#probably a karkat recommendation..

[dailyjadenep]

what if thet got all cozy for autumn :3

[nintendont2502]

This is just a guess but I feel like the reason they removed '^2' from beyond canon's title is so it's not seen as an official continuation/sequel to homestuck, which- im ngl I feel like doing that in the first place would have made the discourse a lot less toxic

Like. They could have just positioned it as an exploration of beyond the canon of homestuck proper (which it looks like this new team is doing), something like paradox space - but instead, they basically went 'yeah all these controversial decisions and butchered characters? Yeah they're the official follow up to homestuck' which absolutely didn't help

[homestuckreplay]

SIGN ME UP FOR YOUR IDIOTIC CLOWN RELIGION OK.

(page 1995-2010)

Homestuck has passed 2000 pages!! Wow that’s a lot of comic. Who’d have known 2000 pages ago that we’d be hanging out with a little gray kid on an alien planet, millions of years before John Egbert even exists. Not me. And not Andrew Hussie either. And yet the transition to this feels pretty natural.

I don’t know much about Alternia yet, but my first impression is that it’s just ‘mask off Earth’. Specifically talking about modern Western culture (aka the culture where Homestuck comes from), we construct this veneer of a polite and civilized society where everything follows rules and traditions, and where we as humans are rational creatures who should be ‘above’ animals and our own biological needs. Meanwhile Alternia is like asking ‘what if we admitted that the world is a bad place where people constantly do harm to each other, and where being a biological creature is both inherently gross and inescapable. what if society simply accepted these facts and did not try to hide or change them?’ The trolls have terrible nightmares as they sleep in their own disgusting slime, are forced through painful and difficult ordeals as children, don’t have great respect for arts like fashion and poetry, and their upper class literally have different colored blood which (to them) legitimates their own importance. I’m sure it sucks ass to live on Alternia but it sounds kind of refreshing to live in a place that doesn’t even pretend to play fair.

The fact that Alternia has the same movies and TV shows as Earth means their societies must be far more similar than they are different, because media is so much a product of the culture it comes from. Also, ‘50 First Dates’, ‘Serendipity’ and ‘Hitch’ are all already fairly literal titles! And movies on Earth are often categorized by genre, by tropes, and by comparisons to other, similar movies! So Alternia is just taking this to its logical conclusion by having its movie titles basically be their TVTropes pages, where people decide whether to watch them based on whether or not they enjoy the individual elements they’re composed of. It seems wacky and different at first glance, but on deeper consideration it’s really not.

All of this might not hold up as I learn more about Alternia, but this is definitely the lens I’m looking at it through right now. And to be honest all writers are humans (as far as I know) and it’s incredibly hard to write an alien society that feels meaningfully different from Earth as we’re all so influenced by our own experiences, and especially in a comedy webcomic where Hussie probably hasn’t sat down to do extensive complex worldbuilding (for one thing, when would they have the time), there will be similarities just due to shortcuts, assumptions and biases.

I watched Karkat’s movies! I saw Serendipity a while back when he first mentioned it and it sucked ass. Hitch was pretty good though – 2005 Will Smith is cute, there’s genuine chemistry between both of the main couples, and the characters feel more fully realized than the average romcom, so I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys the genre. 50 First Dates was not good but it was fascinating, so I get why Karkat likes it even though he has a hard time defending it (p.1998). It has many flaws (racism, misogyny, unnecessary grossout humor) but it really takes the premise of Lucy’s short term memory loss and runs with it, acknowledging the horrors and genuinely exploring what that would mean for her ability to have a relationship and a future, and I kind of respect it for that.

Back when the trolls and kids started talking, I noted that Homestuck was starting to explicitly discuss romance – for example, Dave accusing GA of having a crush on Rose (p.1589). That all went away later in act 4, which was very plot-focused, with the exception of Mom and Dad’s meeting and holding hands. But Karkat specifically liking romantic movies could be a return to that theme. Twelve trolls offer far more options for romantic pairings than four kids, half of which are siblings.

My boy Karkat doesn’t even need a Sburb server player to destroy his house. Apparently he is doing a fine job of it all on his own with this dumbass modus.

Hivebent already feels ominous for a few reasons. First and most obvious, the darker color palette. Second, the ~ATH (TILDEATH) manual. John also has this manual (p.115) and has unsuccessfully tried coding with it (p.24), but never looked inside. It’s full of skulls, bones, graves and grim reapers (aesthetically very cool) and its ‘logic is composed of nothing but infinite loops’ (p.2002). Sort of like paradox space?? Like how John creates himself through ectobiology, sends his baby self to Earth on a meteor, grows up to create himself, in an infinite loop? Kind of like that but now about death, instead of birth perhaps?

‘You certainly wouldn't get all that worked up about a game that happened to allow you to do such a thing. At least not for that reason.’ (p.2003)

Third, this quote – maybe it’s because I know Sburb is a fucked up game that destroys planets and ruins lives, but this is a very menacing, VERY loaded line to me. (It was the final line of June 13th’s update and definitely stuck with me overnight). Sburb too has necromantic capabilities, so this could tie into the Bone Manual from above.

