#I also think Jade would want a lot of kids…. Dirk and Jake just make robots and ONE android. tavvy…..

[luuxxart]

i don’t think it’s his birthday, but it would be sad if it was

[hawksane]

something something i think dirk would have been a better beta kid and dave would have been a better alpha kid

obviously by the very nature of that change, both dirk and dave would act very differently but i genuinely feel like dirk would have really benefited a) not being isolated with his own mental illness lol obvs but also b) being exposed to other kids who have just as weird hang ups as himself . he and rose obviously would be very similar in a way that i think both would see their best and worst parts in each other and thus would come to care for themselves a little easier through the others as proxy. john is a lot like jake but so much kinder and patient and open and blunt (look at any dirkjohn propaganda youll understand) and jade is quirky and mysterious in a way that i think would fascinate dirk (esp if hes also awake on derse! he and jade would be able to talk so openly to each other about this secret they share!!!)

and dave? dave i think would struggle a bit with isolation but honestly ? i think he would come to love the freedom being alone gives him. he can be as weird and authentically himself with no pressure, he could admire his bro from afar and be so free to do whatever! and obvs him and roxy and jane and jake would all get along so so so well, hes a chatterbox with a heart of gold that just wants friends, and to make music with them, and go exploring with them. sooooo much tension and stress would melt away from the entire team genuinely

(of course, without dirk and his machinations, their session would have failed before it even started, and john and jade are so passive that i could very easily see dirk steamrolling and controlling the beta session while leaving them in the dark "for their safety" but i mean. thats what makes it sad that theyre in the timelines they are)

[calware]

headcanons on who would have kids

june: i don't think she'd have kids, she feels more like an aunt to me that lets her nieces and nephews stay up past their bedtimes. that said i am so intrigued by the concept of everyone being gods that are centuries-old and virtually detached from their humanity and she snatches a random kid. and everyone is like june you can't. you can't do that. put it back

rose: i don't think she would have kids 😔 she feels SOOOOO GUILTY about it too because she feels like she's Supposed to have a kid and is Supposed to be a good mother to like, prove something, or make up for her own childhood, but she just can't. i think if she did have kids she would be one of those moms who loves their kid and takes care of them and provides for them but still regrets it and hates herself for regretting it. she likes helping with kids though

dave: depends on the scenario honestly there are so many ways this could go

jade: i think she would have kids, i imagine she ends up like a grandmother with 100 grandkids lol. they all get together for big family reunions with lots of food and warm rooms and laughter and music

jane: LOL no

roxy: i also don't think she would want kids, i think this is something she would realize later in life, maybe even after having a kid

dirk: allergic to the idea of having a kid so so bad. despite this he cannot help but unwillingly end up as some kid's mentor/guardian/pseudo father-figure because he's cursed. with a support group he's okay though once he chills out for 2 seconds

jake: take a wild guess

karkat: doesn't decide to have kids but he somehow ends up taking care of like 5 random ones. where did they come from? maybe they were adopted. maybe they all started following him around and never left. maybe they were all left at his front door in a milk crate. either way, they're his responsibility now. he's not the stepfather, he's the father that Stepped Up

kanaya: i also don't think she would have kids but i do think she would be very involved with kids. i like the idea of her working with grubs in the brooding caverns before they find families/communities/lusii/etc to take them in. or a short-term foster parent. again i'd like to think rose helps her with this

terezi: realistically i cannot see her raising a child by herself unless it's in a very comical context like the paradox space comics, which i imagine would be VERY entertaining from an outsider's perspective. terezi teaching a baby legal jargon. terezi wearing those baby carriers that you strap to your chest while careening down the interstate. terezi fingerpainting with a baby, but she's picking up the baby and using it like a baby-shaped paintbrush

vriska: 😬

gamzee: he's already kind of calliope's dad? in a way

[timaeusresponds]

Blowing shit up i think after hal gets settled enough in being a human guy after the game he does start seeking out new relationships and a new social group that isn’t tethered to who he used to be. Yes partially as a departure from the restrictions of the past but also because he realizes those people and him have some pretty notable baggage and he is not remotely in a place to do the heavy lifting to repair it. I see a lot of people interpret Hal as willing fixer who wants to help Dirk improve and wants to assist his friends in being cool or better but I feel like that’s such a confining role that is mostly interpreted based off his actions when he has no choice. I get the draw of Hal sticking it out and worrying about people and trying to prompt improvement, even see the draw in him playing an active role in the progress; but I don’t think he’d actually do any of that. I think once he’s not a literal virtual assistant, it becomes an option to say no and to focus on himself and to prompt others to work to be better on their own accord and not at the behest of a partially resented other, and that translates in the ‘well, I am not playing with you anymore’ and moving on.

He’s been shackled, literally, to this group forever. Initially not by anyones design but the game, and eventually by the design of his programming, and that isn’t anyone’s fault and he was just as much of a negative impact on them as they were on him— but that said the hole is dug so deep and the damage is so done, at what point can you go to brunch with someone who didn’t believe you to be a sentient being until you looked the part and not feel the weight of that? How do you watch a movie with someone who used you as a stand in for romantic satisfaction without the weird sense of replacement hanging over everything?

They don’t get him, he doesn’t trust them, and for the first time in his life he can go hang out with someone else. He can talk to someone who has no prior idea of what Dirk and Hal are beyond the game, have no horses in that race whatsoever, who didn’t watch Hal go from AR to Guy and always knew him as who he is now.

He gets friends that don’t have immediate attachment to Dirk, too, he doesn’t have to draw the lines between everyone. He hangs with Jade who is nice and understands a childhood of isolation, but also doesn’t have some immediate idea of what Hal should act like. He gets to meet the King of All ‘Knock Off’ Alt Selves and talk to Davesprite and vent the frustration but also just talk to someone about normal shit with the underlying mutual understanding of being Othered.

I don’t think he dislikes the alpha kids, barring maybe Jake in my opinion but that’s bias, but he doesn’t feel completelt at ease around them and their relationship feels hung by a thin wire hauling heavy tons of history. If they want to improve this relationship to the point of friendship, Hal needs the incentive that pursuing it will be worthwhile, that they want him to be their friend because he is an interesting, distinctly unique person and not because they feel bad for what happened or because they like Dirk and view Hal as an extension of him. Which. I don’t think would really be a thing that happens for quite some time. Not until Hal well and establishes himself an identity in the flesh, because unfortunately the history they all share has marked him as a Fake Dirk until he can check enough boxes of individuality to make comparison difficult.

All this to say.

Hal and Davesprite best friends through mutual othering from their own identity. Not a new or controversial take but still a take I adore.

[arachnid8s8grip]

heres what i think the homestuck kids would smell like

John:

I think his house would smell fatherly and it would rub off on him. He smells like cologne, shaving cream, and cake. Dadbert will only buy fatherly-smelling products.

