @nostalgicamphibian was right! That feather is very much orange, and so that means we know who it belongs to. Maybe Vriska will take some advice and just chill and recoup for a bit. I'm sure she needs it after the last chapter.

Also! We can now reread the prologue from here!

I still feel like Vriska both needs to see Terezi and (Vriska). They are together in the bubbles, or were the last time we saw them. So she could do both at once. I think there's a huge lesson she could take away from that. One chapter left after this one, so we'll have to see I guess. For now, let's see some shenanigans!

Also this is Chapter X, apparently.

And now for something completely different! Apparently this was happening during the last chapter?

Embarrassed? We haven't seen all the sprites, such as Arquius perhaps. But Davepeta is specifically saying sprite^2. And only one other character has that designation . . .

Okay, this is just great! Which ever member of the team that wrote this managed to perfectly mash up Nepeta's kitty themed RP with Dave's rambling. I love everything about this!

And there they are! Bit of a callback to Rose having to wait on Dave before. Jasprose appears to still be painting the town red on Meat Earth C. Wonder if we might see Jane with her at any point in the future.

omg im l so fucking mao at this! That is the perfect Rose Tier Homestuck technobabble. Midnight City is is in superplausitional canonical deniability. So for any purpose, it could be said to be canon or not canon as the HICU needs! XD

I'm literally struggling to keep it down right now! Also, I think the only panel I haven't as part of this was the stuff with Erisol! This has all been S Tier!

Hah! And Dad and Droug are apparently still running around too! That probably put a damper on Jasprose's night on the town! Also good to see that even this version of Rose is still sober.

Not so good to hear that Jake is still completely fucked up after what Dirk did to him. Jasprose hints that he still might have a role to play before the end though.

And, of course, we have timeline shenanigans! While Davepeta has been stuck with Vriska for multiple years, Jasprose is still on the same night of partying we left them with.

Davepeta is not pleased with Vriska's progress. Maybe they'll think different depending on how she responds to Scratch's abuse. But they're clearly worried, and this is apparently extremely important to whatever plans the two sprite^2 have cooking. And Dave is for once appreciating Rose's desire to understand the human psyche. Not that it would necessarily have helped with Vriska.

Hah!

Apparently even they weren't expecting that.

Normally a beat panel like this after a statement like that can only mean one thing . . .

Hah!

Join us next time when 4 more years have passed! That was the meaning behind the 8 Ball all along!

Now excuse me while that line sends me into existential dread over the possibility of a different type of "4 more years."

[vallxlkzal]

I've been thinking about this idea since the summer. Maybe no one will understand it, but if you've read Homestuck, you'll understand it.

I think that Wally (Time), Wenda (Space), Wilma (Void), and Odlulu (Odlaw (some kind of... Light??? Time??? No. Light, yes. Light) played SBURB and accidentally created an impossible-to-defeat monster, Waldo (the equivalent of Béc Noir in the troll universe), who can move through space and time. At the same time, they managed, through mistakes and their dramas, to get the main reward - to create a new universe where they would be gods (the universe where the Detective is), but the problem is that Waldo got there too. Waldo began to wreak havoc there and to stop him, they needed the help of new players (the Detective and his wife). Waldo will interfere with them in every possible way, having such terrible powers. It turns out that in this new universe there are hints of Waldo and his friends - those books and merchandise. At first, the Detective will think that these are just books, until the characters of these books appear and say "sorry, we created you, but there is one problem..."

The detective will be nervous and distrustful, and Wally will say, "Are you ready to jump through time with me and die every time? Don't worry, I've been through this before, it's not that scary, the main thing is to find the right time line..." 😭

For some reason, I am sure that Odlulu is behind the creation of Waldo, she would have behaved similarly to Vriska and repeated the same mistake 😭

Waldo cannot kill Wally, because Wally has neither heroic deeds in the game (like Wenda and Wilma) nor villainous ones (like Odlulu (Odlaw)), so Wally is resurrected every time and cannot die either a heroic death or a villainous death.

And so, if they all die, only Wally can help (I think he is a player of Time after all). He needs a player of the Mind (Detective) to find the right time line.

The detective thinks that his world is just the planet Earth, but he is actually ALREADY in the game.

The problem is that, sooner or later, they will find the right timeline, but behind them will be all the doomed timelines and all their dead or abandoned friends and their various crippled versions, who will ALSO still feel fear or somehow live in the horrible timeline and Waldo will use this in every way possible to prevent them from finding the future.

I don't know if it's necessary to put hashtags in it? Maybe in many years someone else will have the same idea, so I'll leave these thoughts for them

[vikkirosko]

Mind if I request some stuff for some Homestuck ancestors?

The Signless,The Disciple and The Summoner ♦️ a limeblood reader who survived the limeblood genocide and is demoralized to the rebellion because of it. Their hive is open to them,and they're more than willing to heal them if needed,but they refuse to actually step in and fight.

To be honest, I am very happy with this request. I like Ancestors and I like to write about them, even though there have been no requests about them for a long time

Platonic headcanons Observer

♋ The Signless ♦️limeblood!Reader🩸

For a long time you lived hiding from everyone. The reason for this was the color of your blood. You were a limeblood troll, the only survivor of the genocide. At least you didn't know about anyone else who survived. You lived in your hive, which was hidden deep in the forest and left the forest only when you needed to buy something at the market. On such days, you carefully prepared so that no one would know about the color of your blood. Usually you were mistaken for oliveblood and you were completely satisfied with it. However, your peace was disturbed when several strangers came to your hive

Pretty quickly, you recognized the strangers as trolls that you had seen only once. One of them, the one who led the others, preached that trolls should be equal regardless of the color of blood. His words caused a great pain in your heart. You knew with your mind that he was saying the right things, but your heart still hadn't recovered from what you had been through, so you couldn't find the strength to join the brewing revolution. However, when Signless asked you for shelter for himself and his comrades, you let them in, treated them to the food that you had and helped treat their wounds