And fourth, the Hivebent title card. A few pages ago, we were told there wouldn’t be ‘time to drag out every little gag and expected pattern’ (p.1993) and this shows even in the art – it’s three still images, compared to John’s title card (p.82) where time was taken to animate the sequence in Flash. But in this case the pattern is upheld, because its purpose – illuminating the POV character’s mental state – is fulfilled the following page. It’s just that Karkat’s mental state is far more action-oriented and ambitious than the more contemplative, trapped kids.

Karkat’s computer looks like it’s made out of biological material, powered by wires going into something soft and slimy. This is kind of like how Skaian chess constructs are made through biological/genetic processes, so, much like the Harleys + Mom Lalonde are already using Skaian technology on Earth, it seems like that’s seeded itself on Alternia already, though in different forms.

I’ve heard that the Alternian language is based on some existing fantasy language but I think it’d be fun to puzzle it out for myself if I have a minute. ‘GAME GRUB EXCLUSIVE LEAKS’, which gets translated in text on page 2007, is probably enough to get started and then fill in some blanks from there.

Pages that aren’t titled with commands are now titled ‘======>’ instead of ‘==>’. Six equals signs for twelve lines in total, representing twelve characters, instead of four. This is just a cool detail, and another way that the characters bleed into the actual structure of the comic.

On the last page of today’s update, there’s a NEW TROLL!! terminallyCapricious, who has messaged Jade (p.1390) at a time when she wasn’t opening the trolls’ message, is now here via pesterlog. Back when I was a forums kid using BBCode tags, I used to use [color=indigo] for all my posts, so I feel an instant connection to this troll. Also, TA and GC both get namedropped (initialdropped?) here, so the initial group of six who’ll play Sburb is starting to come together. My guess is we’ll meet these six first and see them begin the session, with the other six joining the story later.

TC and CG both come off very badly in this conversation, which essentially means that the trolls were always awful, they didn’t become so due to the trials of Sburb interfering in their previously good friendships. Karkat is constantly rude to TC, calling them an awful friend and saying it’s cosmic punishment to even know them, which is a bad way to talk to someone even if you’re trying to distance yourself from them, unless Karkat likes making himself angry. Meanwhile, TC has some highly anti-intellectual attitudes that are harmful and which I associate with fundamentalist Christianity (on Earth). Speaking of which – Karkat is the first to mention God, which suggests some kind of mainstream troll religion, and then refers to TC’s ‘IDIOTIC CLOWN RELIGION’ a few messages later (p.2010). These may or may not be the same religion. But given that there’s already some religious imagery in Sburb (John biting the apply, for example), I’m interested to see religion explored in Alternian society.

okay I said so much here and I didn’t even delve into karkat character analysis. god damn.

[calware]

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

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

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

Jade Route by spicyyeti

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

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

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

moving on to the actual fics:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[thewertsearch]

Mega-Giga Ask Comp: Part 3

@manorinthewoods asked: I'll be honest, I wrote the Locked Tomb ask having not read the Locked Tomb series. I literally only know the starting and ending strokes of the first book. That being said, I do like the half-soul-Sollux idea, and it works pretty well with the Locked Tomb's general theme of Lyctorhood, and how knotted the whole situation with Alecto, Gideon, and Harrow ends up being. (What is even going on with Nona) ~LOSS (4/13/24) @manorinthewoods asked: You know, if you hadn't already read Gideon the Ninth, I'd have recommended it as a good second liveblog. It really does fit your preferred sort of mystery. From all the clues presented, you could probably hit very close to the ultimate solution to the Lyctoral puzzle - as close as anybody could be expected to get. ~LOSS (25/4/24) @manorinthewoods asked: The Locked Tomb's prose is pretty good. On occasion, it happens to chime with a sound of 'Homestuck', but I only recall that twice so far in my reading. I like the skelebook. ~LOSS (27/4/24)

Once again, I'm glad my hidden agenda - convincing this blog's entire readership to check out The Locked Tomb - is bearing fruit.

I agree! TLT does occasionally give Homestuck vibes, presumably because its author is a fan. For the most part, though, its prose style is all its own.

Anonymous asked: Reference to American culture: the sphere of Jade's home dropping and the timer that preceded it are references to the Times Square Ball, an annual event held every New Year's Eve. A giant ball descends down a pole at 11:59 PM and reaches the bottom at 12:00 AM, January 1. I believe that you can figure out why the reference was included in the first place. Anonymous asked: btw the gamzee page was released on new years. ‘the miracle of a new beginning’ is the new year and the lab dropping is supposed to be a reference to the ball dropping in times square

Some America Lore here that I wasn't aware of.

I was wondering exactly what Gamzee meant by 'a new beginning'. Maybe Alternia practices the tradition as well.