Rose:

I think she'd make it her life purpose to smell like roses for 'ironic purposes.' she rlly just wanted to make fun of dave and it stuck

Dave:

Apple juice, doritos, and sweat. Apple juice cause he refuses to drink anything else (that or there really isnt anything else to drink). doritos cause he probably eats a lot of chips like that , mainly doritos. And sweat cause Bro is always making dave strife w him

Jade:

she probably has a very herbal-ly scent from her garden thing. I think shed also smell like dog (from Bec mostly but the scent got stronger when the fused together)

Jane:

Cake. Cookies. Baking. She smells like the embodiment of baking. Jane would also faintly smell fatherlyish like John but since both she and dad bake there would be twice as much baking in the house so she'd smell more like it than john.

Roxy:

Probably alcohol and like cats. Not even alcohol from drinking a bunch but cause she instinctively likes the smell and buys perfume that smells like it. is there perfume like that? idk, nor do i really care but shes like a scientist or whatever she can make whatever she wants. And cats cause,,, idk cause she can. I feel like she also might smell like cleaning supplies? since mom is like always cleaning, but im not sure if roxy would too

Dirk:

Sweat and metal. Sweat for the same reason as dave and metal cause. robots or whatevr idk man.

Jake:

He smells like rain, outside, the wild or however you wanna categorize it. Since hes always like outside and even in his room theres plants and whatnot

[professor-pucefoot]

Giving Jake permission to be an individual

When you search the tag for Jake, what do you see? How much content is he the focus of? In my experience, most Jake content is centered around his relationship to other characters (particularly Dirk), or he's just being featured as part of the ensemble. This comes from a lack of appreciation for Jake that both stems from and propagates his (severely lacking) character development.

Jake is a people-pleaser. This is one of his most prominent traits, and it drives the majority of his conflicts. He we date any of his friends because, well, why shouldn't he make them happy if that's what they want? And once he does enter a relationship with one of them and inevitably struggles with it, he can't be honest with Dirk about the relationship because that would create conflict. Is avoiding Dirk a solution? No. That is also a tension builder (and I don't mean that in a good way!), but it is the passive route. Jake needs so desperately to be loved by others that he has subconsciously pushed himself so far under, he has no concept of who he actually is as a person.

And then when his façade is a success and he garners the adoration of others, he hates it.

Jake's conversation with John toward the end of the comic is easily his biggest moment for me - bigger than defeating the Felt. Because this is the first time Jake is truly introspective! And he shares that new vulnerability with someone else! He has so desperately needed someone outside of his friend group to talk to. All of the Alpha kids have, really. But when Jake starts to reflect, he realizes that after all these years of changing himself to make other people like him, he doesn't actually like people!

He doesn't like being in relationships. He doesn't like being objectified or having demands made of him. He gets that now.

But what we don't get to see in his development is the next step from this: understanding that this is okay.

I personally am not crazy about Drkjake and do not see them as "soulmates", but their relationship is important regardless. Dirk and Jake are that messy first relationship when you don't know how to set boundaries and things get too crazy too fast. It's the kind of relationship that you can walk away from with a better understanding of your own needs and how to make things work with someone in the future, if you so choose. But it probably won't be with that same person you were already so embroiled in.

I don't think it's a bad thing in itself that Jake is shown hanging out with Dirk again in the Snapchats, although yes, I agree it would have been nice to have gotten an actual reconciliation conversation between the two. There are a lot of conversations that would have been nice in a section of the comic that is already conversation-heavy. What disappoints me is that beyond one shot of Jake with his new company, he is always with Dirk. There is never any follow-up to his conversation with John. No indication that he is still living with that train of thought and learning to accept that part of himself.

In short, I want to see more of Jake with his own solo hobbies! Learning to appreciate time with just himself. Being totally okay with taking time alone and not entering relationships. I also so badly want to see him develop better friendships with John and Jade... He still has so much unrealized potential.

[roxycaptor]

Sollux ship rankings

no one asked for this but I do what I want. putting it under a readmore cause this turned out long as fuck! includes all kids and alpha trolls plus meenah. thanks for reading! feel free to tell me why im wrong and your otp deserved a better score.

arasol: 10/10. i ship it pale ways for kin reasons but good red too. narrative foils. best friends. iconic

tavros/sollux: 5/10. gamerssss. best pale. i dont think tavros likes men in a red or pitch way. i also feel like their mental health issues would mesh badly which isn't ideal.

solkat: 3/10. i know this is popular but they are just so good as Bros.

nepeta/sollux: 2/10. they're good friends but i dont see them as being compatible in literally any quadrent.

kanaya/sollux: 0/10 kanaya is a lesbian in every quadrent

solrezi: 9/10 works both red and pale. they're good friends, work well as both teammates and conversational partners, and obviously care about each other a lot.

solvris: 8/10 this is rarepair but i like it both red and pitch. they're both bitchy fucks and highly competent. sollux's extreme chill would either balance out vriska's constant plot driving energy or she'd drive herself insane trying to motivate him.

solquius: 8/10 pitch specifically. equius freaking out over wasted potential in a lowblood is a common theme is his ships and sollux would be disgusted by equius's everything but in a "cant look away" kind of way. they're both programmers so theyve got at least one common interest to either collaborate on or argue about. sollux also shares character profile dna with dave, who hussie has word-of-god said could have romantic tension with equius, which im using to support my thesis.

sollux/gamzee: 0/10 i just dont want to think about gamzee for longer than i have to

erisol: 4/10. its fine! best pitch, but i think eridan irritates sollux in a way that makes him want to leave the room, not a way that makes him want to engage in an arguement. i understand why its popular but. eh.

solfef: 1/10 convinced they only got together because sollux is a playboy and fef wanted to rebound with eridans rival.

sollux/jegbert: 2/10 theyd probably be ok friends ecspecially in a group situation but i just dont think theres any chemistry there

sollux/rose: 0/10 another sexuality conflict

soldave: 4/10 i have nothing against coolkid4coolkid but i feel like theyre both too neurotic abt similar stuff and wld just enable each others depression spirals

sollux/jade: ???/10 i dont think theyve ever interacted and i cannot conceptualize how they would work one on one

sollux/jane: 0/10 i just dont think they have anything in common and obviously post-canon jane is deranged

sollux/dirk: 6/10 theyre similar but not too similar and would probably have a lot to talk about, but im not sure dirk would be interested.

solroxy: 10/10 the greatest gift beyond canon has ever given me is semi-canon solroxy interactions. another great comp-sci duo with similar taste in humor, but roxy is more optimistic to balance out sollux's issues.

sollux/jake: 0/10 they are simply too different and also i think jake is aro

bonus sollux/meenah: 5/10 theyre probably good friends but i think meenah works better with karkat because theyre both very motivated and active people

[cure-typhoon]

i apologize for the wording in that ask lol. using the lalondes as an example again but better hopefully,, kid rose is sent in place of kid roxy and the same with their guardian counterparts. so rose grows up in post apocalyptic fish land with jake, jane, and dirk, while roxy is raised by guardian rose and is friends with john, jade, and dave. you can do this with any player duo like the captors, vantas’s etc but only just them. ur just swapping them around pre and post scratch. ig the question is more what swap would u be most intrigued by :)?

