#the worst part is i know exactly what they represent especially since theyre always so blunt

[thekingofchungus]

t shirt that says i heart reoccuring nightmares

[demetriandelibinaryboyfriends]

my worst fear is demetri and hawk getting together, but through an outing or cheating storyline. theyre very common tropes and i know yasmine is definitely gonna pose a problem to their relationship at some point.

I know right!!! Like I’m not a big Yasmine fan (still not really inclined to forgive her for all that shit she pulled in Season 1 just because she’s like...being slightly nicer to Demetri, and no one else?), but it kinda sucks to think about even HER getting mixed up and hurt in the mess of these two boys very much convinced they’re Big Straight finally coming to terms with their sexualities. Like I get realizing you’re gay or bi can be messy, ESPECIALLY at a high school like the kids go to where you can get picked on for literally ANYTHING, but no one deserves to be essentially used as a Beard, even if it’s unintentional. And having Demetri cheat on Yas with Eli would just be so...ugh, for so many reasons. Like for one, they’re already DONE the cheating thing with the whole Robby x Sam x Miguel x Tory thing...we don’t need ANOTHER cheating storyline just to create interesting romantic drama. And it’s not like gay cheating is all that different from straight cheating at its core, so it’s not like it would be that fresh or interesting of a take on the whole cheating plotline anyways.

Besides, the cheating plot often just...isn’t very fun to watch a lot of the time, because you’re just facepalming at all these characters just making very dumb and selfish decisions instead of like...communicating? Like I love these characters but it’s harder to root for them when I see them cheating on their SOs, since that’s just like...such a shitty thing to do, even if said SO isn’t my fave. I can kinda forgive the Samiguel cheating thing, considering they were both drunk and all and it was a bit of a spur of the moment deal, but consciously and repeatedly cheating on your girlfriend with your best guy friend just because you’re too scared to admit to yourself you’re gay??? Nah, fuck that. Like you don’t have to publicly announce you’re into guys or anything, but leave leading girls on out of it!!!! If you’d really rather secretly bang/kiss a guy, then dump your girlfriend and then continue to secretly bang/kiss said guy!!! It’s just...SO crappy to use someone as a cover-up like that, and it would make me lose a lot of sympathy for Demetri if he did. And it would FRUSTRATE me too, like??? If you want Eli so bad, break up with Yaz then??? Sure, it might lose him some of the popularity points he seems to enjoy, but that’s better than staying with someone you’ve lost the spark with just so you can go behind their back.

I’m honestly hoping if Yasmine is used in a Demetri/Eli plot, she’ll be there to kinda represent what Demetri THINKS he should want vs. what he ACTUALLY wants (i.e. Eli). Like Yasmine’s the ideal girlfriend, social status-wise--gorgeous, popular, sexy, doesn’t take shit from anyone since she’s at the top of the food chain (or at least seems to still think she is). In a way, she represents everything Demetri has ever wanted--acceptance, adoration, the respect of his peers, the power that comes from being near The Top, wherever “The Top” really is. So when he starts dating her, he just has to wonder why he feels so...unfulfilled? Why he’s not as happy as he always dreamed he would be when the day finally came that Yasmine looked his way? And he hates himself for it, but he finds half the time he spends time with her, listening to her talk about manicures and dresses and designer bags, he wishes he was with Eli instead, watching Doctor Who. It makes him wonder if being with a rich girl isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And that little tingle he gets in his chest whenever the newly-mellowed-out Hawk/Eli starts excitedly rambling about “nerd shit” again, just like he used to...is that normal? Why does he find himself caring more about Eli’s opinions of him than his own girlfriend? It’s fucking weird.

After a while of finding himself more and more focused on Eli, and rapidly running out of things to actually TALK about with Yasmine, Demetri does like...the practical thing, and ends things with Yaz, realizing he liked the idea of her better than he actually liked her. Yaz is probably pretty fine with it, too, since I imagine at this point, she’s realized her and Dem don’t really have enough in common to keep a relationship going. Like Demetri is a smart guy--it might throw him off to realize he only liked Yasmine because of the idealized picture he painted himself of her, and the pedestal he put her on, but I think he’d come to terms with this sooner than people think and wouldn’t just like...be in such rampant denial about not actually liking Yasmine that much that he refuses to break up with her. Self-denial is Hawk’s thing, not Demetri’s XD Demetri has always more or less embraced who he is, geekiness and all, and hasn’t ever really felt the need to deny who he is. He often makes a point of saying exactly what he thinks and feels, no matter how unwise, so he’s pretty in-touch with himself. I feel like if he realized his relationship with Yaz wasn’t everything he’d hoped for, he might be a bit bummed, sure--it always sucks when something you’ve been striving for for a long time doesn’t meet your expectations, and turned out to be better in your mind. But ultimately, if Demetri realized he wasn’t that into Yaz, I feel like he would eventually just accept that as a part of himself and move forward with his life accordingly.