@omnilew asked: the way you speculate and go indepth into sburbs features and how it affects the kids, made a silly headcanon that your kidsona is reading the comic while playing out their session though this is mainly because "Eventually, we were bound to cross a couple of wires that should never have been allowed to touch" kinda references chargerkind

I like it! Maybe my 'sonas have access to a more in-depth version of Rose's walkthrough, and are adding their own commentary in quiet moments during their own adventures.

@manorinthewoods asked: Your excitement over the resurrection of Dream Jade gave me a form of suspenseful mirth. Seeing how happy you were at her resurrection, while also knowing exactly what came of it, is perhaps textbook dramatic irony. If only you'd read a panel further… ~LOSS (26/4/24)

She looked so happy to be back, too! That certainly didn't last long.

She was prototyped with a smiling corpse, though. Maybe that was just her 'default' expression, and it vanished as soon as her actual feelings asserted themselves.

@thetinygladiator asked: 'I hadn’t really thought about Sally’s ectobiological parent - but now that I am, I think the funniest possible option is that it’s her landlady.' okay but i just gotta say… this immediately makes me think about how that relates to the house-building aspect. Like, with the giant tower, are they gonna charge the Imps for rent? That might work, honestly. Where do imps even live? Bet they don't have good AC or Wi-Fi, lemme tell ya.

300 GRIST/DAY NO CRUXTRUDER NO ALCHEMY NO PETS

@manorinthewoods submitted: How many computers would you have on your person if you were playing Sburb? Jade recommends at least 5. I say I'd have a laptop, phone, a spare of both of those, and computer gloves if I need to compute really fast. Also spare gloves. Speaking of the phone - is it possible for people to put phones in their pockets? Given Karkat (and a minor gag in Act 6), we can assume that it's difficult or uncommon to carry items without using the Sylladex - or maybe it's just tied to your dexterity, and you have to hold things gingerly to avoid captchaloguing them when you pick them up. On the other hand, there's no issues with accidentally storing something you've unstored and are using - so how does the Sylladex actually work? Do people just instinctively store their items once they're done using them? Is it difficult to avoid storing something you aren't using anymore? Can you stuff phones in pockets? If not, then why develop a PDA in the first place? Given the Sylladex, it should be much more commercially viable to make a tablet. ~LOSS (24/4/24)

Since Karkat can physically pick up a book, you can probably pocket your gear - although maybe there's a difference between holding an object and trying to add it to a physical 'inventory'. Either way, the issue is easily circumvented by employing wearable tech, like the kids do.

As depicted in my alchemy binge, my primary computing device would be the Pocket Holodex, which can remote into any computer in my sylladex.

In addition, my Modular Ring shirt is also a computer, which can presumably be augmented by adding extra mod1ules over time. I'd probably also captchalogue every computer in my apartment, of which I currently have six.

I'd be exploring the Medium with a minimum of seven computers, plus one pseudo-computer, plus a phone. Jade would certainly approve.

@iris-in-the-dark-world asked: the tension in act 5 act 2 is perfect, i love it. maybe even moreso on rereads, the foreshadowing and generally ominous vibes always get to me @heliotropopause asked: You're getting to the part where the comic really starts hitting its stride. This'll be fun.

The ever-present countdown certainly adds a degree of urgency to the situation.

I'm really liking the pacing of this current act, as things slowly progress towards some critical point - one which, for now, is still shrouded in mystery.

Anonymous asked: Forwarding another ask for the person with no account ~DJ: Eridan's deal seems to be based on Wizardry Herbert - a proto-Homestuck work by Hussie. A parody of Harry Potter dealing with whether magic is real. [] But Methods of Rationality began in February 2010, so "Harry Potter but obsessed with science" might have also been an intentional reference to that.-RM @heliotropopause asked: Eridan Ampora and the Methods of Rationality sure is an idea for a fanfic. He'd be so bad at it.

Eridan would be an extremely funny choice for a ratfic protagonist. He'd be so smarmy about it - and thus, a perfect addition to their ranks.

What would the definitive Homestuck ratfic be called, do you think? I think Tool-Assisted Speedrun would be a decent choice.

@killedthekat asked: An interesting thing about doomed timelines is how they serve to prevent stable loop metagaming. As a basic example, in a typical stable time loop scenario, if you observe yourself unharmed in the future, you can throw yourself into high danger high reward situations and know that probability will twist itself into whatever improbable knot it needs to do to keep you safe. But in homestuck if you lean too hard on predestination you just get shunted into a doomed timeline for your trouble.

It's true. Timehopping just isn't fun in Homestuck, as you're constantly walking a tightrope, desperately trying to stay in the one timeline that might not get you killed.

It's a good way to prevent time-travelers from becoming overpowered - something which is probably necessary for a comic which makes such heavy use of the concept.

Anonymous asked: Now that you're updating while HS^2 is, I've realised that while I'm barely keeping up with ^2, I just yelled "Oh! Upd8!" out loud when I checked your blog, so to me? You're the real continuation of Homestuck

What an honor!