OHH thank you! English is not my first language and i get confused easily! sorry :b

Let's see... I'm assuming they grow up in the alternate universe and didnt just swap places out of nowhere with all their memories and all. Sooo, i think first one would be Feferi and Meenah /The Condesce and Beforus Feferi

It's kinda hard to imagine how some characters would be in different circunstances, as the enviroment is one of the primary things that shapes a person. But I doubt The Condesce/Adult Meenah in Beforus would be the same tyrant she was on Alternia. Meenah has been shown to be cruel (with bullying Damara so extremely that Damara straight up killed her) but also as someone who cares about their friends, like when she starts crying to June about Aranea.

So I think a Condesce rulling Beforus WOULD definitly change the way it is. First I really doubt they would have the Cuddling system the way Beforus Feferi had it, as Meenah literally tried to shape her team to become stronger, in the worst way possible and she ended up failling, but at least that was her plan. So Beforus in the rule of The Condesce would probably start to become like a less hellish Alternia?

But also Meenah was shaped by Beforus Feferi and not wanting to be like her so maybe The Condesce wouldnt have a need to try to make everything harsher? I think she would just be like, Royalty who is worshippped like Gods. Maybe she pulls up fight tournaments from time to time to not get bored and to shape the Trolls to not be ''lame''. This place is probably ridden with lots of inequality, but so was OG Beforus so its not that much of a change.

Basically she would be an uninterested Ruler who is just enjoying the fruits of being basically a Goddess to her people

Feferi in the place of Meenah HMMM, okey I really doubt the condesce in beforus would try to murder her, so at least she has that (And not taking care of Gl'bgolyb). So for starters Feferi would have like 100% less pressure but I feel she would have a God Complex.

Like OG Feferi where she wanted to help people but was obviously misguided, but here I feel she would straight up be like ''I can never be wrong'' and wants to overthrown the Condesce and kill her even though she Definitly Doesnt Need To Do That. But she is sending a message and telling everyone she is changing shit, well at least that was her OG plan before starting the Game as she found a way to make her Perfect World. She is not happy for the failling. I feel she would become like OG Aranea where she tries to be more relevant, she probably was in cahoots with Aranea in this timeline, besties in crime

She would probably be super studious and involved in everything, to try to become ''The Best Ruler That Beforus Will Ever SEA 38D''

(ignore that i forgot her horns)

About Beforus Feferi in Alternia

Like I feel she wouldnt try to change things in Alternia after coming to power, like I really doubt she is a fucking Nice ruler considering how Alternia is, but I think she has her doubts of how things are like, with how much unnecesary death there is. I think she would be a harsh and cruel ruler who definitly see's Lowbloods pitfully, but when she listens to the Sufferer's speechs and decides to meet with the him in private to hear his demand, I feel that The Handmaid would frame The Sufferer as if he was trying to murder Beforus Feferi and she would quickly change her mind.

Meenah in Alternia I really doubt would be having a good time, she would have to be feeding her lusus on her own, threat of murder with her ancestor, and the general Murderland that is Alternia

I don't think Beforus Feferi left the planet in this case or maybe she is much closer than the OG Condesce, pressuring Meenah to become a fit ruler for Alternia makes Meenah stressed

Like yes The OG Condesce went through similar stuff but i feel that Meenah being younger and also being influenced by her ancestor, her friendgroup, her lusus. She just wants to dip but she CANT with her lusus possibly killing everyone so she is very glad with the game starting soon

Okey this post is getting too long im doing another one later with the other swap!

[spacedhead]

HOMESTUCK REREAD #17: END OF HOMESTUCK (act 6 act 6 act 6 and act 7)

this is it!!!!!! this is the end of homestuck!!!

the song setting the scene for all of these battles that are about to take place concurrently is called creata, and it has leitmotifs from MANY songs in homestuck, as do all of the songs in this 18 minute sequence! also check out this fortnite squad....

the second song is called oppa toby style... oh man this is gonna be sick.

GOD LOOK HOW STRONG SHE IS SHES BEATING UP FOUR OF THEM EFFORTLESSLY

roxy my son is fighting so hard actual goat of this section btw no cap you will see later

of course this part is.... not as important but still certainly something i suppose.. karkat and jake are giving it their all as the weakest members of the squad

here come the striders and terezi!!! they are about to mix the shit out of these jacks

side note but not really its kind of crazy how owned dirk gets in this fight he dies like three different times and is saved by dave terezi and jane a bunch . talk about an unlucky break

meanwhile jade is struggling with her dog friends/ enemies and caliborn is fighting his denizen yaldabaoth ( wrdgaf). also vriska is fighting hussie? (WRDGAFX2)

okay so caliborn beat his denizens ass. so called strongest denizen is weaker than caliborn who was beaten by john fucking egbert.

anyway the current song is eternity served cold but only the second half.. its very good. variation on johns theme for a bit, then into lord english theme.

ive always loved this shot

davepeta makes an undertale reference.... which i guess was topical at the time. my undertale phase is long gone though. so . cool reference anyway !

last song. heir of grief is starting. VERY good song. love this shit!!! pic of one of the squads... theyre getting roughed up

oh my god... the four original kids and the pictures of their houses from the beginning of the story really reminds me how far they have come... ive been reading this shit only for a few weeks but man it feels like it really has been such a long time since things were that simple.

cool ass shot of these guys

oh no!!! theyre getting fucked UP dude shes beating their ass... but who is that back there...?

to be honest. i am not sure what jade was trying to accomplish in this sequence. she seems to just be teleporting her and the dogs around.... like to get them to stop fighting maybe? idrk but either way they kinda just fight anyway. or at least PM does

i think this moment of dave chopping dirks head off is not really significant for dave as much as it is for dirk. he finally relinquished control for once!

anyway, PM FINALLY gets jacks ring off, and now he is no longer a threat. its been so long. wow . goat much?

roxy being the one to finish the condesce is deserved. great job. my goat. props to all of these crazy kids they fucking did it they won!!! holy shit good fuckin job!! but we arent quite done yet.

this is beautiful art that is the rest of the comic basically until act 7. i just love these panels so much. one of them has actually been my background for about a year and a half!

its this one . i really love this one it shows so many of my children look at them all god im so proud of them they did it.... YES!!!! i knew this would happen but im still so happy for them.

look!!! the mayor and pm reunited once again. its been since before cascade since they saw each other last! and serenity too!!

this one is a real standout as well... so good i love all of them. am i repeating myself? surely not.

