#small trans man dirk >>>>>>>>>>>>>

[lovelyrotter]

listen beta bro being built as small and delicately as dirk is IMPORTANT TO ME and ill get go of this headcanon when i am cold and dead in the ground

[conceptofjoy]

I'm not particularly against tfem Dirk even if it's not a reading I subscribe to, but tbh there is evidence in homestuck even if small of tmasc Dirk. In hussies forum posts iirc, they explain that the chumhandle acronyms are basically chromosomal. For example GG= xx and GT= xy. (It doesn't count for the trolls. the in universe explanation that they're aliens and they have different chromosomes, and the out of universe explaination that it would be impossible to implement since there was 6 "girl" trolls and only CC and AA would be available)

Roxy and Dirk break this, because Roxy's handle is TG (XY) and Dirk's handle is TT (XX). Admittedly this isn't huge evidence and you're totally free to disregard it. I prefer using it as evidence for Tfem Roxy because a lot of the tfem evidence stacks in her favour (her revealed name is described with "the last two chromosomal letters" aka xy) I feel like it's also evidence for June in a way, as she changes her handle out of the GCAT code... (Lost the point I was making started thinking about transfems) Man Roxy is t4t as hell she just attracts tgirls like moths to flame...

roxy's hellllaaaaa t girl. she has points even beyond the chumhandle fact like her ties to the fuchsia girls :] yeah that would be a bump in t girl dirk reasoning but i think there's enough thematic and general character stuffs that point towards dirk needing to take a hard look at himself and let go of all the self imposed rigid gender roles and bro worship tgat he does. like he could be a trans guy and still do that introspection as well but the topic's abt t girl dirk.

his idolization of roxy could be seen as part of a repressed desire to be her. Damn my best friend is trans? That's cool, wish i could be a girl too WHO SAID THAT. his conflicting views on his bro can stem from his dissatisfaction of bro assigning him male at birthmeteor. he latched on to this man who's given him the means to live so he copies eeeeverything for a semblance of closeness with him. its easy when everything left for him's part of his legacy- including himself. he needs to be him because he owes it to him AND his friends to be the guy who knows what he's doing. dude's afraid of calling himself gay, and especially if he's a girl, NO way is he actually admitting that to himself.

he either doubles down on it post canon or one someone else notices that's what he's doing and is like okaaaay lets get you out of ur head now. ult dirk.... :/ well his deal certainly isnt the latter.

[mmmmalo]

Side-stepping the question of robots, I'm inclined to think that the drones aren't really categorically distinct from the trolls, at least on a thematic level. Like how His Honorable "Tyranny" acts as an occluded t-slur in service of the surrounding allusions to transphobic discourse. My impression of the drones isn't as clean cut, but I think you can form a rough picture from the run-up to their introduction, which takes place over about 10 pages.

2060: Terezi has vandalized Karkat's hive and ripped out his toilet. Karkat stands next to the dismembered toilet below the hive and the ghost of Crabdad floats next to a facsimile of a toilet above the hive.

2065: The ghost of Aradia decapitates a frog statue.

2067: Eridan picks up a Faygo, remarking that the land-dweller's rubbish makes him sick. A small crab establishes that he is standing on a beach.

2069: Crabdad looms as we get our first description of troll reproduction, including the drones and their genetic material buckets. The GRIEF session concludes when Karkat gives Crabdad some frozen roe cubes.

We already know Eridan is to some degree a symbolic drone: his role model Orphaner Dualscar's cowl imitates the drone's spikes, and Eridan's blood tribute to Glbgolyb is akin to the blood (genetic material) delivered to the mother grub. The cut from Aradia to Eridan established that the blood-red Faygo represents a decapitated head, and the point at which Eridan later drinks the Faygo is immediately followed by Sollux's revival, linking blood consumption to the perpetuation of life on Alternia. Karkat offering Crabdad roe cubes (more genetic material) while the drone description is overlaid places their conflict in this chain of reproductive analogy.

The start of the chain at 2060 is an interesting wrinkle because the dismembered toilet isn't presented as a head, but as genitalia: Terezi's graffiti depicts a giant Karkat on the side of the building, with the hole in the building (from his computer exploding) placed right between graffiti!Karkat's legs. The apparent castration then applies to both Karkat (insofar as he voices complaints about emasculation) and to the ghost of Crabdad, who lingers by the second "toilet" -- I don't think this has ramifications for the mechanics of troll reproduction, but rather just attaches a loose sense of "emasculation" to drones. (One possible collision with robots: I recall Jake once joking about Dirk being "more machine than man" -- at one point I cited this to argue Dirk was trans masc, though I feel differently now)

On a similar tack, the use of "load gaper" as a euphemism for sight (seemingly downstream of the dual gutterpipe/film projector in Problem Sleuth) perhaps offers a connection between emasculation and blindness -- as though the drone-dressed Dualscar's eponymous Dual Scars could alternately invoke damaged eyes or the (rhetorical?) loss of his balls. Similar associations were afoot in the Terezi's intro, where the blind girl strings up a Lemonsnout (piss nozzle) as the figure of a man with his eyes scratched out looms on a coin.

For me at least, the potential wedge is that phallocentric discourse can demean both the slurred category of "effeminate men" and cis women as being castrated/emasculated -- effectively an even broader slurred category. I lean towards the "effeminate men" angle because I have other reasons to believe Alternia has a rhetorical focus on "colours and mayhem", but the general ambiguity of "emasculated" (derogatory) as a signifier of sex bugs me.

Tangential: Its been bothering me for a while that Crabdad's face is reminiscent of a mutant cat, but the above talk reminded me that Jaspersprite, in discussing his past, takes a moment to lament getting his balls removed. Since Crabdad is assauged by roe cubes, I vaguely wonder if emasculatory GRIEF intersects with miscarriage motifs...

i've long held that there can be no proper discussion of all trolls as "male" without acknowledgement of the drones, but for the first time i'm also wondering if this was deliberate reasoning for the drones' existence? Alternia's drones arise from a lineage of machine enforcers in fiction (Terminator's terminators and the X-Men's sentinels are both evoked in Homestuck if only in a very indirect fashion on the part of the latter), which in Homestuck is necessarily analogous to a machine patriarchy. so in contrast to this - as well as by analogy to the social structure of colony insects - i would argue trolls are almost necessarily feminine.

last night's Matrix rewatch in particular highlighted to me the sort of compromise Alternia's drones have with their trolls; Alternia's drones are biological insomuch as they require the biological processes of organisms like trolls and mother grubs to breed - in not dissimilar a way to English keeping a facade of matriarchy around his empire so long as this compromise continues to be convenient for him. but by the time the drones arrive on Earth, this pretense has seemingly disappeared entirely. drones no longer enforce reproduction in any meaningful way; they are, essentially, drones for drones' sake.

i guess implicitly the ultimate robotification of the troll empire, as with the shedding of superfluous biological elements like caste and, eventually, trolls themselves, is all English-as-Terminator's design. by forcing reproduction and adherence to the design on pain of death, the drones even act out on a microcosmic scale what English does on a universal level; the culling drone becomes an avatar of the inevitability of death that English represents. i ponder, even, if the idea of a drone as a male insect born from an unfertilised egg is alluded to at all by Caliborn as a male creature born from a failure to absorb his feminine half?

[somerabbitholes]

Indian Non-Fiction

A list of books on India, almost all of which are by Indian writers; most of them are about history in one way or other but they also involve politics, culture, and religion. (Doesn’t include writing in Indian languages because most of my non-English reading has been limited to fiction). I’ve also added links to online editions for ones I found.

History

Pre-, Postcolonial India (+ other assorted history)

Land of Seven Rivers by Sanjeev Sanyal - looks at Indian history through its geography; great if you want an introduction. it’s a small book but has very interesting insights; definitely would recommend. Also check his Ocean of Churn, which looks at Indian history in terms of the Indian Ocean

The Lost River: On the Trail of the Sarasvati by Michel Danino - looks into the research and evidence on the existence of the Sarasvati river and makes a case for its existence

Hooghly: The Global History of a River by Robert Ivermee - about Hooghly as a centre of a trans-Asiatic and trans-oceanic commercial network

Indians: A Brief History of a Civilization by Namit Arora - what it says, it’s new and was well-received; it paints a holistic picture to start you off

Modern South India by Rajmohan Gandhi - this one’s new, and I’ve only barely read it. It’s the history of south India from the coming of the Portuguese to modern times and it’s really important because we don’t study about this or even talk about this in mainstream conversations

India Moving by Chinmay Tumbe - on migration within India and how migrants and migrations has shaped history, politics, and policy

The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin by Manu Pillai - a selection of stories (real ones) from Indian history; very engagingly written and very, very interesting stories. Also check other works by Pillai - The Ivory Throne and Rebel Sultans. He also writes a regular column for the Mint

Panipat by Vishwas Patil - (a translation from Marathi) a history of the Battle at Panipat in 1761, which basically created a vacuum for the East India Company to step in and grab power; really expansive and highly detailed

Rama and Ayodhya by Meenakshi Jain - on the Ramayana and its cultural spread across Indian since the ancient times; also about the Ayodhya movement

Decolonizing the Hindu Mind by Koenraad Elst - lays down the ideological and intellectual development of the broad umbrella Hindu revivalist movement; really good starting point to understand the rise and development of a significant chunk of Indian politics in post-independence years; really straightforward work, very clear in its objectives

1962: the War that Wasn’t by Shiv Kunal Verma - on the Sino-Indian conflict in 1962; haven’t read it yet, but it’s supposed to be one of the best ones on the conflict

1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh by Srinath Raghavan - on the creation of Bangladesh; places the history in a Cold War context and includes all stakeholders like the US, China and Russia; has multiple layers to its narrative.The Most Dangerous Place by Srinath Raghavan - on American foreign policy in South Asia right from the earliest times.