For veterans of the comic, this blog is more Homestuck: Revisited than Homestuck 2. As a woman who would much rather watch video essays about old Simpsons episodes than new seasons of the show, I completely understand why some would prefer the latter.

@manorinthewoods asked: I've since finished Worm. I think Sophia's by far the best Vriska candidate. Lisa, Amy, and Colin are less so, I think. ~LOSS (21/4/24)

Oh, nice, you got all the way through it! Worm is an absolute behemoth, and I know a lot of people who started it, and gave up halfway through.

Sophia is likely the closest match to Vriska in personality. I agree with an earlier comment, though, that the most Vriska-like character in terms of audience reaction is probably Amy.

Anonymous asked: Cannot believe someone would propose a Homestuck/Locked Tomb scenario and leave Gamzee as part of a spare pairing, when the Homestuck fic The Serendipity Gospels, written by the author of The Locked Tomb, stars Gamzee and Terezi in the proto-necromancer/cavalier dynamic. Absolutely appropriate to have Gamzee as Ninth though, since his facepaint is the direct ancestor to Harrow's. Gamzee and Terezi is such a funny pairing to go with. I'm certainly looking forward to checking out The Serendipity Gospels when I'm done with the comic - both to compare it to Homestuck and to the Locked Tomb.

As am I. Apparently it was left unfinished - but considering how long this liveblog is taking, maybe Taz will have updated by the time I'm done!

Wishful thinking, of course, but I live in hope.

@bladekindeyewear submitted:

(I started Dragon's Dogma 2 a couple weeks ago and did my best to a Gideon Nav pawn (NPC ally), facepaint and two-hander and all, and the "Jaunty Straightforward" voice selection has been EXTREMELY distracting / game-improving because her voice and attitude chatting beside my player all the time sound almost straight out of the audiobook.)

Damn, you really captured her essence. Pawn is a very fitting title for her, too :(

@manorinthewoods asked: On the topic of blood color names - Blue through Purple were renamed in Hiveswap. Originally, Vriska was Cerulean, Equius was Blue, and Gamzee was Indigo - which I like more than their modern incarnations. I think 'bronze' might also be a Hiveswap thing, although I won't dispute it, and rust might have been renamed to burgundy? Maybe burgundy is a synonym. Idk. ~LOSS (4/13/24)

I think I prefer the likes of olive, indigo and bronze over more generic terms like green, blue and brown, which would quickly lead to confusion.

Vriska's blood, for example, is also a shade of blue, so it would be a little strange if blue blood was an official term, but it didn't apply to her.

@mxamericanblue asked:hi i have been absolutely BINGING your live blog rn and i gotta just get this out this is so so cool watching you react has been giving me so much joy, i don't have a computer so i can't really experience homestuck again casually when i want to but watching you read it and react and THEORIZE??? omg your theories have been so fuckin killer it's given me a new appreciation for Hussie as a story teller and how spectacular this comic truly was thank you for this, i've been having a grand ol' time, and it's all cuz of u

Thank you! I feel like I've been theorizing a lot less since I came back from my hiatus, mostly because the comic hasn't introduced many big mysteries recently - aside, of course, from Aradia's unexplained explosion.

(Pre-posting update: Since first drafting this ask, my statement above is no longer true, as Gamzee has been revealed as Homestuck's most important character. What the actual fuck.)

@lilietsblog asked: re fifth house aradia: she's an archeolodist :)

Oh, shit, you're right.

Maybe she'd be in more danger from the Lyctor than I thought.

@ben-guy asked: Vriska's ascension to god-tier is, in my personal opinion, one of the most visually striking scenes in all of Homestuck. Also, one of the panels you didn't include (which is understandable w/ Homestuck lol. Sacrifices for the sake of brevity) specifically the one where she has him write "[…] plenty of time for that l8r" above her head… Think about the position she would have had to move him to to write that.

…jesus, Vriska. You can't just do that!

@martinkhall asked: "What is treasure but a fortune, waiting to be found?" Or stolen if you're the THIEF of Light.

Son of a bitch. That's why she's a pirate, isn't it?

Because a Thief of Light is someone who steals fortunes!

@manorinthewoods asked: Eidolons. A species purpose-built to play Sburb, while breaking every mechanic you can solely with biology. Eidolons don't sleep, and live in a hive mind. Their psychologies are very poor at recognising distinct things, with Eidolons seeing the world more in terms of a blur of colors and shapes. They thus have a very difficult time understanding Classes and Aspects, never mind that their mythology never involved deities, and they never invented chess, or games of any sort… ~LOSS (15/4/24)

The idea of a species engineered from the ground up to be Players does raise the interesting question of whether there was a first species to play Sburb.

Of course, with all the time-loops we've been working with, there might not have been a first species - unless Sburb was 'created' in some sort of metatemporal space, 'before' any loops were put in place.