And literally ALL of this introspection can happen without him ONCE cheating on Yasmine with Eli, ffs

I think it would be nice if dating Yasmine is a way for Demetri to have to question what it is he really wants, and what he’s actually looking for in a partner. And, of course, question whether he ACTUALLY even likes girls...because why is being with this hot girl barely doing anything for him at all??? Why isn’t he constantly filled with excitement and unending horniness??? What is going on here??? But even then, like, there’s just...NO reason for him to cheat. I feel like realizing you’re gay provides enough angst and drama in of itself without having to have a gay love affair behind your girlfriend’s back. Throwing in cheating to the whole gay realization would almost make it like...comedically overdramatic, because it 100% reads as “Oh, look at this dramatic thing! What if we made it even MORE dramatic??? For...DRAMA???” Besides, I just really don’t want them to make Demetri into a cheater For The Drama. He’s a good, loyal kid who drinks Respect Women juice every day (I mean...Moon and Sam are two of his closest friends, ffs! And he’s never once been creepy with or tried to hit on either!), so him cheating is a no from me, dawg.

Like Cobra Kai, if y’all wanna use Yas/metri as a means of pushing us closer to eventual Hawkmetri, fine. But please do it SMART. Yasmine absolutely doesn’t need to get cheated on for Demetri to realize within that relationship that he’s not (or not JUST) into girls. Dare to be different, Cobra Kai!!! Say “no thank you” to the Gay Cheating cliche and “yes thank you” to Demetri realizing he’s gay (or bi) in a more interesting, nuanced way that doesn’t totally screw Yasmine over for no reason!

[homestucky]

ok ok this is like not anything new but still since i havent been on here i havent fully ranted about this yet. big long rant incoming

re the epilogue (spoilers etc)

ok. i have onl y read meat. but fucking? dirk? dirk? ok? dirk??

no.

i am aware of what happens in candy. i know he dies.

i also know in the version i read, in meat, he becomes his ultimate self, all versions of dirk. as many people have said, this includes AR, this includes bro, this includes even to some degree, LE. its an interesting idea ill give you that. but its also.... shitty and not backed enough by well, anything?

so heres my personal rant about the shitty things in Meat.

when i first finished it i couldnt help but think. was the dirk narrative even necessary? on the one hand it was meant to be the MAIN PLOT and it defined the narration etc, but.... it honestly didnt seem to have any importance. i know it was likely  a set up to imply future stuff like making the next sburb or whatever but like

who CARES? why on earth would that be interesting or important? maybe im crazy but like, the ‘b plot’ which was mostly about character relationships and jobs in earth c, was compelling and enjoyable. the narrative with john ‘not important and not the main character anymore’ egbert had details and conclusions ACTUALLY RELATING TO HOMESTUCK, THE COMIC I LIKE AND WANTED TO READ AN EPILOGUE FOR. it was tragic and frankly very upsetting! im not saying i liked it!! but the tragedy felt compelling and significant. 

i appreciate that dirk as narrator IS BIASED so him saying that these narratives are less important is inherently like. not to be trusted but. just. i cant help but feel like you could have cut the whole ‘main dirk reality affecting’ narrative OUT 

and that seems to me maybe like... not good? if such a central part of your narrative has almost no bearing on homestuck or anything anyone cares about?

but im sure there are other people who found it compelling and necessary. thats fair. cant relate but you do you. there are other issues. 

me saying that the dirk narrative felt weirdly isolated and insignificant sounds pretty weird given that it put jade into a coma, manipulated kanayas mind, effectively killed rose and destroyed rosemary right? WELL that brings me on to the next thing. people have noted that meat barely passes the bechdel test. and hey, sometimes things like that can just be a coincidence or unlucky. but the repeated erasure of the female characters minds, motives, identities and autonomy was????  a little too consistent to dismiss. like ok terezi was still her dope self in a lot of ways. jane kinda did some stuff (under dirks direction, and only shitty stuff but . whatever). 

(sidebar: ofc it doesnt make sense to talk about calliope and roxy in the context of the female characters in Meat but either way they were very in the background. like cool an all, and i always love roxy. and i respect they were mostly just minding their own businesses??? which is fair)

 i just. urgh. homestuck has such a genuinely good track record of giving female characters genuine motivations and powerful abilities etc. the fact that almost ALL the female characters involved were working for or manipulated by DIRK. DIRK of all people. is like... is this even based off the real comic? idgi????

roses loss of autonomy.... rose is such an important character. and she goes along with everything dirk says because dirk is suddenly all OP and ‘theyre basically the same person anyway’ like i get that there was some magic bullshit going on or whatever but at the end of the day rose was still written as weak and passive. dirk as strong and skilled and decisive. i get the undertones.. hes a prince of heart. a destroyer of souls, and identities. he messed with kanayas identity , destroyed roses, repeatedly ignored roxys and calliopes, and god i wont even get started on jake yet. but that doesnt make it satisfying to read. or even really feasible.