Cricket Country by Prashant Kidambi - about how cricket took hold in colonial India and the making of the first all-India cricket team; super excited about this book, I added it to my list too

A Corner of a Foreign Field by Ramchandra Guha - on the growth of cricket in India; takes into account race, caste, and religion in pre- and postcolonial times; looks at how the sport was adapted in local cultures and how it became an expression of resistance

Himalaya: A Human History by Ed Douglas - basically what it says; very thorough and very fresh; about more than India because it takes Himalaya as a unit and so it’s really transnational in its approach

Colonial India

Plassey by Sudeep Chakravarti - a very detailed study of the Battle of Plassey which kicked off the colonial project in India

India’s War: World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia by Srinath Raghavan - on India’s involvement and contribution in World War II

An Era of Darkness by Shashi Tharoor - about the economic impact of the British Empire in India; highly elaborate and detailed work on the economic drain in India during colonisation

Goa Inquisition by A. K. Priolkar - about the Portuguese colonisation of Goa and the subsequent evangelical campaign by the Portuguese crown and the Roman church; very, very, thorough and great if you (like me) know nothing about the whole thing

Hicky’s Bengal Gazette by James Otis - on the development and running of India’s first English newspaper; a fun read because honestly the story of the paper is very dramatic and full of political/colonial gossip; also tells you a lot about the early ideas of free press in colonial India

Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse by Meenakshi Jain - about the discourse on sati and the need for reform; reviews the idea of the abolition of sati being a progressive act

Castes of Mind by Nicholas Dirks - about the intersection of caste, race, and colonial knowledge and policy

Politics, Sociology, Commentaries

The Indian Trilogy by V. S. Naipaul - a semi-autobiographical work on the kind of civilisation Naipaul sees India to be; very, very honest; paints a picture of postcolonial India over the years. the trilogy includes An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization, and India: A Million Mutinies Now. I’ve only read the first one; but I’ve heard and read great things about them all

Republic of Caste by Anand Teltumbde - about caste in post-Independence India; looks at political and policy-related developments and their impact on caste dynamics; sort of subaltern history; it is a little difficult to understand if you don’t already have some amount of knowledge on Indian politics; also a very academic work so not exactly easy to read - I’ve only read parts of it myself

Annihilation of Caste by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar - technically a speech that was never delivered because it was thought to be too explosive; argues that caste is rooted in oppression and for the complete destruction of the caste system; an excellent work, although you do need to know about caste in its religious and political terms. Really just read all of his writing (it’s an entire 14 volume set), they’re excellent and far ahead of their time

The Idea of India by Sunil Khilnani - an analysis of sorts of what pre-colonial and colonial society and the freedom struggle mean for the republic and the kind of nation-building that has happened.

A New India of India: Individual Rights in a Civilisational State by Harsh Madhusudan, Rajeev Mantri - rethinks the “idea of India”; traces cultural and historical legacy in making of modern politics, and explores how individual rights are reconciled with the state’s goals; great thing is that it takes a fresh look at things; perfect to be read after The Idea of India 

10 Judgements that Changed India by Zia Mody - recounts ten most important legal cases and court rulings in India; good starting point at understanding how the law works and its development

Republic of Religion by Abhinav Chandrachud - about secularism and religion in India in light of colonial rule, and its implications in postcolonial India

India Unbound by Gurcharan Das - it’s a history from the Independence to 2000 that focuses largely on the political economy and unpacks the kind of growth we’ve seen; it mixes the personal with the political/economic progress and it’s really easy to get into; best when read with his India Grows at Night

People

Kanshiram by Badri Narayan - a biography of Kanshi Ram, who pretty much laid the foundation of modern Dalit political movement in post-independence India; looks into how the movement developed under Kanshi Ram; a useful insight into both the man as well as early Dalit politics in India

Savarkar by Vikram Sampath - first part of a two-part biography (second part isn’t out yet) on V. D. Savarkar, one of India’s first revolutionary freedom fighter; looks at an insane variety of sources and highly detailed; a must read.

History Men by T. C. A. Raghavan - about the friendship of three of colonial India’s first native historians (Sir Jadunath Sarkar, G. S. Sardesai, Raghubir Sinh) and how they collaborated and supported each other in writing Indian history using scientific methods; also looks at their contributions to Indian history in general

Rammohun Roy by Amiya P. Sen - a biography of colonial India’s first social and religious reformers who reinterpreted Hinduism for modern times; very well-written, great for understanding how early reform worked out

Daughters of the Sun by Ira Mukhoty - about women in the Mughal dynasty. note that it only looks at women connected to and part of the royal household, but an interesting read nonetheless. Her other work, Heroines: Powerful Indian Women in Myth and History is a wonderful book on women in history right from the ancient times; also analyses and explains the changing perceptions of women

R. N. Kao: Gentleman Spymaster by Nitin Gokhale - really, really, really interesting book on R. N. Kao and the development of India’s espionage machinery

Art

Indian Art by Partha Mitter - a history, he’s one of the best on Indian art, very useful

The Dance of Shiva by Ananda Coomaraswamy - a collection of essays on Indian artistic tradition in aesthetic and philosophical terms

The Spirit of Indian Painting by B. N. Goswamy - specifically about painting; explores different themes in different regionals tyles; also check other books by Goswamy, he’s kind of a big deal in art history

Indian Painting: the Lesser Known Traditions by Anna Dallapiccola - pretty much what it says; takes into account a ton of styles and traditions that are lumped together ‘folk art’

Cities, Travel etc

The Great Indian Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux - four-month journey from London to India by trains only; explores themes like colonialism, American imperialism, poverty. One of my favourites

The Epic City by Kushanava Chaudhary - memoir on Kolkata as the author explores and re-discovers the city when he comes back to it after staying in the US for most of his life; a lovely book, delves in the history of Kolkata a little in relation to how the city still feels it, how its people are still negotiating with it, and the kind of future the author sees for Kolkata

Bombay, Meri Jaan by Jerry Pinto & Naresh Fernandes - a collection of essays on Mumbai by a wide collection of people from Naipaul to Khushwant Singh to Manto and Salman Rushdie, compiled by Jerry Pinto; one of my favourites on the city

No Full Stops in India by Mark Tully - writings from when Tully was a journalist in India; commentaries on things he witnesses, also includes a fair amount of personal involvement; explores poverty, postcolonial development, religion and culture in post-independence India

Mumbai Fables by Gyan Prakash - a history of Mumbai city; looks at colonisation, industrial development, the regional politics, architecture and art, as well as the underworld/mafia

Banaras by Diana L. Eck - on Varanasi (Banaras), probably India’s holiest city; tells its history from its conception to now; blends religion, mythology, politics, and history. Also check Eck’s India: A Sacred Geography

The City of Djinns by William Dalrymple - semi-autobiography about living in Delhi; looks at the legacies of independence and partition while thinking about its past

The Book of Indian Journeys by Dom Moraes - it’s an anthology of essays and excerpts from works of a bunch of writers on travelling in India, it’s a favourite when I’m travelling

This is not exhaustive and I will keep updating when I find the time. I’ve tried to keep it diverse (and organised) in its content; hope you find something you like :)

[ardenttheories]

Honestly as a Trans man I do like the June Headcanons and the Trans fem Roxy Headcanons. I just wished that when we made Trans man / Trans masc Headcanons they wouldn't be shot down. I've seen so many people say Dirk is a Trans man, only to see people say that you shouldn't want to go with him as your representation, because of his ""evil"" doings

I think this is something that always frustrates me when it comes to trans headcanons in the Homestuck community. Women are allowed to find their representation in characters that have done horrific things (such as Vriska), and this, for some reason, has become seen as acceptable in the fandom. But when it comes to the men, we have to justify everything that the character does or outright denounce them and find someone else to represent us.

Which, if we took away every male character who is even vaguely problematic, we get left with... Tavros? Maybe Dave? Or characters that just didn’t get enough screen time to be actual representation, like Alpha Dave or Poppop. Maybe the Signless and the Summoner, if we’re lucky. 

At that point it isn’t representation, and forcing us to headcanon non-problematic men or men who didn’t even get enough screentime to be developed as characters... kind of sucks. It’s like giving us the scraps and saying that’s all we get, and that we should be thankful for it. It reminds me a lot of being 16 and ace on Tumblr, and being told that I couldn’t headcanon ANYONE as ace except for robots, villains, and characters that nobody otherwise liked. 

It makes you feel so fucking small when you’re told you have restrictions like that. It makes you feel unwanted and unworthy. It makes you feel like you should be happy with that you get - and then when that rep is taken away (like with transmasc Roxy being predominantly ignored), it just leaves you at a complete loss. What do you... do after that?

Maybe I want to headcanon Dirk as trans. Maybe I see a lot of transmasculinity in him, his struggle with identity, his hatred of himself - or maybe I just really like him as a character and want to put my own representation into him. That should be as acceptable as a transwoman or a lesbian seeing Vriska as their own form of representation, because you can read those identities into her character - quite easily, even! 

It’s again one of those ideas where like, we’re all trans, y’know? We should support each other with the headcanons that make us most happy, not gatekeeping each other and declaring that one is better than the other. We’re real people. The characters aren’t. Transmasc John and transfem June can exist side by side and make real transmen and transwomen feel validated and happy. 

The only time we should be careful is when we think we have to justify representation in headcanons. We can’t get rid of the horrible things Vriska has done, that Dirk is doing, to justify why we see them as x or y representation. We have to accept that they’re problematic, but also that we can still identify with problematic characters. It only becomes an issue when a creator writes a trans character in an inherently problematic way without putting any problematic traits into other characters. That’s when you know they’re trying to denounce trans people, and that’s when you should call them out on their bullshit. 

And finally! (Because I will keep typing if I’m not careful, like a dumbass). I don’t have an issue with the June or transfem Roxy headcanons, either; they’re perfectly valid and wonderful headcanons, and I think it’s really cute how people draw June and how happy they always make her seem. And it makes me so, so happy to know that she is making any number of transwomen happy now that she’s been accepted as a headcanon/canon by the wider Homestuck community. 

My only issue comes from the point when transmen’re told we can’t make our own headcanons or have to be narrowed down to what we do headcanon. But then again, I’d say the same if I saw anyone doing it to transwomen and their headcanons. We’re all people, and we all deserve to find our own representation in characters we love or associate with - and that shouldn’t be taken away from anyone. 

[dghdabigbang]

DGHDA Big Bang 2020: Fic Summaries & Artist Sign-Ups

It’s finally that time!

Many of you will know the drill by now, but in case you don’t: below the cut are the summaries of all the fics currently in progress for the Big Bang, all numbered with the writers left anonymous. If you’re interested in taking part as an artist, go through this list and give them all a read to figure out which one(s) you’d like to work with! When you reach the bottom of the post you’ll find the sign-up form link, so pop into that, fill out all the required information, and the numbers of your first (and second and third if you like) choice of fic! You will hopefully be contacted promptly about which fic you’ve been assigned!

Because there are only 7 fics this time around, I’m open to assigning multiple artists to one fic. However, I won’t be doing this until every fic has at least one artist, so for at least the first day or two first come, first served rules are in effect!