@manorinthewoods submitted: You are very good at analysing Vriska's psyche. Vriska's character was executed very well, I think, and I would hate her with a burning passion platonically but to a high degree if I knew her in real life. She's just… really horrible. She's a horrible person. And half her shtick is that she keeps evading consequences in spite of that. All of her mental torture of Tavros, for instance, ends in her becoming the most powerful player in the session. What sort of justice is that, Terezi? ~LOSS (15/4/24)

She hasn't entirely evaded consequences, but it's undeniable that none of the consequences she's experienced have actually stopped her from doing the things she does.

She's lost an arm, an eye, she's been beaten up, she's bled to death, and literally none of it has caused her to let up on Tavros, even a little. Letting up on Tavros, to her, would be worse than any physical harm, because it would be an attack on her worldview.

@sanctferum asked: "Has anything come of this since, actually? I haven’t heard anything about this new comic – although I do scroll in the opposite direction any time I see a reference to Homestuck, so I guess it makes sense that I wouldn’t." - The general feel I've gotten from the community has been largely positive re: the new Homestuck 2 updates, which have indeed been happening. It's being updated once per month for now, so a lot slower going than non-hiatused OG Homestuck. But I'm enjoying it so far!

Once a month seems more sustainable than Hussie's original barely-believable pace for the comic. With Hussie no longer at the helm, expecting daily panels seems like a pretty big ask - most people don't have the time, money or energy do what Hussie did.

Anonymous asked: I don't know if you read UTDR fanfiction, but this Tavros and Vriska situation reminds me a little bit of Flowey Is Not A Good Life Coach. she's trying to push him to his limits and torture him into being someone who will kill, and he just won't. say, what's your read on comparing Flowey : Vriska?

Flowey does what he does because he's lost his emotions, but Vriska does what she does because she's consumed by her emotions.

If anything, Flowey has more in common with Aradia. They're both time-travelers whose ability to feel is somewhat compromised.

Anonymous asked: WHATTTTTT HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN BACK???????? I THOUGHT YOU WERE STILL ON A LONG ASS HIATUS BUT I JUST JOW DISCOVERED TUMBLR ISNT GIVING ME POST NOTIFICATIONS FOR YOU ANYMORE EVEN THOUGH I HAVE IT TURNED ON FOR YOU AND IT WORKS FOR OTHER BLOGS???? WHAT THE HELL. IM GOING INSANE.

This has happened before - but before, I was also removed from Tumblr's search function, which doesn't seem to be the case this time.

Is anyone else having issues with Wertsearch post notifications?

@elkian asked: So has anyone mentioned the godhood joke yet? (The God Tiers costumes have hoods. God Hoods. Badum-tish)

LOL, I did miss that.

Anonymous asked: Fun Homestuck fact! After writing Karkat, someone brought up that the writer of the 'Programming For [Expletive]s' book sounded a lot like Karkat. Andrew responded by telling them to imagine that it was actually written in all caps, basically canonizing that the 'Programming For [Expletive]s' book was written by Karkat. At least, I think that's how that went? ~LOSS (28/2/23)

And it could be any Karkat, too. Maybe one of the Karkats from a doomed timeline actually learned to code from Sollux, and became a famous ~ATH developer.

@morganwick asked: So with conversation 8=8 apparently taking place in the immediate aftermath of Rose destroying her gate (even technically during Descend), and Rose's attitude towards Kanaya in the part of it that we see, does that change how much you think her attitude in their previous conversations reflects her genuine mental state?

Oh yeah, no, I’m pretty sure she was genuinely in a bad mood here. Not really so much because of Kanaya, and I think the anger directed at Kanaya specifically was inauthentic, but the bad mood itself was real. She'd recently been injected with several months of traumatic memories, after all.

@manorinthewoods asked: That panel, of John in Vriska's 'fabulous outfit', is actually pretty neat, because you can see from the proportions how young John really is. He's small, not even fully a teenager yet, and he's been thrown into this chaotic world of humans and trolls, quadrants, violence and danger. Everyone in the game must be scared, in some degree, but none of them ever show it. It makes you wonder just how strong Skaia's children really are. ~LOSS (29/4/23)

Seriously. In what universe are 13-year-olds the people most qualified to make universes? Sburb has some very funny ideas about the optimal way it should be played.

I suppose this is something that had to be true, though, for Homestuck to be the coming-of-age story that Hussie wanted it to be.

Anonymous asked: My interpretation has always been that "the Blind Prophets" are actually just Terezi herself, in a time loop-y/predestined way. She's blind, her class is Seer, AKA prophet, and those are her numerals. Also, on an unrelated note, but to weigh in on your last ask, according to Latin conventions, the plural of lusus is lusus. Does Homestuck follow those conventions? Well…

Or, since there are two Seers in Homestuck, maybe they’re Terezi and Rose. She’s a Light Player, so a blinding would be suitably ironic.