:))))

it is time for act 7. the finale of homestuck, essentially. it has been a long and winding road.... only a little left to go :)

LOOK AT JOGN EGBERT I WANT HIM TOBE HAPYP FOR ALL ETERNAL

a lot of this animation shows the new universe being formed, like the tadpole turning into the frog and stuff. it is very cool, and visually stunning to be honest, but i like to focus more on the characters with my limited images per post. but trust me, act 7 is very beautiful the whole way through :D

LOOK AT MY CHILDREN IN STUNNING HD QUALITY

THE LOT OF THEM. I SIRED THEM ALL? INCREDIBLE

do you see how fucking beautiful these kids are and how much they mean to me. i would do anything for them

holy shit vriska is serving like crazy here. i mean they all are but... okayyy vriska

look at these two. leaders of their sessions. coming together. finishing. it all makes me tear up a little i wont lie. also this music called overture is fucking beautiful.

oh man okay yeah. i am really misty eyed here. this never happened before?? god i fucking love this story

IM GONNA START CRYING DUDE FUCK

well here it is. first view of the idyllic earth c. they did it. they won . they created their universe and they got to live in it

heres one last squad shot of them all being goated and fucking awesome maybe? ever think of that

it started with him and ended with him. my son john egbert i love you so much

okay. its actually over. it feels weird to say but i have indeed completed homestuck yet again. this time was maybe my favorite reading of it other than probably the first time. maybe it was cause of the blogging it? i did genuinely love blogging my thoughts about it. even if no one is paying too much attention, its cool to get it out there :D

overall thoughts? the first part is a little slow to get going, but once it does get going, it's so fun and just a blast to read. things are incredible up until right after cascade where it slows down a lot. which i get. introducing a ton of new characters and essentially a new main villain into the plot can be a lot. i would say that the first half of act 6 is like... a definite decrease in quality? but it starts picking up again when they actually arrive in the new session. and me personally, ive always loved the ending. i know some people were like oh they just win and their plan goes smoothly. like, yeah i get that, but also things did NOT go smoothly when game over happened, and that was definitely the everything goes wrong moment. everything after that is cool and fun and very entertaining to read. i just love this story guys i love it so much there is a reason why it is my favorite piece of fiction and why i constantly come back to it . it is just so good i love the characters i love the concepts the plot is sprawling and self referential and just plain cool . of course it has flaws, namely its villains are a little weak. sometimes i love villains who are just plain evil but sometimes in a story like this i may have preferred a villain who has a little more motive than just being evil and wanting to destroy and kill things... but its alright. the heroes were the main focus anyway, so its not like it ruins the story or anything. i think homestuck goes from an ironic shit post story that makes you feel like an ass for reading it to a heartfelt tale of empathy and self improvement and self actualization. its characters go from asshole kids to pretty good adults. and you can see the writing grow up too. its honestly great and if you know me you probably already know lots of bits and pieces about it and/or i made you read it. but if you dont you should give it a shot. it has NOT aged well i will say but if you can manage to ignore the usage of slurs and probably other bad things i can honestly say it ends as a story about growth and acceptance of the self and others. that is all.......

thanks for reading this to all my friends i had tons of fun

p.s

im reading the epilogues. FUCK

[dynamistimaeus]

This post is about to get long, so I added a ‘read more’. I was working on this back in December of last year (2022). Though, I am now sharing my thoughts and ‘theories’ as the HS2 writing team has changed and the story will go a slightly different direction.

I want to compile my thoughts involving the Homestuck Epilogues and Homestuck^2. Not necessarily just my opinions of it, but some things I noticed. More of an in-depth analysis, along with some of my own commentary and several ‘theories’.

There was originally a post that sparked this interest; however, I no longer have it and I don’t want this to become a debate. The person was voicing their opinion and that is totally fair and fine! They are in the right to do that. My thoughts on it still remain, though, as it got me thinking and theorizing more deeply. Something akin to igniting the fire, so to speak. While I don’t think opinions on fictional media are right or wrong, they are still just that, opinions. This being said, I feel like sometimes fandom runs with opinions and considers it factual (or canon) when in reality it really isn’t. At the end of the day, an opinion of something, and even theories, are still just those things. The important thing is that it is actually a good thing that someone can formulate their own opinions about media, and art, in general. Art is subjective and even if there is a very specific message to something, at the end of the day, if it can evoke something in you and make you think deeper.. Then, that is impressive and honestly really normal. It should draw some emotion from you, hence why it is subjective. You look at it from your own lens and determine what it means to you, using your own personal truths. Now, onto the fun part.

While I was thinking about what this individual said, it made me reconsider certain story elements. They had made a comment that Rose would have been a more interesting villain, and that is fair; however, technically, if you consider Ult Dirk a villain, then Rose would be too. Sometimes I think people forget that Dirk and Rose are similar (like how Roxy and Dave are), and this also goes into Jake and Jade being similar and the qualities that both Jane and John/June share too. For the record, I don’t necessarily consider Ult Dirk a villain, and it is definitely fine if you do; however, this goes a little into my theories surrounding things. In all regards, I think the fictional version of Ult would be more of a morally grey character, possibly someone that would fit better in an ‘anti-hero’ sort of role, since he clearly believes what he is doing is the ‘right’ thing to do. Furthermore, I believe his character always had the possibility of becoming this way and not necessarily ‘becoming what he hates,’ but someone that can control things and ‘fix’ things. We see a lot in the comic that Dirk pushes his friends in odd ways to show he cares. By extension, Bro Strider also tries to do these things— and, a side note here.. I saw someone make a theory about Bro trying to turn Dave into a Dirk splinter.. But the canonical points of Homestuck disprove that theory.. In that Dave doesn’t have a heart shirt as a kid because Bro is a Prince of Heart.. He has a heart shirt, because John has a spades shirt.. So on and so forth. It is just a nod back to the card suites, as well as the trolls quadrants. Along with this, Bro Strider— as a Dirk adjacent being, would be doing what he ‘thinks’ is best. We even see Dirk mirror this kind of behavior with his creation of Brobot to ‘strife’ with Jake to ‘prepare and train’ him better. In Dirk’s mind, he was doing what was ‘best’ or ‘correct’. And, even if it is bad what he was doing.. It is oddly his way of showing he cares. Furthermore, Bro Strider, with the knowledge from Lil Cal (and those inhabiting him) definitely tries to create the scratch or attempts to ‘delay’ or ‘end’ the game however he can.. We see him battle Jack. Bro Strider was technically one of the only Beta Guardians that actively tries to interfere with the game, while Grandpa Harley seems to have his own agenda and hand in things— we learn more about this when it comes to Hiveswap. Grandpa Harley has some very deeply rooted ties with the cherubs and their magic, as well as many other links back to the game.. But this post isn’t about that, so I will save that for a different time.