My hope is that as many people will get their first choice of fic as possible. However, circumstances such as your first choice being claimed while your other choices are still waiting for artists, or even incompatibilties on your sign up form (if you’ve requested to work with over 18s, I won’t assign you your first choice if it’s by an under 18, etc), mean you might get assigned your second or third choice instead. So it’s very, VERY important that you ONLY put down the numbers of fics you are genuinely interested and excited to work on! If that means you put all your eggs in one basket and only choose one fic, so be it, just make sure you only give options that you’re all in for!

Right, time for me to shut up and let the work speak for itself; come, lovely artists, and see what’s in store!

Fic #1 (CLAIMED)

Todd squinted. “You’re Dirk Gently?”

Gently took a small step backward. “Well, that depends. What are you doing with that gun?”

Todd glanced down at the gun in his hand. “Uh-“ he placed it back in its holster. “Nothing. That was just- I have to go.” He turned around and began walking off.

“Wait!” Gently called back to him. “You can’t leave me like this!”

Todd slowed to a halt.

“Why don’t you come in? I’ve just made some tea.”

Todd had no idea why he turned back around. “I just held a gun to your head and you’re inviting me in for tea?”

“Well, you put the gun down, didn’t you?”

*

Todd had been an assassin for years. It was an easy job, especially when he had the universe whispering in his ear telling him which jobs to take and which to turn down. So when Mr. Priest offers him much more than his usual rate to kill a man named Dirk Gently, the universe is there telling Todd to accept the job. However, when Todd looks Dirk in the eyes, something seems off. He can’t pull the trigger.

Priest then hires Todd to officially work for Blackwing, hoping that he can persuade him into seeing the dangers of leaving Project Icarus alive. But things backfire for Priest when Todd learns that Dirk is actually a very good person, and he might have fallen in love with him.

No explicit sexual content, but a couple references to sex. Swearing. Smoking weed. Drinking alcohol. Trans Todd. Almost slow-burn Brotzly. References to Blackwing related trauma. Use of guns. Someone might die but a happy ending.

Fic #2 (CLAIMED)

The man was talking, he finally realized. How long had he been talking?

“Oh, God,” he babbled, “is this how you greet everyone? By stabbing them with a pen? This is how I die, isn’t it? Years and years of possibilities and I get taken out by a pen. Death by impaling. With a pen. I can see it on my gravestone now: Here lies Dirk Gently, stabbed to death by his apartment neighbour. May he rest in peace.” 

He paused to take in a huge breath. He had a very strong, very posh British accent that reminded Todd of old English dramas. Todd waited to see if he would stop talking.  

He didn’t. 

*

Todd Brotzman is perfectly fine. He works at a bakery all day and sleeps (er, tries to) all night. He's definitely not lonely, and he definitely doesn't need some random, hyperactive college student breaking into his apartment, and, concurrently, his life. No matter how hot he is. 

Dirk Gently, of course, thinks otherwise. With his rapidfire wit and oddly charming (yet equally eccentric) shade of bizarre, he sidles into Todd’s everyday routine and casually sends his carefully-constructed world careening off its axis. Todd is quickly swept away in it all, but is he willing to step so far past his comfort zone? What is he so afraid of? 

University/modern day AU, rated Teen. Swearing, mentions of drug use, alcohol use, and descriptions of mental illness (anxiety and ADHD). Mostly fluff and humour, with a dose of hurt/comfort.

NOTE: All fics below this point, by request or necessity, are open to 18+ artists ONLY

Fic #3 (CLAIMED)

The food on offer is as much of an eclectic mix as the rest of the castle. It isn’t quite as fancy as Amanda expected, but Farson whispers to her that this is a simple dinner; plans are already in motion for a much fancier celebration banquet later that week. Still, there’s the sort of thing that Amanda read about in the Narnia books when she was a kid: roasted birds, platters of shining fruits, goblets full of wine. But there are also burgers, hot dogs, great big pizzas. Farson passes her a tray of fruits in shapes Amanda could never have imagined. The first sip of her drink reveals a flavour like liquified pizza. It’s all extremely odd, but the chefs are very talented, and it kind of works as a semi-casual dinner in a castle in a different dimension Amanda only found out about a few days ago. Amanda’s sure she’s too full for dessert, but they bring out trays of what looks like tide pods, and magically a little extra space opens up in her tummy.

The tide pods taste like cotton candy and blue raspberry and watermelon slushies and, somehow, fireflies on a summer night. They’re the most bomb thing Amanda has ever tasted, even better than the roasted quail garlic thing she’d had only fifteen minutes before. Eight year old Amanda would have straight up died if she’d gotten to eat one of these.

*

Amanda could easily return to Earth. She could take the wand and figure out her magic with her Rowdies. But her heart sinks as Francis says she has to go back, and she knows she wants to stay. To learn more magic, to explore this world, to see with her eyes wide open.

With the universe more or less shelf stable for the time being, Amanda decides to stay. She learns magic, ballroom dancing, and dueling with scissors. But she also learns more about her new country and friends: one pretty pink princess in particular. Damn, does Amanda have a type, and it's the kind of lady who can kick Amanda's ass.

Post season 2, canon divergence. Amanda nurtures a friendship (or more!) with Litzibitz while trying on the big-sister hat with Farson. Wendimoor gang adventures (skydiving! dancing! smashing shit up!) and a cameo from the Agency trio + Tina. Probably rated Teen & Up because Amanda likes to swear.

Fic #4 (CLAIMED)

Todd sighed, closing the door behind him and glancing around. “Right, so, you can sleep in my room. It’s the door to the right, in… the right hall."

Dirk scoffed as if Todd had just said something ridiculous. "Of course I won't, that's your room. I'll be sleeping on the couch, thank you."

"What- no, you can't-"

"I'll do what I like." Dirk sat down on the couch, wiggling around to get comfortable. "It's not the best, but I think it'll do. I can buy you a new one."

"You're not buying us a new couch," Todd huffed. "No."

"And you plan on stopping me how?"

That was a good question. Dirk was unlike the other Victors that Todd had met, he didn't have that glint of hardness in his eyes. Instead, his face had an open and welcoming look to it, almost childlike. It made Todd want to groan. 

"Fine," he said, wandering over to the kitchenette. "At least have the food Amanda made you."

*

Todd and Amanda own a tailor shop in the middle of District 12, but their lives are interrupted when Amanda volunteers to house a Victor who had his house burned down. Dirk Gently is… strange, and Todd absolutely hates him. But then Dirk invites Todd to come and help him mentor in the games, and he meets a whole new group of strange and terrifying people like Mona Wilder. Todd can't help but start to soften for the strange man dragging him around, but the more interested he becomes the more sinister Dirk's past starts to seem.

Alone at home, Amanda is threatened by another victor, Mr. Osmund Priest. Escaping to the woods to gather some fruit, she is confronted by four runaways living in the woods. Terrifying as they seem, they prove to have interesting information on Osmund that makes the world of the Brotzmans start to unravel.

A Hunger Games au but with no actual games because that's boring. Mentions of sex and depictions of drug and alcohol use. Descriptions of graphic violence. Your typical Blackwing bullshit. A brief kidnapping. Themes of loss and trauma are prevalent in this because of the whole hunger games thing. Sort of slow burn.

Fic #5 (CLAIMED)

Farah, ever the voice of reason, had asked if having siblings together during a Sexy Confessions game was wise. Even as she was saying it aloud, Todd was realizing that Dirk’s whole Capitalizing Important Words verbally was spreading. It was only a matter of time before he was going to catch himself doing it and then have to internally smack himself.

In the meantime, he answered Farah’s question by saying, “We aren’t prudes, Farah.”

At the same time, Amanda was answering, “I was stuck in my house for five years. I lived vicariously through Todd’s exploits. Few though they were.”

Farah hadn’t known how to respond to that level of codependence, so just let the issue go.

*

Todd, unsure how Dirk convinced him to get into the dumpster in the first place, realizes his sudden low level urge to smoke is because the only times he’s really been in an alley behind a bar were Band Times when he still smoked.

Tina, giving sobriety a decent try, laments later that she can’t play the drinking game she used to during The Bachelor. Team Jacket have an idea/a good idea/a hunch (Farah, Todd, & Dirk). They meet up with Tina monthly to “make new memories” of things she had only ever done on drugs. One such occasion, magically, coincides with the Rowdies appearing unannounced. Tina LOVES Amanda, fangirls about Wendimoor, and asks if she has any wild tales about Todd during Mexican Funeral Era. (She does.)

Despite Farah asking when Future Tina will be playing teenage drinking games in a basement... this month they‘re planning to at least play Never Have I Ever. With the rest of the Rowdies coaxed away to their own destructive party elsewhere- courtesy of Farah and Emergency Protocol 333: fill the basement with rickety chairs, chipped plates and other temptingly breakable things from garage sales- the games can begin. Todd doesn’t say that even if Tina never plays the game again, there is probably a memory she wants to replace. He knows he has a few.

Dirk/Todd (main), Amanda/Martin (will not feature sexy stuff), hints of Farah/Tina might make it in. Rated E for safety.

Subject Tags: friends to lovers, embarrassed by your sibling revealing dumb things you did as a kid/teen, explicit consent, references to past drug use, first time, making out in front of friends, sobriety.

Fic #6 (CLAIMED)

"Dirk?" Todd sounded tense. Dirk fumbled in the dark for his hand, giving it a squeeze, and then wondering why it was still dark when he felt rested. Very dark. Not just curtains-pulled-mostly-closed-at-night dark, but pitch black. Blackwing black, the darkness of all the lights in the corridor having been switched out. 

"Yeah?" He asked, reaching down to check he was still in his pyjamas, a little shark embroidered on the pocket. 

"Where's the alarm clock?" 

An alarm started to blare, and Dirk screamed. 

"The hell, dude?" Tina called out as she and Farah ran into the room, both semi-dressed and holding guns. 

Dirk looked between them, and the familiar Blackwing alarm, and frowned. Before he could say anything else, Mona walked in, looking utterly miserable. She flopped dramatically onto the bed. 

"Something's wrong, Dirk. I'm trying to be a kitten." 

"Hmm?" Dirk paused, wondering what kind of kitten-shaped issue she was having. Maybe she couldn't decide on a fur colour, or some other kitteny problem. 

She looked him in the eyes, still human-shaped. "I'm trying to be a kitten. Right. Now." 

*

Dirk finds he can make things appear when he dreams. The Rowdies start to get rid of people on the universe's command, Mona knows where her friends are, and Bart keeps turning into a knife. When something goes wrong, and the holistics find themselves with each other's powers, they have to work together to get things back the way that they should be. 