Anonymous asked: re: captchalogue codes and the states of objects: it takes a relatively small change in the physical arrangement of atoms and whatnot to turn a ghost dad poster into, say, a little monsters poster, but the two have a relatively large difference between their conceptual nature. on the other hand, it would take a relatively large rearrangement of atoms to make the slime pogo ride be anything other than a slime pogo ride. perhaps this makes the former change state more easily than the latter? alternatively, maybe the captcha system just knows that all it would really take to make the slime pogo ride stop being covered in oil is soap and water and it's happy to do that on its own, but paper is harder to clean so it wants you to jump through more hoops for that one new question: if john had used his posters for alchemy before he was able to see their defacement, would the resultant objects also be beclowned? evidence seems to suggest that players with unawakened dream selves Will draw on their walls in their sleep and not see it until Ready, so there not being mechanisms in place to deal with that seems less likely than the alternative to me, but especially considering people who aren't them Can see the drawings, how??? would that even??? work??? what would've happened if john had done alchemy with the arms cake. i think it would be funny to see that

I think he’d still get the clown posters.

The kids keep accidentally making magic items, so It's clearly possible for someone to alchemize an object with properties they didn't foresee. Therefore, I think John would make what appears, to him, to be a normal poster - but Rose would still see it as it truly is.

Anonymous asked: any thoughts on what the horrorterrors are? beyond their (admittedly vague) intentions?

I think they’re a sign of the wider cosmology beyond Sburb - and, more specifically, a sign that there is a wider cosmology beyond Sburb.

I don't know if we'll necessarily get more expansion on them than we've already had, because their whole shtick is that they're unknowable. Needless to say, I'd love to be proven wrong.

[nekropsii]

what do you see in equius ?? genuine question i don't mean to sound rude but to me she's just really offputting. she gives me such creep vibes that i can't seem to get over and every time i read a page with her it just gets worse..... like when i first read nep & eq's chats i was sitting there wondering if this was outright abuse or at least bullying of some kind??? it felt like it idk.......

but honestly i do wanna see an equius liker's opinion on him because i can't understand it like at all and i'm probably just missing something that all the equius likers saw and i didnt LMAO

Well, considering I’m an Alpha Trolls Enthusiast and have been for, like, a decade, as well as having Horror as a Special Interest since age… What, 3? I’d say I personally have a pretty strong stomach for Weird and Offputting in fiction, lol. Stronger than most. Equius isn’t a very palatable character at all, I’ll be the first to admit that - a lot of the characters I enjoy the most in Homestuck aren’t very palatable… But I find ‘em real interesting, personally. The fact that they aren’t palatable adds to the intrigue for me, and poor execution tends to be a total weakness of mine. Again, Alpha Trolls Enthusiast for a decade straight.

I have a post here that talks a bit about my reading of Equius, I’d recommend giving it a read. I see Eridan and Equius as being very similar characters - not necessarily due to their shared hemoloyalty, but because they’re both teens falling down online pipelines. They’re very prevalent Kinds Of Guy that no one wants to talk about.

But people talk about Eridan plenty even to this day - he was even a fandom favorite for a while, being the fandom’s first Prettyboy Sad Gay Anime Prince long before Dirk… So he doesn’t reel in as much interest for me as the chronically overlooked Equius.

If there’s anything to know about me, it’s that I love a good underdog.

Equius-Likers, from my experience, are very aware of his issues. It’s part of the draw. Enjoyment of him tends to be an analytical fixation. I haven’t met a single Equius-Liker that hasn’t had some very complex thoughts on him. They’re just kinda quiet about it. Fitting.

Unfortunately, I’m Aranea But Real, so. No quietness here.

Your response to Equius is valid. It’s also intended, I feel. To specifically address the bits about concerns of his relationship with Nepeta not being healthy… I mean, it’s not abusive, but it’s definitely more complicated than fan art would lead you to believe, as always. “Complicated” is to be expected from a Moirallegiance - remember what they exist for?

Nepeta is very much so in control of the things going on, and their relationship is pretty equal, all things considered, so I wouldn’t be worrying too much about that. She very distinctly does not lack agency here - Nepeta is the one who has a leash on Equius, not the other way around. Equius is mean, because that’s the way she is to… Everyone, more or less, but she’s not of any danger to Nepeta. They have a fine Moirallegiance. 1,000% more functional than whatever the fuck Karkat and Gamzee had going on.

Anyway. I think Equius is neat, and has both missed and oft overlooked potential. One of the very few characters I’d be 100% down to have seen more content of in the comic.

Once again, check out this post. I still think it’s decent. Maybe you will, too.