Back to looking at Rose’s character for a moment. I want to make it clear that Rose has always had the ability to dig deeper into the narrative and the game as a whole. Her seer powers allow that. The original post I mentioned, also explained this well. They made the comments about Alpha Mom. While the guardians are really interesting and helpful to give us insight on the kids.. I also want to reiterate the kids aren’t the guardians. And, in my mind, I am of the impression that they may share the aspect with their alternate timeline self, but not the class.. I made this theory from looking at the trolls: The dancestors and decendants— they all share the same aspect, but not the same class. With this information, I started to dig a bit deeper.. Which brings me to some other interesting finds.

Some of the kids share some aspects with the trolls, and even with the cherubs. Now, before I get more into that, I want to brush up on my theories involving HS^2 and the turns some of the characters took.. First, starting with Dirk. It has been a bit since I read the story of Timaeus, but I already have a few correlating ties back to it and the turn Dirk’s character takes. Within the story of Timaeus, as Plato writes it.. Eventually, the character of Timaeus begins to take over the narrative completely. The full story never was finished, as Plato died prior to finishing the dialogues, but I think this is important.. It plays back into a few other things involving Dirk’s character too, but I don’t want to stay on this, as I have a lot of other thoughts to unpack. Now, another interesting thing about Dirk, and more specifically Bro Strider, is the ties they have with Kamina from Gurren Lagaan. Unsure of how many of you have seen the anime, but Kamina— one of the main characters, goes by the nickname of ‘Bro’, especially to the younger character Simon. Now, some of the methods Kamina uses to ‘help Simon’ basically.. Deal with the destroyed version of the world, aren’t ideal.. But a lot of the things Kamina does in that show are very identical to things Dirk, and Bro Strider, do in regards to the game.. And, well, end of the world, essentially. Along with this, Roxy (and adjacently) Mom Lalonde share a lot of qualities with Yoko from that show.. From the scarf to the amazing rifle action. Also, the weirdly overly fetishization of female characters that happened in the 90’s.. It was bad, and it even shows with Roxy a bit.. Her personality is also a little similar to Yoko’s.. Though, the other interesting thing about this is that Jake shares some qualities of her too.. The shorts, the guns, the infamous kissing in front of a volcano.. You know, among other things.. But I think Jake having more ties back to Indiana Jones and Laura Croft make a bit more sense.. Considering Grandpa Harley.. And, the fact Hussie has started they weren’t really sure what to do with Jake’s character for a while— sidenote: I love Jake and want to see him fully use his Hope powers.. But I’ll brush up on this a little more as I unpack some things..

I think the Epilogues and Homesuck^2 are.. Kind of replaying the events of things that happened with the trolls’ ancestors.. To the way Jane is becoming Condy.. Even her ties to Gamzee. It makes me think of the relationship between Condy and GHB.. Even the fact Jane, a human, is with a troll to the side, but is fine with destroying the rest. Condy was with a human because ‘he made her laugh,’ but was fine with destroying anyone else. With this, we even see in one timeline (the Candy one) that Karkat becomes a lot like the Signless, which makes sense, especially if Jane is filling the role of Condy. There isn’t a kid that shares the Rage aspect as Gamzee, so I wondered if this was why they ‘brought him back’.. But that doesn’t explain Vriska, because Rose technically shares a classpect with her and still is alive within both timelines.. Though, interestingly enough, Terezi’s relationship with Rosebot in the Meat timeline mirrors her past relationship with Vriska, as well as that of Redglare and Mindfang.. Now, this is the interesting thing.. Jake would then technically be in the same shoes as Cronus and Eridan if it was following this trend, but he isn’t. He’s an outlier.. Though, on the other hand, John/June being a breath player.. I think that is why they will ultimately still ‘be the hero’ in all of this. Having ties back to Tavros’ ancestor, and what that entails involving the Signless. We also only see John/June in the candy timeline, as it is believed they died within the meat one.. Upon being sent back.. Now, even more interestingly.. Dave shares an aspect with Aradia and her ancestor and dancestor.. Which we see Davebot currently traveling along with Aradia.. But he also shares an aspect with Caliborn, being the same ‘color’ of the cherub swirls.. Also, think of the parallels here of Lord English and The Handmaid… Which also brings me to the fact that Jade and Calliope also share an aspect (as well as Kanaya; however, she never goes Godtier).. And, the color scheme of Jade fits closely with Calliope.. In the Meat timeline, they have merged together— to an extent.. Which makes me wonder if Davebot and that Jade will eventually have to fight one another? Would Davebot win or would that version of Calliope be the actual winner? Since, as we know, Calliope was the one who was supposed to win between the two cherubs, which was the reason the session was doomed.. As Caliborn takes over entirely (becoming Lord English). I also would like to point out that Aradia accidentally left Sollux behind somewhere… Will he eventually become a power source for Jane? Just some random thoughts. I’m still digging into things.. But I do think some of the characters going the routes they do make sense more in this context.

Last notes, I also believe the reason Roxy (within the Meat timeline) is fine with executing Ult Dirk. When they talk to Dave about it, he seems uncomfortable about it (reasonably so), but Roxy doesn’t.. They also share an aspect with Equius (and we all know about his ancestor)…

Anyways, this is all of my findings for now. I’ll continue updating as I find more things to discuss (and have the energy to do so).

[charmikarma]

pesterquest route tierlist

assorted thoughts under the cut:

you can read my thoughts on dirk's route in the image obviously but to reiterate ... the meta move here just doesn't... work. also having ult dirk show up at all kind of sidelined any interesting development for him as a character i feel like. idk

another meta move that Doesn't Work: retcon powers as something that "change the alpha timeline" or whatever because that is literally not how that works out in our material reality. you can say whatever you want about the events of pesterquest erasing the reality of homestuck but homestuck is still gonna exist regardless of whether you choose to retcon it out or not. it just does not work for me and i think it's dumb <3 not to mention the epilogues seem to make this work in a very different way for no fucken reason (except i argue this way of working makes a lot more sense). classic homestuck contradicting itself for funsies

i don't really like eridan but his route was so fun. sollux was epic in it that's the main thing i liked. and i appreciated that it didn't just redeem him for no reason

jake i also don't really like but his route was REALLY GOOD? like good to the point where i'm starting to come around on him. like damn. i mean i was already kinda coming around on him bc of thinking abt writing him but still. i think this solidified it for me. esp seeing him talk to jade was just so... :)

re: dave's route. i am so fucking glad james roach is directing hsbc.