Brotzly, (minor) Ken/Priest, Farah/Tina Rating: M (Might be T, tagging M for safety) 

Triggers/Squicks: Mild body horror (shapeshifting), Violence (not hugely graphic), mild non-detailed recreational drug use (including cigarettes and alcohol) Other tags: Powerswap, found family

Fic #7 (CLAIMED)

The ambience here wasn't exactly ethereal music and mystical energy. More very bored wind and rustling plastic.

"Do you have to do that now?"

"You said I had to eat." Tina fished out a gummy bear from the depths of the packet and held it up to the sky with forensic attention before shrugging and popping it in her mouth.

"I meant food," Farah said. "Real actual food. With ingredients you can pronounce."

"Oh, like you can't pronounce them." Farah was about to argue when the packet was suddenly held right in front of her eyes. "Go on. Bet'cha can."

"I'm not even going to answer that," Farah told her lightly, before first lightly tapping Tina's hand and then finally taking a gummy bear with a sigh when Tina didn't stop bouncing her eyebrows ‘helpfully’. "And that's not the point. I was thinking vegetables."

"Strawberry's a fruit," Tina informed her, triumphantly holding up candy of an oddly dusty shade of red. "That's just as good."

"That's a food dye," Farah said, "it's not - never mind." She flicked her hands in the air, caught herself, and firmly crossed her arms as she fixed her gaze on the sword in the stone. The literal sword in a literal stone. "We have another problem to deal with."

*

There’s a literal sword in a literal stone in Bergsberg, or there was before Farah Black accidentally pulled it free. As useful as a sword can be, the appearance of a multicoloured individual calling himself Merlin is decidedly not, nor is a whole load of Arthurian shit descending on the Midwest. Also, Amanda is either Morgana or the Lady of the Lake (if you ask Merlin), or just shouldn’t have that magic wand (if you ask Farah). This is what happens when you try to escape the Dirk and Todd soap opera for five minutes.

AKA Farah Black is the new King Arthur and Tina is having the best time.

Faratina, background Brotzly (mostly over the phone). T-rated, probably. Not a Merlin crossover (depiction is much closer to T. H. White). Canon-typical cursing, allusions to drugs use, fantasy violence.

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[hskinfession]

why must... the pesterquest sprites of me... be so small. i’m a trans man, and seeing ppl laugh about my height is making me Dysphoric. at least the self isolation from the quarantine hasn’t been hitting me that hard. hard to feel lonely after two weeks of social isolation when you’ve got sixteen years of it under your belt haha. -Dirk Strider

//

[abundantchewtoys]

Homestuck Candy p17-23 (holy shit)

So, yeah, this baby coming up.

I wonder if there's going to be callbacks to Dirk's art for Caliborn in any form. ("jake no, what are you doing - to our baby?")

John can't erase this baby in any case, since no retcon powers.

I wonder if we're going to learn its name. I kind of like one of Blaperile's theories, that he would name a boy after his Dad... It would reveal one of those long hidden mysteries in Homestuck.

Otherwise... Liv? :P

Theresa, after Terezi?

---

Page 17

Oh wow.

OH WOW.

Yeah, now we're getting to the juicy bits.

The candy is turning into diabetes around John. Details about the past are getting vague for his friends, the harmony trumping the validity of their experiences. It's all turning out a lot more existential for John in this path than I thought!

"Harry Anderson Egbert", heheh. But yeah, John has a good point. He wants his wife to have some identity, but it's like she's ... malleable, or something. Everything shapes around each other and forms the least offensive shape.

On the one hand, I want to imagine Vriska Lalonde-Maryam and Harry as childhood friends, growing up together.

On the other hand, I wonder what there is in store for this John. He's lost his retcon powers. But he says Terezi is the only thing that still makes sense to him. So maybe, if he rejects this reality, he can escape it again?

It all is going to depend a lot on what Terezi has to offer. (Going by the assumption it really is Terezi, by the way, not an imposter.)

It would really be something if this John, a twenty-four year old now, crosses back into the Meat timeline. He'd be leaving a lot behind, and frankly, be a shitty husband and father by going through with it. But yeah, Meat John is dead, has been for some time.

Jegus, John keeps filling his own dead self's shoes. Alternate John who dated Vriska. (Okay, in fact, in that situation, it was more of an inversion as the other John continued his developing relationship. On the other hand, for Davesprite, alpha John must've felt like the replacement John in the beginning.) Post-Retcon John who was killed by Typheus. Even Poppop Crocker, when he met up with B2 Dad.

The Candy path is definitely shaping up to be quite suspenseful, all expectations be damned!

---

Page 18

Wow.

Jake's so much more mature here. I want to see more of this man.

So yeah, it had occurred to me that part of the reason Gamzee hooked up with Jake and Jane could be because he was somewhat thinking of a) the other Page he was attracted to, and b) the Hope and Life players in his session, who were close to him on the hemospectrum?

But... I hadn't imagined Gamzee being Jane's kismesis. But it works so well. Got to say, it brings back memories of him on her land during the session.

So Jake and Jane had a baby! The first cross-species naming, then. After Tavros.

It's remarkable, isn't it? Dad, GCATavrosprite, Jasprosesprite^2, Nannasprite, Nannasprite*2... They fell on the wayside, we have no idea what happened to them. The sprites could've dissolved, we didn't seem them in the official credits after all, only the extra possibly outside-of-canon snaps, explaining why Jake would name his firstborn after Tavros. But Dad?

As for Jade and Davekat. Wow. Well, I guess, I really want to know now whether this revelation is also canon.

Cause Jade is either intersex or trans now, after fusing with Beq. (Also, it might be a dog penis, but capable of transferring human DNA? *Shudder.*) I can understand this would make her uneasy in exploring sexual options with Dave.

Wow. Yes, it seems that things are, in a very different but equal sense than in the Meat path, very raw and heartwrenching in this timeline as well.

At the start of the page, I started thinking for a minute that Gamzee would also find something off about the timeline. It would have been something for him to join John in pursuit of relevance, truth and all that. But no, it was just to bait Jane, it seems. If anyone, it would be Jake who might go through something similar as John.

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Still said to see Jake getting the small end of the relationship stick, once again. Boy has no luck in love.

It was interesting to get Jane's honest take on politics on Earth C. If she and the others had just been honest with each other, they might have been able to struck an accord. Alas, through Dirk's meddling, it was not to be.

Also, it was funny to have Gamzee refer to the 5000-year skip in sweeps. Yeah, that... That doesn't convert well.

---

Page 19

Wow that took a turn!!

I thought it might have been time for them to discuss their relationship. How Jade has turned into the third wheel stopping the Davekat bicycle from taking off.

(Those references to Jane and Jake, I could've gone about.)

But then.

Something hit.

I thought instantly it would've been the other Jade. A moment or two I thought an ecto baby or First Guardian infant, for these three to take care off in lieu of a biological child. But no.

It's really REALLY the Postscriptum Jade!! (Well, I hope it's her, and that the Postscriptum doesn't take place on Future Candy Earth C.)

She "escaped" the black hole, into relevance, the PS said. So... It seems... As if...

Dirk was very much wrong.

Candy Earth C is going to play an important part in what's to come, yet.

Unless this Jade has only come to lift some of the people here away, like the mentioned Blue Fairy.

But in any case... It seems Davebot and Aradia can't be far behind.

This idyllic fantasy, who's already shown cracks, is about to be shattered.

What hit Jade, though, it almost seemed like those shards from the Furthest Ring, though it was called massless, here.

---

Page 20

Wow.

So, this Jade is suffering from a metaphysical poison. Just like John was from Lord English's tooth. Only... This Jade went into the black hole, and last we saw she was okay.

Is it because she's back in the "real" world that it's affecting her now?

For a minute there I thought Jane and Kanaya and Karkat could actually *explain* their grievances to each other. But no, alas. Karkat, validly I must say, just exploded with everything he's pent up.

Gotta say, if the trolls are getting antsy in this timeline, just imagine how it was going to pan out in the Meat timeline! I'm reminded of the troll rebellion that was referenced in the non-canon snaps.

Also, of course. OF COURSE, these Vriska and Tavros would clash on their first meet. Everyone should've seen this coming.

If anything salvages this scene, it must be Jake being able to placate the two toddlers. It's that sort of attention that Joey and Jude deserved to get from their Pa.

It's interesting to note how Rose is no longer sure about their situation. Maybe that's the influence of this corpse and its heavily-dripped-in-canon origin.

Roxy keeps being almost a vanilla version of herself, although the intent to hold a corpse party is horribly in character for her. Still, she feels less *real* than the other characters, who all seem to be kind of recovering from their diabetes-filled state.

John and Roxy, and Dave, Karkat and Jade are in dire need of some therapy, in any case. It was nice to see Karkat telling Gamzee off though. And weird to see Jane and Roxy keep jumping to his side. Like, they have no idea of the history here, and seem to think anyone can redeem themselves if they try hard enough. It kind of shows how they're not really all that streetwise.

Oh, forgot to mention - John has a moustache now. A manly one. Dear god, he's gone full Sassacre :P

---

Page 21

WHAT THE SHIT.

WHAT THE SHIIIIT.

WHAT THE SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT.

Roxy was right. The chances of all of them coming together like that, with all the stuff going on between them, are so infinitesimal.

But then she got into labor, and I thought that was that.

But

But

So, Aradia and Sollux turn up, and when I heard Jade had the shard still in her torso....

It would seem that this Jade isn't Postscriptum Jade... Yet.

Aradia and Sollux found a way out of the Furthest Ring on their own??? And somehow ended up on Earth C without explanation. Just when last page I almost thought as if all missing trolls mentioned in the epilogues' ToC were going to end up appearing as babies to the characters.

Karkat and Jane are in dire need of an actual debate.

Rose's lack of a good consolation was hilariously described.

But of course, the meat (Meat) of this page.

Is that Alt Calliope found a way through the Black Hole into the Candy path, and sent Reload Jade's corpse through it.

And just like in the Candy path, alpha Calliope is scared off. But it bears mentioning that Calliope herself was acting kind of weird, and was weirdly absent for a lot of the pages. It almost seemed to set her up as the narrator of this path, trying to give everyone what she thought they wanted. The fact that she and Roxy "broke character" for a moment was one of the things pointing in this direction.

But now Alt Calliope is here.

The narration is about to force everyone to confront who they really are. For better or worse.

I wouldn't be surprised if this ends with Candy Earth C as the battlefield seen in the Postscriptum. But what does that imply for Meat Earth C, where Alt Calliope ALSO put her influence to work.

She may claim not to influence, but even when she retreated into the narration, the atmosphere wasn't just magically improved over there.

Aradia and Sollux talking with Gamzee was... weird, but funny. I wonder if they are supposed to have aged some sweeps in the meantime. We know Gamzee must be about 8.5 sweeps now, while Karkat and the other trolls are about 11 sweeps.