They have become frequent guests in your hive. Despite the fact that you trusted them, Kankri was the only one who found out about your story. You trusted him the most. He was always ready to listen to you. Even when you were crying, unable to control your emotions, he was there, gently hugging you and letting you vent the emotions that were accumulating in you. He understood that it was hard for you after the experience, so he did not think to ask you to help them even more. He was grateful to you for the help you gave them and for taking care of them

Kankri understood that by letting them into your hive, you were putting yourself at great risk. He hoped that you wouldn't have any problems because of them. You were his dear friend and the last thing he wanted was for you to get hurt or, even worse, to be killed if something went wrong. The last thing he wanted was for you to get hurt again because of him

♉ The Summoner♦️ limeblood!Reader 🦋

You were a child when all the trolls with the same blood color as yours were killed. You were the only survivor who miraculously managed to escape. It left you with a severe trauma and all you wanted from life was to survive. You didn't have the strength to take revenge and you knew that you wouldn't be able to stand up against highbloods and Condesce. You learned to survive and your hive was far away from cities and settlements. However, even despite this, you have heard rumors about the sermons of one troll and about his sad end. You were sure that this would end the rebellion, but it turned out not to be so

One day a stranger knocked on your door. He was wounded and asked you for shelter. You couldn't stay away, let him into your hive, treated his wounds and fed him. The stranger introduced himself as Rufioh and thanked you for your help. However, you couldn't hide the color of your blood from him by worrying too much about his wounds. However, he promised you to keep your secret and invited you to become part of the revolution of which he was the leader. And although the terrible events that happened to you were a long time ago, but you could not find the strength to participate in the revolution

Despite the fact that you were not going to take part in the revolution, you were ready to let Rufioh into your hive at any time. He was grateful to you for that, even though he didn't know the reason why you were going to be just an observer. He often came to you not only when he was injured, but also just when he had the opportunity. You talked a lot and he often shared his plans with you. You were always ready to support him and help at least with advice. Every time he left, the only thing you hoped for was that he would come back at least alive

Every time you heard rumors about the revolution, you hoped that you would not hear the news that your dear friend had been killed. Rufioh really became your friend, he was the one who helped you stop feeling lonely. He became your only friend for the first time in many years and although you could not help him achieve his goal, you tried to help him in the ways that you had

♌ Disciple♦️limeblood!Reader 📜

Life on Alternia has always been associated with pain and grief for you. You were a child when all the limeblood trolls were killed and you were the only survivor. You were hiding to survive because if someone found out about the color of your blood, you would have been killed. You lived in your hive that was deep in the forest, surviving by hunting and gathering. Your hive was well hidden so you had a quiet, albeit lonely life. However, your loneliness was destroyed when several strangers came to you and asked for shelter. You didn't know their history, but you let them in, realizing that if they came so deep into the forest, then they really needed to hide

Your new acquaintances tried to change your home planet. You respected their aspirations, but you couldn't help them in any way. You didn't have the moral strength to participate in this, but you weren't going to drive them away. You let them into your hive, treated their wounds, fed them with food that you got yourself and gave them a roof over their heads. Meulin was the one who spent the most time with you. She was your friend. She was the only one you told about what happened to you. She was the only one you trusted so much. Meulin appreciated your trust and was always ready to help you or listen to you. Every time they left, you asked them to be careful. However, one day she returned completely alone

Meulin came back to you in tears. You calmed her down and took care of her for a long time before you found out about what happened. You found out that she lost everyone. You were the only one she had left. Gently hugging your friend, you whispered words of reassurance to her, knowing full well that the pain of losing loved ones will not go away so easily. Your pain still hasn't gone away and you doubted that her pain could go away until her death. But you weren't going to leave her to her fate

You were still getting food in the forest, but now your goal was not just survival. You took care of your friend. Both of you were severely traumatized by the losses you experienced, but if your pain turned into an old scar that sometimes made itself felt, then her pain was a fresh, not yet healed wound. You were going to help her through the hardest time by staying by her side and helping her. Now your goal was to help Meulin survive and not let her sink into despair

[ultimatefartwizard]

Agonies of a Late Homestuck Reader Pt.3

Wiz is here for the hell that is this work, and now we start off with Act 2, we begin with a mysterious vagabond wandering a desert. He like... finds this underground bunker type thing with a lid that has the same symbol as the cruxtruder? Quite interesting!

Jumping back to John, since he seems to now be in like floating purgatory type situation yet alive and well.... as well as a just now 13 year old boy can be after just nearly dying from a meteor hurdling towards him and his father's house.

Am I insane and used RPGmaker XP too much? Or does the wind sound in it sound like one of the wind effects RPGmaker XP use (specifically using it as an example as I've never used other rpgmaker programs)

I downloaded Ruffle (a in-browser flash player replacement) to circumnavigate the "flash player no longer supported" issue since I wanted a true genuine experience as it was intended, and thankfully it works! For those wanting Ruffle, you can find it -HERE-

I played the segment with John looking around his house, and was amused by this sort of omnipotent narrator type character (soon revealed to be the vagabond, having gone down into the bunker and is using a computer to communicate) that would order commands at him and just call him "BOY."

Various Vagabond antics; makes me think of how Kratos calls his son "boy" continually in Ragnarok.

As I further mucked about, John's father seems to be missing and some sort of oil substance is everywhere. I originally thought his father got whole ass slaughtered and had him bleed out like a pig, thankfully not... maybe? I haven't read far enough yet.

I immediately thought of John Kramer talking through Billy the puppet when I read this clicking on the cabinet. And considering the species of "Cherub" in Homestuck is based on the puppet, I wouldn't put it past Hussie to make a (slightly butchered) reference.

John talks to Dave, and.... well I won't show the image of the exact things he says when he starts rapping cuz 1. I can't put a clickable censor on images and 2. not comfortable posting that but OH MY GOD. HUSSIE... HUSSIE! NO STOP HUSSIE DONT WRITE THAT YOU ARE WHITE OH MY GODDD.... DON'T MAKE THAT CHILD SAY SUCH THINGS AND MAKE MORE WEIRD AND BORDERLINE RACIST COMMENTS.... Why are you obsessed. Why are you especially obsessed with black presidents and, in conjunction, Obama??? Do you have some sort of weird crush on this man because you think about him too much. (joking around with myself to save my sanity, im dying here, also note i feel these negative ramblings are important especially when looking at this piece of media in a critical light)

Please I pray the comments like this calm down... though knowing the later stuff ik Hussie doesn't stop being weird or finds new ways to be gross and weird. I also made the mistake of reading the "sweet bro and hella jeff" comic Hussie linked on Dave's segment and my god this explains the later incident with..... a certain Homestuck 2 character. DO NOT READ THAT FOR YOUR SANITY BTW.