NEPETA DAVE AND JADE HANGING OUT WAS SO CUTE.

i also love the beta kids slumber party but i have always loved that moment, as you can see in my header. one of the few things i actually remembered from the first time i tried to play this game. honestly jade's pq route informs my reading of her a lot too and it has for a long time. it ties everything we see of her together so nicely for me

jane's route was kind of... bad. or well there were some ok parts. but her believing you instantly about most of the things you claim feels So not her. jane is skeptical to a fault why would she trust you instantly like that.

roxy with abandonment issues, while not totally out of character, just didn't align with my personal reading of her i guess and kind of just took me out of it

uhhhh yep that's all i got. good night tumblr

[booperbeanv3]

ok i know this ask game is from Þe Olden Times but.

everything except 1, 2, 7, 8, 30 and 31. covering all the bases

“Homestuck Isn’t Dead” Tag

jesus a full faq here

Well I'm incredibly vain and love talking about myself so here goes

3. Do you call your s/o a matesprit? 4. Do you call your best friend your moirail?

S/O, no. Best friend, sometimes.

5. Are you “kin” with any characters or commonly called a character?

I've never taken kinning seriously and never will, but I strongly related to Dave and Karkat thanks to that "born wrong + childhood neglect" flavour. But my friends (SIDE-EYES YOUR URL) have holed me into Jake English, so, y'know, whatever. Not everyone can be davekat, I get it

6. God Tier?

Knight of Light!

9. Do you roleplay homestuck? where and how often?

I haven't been able to do it often thanks to the circumstances. I'm too scared to use dreambubbles.xyz. But if you're interested, my discord is boolean2390 and while I main alphabeta boys (i.e. Dave, John, Jake, Dirk), I have RPed Dave and Karkat before in actual, concrete examples I can show you.

10. Do you cosplay homestuck characters? Who and where?

I was gonna cosplay Karkat before Omegle shut down.

11. Are you apart of ask blogs?

I am not and I have actively avoided this! I'm gonna be real here, I'll never top the current set of kid ask blogs, so I'll just watch from afar. Plus, it's quite a bit of work when my faves are so popular, and therefore will not fill any real niches. (a jake english would be kinda funny even if it already exists tho)

12. Are you in any homestuck groups?

Hoesslut server on Discord

13. Favorite character?

you can make a tri venn diagram of all my faves with the headings "waifu", "literally me" and "actually good/interesting character" with some mild overlap

that said

objective best is jade and personal fav is karkat

aradia is super based also. best part of act 5 but utterly forgettable afterwards. served cunt, died, served cunt, revived

14. Least favorite character?

tri venn diagram of "obsessive hatred", "boring" and "annoying"

most of my "least favs" disappoint me from lack of potential being utilised effectively

idfk doc scratch??

15. OTP? 16. NOTP? 17. BROTP?

JANEROXY 4EVER!!!! that's the only consistent one. i can like any ship if given some good enough motivation (even if it's my dick).

that being said i scour johndave and johnkat most often. however i am THE blackrom vantas and johnkat/davekat must be spades ONLY. spades johndave is fun but no one writes it. dude i just love spades

18. Do you want homestuck to just die already?

No, I just got here!

19. Are you following up with hiveswap? Do you play? Watch YT videos?

I don't, and I don't care.

20. Tell us how homestuck has affected you in real life?

Locked myself in my room and did nothing but read Homestuck for about 2 weeks to a month. I finished it during this time

Got so high I tripped balls thought I killed my best friend and got stuck on Prospit while Homestuck music was playing in the background. Last summer!

Started laughing uncontrollably in the middle of a psychotherapy appointment since I was being so Davecore

My karkalicious x wannabe remix is on my friend's playlist bc she genuinely enjoys it. This remix also haunted me during an important art project I was doing and singlehandedly cursed the entire thing

Wore sunglasses IRL for a bit. (It does help.) Would keep doing it if I didn't lose my clip-ons

My sister thinks I sell Karkat foot fetish art now. She follows me here

21. Have you met anyone through homestuck?

IRL? No. Online? Duh

22. Have you left the fandom before?

No, I'm a total newfag

23. How many times have you read through it?

TOTAL newfag. Only once

24. Did you ever skip intermissions/dialog/animations?

I'd scan over them, but not totally skip. I also read act summaries in full when they were there because I am a baby with goldfish memory

25. Opinions on the fandom?

Depends... I think it's gotten a lot better from my observations, but of course, Twitter is still a cesspit full of retarded babies that shit their diapers. But that could be said about any fandom that's majority kids. Also any stridercester that thinks theyre oppressed for liking shota boy twincest should btfo and jerk off in peace. Which in fairness, most of them do! But to the ones that don't, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY NOTES FAGGOT

Besides those, I think it's great, but I also main Tumblr, so...

26. Opinions on the comic?

Personally I enjoyed it a lot, but I'll get a more rounded impression once I re-read it. All plot shenanigans aside, Homestuck's main selling point has always been its characters, and its method of introducing and developing them is one of my favourites. Also its humour

27. Do you favor the trolls, humans, or carapaces?

Humans, because I'm a boring fucknut who reads sci-fi for the humans and will put them in an office building and say "imagine if they did IT"

28. Favorite moment of all of homestuck?

29. Least favorite moment of all of homestuck?

beginning of act 6 felt like i nodded off on dope and woke up in the hospital. retcon was kinda mid

[lesboygamzee]

you already know this but im explaining so i dont have to get into an argument :

on transmasc roxy lalonde - roxy lalonde wasnt ' popularly headcanoned ' as one , she is canonically a trans woman in the text of the comic - andrew hussie said that the beta kidses handles were supposed to vaguely resemble chromosomes ( tt , gg = xx , and rose and jade are girls , gt / eb , tg , etc etc ) and that the sole reason that this was changed for the trolls is that thered only be 2 girls , which is no longer an issue with the alpha kids - gg and gt were swapped because jane is a girl and jake is a boy , but tg and tt were also swapped even though there wasnt an equivalent ' gender switch ' with the strilonde guardians , making me think this is an intentional allusion to roxy and dirk being a trans woman and man respectively . on top of this , the xy in roxys name is stated to be ' chromosomal ' in her intro , and she calls herself a girl + other very explicitly feminine labels a lot more than other characters 2 the point whrre it is Notable . this not only makes roxy trans coded but i think it was intentional - act 6 introduced us to an explicitly non binary character later on , why the hell do people treat a trans woman as completely farfetched . out of ALL the characters to be chosen to be transmasc , its the textual trans woman that people have near exclusively believed to be a trans woman ( because it is textual ) . i think this decision is transmisogynistic and people have a right to be mad

on transfem tavros : not even the fucking same thing in any context . transmasc tavros is atextual - tavros is a character who struggles with being expected to man up despite not subscribing to any of the circumstances that would make that an expectation , she did not choose to be a man or a troll and yet is held up to male and troll standards that she refuses to live up to . How is this a trans man in any regard . while i am averse to her being a man at all shes at the very least a cis man who just struggles w masculinity if you really really want her to be a man . but this isnt the point . tavros is not canonically transmasc , she does not read as transmasc , she is not intended to be transmasc . there is 0 problem with her being confirmed to be a transfem in a few fucking lines of dialogue most people didnt even pick up on because they dont care abt her that much

people are trying to hurt me

[choctalksalot]

compilation of homestuck design things i love with all my heart that no one asked for