I guess it's time we learn what Alt Calliope understands under "protecting" a world. I don't think Meat Dirk is coming over there, though I'm unsure what his grand design really is.

---

Page 22

Oh my god.

what is happening.

So Alt Calliope's influence didn't really do anything at that point but upset the group.

And now a 3 year time skip took place. So... wow. They're all 27 now.

And the troll ghosts that were sucked into the black hole are appearing everywhere now. The government is going bananas, but in fact, it must all be repetitions of the same 24 trolls, how weird is that.

I'm sure that in due time, some human ghosts will be appearing too. But this is just getting ridiculous.

Karkat went underground and into the resistance. Jane, as the shadow president, is secretly maneuvering things to invade the troll kingdom. This was supposed to be the Candy path, I thought it was going to be all shits 'n giggles!!!!

I do like that John, finally, after years, is starting to realize Terezi doesn't share anything about her at all. He asked for a picture, which I guess is nice. But, just like in the Meat path, he's torn up about the girl that he didn't stay with.

This has "disaster waiting to happen" written all over it.

Calliope seems to hunker after Roxy, but she still doesn't act on those feelings. It's like a twisted inversion of the Meat path.

It's like, all the sugar we started with has been turned into energy, and the rush has dissipated, and now there's only a tummy ache.

---

Page 23

Wow.

What the shit.

I could only root for John and Tavros' relationship. Seems like the little man is very sharp for his age. Since Harry is into atomic clocks as well, it seems that the tradition of children being into adult subjects like philosophy and psychology and science, continues.

But alas, it was not meant to be.

John finally couldn't take it no more, he had to scream what he'd internalized for so long. But it turned into something really messy, towards Jane and Jade. All valid points, but by losing control he most importantly scared Tavros and Harry Anderson.

The reaction of the other people was so... empty, though. Non-confrontational to a fault.

And I agree with John, Gamzee has apparently set himself up as Jane's subjugglator.

For all that Alt Calliope was saying, she sure seems to have NOT used any influence, though. And things very much have gone to shit here.

It was very cool to get to know Tavros and Harry Anderson as people, though. Tavros is indeed a kind of brother, biologically, to John (and Jade, and a half brother to June and Joey) in appearance. But it's like, personality-wise, he's more like a sad but smart version of Tavros. While his speech is colored in Gamzee's purple, ugh.

And Harry Anderson... A prankster in the making, for sure.

So, what is Terezi going to talk to him about? Is she talking to him from the end of the Meat path, just before she left Earth C? Or is she talking to him just after the other John died. :(

I can say this: I didn't think for a millisecond I would get THIS attached to people from the Candy path.

[mmmmalo]

the king/father creates/births things while the queen serves only to impregnate (him with the idea for what he will create, like a muse, if you will)? idk i hate women being reduced to their reproductive function but this also seems misogynistic somehow. also does this make roxy's ability to create objects from nothing another "she's trans" joke?

I think the discomfort you’re apprehending is discussed somewhat when Crockertier!Jane tells Jake he will only exist to sire her children? Sexual objectification is probably a more familiar experience for women, but the unease in being subsumed by some sexual function isn’t necessarily gender exclusive�� (the existence of domination play attests to that probably)

This subject is probably out of my depth, but I’m going to meander a bit and hopefully say a couple useful things.

First, some clarification: “birth” is the principle of separation and “pregnancy” is the principle of union. Thus birth-as-we-know-it is rendered equivalent to ejaculation, Breathing out, pooping – all of which involve separation from that which was once part of you. Likewise the image of a gestating fetus is equivalent to taut testicles, lungs full of air, a constipated colon – states in which the union is maintained. On this level, it’s apparent that any given body can participate in both halves of the dichotomy.

But as elaborated back in the Roxy-and-Dirk post, Sburb’s queens and kings are aligned with birth and pregnancy, respectively. As per Caliborn’s enchantment, this is treated a hat-switch, a reversal of expectations on who ejaculates and who gestates. “Birth” (which Caliborn likes) is coded as masculine, so that assigning this function to the queen is met as a reversal. While “pregnancy” (for which Caliborn fetishes his disgust) is coded as feminine, so that assigning this function to the king is met as a reversal.

The problem I’m facing is evaluating whether the birth/pregnancy dichotomy (aka separation/union, aka Breath/Blood) contains an intrinsic (ie inescapable?) gendered hierarchy, or if the gendered hierarchy is imported by characters (or us) onto what is actually a gender-neutral distinction. Though there could also be a broader point that binary systems are easily co-opted as mapping to the gender binary…? So that even if a distinction “ought to be” neutral, the matter remains that it has been /rendered/ gendered?

To avoid speaking too much in terms of generalities, I’m going to reorient this discussion around John Egbert via an ask concerning the ARG:

you gotta talk about it man come on

I read the ARG as a conspiracy theory that falls in line with the kids’ paranoid fantasies. In the same way that the very real trolls function as manifestations from the psyches of those around them, the world of Homestuck is, in general, shaped by the psychological profiles of its inhabitants.

I gather this partly from the nods to an irl conspiracy (eg declaring Obama to be a cross-dimensional immigrant), but mainly because the overwhelming paranoia that defines the narrative, the conviction that the world has degenerated and that every known authority is but a feeble puppet of a nebulous overlord. Comedians Laurel and Hardy are slowly corrupted and eventually infused with Evil, resulting in the birth of the Insane Clown Posse, which is to say ICP’s low-class status translates into degenerate art within the confines of the conspiracy. Albert Einstein is renounced as a fake, whose “insights” are mere scraps cast off from a feast of truth available to some unseen master. It’s all insurmountably stupid, but there is a unifying thread:

The idea is that the world is “fallen”, in two of the senses explored via John Egbert’s fear of heights (or rather, his fear of descent). 

1. John is literally afraid of heights, having fallen from the slime pogo. But John’s entry item is an apple because he experiences a pervasive sense that there is a perfect world of ideals from which he has been thrown down – a sort of intersection between the Fall of Man from the Garden of Eden and the heavenly Platonic Forms. This manifests partly in an obsession with authenticity, a subject that pervades Act 1 (x)(x). The Obama birth-certificate conspiracy attempts to frame Obama as “inauthentic”, and framing Einstein as a feeble peddler of inherited slivers of truth relies on the idea that there is a Godly figure with access to ALL the truth, a master presiding over the Pleroma. John is susceptible to this kind of thinking; after all, the paranoid idea of Betty Crocker as an Illuminati-tier omnipotent antagonist began as one of John’s funny delusions.

2. The biblical Fall is at times phrased as the corruption of humanity, and that sense carries into Homestuck. The other Heir, Equius, is revolted and titillated by that which he regards as base. His fetishization being lower class and other modes of degradation receives a visual complement in images of a falling ideal: the death-by-fall of man-horse Arthour, and Equius’s own descent through the caves of LOCAS (the circumstances of a lusus’s death and the features of a planet both bear relation to a player’s fantasies). John complicates the picture a little bit: he specifically has a fascination with “bad movies” (low status art), but also he regards the other side of the silver screen as a Pleroma of sorts, which simultaneously elevates the art.

But my goal is to demonstrate that all of this intersects with the original topic: the division of high/low is also projected onto masculine/feminine.

John wishes to undo his traumatic fall from the slime pogo, an event that has come to represent John’s fantasy of his own birth. As hinted at the start, the birth he imagines for himself is ejaculatory: Ghostbusters is “manbro bukkake theatre”, and John fancies himself a ghost busted directly from the loins of his heavenly Father. John seeks to re-merge with his image of God, a goal implicit in John’s attempts to reunite with Dad in a more familiar sense.

But implicit in John’s quest to give up the ghost and ascend to the Father is a rejection of the implicitly feminized earth and flesh, to which the self/soul is umbilically bound. This gendering is often shown via robots: 

Jake jokingly says that Dirk is “more machine than man” – this is a jab at Dirk’s terse demeanor, but placing machines in opposition to manhood potentially feminizes the machines, compromising Dirk’s desiring to be a paragon of dudeliness. The simultaneous masculinization of reason and dehuminizing jabs like Jake’s confuse and frustrate Dirk for a variety of reasons

The ghost of Aradia enters robotic husk to be reborn, imitating the insertion of the spirit into the body. She then finds that Equius has inserted something into her body against her will, and violently removes it and destroys it. “It” was a chip that controlled her feelings, but the intimate violation has tones of assault, and Aradia’s heart is effectively aborted.

There’s more examples, but this is just an aside to push the notion that the Fall (from high to low) entails the entry of spirit into body, which via the analogous entry of sperm into womb would seem to gender hierarchy itself. Masculine/feminine is entrenched as high/low by the metaphysics.

(Here’s a nice post that notes a gendering of the hemocaste system in Zebruh’s Friendsim route)

This leads me into thinking that John’s desire to merge with the image of the Father is connected to his love of pranking people, insofar as it becomes a assertion of domination/power (which is presumed to be the masculine position). The prankster’s gambit, at its purest, is a measure of Who’s On Top.

At the end of the Chaos Dunk scene (in which John symbolically enacts Rose’s rape fantasies), John pranks Rose by dumping a bucket full of gushers on her head. Buckets are receptacles, and thus occupy the balls/womb half of the divide. Evacuating the bucket all over Rose is a repetition of earlier symbolic assault, and the moment is embellished with a prankster’s gambit to emphasize the notion that there is an element of domination to the encounter.

The bucket prank is echoed in a  later conversation between John and Rose, beginning at page 2922. John asks repeatedly whether Rose “knows everything” now, says the beta kids “were in this adventure together” but with Rose’s occult knowledge, she is now “getting away from us”. John is not anxious that Rose is separating in a neutral way – his anxiety stems from the idea that she is rising above them. “Knowing everything” is a property of mastery, and John is confused by Rose being above him. At the end of 2922, John attempts to mock Rose’s words, but she tells him he’s being mean and he apologizes.

Rose herself expresses some anxieties about her position, saying elements of her wizard shtick have made her feel “ridiculous” or “embarrassed”. Her choice of words invokes the manifestation of Eridan, who mocks Rose’s “ludicrous poppycock” – she has an ongoing worry that her phallus (masculinized symbol of power) is fake.

This is why the scene culminates in an play scenario, in which John promises to sweep in like a noble knight and banish Rose’s encroaching grimdarkness, and Rose in turn pretends to swoon. The joke is an ironic acquiescence to the (gendered) hierarchy that is implicitly being challenged by Rose’s rise to power (or rather, that the kids perceive to have challenged). Past this, the conversation goes on to the subject of the Tumor, in a way that I have difficult tying into some sort of conclusion for the gendered aspects of the conversation.