Back onto the story itself, watching Dave manage his sylladex and how his captchalogues/uncaptchalogues stuff makes me realize how stupidly complex his is, and it's the most complex thus far. I still don't understand it but that's for another time for rambles. Also rather curious out of the three revealed human children so far he's the only one who's not apprehensive to his family member's collection of themed stuff; in this case, it's his brother's puppet collection. I swear to god there's got to be some sort of underlying reason for these, there's no way that these are all presented to the reader and somehow don't have any strong significance or meaning.

It cuts over to Rose again, who's trying to get out to the generator in the rain so she can boot up her computer to pair up with John again and escape certain doom due to a meteor shower hitting the forest she lives in and is engulfed in flames. She seems to have a lot of contempt for her mother, not sure if it's the same back towards her but they are noted to have some sort of one-uping competitions. Both John and Rose seem to compete with their parents while Dave nods and seeminly respects his brother's stuff, which is interesting and definitely will try to investigate this phenomenon as I read.

I leave off on page 374, certainly to return later for more reading! -Wiz

[load-session-zeta]

Another month another yap post

Today we’re covering the character who I personally find the most ease writing.

Roxxas Cerner - The Bard of Void

Bard - Passive destruction class, invites the destruction of their aspect and/or destruction through their aspect primarily for the benefit of others. (Note; this class is a wild card and doesn’t necessarily always fit the description)

Void - Secrets, Irrelevance, Distance, Absence, Darkness

Roxxas as a Bard of Void is one who mirrors his fellow voidbound in the story; Bria Cortez (Prince of Void). Destroyer classes ghost their aspect and play as their opposite in order to attempt avoiding their noticeable ties to it. Voids antithesis is Light, ergo Roxxas as a Bard of Void tends to destroy the lack of Light around him, though he couldn’t ever do so safely on Alternia. Another thing with Bards is that they don’t even acknowledge the existence of their aspect on themself unless hit with it dead on, prime example being how Gamzee didn’t pick up on the raw presence of his Rage until around when he sobered. Roxxas had that realization when he was very very young given he has to remain a secret due to his existence as a limeblood. This will be a continuous point of relevance for Roxxas btw. Additionally, it is worth noting that Bard’s fear their aspect to some extent. Roxxas’ thirst for knowledge is, inherently, rooted in a fear of the unknown.

On Alternia, Roxxas didn’t really get to have much of a life. He only ever left his hive if he was fully covered to make sure nothing got out beyond murmuring rumors. Roxxas was probably the most “homestuck” of the Zeta Trolls for that exact reason. That being said it wasn’t all miserable for him he did manage to get a Moirail who was more than proficient at evading the law given shes a legislacerator and he managed to get a close knit group of friends too.

Shifting gears to his experience in the game however. Roxxas was sort of in his element during sgrub. His land is the Land of Concealment and Malachite or LoCaM. Roxxas’ Denizen was Venus, this doesn’t mean much though given he never actually met her. Roxxas was too preoccupied uncovering every possible secret he could about sgrub. This has led to Roxxas knowing a lot more about his universe than he lets on and how he knew about Tifoli. Though for the sake of exposition lets assume he actually DID do his heroes journey properly. LoCaM’s quest is all about uncovering the mystery behind the sudden appearances of Malachite clusters all over the land and why the seemingly senile consorts regain their senses around these clusters while the lively ones lose all of their senses when exposed to them. Roxxas, being a nerd, would understand what was happening rather quickly admittedly, Malachite is said to supposedly aid with memory issues that explains the elderly regaining lucidity at least. Though he rather quickly assumed that the young losing their senses was a matter of equivalent exchange. This would eventually lead him to confronting Venus and her posing him with her question: “Is every secret a sin?” To which Roxxas would rather promptly respond no explaining in excruciating detail just how much he struggled to keep his identity as a limeblood a secret pre-medium and that if he had said every secret is a sin then his own mere existence would be sinful. Roxxas god tiered very late, as in, post-reckoning late. This was done around the time when Act 1 Act 2 ends, the how is left unknown for now but I can disclose this much; he couldn’t have done this without Hadron.

Moving on to Roxxas’ Strife approach and fetch modus. Roxxas’ fetch modus is Jenga, I don’t think any further elaboration is needed there. As for his Strife approach, Roxxas uses wandkind simply because “Magic is Science we don’t yet understand” and Roxxas craves that knowledge.

Roxxas’ Ancestor is an enigma and as such has no recorded legacy left behind for Roxxas to fulfill. I don’t typically mention the Ancestor Legacy because, in the case of the others, it’s spoilers and not light ones. With Roxxas, these external sources of information are the only place I can mention post-scratch Maenas Cerner until almost Act 3. All I will disclose for now is his title. The Ethereal Enigmata.

Beforan Roxxas

Pre-Scratch Roxxas Cerner was actually quite the active member of Beforan Society, he ran an almost exhaustive archive of Beforan History that got new publications added every few perigees. There’s really not much to say on him since he well and truely thrived on Beforus

[artblocked]

...What do you mean by societal pressures on Earth? Nobody is forced into relationships on Earth, **especially** in the first world country of the United States, where almost every human in Homestuck is from. Nobody has to have children here! Or get married! Or even have a relationship! Hell, Jade and Jake only get their interaction via the internet before the game, they are outsiders to this society. Roxy and Dirk would be too, since they've always been alone, only knowing what humanity was like through the historical records. The humans are not shackled by society. They're shackled by their own perception of it. Again, post-Sburb, human society is fuckin' gone. Dead men can't talk, or pressure you into a relationship. Also, they're 13 to 16. Teenagers are notoriously bad when dealing with relationships. Especially traumatized teenagers who don't know how to manage themselves or their feelings, or know how to communicate.