so theres a possibility im missing something. but im confused about WHY dirk is allowed this power. in the narrative its waved off as a kind of ‘i guess because im like a prince of heart or whatever and im just super good at managing identities and being a strong boy’ like ok if theres some implication somewhere that that is MEANT to be a bogus explanation id be interested to know because it sounds pretty goddamn bogus. why would this happen to dirk? why? literally? one reason? one that makes sense? because there arent any i can think of. why, in the new universe, would dirk, a prince of heart, manifest into a narrative controlling supergod. and fucking WHEN has dirk showed any actual capabilities in this area before?? he KINDA sucked at it in the game. dirks an idiot! hes smart and capable in like, some ways but. its like

why is dirk so powerful suddenly -> its because hes become super ultimate dirk -> ... ok why -> uh because like. hes just so naturally inclined towards being a great manipulator yknow..... canonically.... uhhhh

it just. canon dirk to epilogue dirk is the most ridiculous leap character wise, skill wise, arc wise, personality wise, with minimal reasonable explanation. 

which brings me on to the next thing. so i roasted dirk and said he wasnt strong enough to be able to manipulate things this well. well, obviously through some other means dirk HAS been afforded this power. but what about his personality? its obviously gonna be warped with self importance and knowing how things ‘have to be’. but hes heartless, cruel and hateful. in some ways it seems like canon dirk levels of ruthlessness, especially when it shows that he is actually doing something dumb and petty like his treatment of jake. that shows that he STILL has emotional connection to people as dirk. he also seems to care about some people, like dave and roxy, and cracks jokes and wants to have ‘fun’. this makes the ways in which hes so warped and cruel seem even worse. maybe on the one hand im giving dirk too much credit, everyone knows he has the potential to be a real bastard. but i dont think that was the trajectory he was on when we last saw him. and if this is truly due to him just.. becoming other versions of himself too including LE and bro and stuff..like. i dont see how it could have gotten that bad without say, roxy or dave noticing. 

‘oh they didnt notice because hes just so good at hiding’ why on earth would i believe that!! dave especially this is kinda insulting for. dave is shown to have an almost supernatural ability to detect danger. partially this might be timeline stuff, knight stuff, but also notably im sure his upbringing is involved too. he was trained to be hypervigilant. who was he trained to be hypervigilant for? bro. bros manipulation and traps. near the end of the epilogue we show that dave IS capable of detecting the mindfuckery thats happening. how would that not set off 1 million alarm bells? theres literally apparently a twisted dirk-bro mutant INSIDE HIS HEAD telling him what to do. i just. know that scene was played for comedy and romance but at the very least thats gotta like???? mess with u if ur traumatised? and thats like , why i think dave should have had an inkling abt what was going on!! this is exactly the thing he hates and fears and was traumatised by! and it just going under his nose n him not even knowing , and still pretty recently being all buddy buddy with dirk seems just stupid and infeasible to me. maybe this is me being naive or kind of a stretch but i just feel like daves danger instincts would have been kicking up a whole assed ruckus that whole time. 

also kind of unrelated but i associate sunglasses with strider style toxic masculinity and hiding things so like. ok transitioning or changing gender presentation is one thing but roxy apparently permanently wearing sunglasses makes me NERVOUS

and ill probably wrap up this mighty rant soon but i wanna also say jake was done so fucking dirty. i know he was like, meant to be, because for some reason god dirk just hated him? like ok petty much. but. urgh jake is such an interesting character with a lot of potential and while i appreciate that him being manipulated by someone who may reasonably have a problem with him may make him do stupid and embarrassing stuff, all the narrative seems to have taken a backward step in how hes represented. jake isnt stupid, dirk clearly knew this in canon and he maybe was the only one even including jake. and there was some acknowledgement of this near the beginning of the epilogue. but then for some reason it goes back on itself. everyone still thinks jake is just completely stupid, including the embittered superdirk. so yeah i guess hes upset with jake or whatever but. its still dissatisfying to be like oh yeah jake isnt stupid he actually has a complex set of motivations and potential etc BUT over the X number of yrs on earth c no one else has realised this yet?? hmm. then his narrative is just gonna end up with him being a total joke and essentially becomes as stupid and incompetent as his worst critics say he is. feasible given the mind control ? yeah. enjoyable to read or having any kind of satisfying bearing on anything? nope!

so anyway. i feel like any criticism i have could be argued back with ‘but oh it has to be this way’ or ‘mind control!!’ or ‘not everything has to be nice and happy !!’ but like. dude. there are flaws. many of them. and seeing characters just get shat on is never gonna be good writing.