This probably bears some relation to Rose’s insistence that John is the group’s leader…? But again, I’m at a loss. Let’s wrap this up.

On your last point: Roxy creating items from nothing actually throws a small wrench into things: in another essay on Gnosticism I was reading (Schuyler Brown’s “Begotten, Not Created”), “emanation” suggested that the creation was originally part of something (God, the One, etc), and emanation was thus framed as being in opposition to creation-from-nothing.

This brings me back to the problem of not knowing which portions of Homestuck’s metaphysics are particular to a given character’s psyche, which portions are universal, and which portions are loaded with both personal and universal meaning, or personal meaning that are /rendered/ universal. The motif of Roxy throwing a dead cat out of bucket seems to carry multiple meanings at once… in the sense we’ve noted, it would relate to the terror of stillbirth and miscarriage that follows Mom and Condy around. But reading “birth” as ejaculation, the cat could also be read as a disappointed acknowledgement that she cannot create life on her own…?

[rancid-jester]

expirimenting with the kind of relationships im portraying in this new story im working on and wanted to write it out...

there are two seperate narrators:

Helena, a nonbinary transfem (she/her),

and Jonah, who is just some guy (he/it),

these are the other characters: Stella, a cis woman, she/her... Rosa, nonbinary, they/them... Adam, a cis man, he/him... Dirk, a trans man, he/him... and Brandon, a cis man, he/him.

and like first of all I don't generally write characters who are like me very well for some reason... however Jonah is a lot like how I was in middle school. undiagnosed autistic who just fucking hates new people. Helena is less like me but she has like the vibe (actually Helena is the name i call myself when I feel more feminine, lol)

and like the relationships are already interesting cuz Jonah hated Helena because she was new to it but he's like slowly accepting her existing because she's the only one showing sympathy to him (he's a prick and its friends have just kinda given up on it, but she's like "well obviously theres a reason")

and then there's Jonah and Adam, Jonah has a big crush on Adam, who used to bully it in middle school but is now his closest friend, and Adam prefers his twin brother Dirk (who yes is a trans homestuck and named himself after Dirk Strider)

and then like I'm not sure what I'm going with Helena regarding the relationships she has with the group, but I know Stella has a crush on her, which i think will lead to a very casual relationship. but like I'm thinking she might also end up having something with Jonah because I love a casual polyam vibe in my stories. But also i love the idea of them being casually queer platonic besties like me and jaxx

I also want to expand more on the non-pov characters, especially Rosa at the moment because they don't have a romantic link to anyone. I'm thinkin that they're aroace, and so far i've been focusing too much on the romance aspect but i want each character to be well-written and interesting to read about.

Stella also doesn't have much about her yet. So far she's a stoner with pink hair, and even though she has a private scene with Helena we havent learned anything aside from her hobbies. i have to figure out what links her to the others, aside from being queer and punk and a poet.

Adam I think has plenty of info for what I want people to know so far--his attempts to be as kind as possible, his control issues, his goldenboy persona, his people pleasing, and some hints at his issues. I'm doing a lot with Adam lol.

I also want to bring Dirk in more. He's currently in a ward and all we know about him is that he has bipolar depression, he's Jonah's twin brother, and everyone likes him better than Jonah. I want to kind of show that he has some guilt for that and show how much he loves his brother and wants the best for him, while also maintaining him as a character apart from Jonah.

Also Brandon is kind of just a support character for Helena, as her older brother, but I do want him to have a plotline. He's sort of meant to represent my own older brother, which is what makes it difficult to see him as a person outside of Helena. Also, he isn't a part of the main group,and he doesn't really hang out with them much, aside from walking home with Helena and Stella.

Also important is why the group sticks together. Stella, Adam, Jonah, and Dirk have known eachother their entire lives, since they grew up in the small town together, but what made Rosa a part of their group? Why are they keeping Helena around? They're all poets, theyre all punks, and theyre all queer, and maybe that's enough of a connection but I want there to he more ties involved, especially for Rosa, as the one who was an outsider before Helena. What made the group accept them? Why do they stay with the group despite Jonah's assholery and the constant drama between Adam and the twins?

anyways i've only got two finished chapters so far and i suppose i should write character sheets now that i've articulated some of what i want to do with this!

[jghouse-asia-pacific]

New Post has been published on https://www.jg-house.com/2022/05/06/woman-angola/

The Woman from Angola

Turning toward an open door to a small office at the foot of a wide staircase, the Flemish woman disappeared into the office without warning. Equally quickly, a very young, maybe 19 or 20 years old, Flemish man wearing a blue suit with a yellow shirt and modish green tie took the place of the woman. He appeared before Sylvere and Melba like an apparition, as if by magic.

“Here in our beautifully designed museum,” started the young man, speaking earnestly in French while escorting Sylvere and Mabel to the staircase, “you’ll see a mix of classical and contemporary art unlike any you’ve ever seen before.” The youth smiled at his guests while leading them up the stone steps. “As part of our collection containing more than 50,000 works of art spanning the Middle Ages to the present,” he continued, “you’ll have the opportunity to view masterpieces by Dirk Bouts, Jef Lambeaux, and Constantin Meunier in addition to works by lesser known but also talented artists from the region we call Flanders.”

Once the young man started talking, he didn’t stop, delivering impressive details about the museum’s place in the culture of the region. He moved briskly, leading Sylvere and Mabel through a series of rooms with works of art in all sizes, from enormous paintings on canvas to tiny sculptures of metal. Sylvere, who had allowed Melba to put her arm through his again, could tell the young man was trans-gender and gay. But, most of all, Sylvere was confused. The events of the day made no sense. In none of the rooms did Sylvere see any tourists. It was clear the young man, who had given his name as Lorenzo, was not rushing them but proceeding at a fast pace through the nearly empty museum. Most likely Lorenzo was under strict orders to deliver Sylvere to Carolina and Anna by a designated time.

Melba, silent as she held onto Sylvere’s arm, didn’t mention her bosses or anything else. At one point, while passing under an archway from one room to another, she accepted two bottles of water from the outstretched hand of a museum attendant. She gave one to Sylvere. In an ornate room, two meters away from a wall displaying the works of the Flemish painter Dirk Bouts, Sylvere saw a small group of young men and women, undoubtedly students in Leuven for a summer program, gathered around a man in his mid 50s, a professor. The man, speaking in Flemish, was delivering a talk.

Woman in Subway Station

Sylvere, turning away, took a drink from the bottle of water in his hand. He couldn’t understand Flemish, with the exception of those words equivalent to their counterparts in English.

Sylvere already had consumed more water throughout the day than he had drunk during the entire previous day. It occurred to him that Melba was not going to ask him any more questions or press him for more details about Claudette. He was relieved. Still he didn’t understand it. He knew she had many more questions. He also knew he could tell her exactly where Claudette was. His intuition told him, though, he should not. It warned him that his information about Claudette’s whereabouts somehow would wind up in the hands of Serge and, then, Anthony and, next, Anthony’s henchman, Quentin.

Abruptly, Lorenzo stopped, ceasing not only his brisk pace but also his other dramatics. “And now we will step outside to our splendid rooftop terrace,” Lorenzo announced, smiling broadly, opening one of the two glass doors in front of him, and standing to one side. Melba passed through, gently propelling Sylvere forward.

“Lorenzo is right,” Sylvere said softly in Kikongo, emerging onto an expansive, flat area of elaborate stone with a sweeping view of the ancient buildings in the historical center of Leuven. “It is a splendid rooftop terrace.” Immediately before him, Sylvere could see four distinct groups of people on four different parts of the stone terrace. Each group appeared to have no more than five people. Sylvere noticed the face of Carolina in one of the groups, but before he had time to scan the crowd for other familiar faces, he felt a hand on his arm as Lorenzo led him to a tall circular table on one side of the deck.

It was hot outside. Shielding the people on the terrace from the onslaught of the sun, though, was an awning made of a heavy, dark fabric and covering the front half of the open space. A young woman wearing a short black skirt without stockings and a white, button-down shirt appeared holding a round tray in one hand. She was a waitress.

“Passe une bonne journée, monsieur,” Lorenzo said. He walked away. His green tie waved in the warm air behind him.

“Something to drink?” the waitress asked, coming close to Sylvere. She spoke in French.

“Like what?” Sylvere replied. Melba, too, was gone.

“Whatever you feel like,” the waitress replied. She flashed a smile, showing all of her teeth, large and white. “Beer—or a glass of wine?”

Young Woman next to Road

Sylvere thought he would like one of the beers for which Belgians were famous. But he decided against it. He didn’t feel he had the luxury to drink alcohol.

“No,” Sylvere replied. “An espresso.” He paused. “A double.”

As the waitress departed, Sylvere turned his head to scan the nearby groups. Instead he saw a familiar figure blocking his view. A woman in her mid 40s and of mixed African and European descent joined him at his table. It was Anna, the heiress. She looked exotic. Sylvere realized he hadn’t been able to see her clearly in the dim light of the restaurant a couple of hours earlier. Now he noticed she carried a laptop computer in one hand. She set the computer on the white table cloth and looked at him for several moments. Her face displayed, as it had displayed at the restaurant, a warm smile.

“We’re making preparations for a permanent collection of contemporary African art at the museum in Tervuren,” Anna said finally, speaking in French, “with regular rotations of the works by artists we like.” She looked in the direction of one of the groups of people standing nearby. “Carolina is over there now providing additional details to the museum administrators and the local civic leaders,” Anna continued, directing her gaze at Carolina. “She’ll finalize the plans later.” Anna brought her gaze back to Sylvere’s face. “I’d like to launch our new initiative with the latest paintings by an artist whose works I greatly admire,” Anna added. “You’ve heard of Kwesi Botchway?”

Sylvere was about to respond negatively, but decided he had no reason to feign ignorance of the famous artist from Accra, Ghana. In fact, he owned several of the man’s early pencil drawings, which he had been told now were worth a considerable sum. He nodded, opening his mouth to speak, then hesitated.

The waitress re-appeared, placing a small white cup with a small white saucer on the table top in front of Sylvere.

Instead of answering Anna, Sylvere picked up the cup, raised it to his lips, and emptied its contents down his throat. The waitress disappeared.

“Sylvere,” Anna began, now wearing a serious expression on her face and looking intently into Sylvere’s face, “I realize you still haven’t decided whether or not to trust us.” She paused. She seemed to be gauging his reaction to her statement. Then she said: “But you must share with us the information you have about Claudette. You can save her life.”