Karkat is the exception, but he's also a dumb fuckin' ALIEN teen, hyperfocused on preserving his friends' species because he cares about them, not because he sees them as toys to pair each other with. He also takes into consideration his own species too! And let's not forget that Alternia has those mating drones. Procreation is MANDATORY there, or you die. If I were to say out of any species in Homestuck that are forced into relationships, it would be the trolls, specifically the Alternian ones. They get culled over not being in a reproductive romance by the age they're made to leave the planet because they would be useless in the eyes of the empire. But that society died post-Sgrub too, yet, the trolls that remain are shackled by their perception of that society.

The only really bad falling outs I can think of when it comes to human/human pairings is Jade/Davesprite and Dirk/Jake. Jade and Davesprite didn't work because everyone on that ship was an asshole to one another, and Davesprite was the biggest one in retaliation to the "not real Dave" thing, becoming exceedingly bitter and mopey as a result. Dirk/Jake didn't work because Dirk was emotionally abusive and Jake didn't have much of a say on anything, coming to other people about the relationship's problems but never doing much about it. If they were forced into it, why break it off when it didn't work? And, by your logic, that would mean the Striders are just horrible at relationships. But no, Dave/Karkat is healthy.

What I mean to say here, is that your points are flawed. Your use of "media literacy" is dull. And most importantly, let people have fun (reasonably). It's fandom for a reason, so take the salty potato chip out of your ass and light up. Your Homestuck will never be the same as somebody else's, so please, stop trying to make it somebody else's. If you don't like human/human relationships because you think they're all toxic, great! You don't have to like them, or explore them, or whatever else. You can stick to canon all you like!

Anyway, here's my favorite human/human ship (below). Have a lovely day and take care!

it's time we accept that the homestuck human/human relationships are fucking unhealthy. like come on people. let’s learn to use media analysis here. the story wouldn’t have gone out of its way to show us that every human relationship is toxic and falls apart unless that was true??

on earth, humans are forced into human pairs by societal pressure for procreation. karkat (the character most often wrong about romance) even tries to do this to the beta kids!

i’m so tired of people trying to make up ideas of "healthy" human/human relationships. especially since we have examples of ACTUALLY healthy ships that become canon, and ALL of them are human/alien. there's literally no reason a human would ever actually want to date another human, it is only something they are forced into. this is completely obvious if you know anything about media literacy.

[davestriderpostscratch]

What got you into homestuck? Like, howd you hear about it?

hmmm okay actually i remember this very vividly. it’s a very involved story so let me start at the very beginning

when i was in sixth grade i joined the drama club at my middle school as a junior stage technician. incidentally i was the ONLY junior stage technician, because i was the only sixth grader on the set crew—everyone else was a seventh or eighth grader, including all my fellow stagehands

so if you’ve never done theater tech (or if you HAVE done it, but have never been a stagehand/only been on lights or sound) you should know that it involves a LOT of quiet downtime. you only do much of anything during scene changes, obviously (unlike the light and sound guys who’re in action constantly), but you can’t leave the wings and go backstage unless it’s urgent, for multiple reasons (it moves the curtains distractingly, you need to hear the lines/your cues, the stage manager might lose track of you bc you don’t have a headset, etc). so a good 75% of the experience is made up of just sitting there, watching the show from the side and making very little noise, which is cool if you like the production your class is putting on and boring as fuck if you don’t. (i much preferred being stage manager in eighth grade and head of the props department in tenth grade to ever being a stagehand.)

so when i was in sixth grade, i wasn’t that impressed with the show we were doing (shrek, lol) and neither was the rest of the crew, and having cool older friends gets you very far in middle school, so i started talking (quietly, of course) to my fellow stagehands—james, bobby, and peter—and the stage manager, keith. james, bobby and keith aren’t important here, although i have a great wealth of funny stories involving them; the REAL star of this part of the tale is peter

peter and i became very good pals because he is hilarious. also we ended up being on the track team together the next year but that’s less important. the point is that he is so funny and he was a whole year older than me and i thought he was so cool. and if you’ve never done theater tech, you should know that—again, for obvious reasons—you can only wear black backstage, preferably long sleeves and long pants (especially if you’re pale to begin with)

so peter, who is part of the set crew, comes to a dress rehearsal one day. in the karkat fit. no makeup or horns or anything obviously but like he had the jeans and the gray shoes and the cancer symbol sweater. and my zodiac sign, coincidentally, is cancer, so i asked him about the shirt (nice shirt, where’d you get it, are you a cancer too, etc) and he got REAL quiet. and says “i’ll tell you after the show.” so now i’m nervous that i said something wrong and i was gonna lose my cool seventh grader friend. but no. after the show he pulls me into one of the back halls where we keep the props and costumes. and Tells Me About Homestuck.

so i’m like ok. i have to impress my cool friend. so i go home and pull up the comic (this was back when it was still mspaintadventures dot com) and got 1/3 of the way through act one before giving up. a mostly universal experience. i did NOT skip to act five for the trolls because i didn’t know they existed yet. so i sort of chalked it up to just not being my thing and went on with my life. but it planted the seeds

fast forward to… seventh grade? just left sixth grade? (june 2016, right around when homestuck was actually ending) and i’m having a sleepover with my friend gianna, who is like. COMICALLY rich. “tiffany-themed birthday party” rich. “caribbean cruise every vacation” rich. “doesn’t understand why everyone doesn’t own two smartphones” rich. but she was very nice and i liked her a lot (still do! we’re still pals) so we hung out all the time ESPECIALLY that year bc we shared a lot of classes

so we’re in her bedroom doing sleepover stuff (i think we were trying to pirate a movie on her desktop computer) and we get to youtube somehow and we start watching videos that were funny in 2016. vine compilations or whatever. and EVENTUALLY . SOMEHOW. we stumble upon the iconic and eternal after us animation by the inimitable toastyglow. gianna was (and still kind of is) VERY into anime and i think she thought it WAS for some kind of anime, since “homestuck” isn’t in the video title or thumbnail or anything, so she put it on and we watched it. she wasn’t insanely impressed but hand to god i felt my life changing forever