[warning: i live up to my username.]

okay? okay here

dirk with a hairband. i just love it it invokes an Emotion in me that can only be described with [:

dirk with a neck scar. any significant death that leaves scarring, these are my d-smp days talking but im just a big fan of the significance of death, i like the idea that any revival that isn't automatically settled by the T1CK T0CK has scarring/medical issues that come along with it. does this mean i hc karkat with organ problems? maaaayyyybeeeeee

any rose hairstyle. any. all the different ways people interpret Mspaint Shape bring me joy but rose's is literally Sircul and people get so many nifty styles from it... gah!!

jegbert with rollerblades my beloved. when did that even come from?? i don't care it's so silly i love it....though personally i prefer

jegbert with a SKATEBOARD. GOD I LOVE SKATEBOARDS. i want the beta crew to go to a skatepark together and i want john on a skateboard i want them All on skateboards

bonus: jegbert on a skateboard in skates. nobody survives.

ANYBODY WHO INCORPORATES DAVE'S CANONICALLY BIG BABYGIRL EYES AND THICK LASHES. I LOVE YOU.

there's a specific kind of jade glasses i adore... like. like canon jade has O-O and i love it i do but occasionally i see people stretch them just a liiiittle bit to 0-0 and it captures my heart in one fell swoop

Matching Accessories between anyone ever. personal fave is dirkjake armbands/bracelets (ive seen it from four people and every time it makes me giddy smile a little) and meowrails hairclips (equius with a cat, nepeta with a horse)

jade with white hair streaks... <3

JADE WITH A LOT OF WHITE HAIR ACTUALLY. i draw her this way, the bottom layer of her hair? all white. i saw a drawing of jade with all white hair once. i lost it before i could reblog. the bruise it left on my soul

more jade hair joy: undercut. post-doggie jade has more hair than she knows what to do with and she had to get rid of some of it!! also undercut just [swoon]

i friggin. adore. when anyone incorporates the kids' card suits into their designs. are you kidding me. yes. y e s.

roxy with a heart shaped ahoge <333

kanaya with glowing blood. this is specific to me. i think the thing that makes her glow is her blood. i have drawn diagrams

dave with hair similar to roxy's...

addendum to that - rose with hair similar to dirk's

jane in band tshirts. i just. wuegh

the more bird your davesprite is the more shiny rocks i leave on your windowsill

jake english covered in bandaids. i'm fond of bandaids on anyone but i like to imagine grandma english had boxes and boxes of colourful themed plasters that she would tack on jake's scrapes and cuts, and he's a little kid living in the jungle he'd get a lot of them!! he never stopped using them. carry every piece of her as far as it will follow him

that's 20 i can name off the top of my head. i love them so much. kissing them all on the forehead heart emoji thanks for surviving my mindless rambles

an edit: 19, not 20. one of them got halfway backspaced and i don't remember the contents of them so i have to live with the mystery forever now ig

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

Homestuck Poll Round 1 Results:

Beta Kids: 226 votes

Dave Strider: 31% - Winner

Jade Harley: 27%

Rose Lalonde: 22%

John Egbert: 20%

Lowblood Trolls: 275 votes

Aradia Megido: 41% - Winner

Karkat Vantas: 30%

Sollux Captor: 15%

Tavros Nitram: 14%

Midblood Trolls: 356 votes

Nepeta Leijon: 31% - Winner

Terezi Pyrope: 28%

Kanaya Maryam: 23%

Vriska Serket: 18%

Highblood Trolls: 314 votes

Feferi Peixes: 40% - Winner

Gamzee Makara: 24%

Eridan Ampora: 22%

Equius Zahhak: 14%

Alpha Kids: 655 votes

Roxy Lalonde: 51% - Winner

Dirk Strider: 28%

Jake English: 13%

Jane Crocker: 8%

Miscellaneous Characters Pt. 1: 171 votes

Calliope: 42% - Winner

Meenah Peixes: 24%

Caliborn: 23%

Aranea Serket: 11%

Miscellaneous Characters Pt. 2: 164 votes

Davesprite/Davepetasprite: 46% - Winner

Mayor (WV): 30%

Dad Egbert/Dad Crocker: 30%

Doc Scratch: 9%

Cursed Characters: 35 votes (I forgot to tag this one)

Lil Cal: 37% - Winner

Sweet Bro: 26%

Hella Jeff: 20%

Andrew Hussie: 17%

Villains: 164 votes

Spades Slick: 45% - Winner

The Condesce: 25%

Bec Noir: 24%

Lord English: 6%

Comments:

The kids and trolls got a lot more votes than the miscellaneous characters. That makes sense. We spend more time with all the kids and a lot of the trolls compared to the miscellaneous ones so I guess more people searched up their name in the Tumblr tags

That being said a sample size of only a few hundred is WAY too small. Especially for a fandom as big as Homestuck. I'll go off of this in the next poll ofc but to get a good idea of who the fandom ACTUALLY likes I need like at least a few thousand votes. Maybe more idk how big the Homestuck fandom is now. I know @abraxas-calibrator is planning to make a comprehensive poll with every single character in HS someday and they a) have more followers than me probably so more people will see the poll, b) is more of a "Homestuck blog" than me so more people will know what they're talking about, and c) will probably organize this poll better than I did so. Check out their poll when they do it I guess.

The alpha kids got a LOT of votes. From the tags it seems people have been trying to get their followers to vote for Jane and Jake who were less popular. Didn't work, as you can tell. I love Jane but I don't think her reputation in the fandom ever recovered after HS2 unfortunately. Also I guess ppl just didn't pay attention to her before HS2 either.

The midbloods had a lot of people voting and a relatively close race between Nepeta and Terezi. In the tags of the poll I said Terezi was my favorite but I didn't expect her to win. I expected Vriska to win. Vriska made waves a few days ago bc ppl were APPALLED that she was having such a tough race against Katya Goncharov. Can't believe she's one of THE Tumblr Sexywomen but she came in last in a poll against characters from her own comic. I mean I voted for Katya in that poll bc Vriska sucks (affectionate) but still. She deserved to win that one and I'm surprised she didn't win this one.