Sylvere looked back at Anna, remembering Chérubin’s parting words in front of L’inizio: “I have things to discuss.” He recalled Justin Kabumba’s last text message: “The woman in Rurimba is Claudette.”

Anna picked up the computer from the table top, but she didn’t move her gaze from Sylvere’s face. “When you see the photos on this computer,” she said, “you will have no doubts about the threat posed by Anthony and his people.” She looked around before returning her gaze to Sylvere again. “The threat is right here, right now,” Anna emphasized. In his mind’s eye, Sylvere pictured Serge outside L’inizio. Anna glanced to her left and appeared to make eye contact with a young woman. “Please go back to your hotel room in Tervuren,” Anna said, turning back to Sylvere, “and stay in your room until the evening.” Suddenly, Sylvere was aware of Melba by his side. “We’ll talk more at the party this evening,” Anna added, allowing the features of her face to form a smile. She turned and walked toward Carolina. Two large men approached the table, the same men who had accompanied Sylvere and Melba from L’inizio to the museum.

Melba led Sylvere toward the set of double-glass doors. Sylvere looked up into Melba’s face. When he glanced over his left shoulder, he saw the two large men following closely behind. The German carried a laptop computer in one hand. The African showed no expression. But his eyes grew dull, as if they had died. Sylvere was a prisoner.

***

#Africa, #Europe, #LifeCulture #Africa, #Art, #Beauty, #Culture, #Europe

[btifn1]

Hey Local News Media, All of you! Do you truly care about the citizens of this city and want to actually report local news? I have a story for you. Time to stop being scared little babies and report on the problem that is #BrianThornton . You actually told one of his victims to call the police?! The man has caused death threats and so much hurt and heartache just by posting his fake stories to facebook. LOCAL POLICE WON'T DO 💩!! Their suggestion was to take him to small claims court and delete their facebook account. HAVE YOU SEEN HOW MUCH IN JUDGEMENTS HE OWES FROM SMALL CLAIMS COURT?! We have easily 50 victims who would be willing to come forward to tell their story, yet you all sit there, compacent, and instead report on flies landing on the VP's head. Don't you think that the victims have been doing that for the past few years? That is why they reached out to all of you for a story on him to expose his crimes that go unpunished. POLICE WON'T DO IT, SO PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE WORD!!! REPORT THE NEWS!! OUR CITIZENS CARE ABOUT THIS STORY!! WANE 15 ABC21 WPTA WFFT FOX 55 Fort Wayne's NBC WOWO News/Talk 1190 AM & 107.5 FM Louie Tran Terra Brantley Dirk Rowley - WANE 15 Alyssa Ivanson WANE 15 Pat Hoffmann Sierra Tufts WANE 15 Kaitor Kay - Wane 15 Vince Lovergine Karli VanCleave Krista Miller ABC21Eric Olson ABC21 Samantha Myers Tony Betton Jr News Arielle Cadet Kayla Stewart Kaitlyn Kendall Jazlynn Bebout Brien McElhatten Jeff Neumeyer News Corinne Rose News Julian Teekaram Louie Tran Heather Starr Kayla Blakeslee via Facebook https://ift.tt/3lJedzG

[vore-scientist]

Fan art anon: I’d appreciate if you clarified height of the characters •.•'

Yeah it’s confusing!

So first off I have a height chart with Jake, Dirk, and Jane (this was before I solidified what the nagas actually look like, this is a size only reference). Note that John at the start of high school is the same size as Jane, and he reaches Jake’s size by the time he graduates, and is a few inches taller about half a year later. 

Here is one with Dave and John. Dave is a trans man, and didn’t start testosterone until after puberty. He was 5′3″ by the time he got to high school and got no taller. So Dave is the perfect prey size! 

this is the most recent drawing, featuring my naga’s beautiful scaly and wide necks! (based on these aliens)

I also have  a ref of Jake having eaten Dave here (This was a size and internal anatomy ref, i still hadn’t gotten the idea for the scaled necks yet):

HIM BIG! and Dave is small.

Nagas are almost all stomach, which is why high school age John can still manage to swallow Dave (dave was also skinnier in high school)

Karkat is a few inches taller than dave. maybe 5′6″, and much more buff

[prawnlegs]

WEBCOMICS

I think I broke my links page with too many links, so it’s about time I made a rec post for some of my favorite webcomics! MAYBE YOU’LL FIND SOMETHING NEW TO LOVE.

This will always and forever be an incomplete list as I am always finding/looking for more stuff to read. I’ll probably reblog it every so often when I add more.

COMPLETE: Lady of the Shard by Gigi D.G. - I still haven’t gotten to Cucumber Quest but you had better believe I read this the day it came out. Follows a temple acolyte who is in love with the goddess she serves, and all the complicated turns of events that come out of this. Drawn in a loose, experimental pixel art style that makes it all the more immersive to read. The Less than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal by E.K. Weaver - Eisner-nominated gay roadtrip romance you’ve probably already heard of. Some of the best character acting I’ve ever seen. The Muse Mentor by Amy King - Artistic muses (and one vague notion) try to find their purpose on the astral plane, which happens to look sort of like a cute fantasy version of San Francisco. A sincere and kind-spirited read, highly recommended if you struggle with feeling adrift and inadequate. Also, many drawings of delicious-looking food. Power Ballad by Molly Brooks - I just started this but it’s really fun and funny. A masked vigilante/pop star’s personal assistant develops a crush on her boss. It’s gay, it’s got superheroes, and it’s complete! IN PROGRESS: Agents of the Realm by Mildred Louis - I had a couple false starts getting into this one, not having grown up on Sailor Moon, but then I picked up the first volume at a con and I’m really enjoying it. The unclear, complicated intentions of the mentor figure(s) are intriguing, and I love how the artist draws faces, especially funny reaction faces. Alice and the Nightmare by Misha Krivanek - A magical uni/boarding school piece with super cute art, compelling mysteries, and a Lewis-Carroll-inspired world that’s fresh and fun I.E. not another Hot Topic rehash. FINALLY. Away to Nowhere by Ezra Shape - Monsters and magical beings adapting to life in our world (or a world like ours)--currently just scratching the surface of what seems like some really cool worldbuilding. Features Zio, my nonbinary dragon grandma. Balderdash by Victoria Grace Elliott - Cute coming-of-age witch adventures. Beautiful colors and a richly-textured world. FOOD. So much good food. Banquet by A. Szabla - [coming soon]

Beauty by Eric J. Lee and Rhiannon Rasmussen - From the about page: “Bugpunk Beauty and the Beast” and honestly WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW. Okay I’ll tell you some more: There’s a baroque alien bug civilization rendered in incredible detail. It’s gorgeous.  Blackwater by Jeanette A. and Ren Graham - Episodic supernatural comic set in the small fictional town of Blackwater, Maine. Just started, but the art is extremely polished, expressive, and atmospheric, and the characters are cute. Also it’s queer and full of monsters. Sold.

Brainchild by Suzanne Geary - Paranormal mysteries on a college campus with supremely cool monster designs and great art. The monsters: So cool. I also really like the attention to fashion details on the characters--you can tell a lot about each of them by how they present themselves. Demon Street by Aliza Layne - All-ages fantasy adventure starring queer kids with magic powers! Great use of vivid, saturated color to set otherworldly scenes. Excellent queerification of folkloric tropes.

False Edge by M. R. Shaw - Just started, but a long-awaited comics debut with fantastic art. Features adorable big-cat shapeshifters. Warning, it’s supposed to get nasty (there’s an advisory page with specifics when you start). Feast for a King by Kosmicdream - I just started this (”just started” = 300+ pages in) but HOLY CROW it’s one of the most bizarrely creative comics I’ve seen. Warning for like, unrelenting gore/body horror (and eventually monster sex I think?) Gotta admire the scope of this one. Galanthus by Ashanti Fortson - [coming soon] Goodbye to Halos by Valerie Halla - Fantasy/action-adventure with an all queer-and-trans cast! Huge-scale, trans-dimensional cosmic plot stuff. The art is supremely cute and the color design is fantastic. Harlowe Vanished by Amy King - A lonely teenage girl accidentally finds herself in some kind of oceanic fantasy world! Scary military stuff is going down! BEAUTIFUL scenic art and a colorful cast that we’re currently just getting to know. The latest from Amy, who did The Muse Mentor, rec’d above. Heirs of the Veil by Phineas Kaldinski and Jassy Klier - Urban fantasy with lots of cool magic, a queer cast, and amazingly detailed environments that feel lived-in and full of history. Can’t wait to see where it’s going. Hilga from Below by Val Wise - This just started but that means I’m COMPLETELY CAUGHT UP on the  archive and so far I can tell that it has: Excellent colors, a cute dog person, a fallen angel or alien or something, and some really unsettling stuff lurking under the surface. How to be a Werewolf by Shawn Lenore - Another one I just started, but really enjoying it so far. After twenty years of isolated lycanthropy, an urban werewolf is mentored by the first of her kind she’s ever met, amidst a mysterious lurking threat to their kind. Kidd Commander by Aria Bell - This is the most fun I’ve had reading a webcomic in a long time. Kidd Commander is an epic shonen-style adventure with an immensely likable cast. Seriously, I love every last one of the characters, and their perils and triumphs and misunderstandings hit me right in the emotions like a ton of bricks. I’m probably gonna cry at some point in this comic. I KNOW I’m gonna cry at some point in this comic. But it’s also hilarious, with really well-timed comedy beats and expertly deployed reaction faces. The world also feels HUGE and full of interesting lore. This is just one of those ones where you can tell it’s an absolute labor of love and the creator enjoys every minute of making it. I could gush about KC forever. But I won’t. This time. I’M DONE. Kids These Days by Noora Heikkilä - Fresh webcomic from the creator of Judecca and Letters for Lucardo, which, if you’ve read either YOU’RE FREAKING OUT TOO, RIGHT. It’s about a group of young adults in the eighteenth-century-flavored city of Osk, refusing to fit the molds society has created for them. And it’s already great. Killjoys by Woods - Criminal mayhem set in a squishy cartoon circus toyland. Had me at “Fluffy hot-tempered clown bunny with they pronouns, in a suit.” Something about this one speaks directly to my id. Kill Six Billion Demons by Tom Parkinson-Morgan - SPRAWLINGLY EPIC action-adventure in hell with vast-scale environments that will make you fall to your knees weeping. Also, like everyone in it is super hot and also a monster or some kind of divine construct. Violence. Lots of that. Larkspur by Grace Mulcahy - Post-apocalyptic action/crime/comedy piece centering on girl gang rivalries. Everyone is some kind of really cool-looking post-radiation mutant. Lush, vibrant colors set against dark comedy. Warning for some sex trafficking stuff at the start (not explicit) and general CRIME/VIOLENCE. Log Date by H. Kasof - [coming soon]