this is where gianna being a rich weeb becomes important, because it means that she goes to a LOT of conventions. i had never been to a con of any kind before like late 2017 but gianna had been going to them for years. crucially, the years of our lord 2012-14, when we were 9/10/11 or so and first old enough to really go to a con and enjoy it to the fullest because we started having our own money and shit like that, was the Peak of the homestuck craze. it was inescapable even at the teeniest tiniest cons, and we live in detroit where there are actually decently BIG cons every year, so even though she’d never actually read the comic, she absolutely knew about it and told me of it. and so the seeds grew

fast forward like four months to fall 2016. i’m in this stupid shitty Kik groupchat with a bunch of undertale RPers i met on amino, because i was a lame little thirteen year old. we skyped each other and e-dated and everything. it was kind of a shitshow objectively but they were pretty cool. but i joined the chat the february before, and now it’s like, september. and all of a sudden. like a wave. a tsunami, even. like a zombie plague. the undertale icons start getting replaced by grey aliens with candy corn horns

i swear to flipping christ the stars perfectly aligned such that everyone in that damn group chat entered their homestuck phases at the exact same time. it was surreal. i felt like i was in the fucking twilight zone. like i woke up one day and everyone had typing quirks

so of course i’m like i gotta get in on this. all i know of homestuck is the snippet of act one i’d read the previous school year and the three minute long animation i’d watched over the summer, but it was enough to truly pique my interest. enough for the seeds to truly take root and flower. i sat down at my desk over thanksgiving break and opened up mspaintadventures dot com once more. and the rest is history

and you know what. you know what. i don’t talk to peter anymore really (he went to college out of state) and i DEFINITELY am not in that RP groupchat anymore (left it that december, actually), but you know what HAS survived all these years as a forever remnant of that era of my life. aside from my friendship with gianna and my appreciation for the 2016 glass animals album “how to be a human being”. that’s right, baby. i’m still a filthy homestuck

[yoitscro]

I still haven’t watched the video...BUT.

While I’m still of the belief that Sarah Z probably shouldn’t have posted some “rise and fall” video on Homestuck --which uses the traction of 4/13, a positive day for a fandom that likes to eat itself, to give attention some to criticisms involving speculative allegations-- , I’ve seen more anger from people that I frankly don’t trust being upset about it being a “hit” video to tear down WP, and jumping the gun to the point of threatening legal action, versus actually seeing casual watchers talking about the discourse; more so about nostalgia and “ah, homestuck exists still”.

I assume the paranoid jump on the video is because of casual watcher’s potential reactions? But there’s, also, more reactions toward the team’s response versus what the team + team friends were presumably worried about...so like. I guess the fire being fueled is ironically only being fueled because it’s being blown out of proportion, and thereby brought to peoples attention through *that*.

Sarah’s video is not 100% right. There are false facts from what I’ve seen briefly of. I personally don’t think that a person who’s read Homestuck but has only existed in the fandom space primarily during certain years has the same, fair perspective as a current homestuck that’s been aware of the environment going on, especially on Homestuck Twitter. Instead of things being made in 10 days, apparently, and there not being any effort to reach out to anyone on the team before presenting information, I would’ve just, you know, not done that. At least give it a shot, you literally lose nothing but avoid many things later.

The team has also faced blatant threats and harassment, which isn’t the same as other queer or poc people criticizing how homestuck handles content in their own space, but it exists. There’s certainly a reasonable, human reaction that I get, which come from the anxiety of being put on the spot by a something-thousand subscribed youtuber while you’re trying to figure things out in the background as things have been quiet, right after the turbulent year of 2020. I’ve actually been really frustrated that people haven’t considered that and that these reactions are coming out of nowhere. There is a trauma to consider since this is not the white guy taking the brute of stuff despite people using Hussie’s name as a synonym for the team.

There’s also the fact that Gio was apparently not asked to be used in the video beforehand? At least that’s what I’ve heard, which if true was an oversight, given how one may want to ask “hey, i’m making a video on your articles which could absolutely put you in the center of this since I’m using your online identity; let me get your permission at least.”

That said, based on audience reaction, and how it’s been the opposite of what a handful of people associated with officialized content expected, which is the reason things are being targeted right now, I feel like this is an...overreaction. 

Again, I haven’t watched the video. But the video existing with the whispered points it’s brought up is the reason that things exploded yesterday. I’ve seen more dislikes of Sarah’s video from a loud minority who, 1. are people who refuse to ever criticize the issues with Homestuck for actual years, and 2. people who have watched 20 minutes of it and heard what they wanted to hear, versus seeing the criticism acknowledged by everyone else, outside of an acknowledged comment before moving on. The reaction is what’s giving it the most attention, actually.

Apparently in the video she mentions how she’s not trying to enable any harassment, states that somethings presented are just speculation, and doesn’t namedrop anyone specific?

That seems like a cliche way to act like someone can’t ever respond to stuff like this, but that’s usually saved for smaller followed beef on tumblr or twitter. Not a company or it’s contracted IP.

I’ve seen the people say it wasn’t that bad and have honed in on WP + acquaintance reactions versus what was said in the video. It was just something that was posted on a day where so much other 4/13 stuff was going on, which could’ve been given attention instead of one person’s video, which was apparently 2 hours long, and was already being venomously hated before one would’ve been able to watch it in full? (The idea of the anger coming from those who haven’t watched the video is...not surprising. There have been people put on blast for HS opinions for just a sentence.)

The kickstarter update’s response could’ve been posted itself, versus all the stuff prior and after it (the supposed legal action), but I honestly think that it shouldn’t have taken a breadtuber’s threat on Homestuck’s reputation for fans who ACTUALLY engage with it to have communication with what’s been going on, which we’ve been asking for for years. There’s a trust that needs to be rebuilt on both sides, be it from entitlement, elitism, or bullying, and this did not help.

I don’t like that Hussie only speaks up when a boiling point is reached, and people who work on his team are beyond gone or dealing with the fallout with how he’s neglected his IP and the fans that’ve somehow stayed to support it; crowd control and community management is important, and every other indie creator or small team on the internet who thinks ahead has been getting this. And I honestly hope that anyone who is legit having a terrible time producing HS content considers whether or not they should continue to stick around, for their own mental health.