[roxycaptor]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by requesting headcanons, but! I would be down to know what some of YOUR Homestuck headcanons are :D

yeah thats essentially just what i meant idk the Proper Terminology i havent been involved in fandom in a while lmao

i like to think abt what kind of music characters wld listen to so heres what i think the trolls wld listen to

Aradia - goth & emo. likes Siouxie and the Banshees, Paramore, Lebanon Hanover Tavros: idk what genres he'd like other than rap but i feel like he listens to Kurt Vile and like. video game soundtracks. Sollux: putting aside personal bias, i think he mostly listens to shoegaze and like. The Smiths. Karkat: tv girl and mitski enjoyer Nepeta: hyperpop, industrial, grindcore and noise metal, anything that makes other people go AURGH WHAT THE FUCK Kanaya: classical music and jazz but also mitski with karkat. also listens to like. NPR podcasts Terezi: little bit of everything. just amasses recommendations from people without going too deep into any single genre. Vriska: MSI, The Smiths, power metal fantasy ballads. Equius: Metal. any subgenre but the main rotation is Type O Negative, Rob Zombie, Slayer. Gamzee: the easy answer here is ICP if humanstuck but canon gamzee i think would rather just sit in silence and stare at a wall. Eridan: lana del rey, dorian electra, marina diamandis. bitchy gay man taste Feferi: probably a swiftie tbh.

[carcin0gen3ticist]

i recommend going to a public library to print pictures for your karkat shrine if you can, their printer will have color and it'll probably be like 30 cents a page At Most

(^person who has gone to a public library to print out a picture of karkat)

aaa thank you for that!!! ive decided to follpw your advice now i just need cardboard and ill have a cutout ready >=3

[wikipediette]

Random ass face claims for some Homestuck characters lol (also imagining the trolls if they were humans specifically)

Karkat vantas- Alex Wolff (hereditary)

He has that rough/kinda unkempt look? Looks like a guy not focused on being 'hot' also looks permanently pissed off lol. He has the hair of a guy who can't stop running his hands through them which is very much karkat to me, perfect face for me

Gamzee makara- Travie McCoy (gym class heroes)

TELL ME IM WRONGGGGG, gamzee is a black man I'm sorry to whoever disagrees. like look at him!! they look exactly the same dude. he's also 6'5 so he's tall as fuck just like gamzee, once again perfect face claim to me!

Kanaya Maryam - sade

A beautiful classy lady just like kanaya, they both love fashion and sade is in fact British, which I have a strong feeling that kanaya has a British accent.

Dave strider- Archie Madekwe (in saltburn) or Mike Faist (in challengers)

Ok so we have two routes here, the non-white Dave truthers or the canon Dave truthers, in honesty i jump between the two sometimes. Both have the boyish and charming look so you choose your truth babes <3

Rose Lalonde - Haley Bennett (in swallow)

I love a baddie with a bob, idk why this called to me but she gave off rose vibes in this movie, they both have the blonde bob but I just think Haley Bennett has that sophisticated look/feel to her that rose does, this is subject to change if I find one I like better so I won't say perfect but for right now I like it :)))

Roxie Lalonde- Scarlett Johnson (scoop)

OKKKK you're probably screaming about how basic this choice is, idk I have a headcanon that Roxie has shit eyesight lol. Once again this is subject to change if I find something I like more but so far this is hers lol

I'll make more posts the more I find but that's all for rn lol, plz recommend any others you face claims for the love of god, also if you like Homestuck follow me??? I miss the hayday of this fandom

[cure-typhoon]

jade harley???

Jade Harley!!

(also idk if your asking about jade harley in the earth c au or not so... I'll put some info after the read more)

-She is a biologist working in a lab searching for the properties of the plants and how this can be used in medicine or how they affect differently in trolls, humans and carapaces

-She also helps in the community garden on her community and the reason Karkat moved to that area and are neighbors

-Has been a single(?) mom for 16 years after a couple of bad romances and loneliness taking over her life and deciding that she could do this on her own and got help from Roxy to create her ectokid, Joan Harley

-Lived with Karkat and Dave for some years and they helped her while she studied and went to college, she moved out after their relationship started declining and made things awkward in the house

-She moved around with Jane and Dad, June and even Rose and Kanaya until she finally was able to save enough to get her own house in a little community a little far away from the city, but still close enough that she can get to her job in commute

-Livin with Rose and Kanaya and taking care of grub Anis is probably why she wanted to become a mother in the first place

-She was the one who recommended Karkat to search for a therapist to help him after the davekat breaking up fiasco, she would also start her own journey, but much later in life after [Spoilers from the Crossing timelines I cant talk about] happened

-Has an up and down relationship with her daughter, Joan. They have reallyyyy contrasting personalities, Jade not wanting her to ever feel as lonely as she did and this making feel Joan as she is suffocating and wants to be left alone

[starsnores]

Not to sound stupid but…. I never really understood the “karkats blood is red because he’s a lime blood” thing (I never really read homestuck)

so there used to be a limeblood caste that sat between gold and olive on the spectrum but they were wiped out, calliope said it's bc they had special powers and that made them a threat but there's nothing concrete about why or how it happened. It's implied that karkat's blood color is a mutation specifically of that caste bc his sign is cancer, between sollux and nepeta, so that makes him lime and the extended zodiac they released confirms that.

i would definitely recommended trying to read it through if you haven't! I liked it, at least until the retcon and then i wasn't super into it anymore but i finished it, even if i don't remember post-retcon stuff that clearly lmao. if you have trouble concentrating on text there are some read throughs of it on youtube if that's easier. and the easiest way to read it is probably with the unofficial homestuck collection.