Monster’s Garden by Ash G. - Urban sci-fantasy about a misunderstood prizefighter (who happens to be a lizard-man) who just wants to be left in peace--but is suddenly faced with the challenge of caring about others and having them care about him. Full of cute and sympathetic characters. Monster Pop! by Maya Kern- Light and fun college dramedy with a cast of colorful monsters (and some humans), including a cyclops, gorgon, and witch. The art is super cute. Queer and trans characters! Never Satisfied by Taylor Robin - A group of flawed, complicated teens compete for a prestigious role that is basically something like State Wizard. The characters are SO GOOD, sympathetic across the board even when they’re being misguided jerks, and the comedy highs and dramatic lows are equally prime. The main character is nonbinary and they are my sweet, emotionally stunted child. Oglaf by Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne - Everyone’s favorite bizarro-comedy-porn medieval fantasy comic. NSFW, as if I had to tell ya. Parhelion by R. Smith - Sci-fi adventure featuring a huge and hugely-gender-various (and queer) cast with a lot of choice trope subversions. The writing is super witty and I find myself laughing out loud a lot. Puu by Ashkay B. Varaham - An own-voices slice-of-life webcomic about gay/trans roommates and the people connected to them, set in India. Look, I am a huge goopy romantic and this comic has EVERYTHING that feeds my soul. The Sea in You by Jessi Sheron - Lonely, environmentally-conscious goth girl with a jerk boyfriend makes the acquaintance of a MUCH BETTER (girl?)friend in the shape of a mermaid. Another one with very cute art and an interesting, creative mermaid design. Everything teen me ever wanted in a comic. Warning for the boyfriend being an emotionally abusive jerk. String Theory by Dirk Grundy- Probably the comic I’ve been reading the longest. Sci-fi/post-apocalyptic/alternate history/crime stuff centering around morally sketchy characters on their path(s) to super villainy. The art is frigging phenomenal and the comic has been going for like, ten years so if you wanna see some art evolution, check it out. Laurence is my fave. Superpose by Kieran and Han - [coming soon] Unconvent by Emil N. Tót - Romantic historical fiction about queer nuns in eighteenth century Brazil! I like how simple and straightforward this comic is. We are promised happy endings. (Update: Unconvent is now on indefinite hiatus but the author has started a new comic, Dead Scholars’ Whispers) That’s it for now! Let me know if I screwed up any of the links or attributions.

[dirkgentlythings]

Why you should watch Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, an essay by a bored English Lit Student

Google Docs link here

full essay under the keep reading line (warning,very long, just over 1000 words)

-Sophs (DirkGentlyThings)

“Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” is a wonder to modern media, both in the genre of American Crime Fiction and Science Fiction. This (currently) one-series long television drama is an adaption of the “Dirk Gently” series (trilogy) written by Douglas Adams, who also wrote the “Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy;” a “Trilogy in five parts.” Dirk Gently himself is played by the wonderfully talented Samuel Barnett and Todd Brotzman is played by the fantastic Elijah Wood, famous for playing “Frodo Baggins” when he was 18, in the fantasy trilogy “The Lord of the Rings,” written by JRR Tolkein. The “Dirk Gently” trilogy was originally adapted for television by ITV studios in 2011. However, only three episodes were made, determining its place as a bit of a flop. Some viewers, such as I, for example, quite enjoyed it though. “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency" first aired on BBC America in October. This proved to be a huge success, however slow to gain followers initially, but following it's success, it was made available on Netflix.

The first character to be introduced in a Sherlock-esque fashion, initially centred by the (dare I say it) sidekick and shows the process in which the original life of the sidekick is transformed by meeting the protagonist, is Todd Brotzman. Todd is an hotel bellhop, living on his own in a rather dishevelled apartment. He is in his early 30s and looks perpetually miserable. He had previously played in a band called "Mexican Funeral," but that had fallen apart once he dropped out of college, however he is evidently attached to this band and his guitar, as he still owns numerous band t-shirts. He doesn't appear to have any friends and is in a constant war with his crazed landlord, Dorian. Todd Brotzman has woeful luck.

Next is Dirk Gently. Dirk Gently is arguably the complete antithesis. He is first seen climbing through the window of Todd's apartment, the evening after Todd accidentally stumbles across a murder scene and gets fired. Dirk arrives with a very Dirk-esque "hi!" Todd proceeds to throw Dirk out of his flat and slam the door. Slowly, Todd warms to Dirk and assists him in working out how the murder occured in very, lets say, unconventional means. Todd is very much the "Watson" to Dirk's "Sherlock," despite the fact that Todd has at one stage shouted "I'm not your Watson, Asshole!" This is a lie. Dirk claims to be a "Holistic Detective." This means that he believes that the universe will bring him any and all information needed for a case. It has been suspected that Dirk is in fact psychic, however this is to date, undisclosed. Dirk was taken by the CIA at a young age, working under "Project Blackwing" under the code name "Project Icarus." Now. this organisation wishes him to return, sometimes using forceful means to procure this. This eventually leads to great trouble.

Our two powerful female characters are called Amanda Brotzman and Farah Black. Farah has been hinted to be an ex-FBI worker, now investigating the murder of her close friend and current employer, Patrick Spring. She is also searching for his daughter, Lydia Spring. Farah is the personification of a strong, independent woman. She is well-respected by the other characters and does not conform to the trope of "needing a man to save her." This is quite the opposite, as she has saved Dirk and Todd from death multiple times. Amanda is Todd's younger sister, she is aged around late 20's and has a rare genetic illness called "Pararibulitus." This means that she sees and feels hallucinations that feel terrifyingly real, for example, that her hands are aflame, or that she is drowning on dry land. Todd and Amanda's parents have have lost all of their money, so Todd pays for Amanda's medical fees by any means possible.

We also have a group named "Project Incubus," or the "Rowdy 3." However, there are four of them, which later becomes five, possibly as a reference the Douglas Adam's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," which has been referred to as a "Trilogy in Five Parts." These 4 members are named Martin (Michael Eklund), Gripps (Viv Leacock), Cross (Zak Santiago) and Vogle (Osric Chau, who also played Kevin Tran in the hit CW television show, "Supernatural"). Project Incubus has been described as "Psychic Vampires," meaning they feed off of people's emotions. They drive around in a large, dirty van, with the words "The Rowdy 3" spray-painted across the sides.

Our final (so-far) known member of Project Blackwing is "Project Marzanna," (Fiona Dourif) who now goes by Bart Curlish. She is a small late 20's woman, with filthy, unkempt hair and a very shabby appearance. She directly mirrors our main character, however she calls herself a "Holistic Assassin." She likes guns, killing people and apparently long runs on the beach. She allegedly cannot be hurt or killed, except if she, to quote Max Landis, writer for the show, "misread a premonition, acted against her instincts and when acting against the flow of the universe [she is] as vulnerable as you or I." Bart "befriends" an IT worker named Ken (Mpho Koaho). I use the word "befriends" very loosely, as I in fact mean "kidnaps." She then travels around with him in the car and they bond over a "Backstreet Boyz" song, as she learns about how radios and song lyrics work. Ken then chooses to stay with Bart, eventually adopting a corgi together in a very "Imagine your OTP" style manner.

In conclusion, "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" is a prime example of many important themes and genres in modern media, such as Crime Drama, Sci-fi, friendship and challenging gender-roles, with one of the many examples of this being when Amanda befriends the Rowdy 3 and Gripps happily allows her to paint his nails, despite the fact that he is a large, quite frankly terrifying looking man. This show also portrays healthy, platonic friendships between two opposite genders and how women can be powerful and independent without being sexualised or demeaned by men. "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" is delightfully refreshing and that is why it is well worthy of being watched.

[craftyserenador-blog]

My about me and Other things

Hey guys, this is my about me! 1.Name: Dirk Blaze (yes thats my actual name lmao)

2.Age: 15 in 2 hours

3.Gender/Pronouns:Transboy FTM He/him they/them

4.Likes: Food, anime, art, movies games, my friends who are my fam, my boyfriend,my moirail, Percy jackson, Homestuck, Skyrim, Steven universe, Adventure time, Romcoms, Romance novels, Steampunk, Bernie sanders, shipping and alot more

5.Dislikes: The cheeto/stubby carrot, being told to shut up, STUPID PEOPLE, stepping in water with socks on, people who try to hit on my best friend or my man, being told my art is complete shit (even if I worked extremely hard) My blood family ;-;

6.Neato things: I have a small acting carreer, I have a youtube channel, I write books, Im hyperflexible, Im super smart, I am a smol bean that likes to be petted, I was top 5% in my state, I do cosplay, My uncle personally knows THE ONE THE ONLY FLUFFAYYYY

7.Not neato things (Possible trigger warning): Ive been blaming myself for other peoples mistakes and problems since I could process fault, I was abused in every way possible for years, I have depression, severe anxiety and dysphoria, I can get very lonely, My dad disowned me a while ago for being trans, I have mutations in my genes and blood that could at some point make me very sick (thank god though im okie) I have vivid nightmares every night of violent things and I get predictions of disasters in my dreams

8.Something about your life?: Im trying to enjoy life as much as possible...As a time player I see that we have so much time, but so little of it to use.

9.Other people in your life? (Family, friends ect ect): My internet moms (jesus i have like 26 of them) My Moirail I love her to death (Also an internet mom), My friends Ashy and Riley theyre moirails and beans, Big Dirk..I am lil Dirk, My bestie Savvy shes so loving and bubbly, My boyfriend Adrien (He is my Dave, do not touch), My friends Baily, Morgan, Jace, Roumor,  and many others

10.Favorite things?: basically all my friends and everything in my likes :3 Except homestuck, I hate it so damn much but I love it, Im in a spiraling loop of hell

11.Not so favorite things: Again stupid people. Thats...Kinda it

12.Fears: War, inequality, Rollercoasters, being lonely/left alone, something happening to my friends, the dark, birds ;-;

13.Acomplishments: Uh, I woke up and didnt procrastinate today! WHOO!

14.Animals?: I have a few marimo plants, 2 kitty cats (Toothless and Navi) And one guinea pig Calliope

15.What will you do in the future?: Something in the arts or film making :3

16.Anything you regret?: If I said any of that Id be here all night

17.Glasses/contacts?: I wear nerd glasses/John glasses

18.Most wanted superpower?: To help anyone who needed it and prevent the things that are to happen

19.Video games or movies?: Both!

20.Nice or mean: Im really nice guys I promise :3