If by a week from now we’re talking about the reaction of the video and the video itself is potentially long out of people’s mind well. That’s the point of this rant.

and on the other side, quoting a friend:

Sarah z's video didn't need to be released on a day of celebration for a healing fanbase and that video regressed that and caused the official team to have fucking public panic attacks.

Not a great 4/13, tbh.

[davekat-sucks]

Also, you know Homestuck when to shit when they start making Jane the bad guy who hates trolls. To me, it feels so weird and random. If anything, just make a whole new character n such. I really enjoyed Jane's character from beginning, she was cute and such, I kinda felt bad when Jake was sorta oblivious of her liking him. (Then again, Jake was always painted as a idiot low key) But just her being a whole genocidal asshole was so...weird like, who's writing this shit?!

You think that the person who would have the most animosity to the trolls, would be either Roxy or Dirk, because they had actually lived through the troll Heiress' reign and terror. They had to fight for their lives to survive because of it. Jane was just the next in line for the throne, but still see her as a friend. The only reason she is set up as the villain was because of the previous premise in the Snapchat. Where since Her Imperious Condescesion died, there's no one to rule. And since Earth C went back to KINGDOMS instead of a democracy like Wayward Vagabond wanted, Jane takes the throne. It can be assumed that John, Jake, and Jade, never be wanted to seen as that big of a top. The trolls hearing that the human was the daughter of the fuchsia queen, decides they want to kill her. I don't remember the reason why, cause Jane rarely has done anything to the trolls. Was it because they feared she would be just as tyrannical as the previous queen? Were they scared they saw how she mind controlled Jack Noir into being her little slave with that tiaratop? It is unknown what Andrew Hussie and WhatPumpkin had in mind for Jane to be the next villain in the Snapchat before the whole Donald Trump fiasco gave them a better/worse reason to make her evil. I would funnily imagine if the other dead trolls were brought back alive and was sent to help Alpha Kids, I can imagine Eridan showing a bit regret on killing the Matriorb. That maybe he felt bad that Roxy and the others are having to suffer because of HIC desire to try and get the troll repopulated and take over the Earth. But in a surprise twist, Roxy hugs him. She would tell him that if it wasn't for his mistake, she and her friends wouldn't be here. Sure it sucks having to deal with HIC, but at least they had managed to live through and continue to be here. Alternate reaction would be Roxy giving off a big smile and raises her hand to give Eridan a high five. Eridan raises it confused as she gives it to him. The alcoholic teen starts cheering in joy, leaving the sea dweller confused.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Homestuck 2 has updated! Christmas is ruined!

Previously, on Homestuck 2: Literally nothing happened, and a non-trivial portion of the patreon supporters gave up and quit. Can this update pull a Christmas miracle and right the sinking ship of Homestuck 2? Probably not, but let’s find out! 

We’re back in Candyland, having completely skipped over Karkat and John talking about Dave’s apparent death, because this comic is only interested in long conversations when they’re boring and not about anything at all. That’s alright, I got the gist of it.

When Karkat is finally gone, John still doesn’t move. It isn’t as though he has nowhere else to go, since there are quite a few places he might attempt to make himself useful, for better or for worse.

So, it appears to be morning now, meaning that John’s son has been missing in a war zone for almost 24 hours and I guess John literally forgot Harry existed?

Prediction: This conversation is going to end in some variant of “Where is our son?” “Oh shit!”

ROXY: hey john can u do me a quick solid

ROXY: actly idk how quick itll be but its definitely solid

ROXY: harry anderson says i just missed u being here but could u skip back on over?

What.

So, I went back and checked, and apparently nowhere is it explicitly said that Harry Anderson was also looking for the Vriskas, so I guess he....stayed home? Which makes sense, I suppose, but maybe a “Stay here I’ll go look for them” would’ve helped. I wasn’t the only one who thought Harry was out looking for Vriska too. 

ROXY: sup

ROXY: follow me

ROXY: well were just going to my room so i guess technically u know the way

JOHN: haha ok.

John follows, trying to shake the ominous feeling he got from what she’d just said. He’d been in and out of this house a lot in the past few days. Why should this be any different?

Is Roxy....horny? Is the solid she’s looking for John’s dick? I mean, that’d make her saying Harry wasn’t available kind of weird, but I think this framing is a fake-out.

...

What the fuck is that lamp, Jesus Christ it’s awful. Just a cat’s asshole, facing the door.

ROXY: r u kiddin me rn egbert

JOHN: i’m not? unless you were, in which case yeah lets say i was also kidding.

JOHN: oh my god, i’m sorry, i don’t know why this making me freak out.

ROXY: i remember our past boot knockin with fondness but that is a situation im not interested in revisiting

Oh hey, it was a fakeout. Good job, Homestuck 2. You successfully implied something just through the art. Art which, by the way, looks a lot better than the last chapter. There are backgrounds and everything. I wonder if Chapter 15 was rushed out due to Hiveswap and that’s why it was so weak?

He’s almost embarrassed by how relieved he feels. So what if his ex wife wanted to hook up? Shouldn’t that be a situation he could navigate? Don’t people like to find solace in human physical connection during dire times? Why did the idea of it make his mind white out in panic more than, say, any number of the traumas he just experienced?

I’m not the biggest fan of the way the narration is going JOHN IS AFRAID OF SEX WITH ROXY LIKE HE’S A TEENAGE VIRGIN AGAIN (LIKE IN HS1!) AND IT DOESN’T REALLY MAKE SENSE PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IT’LL BE IMPORTANT LATER, but okay, noted.

ROXY: u said ur house is gone??

JOHN: yep.

JOHN: completely.

ROXY: jeez

Heh. I like Roxy, still. 

JOHN: so i just sat there, watching, trying to figure out why watching my house burn down felt like i was being released from prison.

If this comic actually uses the phrase “home” and “stuck” in the same sentence I’m turning this blog around and we’ll go right back to Winnipeg.