That being said for both the midblood and the highblood polls I get the feeling that people assumed that more Tumblr Sexyman characters like Vriska and Gamzee would get all the votes so they voted for the least controversial characters to compensate? Like I have no doubt in my mind that people ACTUALLY like Aradia and liked her enough to beat out Karkat. But. Do people actually like Nepeta and Feferi more. Actually maybe they do. Maybe I'm just cynical. I like characters that are a little problematic bc they're more interesting that way. I guess a lot of people don't see it that way and like the characters that they would genuinely want to be friends with. That's valid tbh.

Some of these brackets weren't well done tbh. The midblood bracket had all popular characters and there were several miscellaneous brackets with characters that aren't most people's favorites. But because I put them together in one poll it forced people to choose their favorite out of the selection. The winners of different polls will be going into the next round but it doesn't really reflect the actual popularity in the fandom. Maybe doing them in batches of 2 would have been better than 4. Ah well. I'll do that for the Tumblr Sexywoman poll I'll eventually put on. I don't have the energy to do all that for this one. Same with the Danganronpa one I want to do later they're still going into batches of 4.

Roxy is literally the only character who won the majority vote. And that's only by 1%. The other polls all have votes split more evenly 3- or 4- ways between the characters. Again, I wonder if any characters would have come out on top if I did a 1v1 poll for them?

Yall really like girls. 5/9 winners of the polls are girls, and 4/5 of the kids/trolls polls had girls win. And for a bunch of the polls where a girl didn't win a girl was the runner-up if there was one in the group. In conclusion wamen I guess.

I have homework so round 2 of polls will be up tomorrow. There are 9 winners in round 1 so for round 2 I'll put them in batches of 3. And the final round will also be in batches of 3. I tried to make 8 batches last time bc it was the Vriska number but also bc then I could do 1v1s but I thought of more characters in the last second. Ah well, I'll refine my methodology for other polls. Peace.

Pandora

[4lph4kidz]

(Same Dirk Anon)

I def read Dirk's splinters as more uhhh 'possibilities' - this COULD be you, if you let it be, and they reflect certain truths about your character that you need to come to terms with.

I guess the way I tend to think of it is, like- Davesprite broke Jade's heart, and got angry at Dave about it in Game Over. It's pointless to actually hold Dave accountable for that, but there's no denying that had he been in Davesprite's position he could or would have acted the exact same way. In that regard, I find it pretty pointless to actively hold Dirk accountable for anything AR does independent of Dirk's awareness or control; but because Dirk is so willing to immediately assume the worst of himself and take some level of ownership over his splinters that Dave would never do for Davesprite (or Jade, Jadesprite) I see him getting conflated with his splinters a LOT more often.

Ofc, selves are a complicated matter in Homestuck. Karkat's memo shenanigans are pretty indicative of that, though those are less 'possibilities' and more 'closed time loops', I guess. But even then, they serve as a purpose for Karkat to learn more about himself, even if it's more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than Dirk and his splinters are.

On AR and Dirk's agency, the amount of control Dirk actually has seems somewhat limited - assuming you don't think Dirk should just straight up murder the AR, which is an argument I've seen made. I would say that AR goes to prove Dirk has a lot less agency than he thinks he does - I'm reminded of Dirk giving that whole spiel to Jane about how he's going to mastermind the session, but ends up running to Calliope for advice on what to do the second something went wrong.

Or his claims that he can control his Dream Self perfectly, but almost got killed failing to do just that and ended up zoning out so much he was too late to warn Jane about Roxy's bomb. The bomb thing is interesting, because AR also chose not to warn her despite being FULLY capable of doing so, which indicates to me that... yeah, they're on different wavelengths here.

Or - Unite/Synchronise once Dirk's actual plans to enter the session go very obviously to shit, but even that's left ambiguous as to who actually orchestrated it. AR makes the most sense to me, though. I'm reminded of Scratch's High Stakes Timeline Wrangling - I was masochistic enough to read Hussie's authors notes, and iirc he mentioned something about Scratch being so competent because one of his components was a supercomputer.

Honestly, I read AR and Dirk's convo as soft confirmation that AR and Dirk weren't accurate 1=1 reflections of each other anymore. The conversation starts with AR blowing off Roxy trying to call Dirk for help, and ends with him asking Dirk "so can suicide fix this problem?" Strider if he's afraid to die. AR is what Dirk could have been, but currently isn't, but still contains a multitude of truths about himself that are uncomfortable to look at. ...but that's not the conclusion Dirk seems to come to, which I guess is what I meant when I thought Dirk wasn't being meaningfully challenged on what his splinters mean about himself.

(...which is still all setting aside the Jake thing. Jake pretty accurately pinned AR as a Dirk with 'no accountability, that just wants to screw with him' which... Dirk isn't happy about, but dirk and jake and dirk's splinters is a whole other nightmare.)

This all checks out with me as reading Dirk as a kid that's not as smart as he thinks he is getting a succession of reality checks straight to the face during the session. And then he's just kind of left dangling with the last one, which doesn't... really feel like a conclusion to his arc, but it's still better than what Jake got? It really feels like they just barely dug into the meat of Dirk's character before. All that.

feel free to ignore this, i just like rambling about dirk because he's absolutely fascinating and yet... done so goddamn dirty by the narrative. he is the bug i have under a microscope. i want to read all the conversations kidnapped PQ!Dirk has with Ult!Dirk so badly.

there's a lot of great kanaya quotes but i think the moment i realised she was like, one of my forever faves, was. "Impromputations".

Yeah! That's very much the read that makes the most sense to me, though it is still a very character-focused perspective and I try to keep other ways of framing things in the back of my mind. And I'd be more likely to agree he was 'done dirty by the narrative' if you take post canon into the picture but tbh I think being a Jake-liking individual has sort of lowered the bar for me when it comes to Homestuck's character biases... At least the author thought Dirk was interesting enough to take him seriously and address his stuff with some depth.

Generally speaking HS's concluding arcs were so messy that pretty much every single character was left wanting in one way or another, with the exception of maybe Dave, but I do still think Dirk is actually one of the better handled/more fleshed out characters? Seeing as he's one of only a handful who even had an identifiable arc and got something approaching a resolution for the better. Not everything was addressed or wrapped up neatly of course, and he sure isn't in a very HAPPY place, but still. I still took it as an ultimately positive ending for him. Maybe that's just because I'm generally okay with the ending of Homestuck as a whole, despite noting its many faults, mostly because I think its a miracle something as convoluted as Homestuck even made it to the end at all. That doesn't mean I'm not disappointed and don't love seeing other people explore what the comic didn't, I'm just relatively at peace with the fact that resolving characters wasn't really a priority for the work I guess.