ROXY: aight then no wind bending just use your mangrit

Roxy flexes, the corner of her mouth pulled up into a familiar grin. John feels his guts, so recently calmed, twist up into knots again. Her eyebrows shoot up and the smile loosens. He must have shown something on his face.

ROXY: ok or just like push when i push

ROXY: we both got sick muscles

ROXY: no other adjectives necessary

I feel unqualified to talk about how hard Roxy is pushing the June Egbert thing.

....Is that the fucking portal from Hiveswap under a tarp? Also hi Candy Callie, appearing in HS2 for the first time. One of the Calliope’s is nonbinary, I think, but I honestly can’t remember and I think it’s Meat Calliope? 

JOHN: do i get to know what that big thing under the sheet is?

ROXY: hmmmmmm no

JOHN: oh ok.

JOHN: are you sure? i mean, it seems like a pretty prominent feature of the room.

JOHN: space.

JOHN: wherever we are.

ROXY: and a totally mysterious n COMPLETELY inconspicuous feature it will have to remain for now

ROXY: we r kinda in a hurry here fyi

ROXY: and by that i mean

ROXY: we are in precisely the amount of hurry that means im excused from having to a that specific q rn

JOHN: right, sorry.

JOHN: i will pay no attention to the object behind the curtain.

ROXY: u catch on fast egbert

Oh thing HS2 has not been great at is that it has a lot of plot mysteries that are supposed to keep us enticed but they don’t really get implanted into the audience’s head (Remember Vrissy mysteriously collapsing that one time? Probably not, she did it off screen and the boys kind of laughed it off). This one’s hard to miss.

JOHN: so... this is all downstairs?

JOHN: it seems like you had a lot of work done.

ROXY: well no not x actly

ROXY: were in the old meteor

It’s kind of weird how this meteor keeps popping up like this. 

CALLIOPE: besides, hUman divorces are even more fascinating than i had ever imagined, and being able to witness yoUrs in motion was an honoUr.

This is an unexpected but not unwelcome direction for Callie to have gone.

CALLIOPE: ah right, right. yoU're probably a little cUrioUs as to where the dickens we are.

CALLIOPE: how much do yoU know aboUt black holes?

Oh, wow, we’re going right there, then. This does seem like a bit of a reaction to complaints HS2 wasn’t shmoovin’ enough, but maybe I’m reading too much into it.

CALLIOPE: no, i mean, what if oUr whole WORLD was inside a black hole.

JOHN: ok.

A’ight, that got a laugh out of me

JOHN: ugh, i fucking KNEW it!

JOHN: i'm so sorry.

JOHN: i'm so sorry that i put the earth inside a black hole everyone. ):

I like this conversation a lot. 

ROXY: iirc at least part of y u got so weepy was the fact that u couldnt believe a version of earth existed where ppl got 2 watch more mcconaughey films than you

JOHN: listen.

JOHN: i simply don't think you all appreciated the gift you were given.

Quite a bit, in fact.

ROXY: ur not gonna enter a weird time vortex and change the trajectory of a little girls life with the power of love

JOHN: aw.

Roxy and John have a good dynamic. 

CALLIOPE: bUt Upon her departUre, the rift closed for good. as far as i can see, there's simply no way for Us to commUnicate with the world oUtside the black hole.

CALLIOPE: i woUld certainly be very sUrprised to find oUt that anyone had managed sUch a thing!

JOHN: ...right.

John’s phone has very good coverage, since he was able to talk to Terezi in the epilogues, as we’re being subtly reminded of here with that ... before the “right”. I wonder if it still works after alt-Calliope left.

CALLIOPE: oUr exclUsion from the overarching coUrse of events which governs all reality means that oUr existence here is liable to dramatic and violent Upheaval.

CALLIOPE: to pUt it another way, becaUse nothing in here "matters", we are likely to be sUbjected to things which are a bit bats in the belfry, for no reason other than it's totally insignificant to the wider canon of reality.

CALLIOPE: and mUch thoUgh i am personally titillated by some of the conseqUences of this predicament, it is a degrading way for Us to live. u_u

Okay, so we are now being explicitly told that living in the black hole is fucking with the characters and is part of the reason they make such baffling decisions, like Rose not telling Kanaya about Yiffy, or naming her daughter “Yiffy” in the first place.

CALLIOPE: we need yoU to free vriska from the clUtches of oUr misgUided friend jane, and bring her here, to the singUlarity.

ROXY: weve been calling it the plot point

CALLIOPE: yes, the plot point is a key part of oUr plan

CALLIOPE: as far as we have been able to sUrmise, the only remaining method for escaping oUr grim confinement depends on leveraging the UniqUe properties of this location to create an event of sUch catalcysmic proportions that it simply cannot be contained within the black hole any more.

CALLIOPE: something SO dramatic, so hyper-relevant, that it becomes ontologically impossible for anyone to ignore it.

CALLIOPE: for that, we need an individUal of sUfficient narrative cloUt, so to speak.

CALLIOPE: and to liberate her, who better than the embodiment of the aspect of freedom itself?

So, the plan is literally for Vriska to be such a Huge 8itch that the black hole itself gets sick of her and yeets Earth C out of its own event horizon to freedom.

This is actually a great plan. 

And that’s Hamsteak. This definitely feels like a bit of a reaction to complaints about HS2, but hey, I dig it, I guess? Definite improvement over the last chapter.

[rosemary-is-in-pesterquest]

ooh! I have thoughts on Eridan!

okay so, to me, Eridan ties into this thing that homestuck has going on with a lot of its more morally grey characters... the question of how responsible young people are for their negative qualities and actions, and where the age threshold for personal responsibility is.

the characters in homestuck all straddle this line between being young enough to consider them victims of the forces that influence them, while also old enough to understand what they're doing and how it affects others... especially because a lot of these kids come off as really smart for their age, and very precocious. we've all been through phases in our lives that make us cringe, not because we're ashamed of something harmless, but because we recognize that we had absorbed something harmful, and took longer than we wish we had to unlearn it. it could be as simple as being kind of a jerk in a misguided attempt to seem cool, or as dramatic as actually hurting someone in an attempt to remedy one's own insecurities by putting down others to seem better by comparison... but how far can you push that before people aren't willing to forgive? before people abandon the notion that better guidance and more appropriate role models could reform someone? and it's especially interesting when you consider how old homestuck's core audience might've been when they first encountered this story, and how it affected their perception of the characters if they saw them as peers, rather than as children from an adult's perspective.

so to talk about Eridan, I wanna frame this in terms of his classpect, because it actually goes a long way towards contextualizing his behavior. Eridan is a prince of hope, meaning that he destroys hope or uses hope to destroy... and this can be seen in practically every conversation he has. if Eridan is contacting someone, it is because he expects something of them. advice, or consolation, or a solution to a problem he's having... it's always something. when he contacts Kanaya, he wants her to auspistize between him and Vriska. when he contacts Feferi, he wants her to give him encouragement, and maybe date him when he asks. and in every case, the way he demands these things by being rude, whiny, or self pitying, makes people reluctant or unwilling to give him what he expects. he destroys what he hopes to obtain.

it goes deeper than that though. Eridan has absorbed this ideology of sea dweller superiority from living on Alternia... and he actually takes it way farther than it even makes sense to. the aristocracy on Alternia use the lower class for all sorts of menial work that they feel entitled not to have to do themselves. they might have the ability to freely cull individual low bloods for any reason, but eradicating all land dwelling trolls would leave a lot of unpleasant yet necessary tasks with no one to do them. I don't think Eridan actually wants to live in a reality where sea dwellers have to pick up the slack of doing things like sanitation work, or construction or something... but another concept that is heavily tied to the hope aspect is delusion. Eridan is exaggerating. he's trying to agree with Alternia's ruthless class structure so hard that it's actually kind of absurd. but Feferi calls him on that... she says she thinks that he self sabotages on purpose. because he knows, at least in some capacity, that the consequences of getting what he "wants" would actually be really uncomfortable to live with.

so not only is Eridan's goal to destroy... it is also a false goal that he constantly undermines. and all of his waffling between grandstanding and self pity destroys his romantic prospects, which are what he actually seems to want the most.

if you look at the way Eridan pursues relationships, he actually makes a lot of logical sense, but not a lot of emotional sense. he's idealized the act of perfectly filling the relationship requirements of each quadrant. he wants Feferi to be his matesprit, which is purely based on the fact that she's high enough on the hemospectrum to be an appropriate match in terms of status. he wants Vriska to be his kismesis, and Kanaya to be their auspistice, and there are hints that Karkat might've been someone he was considering for moiraillegience, though it wasn't emphasized as much. and there you go! his goal is specific, but it's based more on ideals than on the actual needs and feelings of the people involved, and it's totally self centered... he always wants them to cater to his own needs. the reason why he gets as nihilistic as he does on the meteor, is because all of his endeavors to achieve these relationships are falling through. he feels like he has no hope of mending his existing connections, because he still only sees them in terms of people either giving him, or not giving him, what he wants. but the rest of their race is dead. as the last twelve trolls in existence, they only have each other as romantic options. and as Eridan gets more and more desperate, he gets more and more demanding, which is the exact quality that drives everyone away from him to begin with, and it culminates in him having a "if I can't have what I want then nobody can have any of their hopes either" meltdown.

to backtrack a bit, I wanna reconsider questions such as, when is a kid old enough to be held responsible for their own negative qualities? like... when are you comfortable with ceasing to blame environmental factors? when are they just a bad person? is it after they've refused a certain number of chances to make better choices? when do they reach an age, or level of bad behavior, that makes you think they can't be helped to reform from these negative qualities? where does an adult lose their patience for the idea that a kid is just a victim of their upbringing?

obviously Feferi is Eridan's peer, but these are basically the questions she grapples with when she talks to Eridan. it's like growing up next door to a kid whose parents have some aggressively wrong-headed political stances. as you grow, that kid might mirror their parents' way of thinking... and by the time the two of you are in your teens, it's hard to ignore how much of a jerk that kid is becoming. but you've seen them at every step of their development. you know where it comes from. maybe theirs is the dominant political belief in the community, even if your own parents aren't like that. maybe you wonder if you would've agreed with them if you grew up under their circumstances. you've felt the pressure, but you haven't lived in it like they have, and maybe if they just had the chance to grow up under different conditions, they wouldn't be this way. and you are aware that you could be an influence on them... maybe they need you to help them see another perspective. you always got along so well as kids. when did things even change? and that's kind of where I imagine Feferi is at when we're introduced to her and Eridan. it's a crossroads between believing that you might still matter enough to them to change their outlook, and the persistence of their ingrained beliefs. it's tiring to do that kind of work, over a long period of time, to minimal results. when is the appropriate time to give up? in this way, Feferi's own hopes for Eridan fade over time. she says at one point that she was mainly acting as his moirail so he wouldn't try to underfeed her lusus and kill the land dwellers that way. she's not sure how serious he is, and she can't take that risk. deep down, I'm pretty sure Eridan knew he was never actually going to commit a genocide... but his need to grandstand, and legitimate belief in his caste superiority, had convinced Feferi enough that she still felt obligated to manage him as though he was a real threat.

these characters are thirteen years old. they're right at the edge of childhood and adolescence... right at the age where children aren't quite so innocent. they want to assert themselves. they aren't mature, so there's a lot of responsibility that they still shouldn't be trusted with yet, but they've become aware enough to feel like that's demeaning, and to want to be taken seriously. in an effort to make people acknowledge them without looking down on them, they'll try just about anything. they don't have the experience to know what they're doing yet, so it doesn't always work in their favor, and that's frustrating. you can see bits and pieces of this in homestuck's characters. like with the way they try to paint themselves as an authority on something, or shit talk each other in order to emphasize their own strengths. it's a really interesting theme, because homestuck pushes some of these young characters really far in terms of how bad the things they've done can be, or how much their lived experiences have taught them that what they're doing is acceptable. they can be really self aware in some ways, and come off as really childish in others. it's hard to know what you'd do about them in real life... and your answer changes depending on your own age and perspective. it's a really cool gray area to poke around in, and homestuck is excellent at it.

wtf I like Eridan now