[ectobiologeezzzzzzzz]

intro!:

hello hi! my name is john, or you can call me harvey/kyle! I don't care what you call me! nicknames are heavily appreciated unless theyre weird. (please give me nicknames i LOVE nicknames.)

I'm 13! I prefer they but any pronouns are ok , mexican , enfp , january 28th! , biggest john egbert kin you'll ever meet , #1 pranker , beginner kemetist paganist (working with horus!) , heir of breath , prospit , aspiring pianist ! , got the tistic </3 , i probably have other disorders too so be patient with me.. , taken ! , nonbinary and gay, please watch con air with me...

main fandoms:

homestuck, hetalia, deltarune, steven universe, the owl house , sonic the hedgehog , con air , inanimate insanity , ghostbusters , metal family , in stars and time , adventure time, dungeon meshi , omori

interests:

piano , pranks , drawing , editing , voice acting , paranormal lore , computer stuff , writing , ranting , sewing (trying to get supplies for that)

music:

weird al , weezer , steve lacy , rebecca sugar , KISS , tv girl , the aquabats, I LOVE ELECTRO SWING AND ROCK!!! (please recommend electro swing artists or any artists that are similar to KISS)

dni:

basic dni criteria

just don't be weird man!

main kins:

john egbert, luz noceda, steven universe, jane crocker, basil, finn, madoka, laios, ches

extra:

♥️: dave!

♦️: rose, jade, brock, and dirk :)

♣️: none yet!

♠️: tz and karkat!

(ask for any of my social medias in asks! so I can follow ya and tell ya! ^_^)

oh and tags:

#art (for art obviously)

#windsockrambles (whenever I ramble)

that's all for now!

blinkies n stuff!:

[shwizard]

Hey! Welcome to the Schwizard tower!

I'm the Schwizard here!

I go by a variety of names but for now you can call me Kryl.

What's up right now! Important!

I have an art Tumblr!

I also have a writing tumblr!

Ask Mcds Karkat here!

Here's a short, and important note I need to add for newcomers: red indicates the end of this serious note!

This is not a blog about Politics, however, I am a US citizen, and the situation we are facing here is not good (imo). I will not be arguing with anyone about that. However, I may occasionally repost certain posts to try and help extend their reach as I believe it needs to be done. DNI if you agree with or think that the following list of people are good or should be in a position of power anywhere. I will block you if you try. (This list may be updated, I don't have all of the information but I have enough to put my foot down.)

Trump

Elon musk

Mark Zuckerberg

Silly stuff from this point forward!!

Here's my list of fandoms/things I like (ongoing as I either discover new ones or remember old ones)

- (top Fandom right now) X-Files

-Homestuck

-Webfishing (recently started playing)

-Vocaloid (I like the character designs and have listened to some of the music though I'm not a super fan, and not crazy involved. I enjoy it anyway feel free to make recommendations for music or other content on this.)

-Vampires (I have a general liking of vampires! Vtm, Twilight((for the comedy)) I watched Nosferatu recently, Asterion from bg3 (I want to play this game badly) etc. I write my own self indulgent stuff because of this)

- Horror as a whole genre! (I love digging my teeth (;D) into a good indie horror game, or internet horror projects. I used to enjoy movies but it's hard to find a good actually scary horror movie these days)

-Alien franchise (my favorite one is resurrection, I don't care if you think it's bad. Also I love shipping Ripley and Call)

- Magic The Gathering

-Lord of the Rings + The Hobbit

-Star Trek

And there's probably more but I have yet to think of them!

Please interact for any of these fandoms or even if you just want to create some chaos with me!

Do not interact if (this may be updated later as I see fit)

-You're a minor

-You agree with Patrick Bateman

-You want to start any sort of homestuck discourse (I am to tired to do anything but just enjoy what i can of that shitpost of a fic)

-you don't like cats, or cats don't like you

[hms-no-fun]

32

i do like homestuck^2!

it has some issues with pacing (really wish they'd invested in a timeskip or two), and some of the latter updates aren't quite up to snuff, but it absolutely does not get the credit it deserves. yiffy is a fucking icon. all the character designs in the candy timeline especially are spectacular. dirk, terezi, and rosebot on deltritus were a DELIGHT and i'm so damn mad we didn't get to see more of what they were building up to there. all the bonus stories are great. the dynamic between jade and alt!callie in the meat timeline was fantastic (the chocolate!!!). BIG BOSS KARKAT

i love john putting on his old godtier outfit and finding that it no longer fits. absolutely underrated setup for the june arc. godtier clothes are supposed to be magically perfect for you no matter what! what could this possibly mean?!?!

hs^2 was a beautiful and flawed project that, in retrospect, was almost certainly doomed to fail both from the fandom side and from the company side. but its format and setups were a big inspiration for me in continuing godfeels beyond the end of 2.3, and remain the blueprint for much of 3.2's structure to this day. the scene where vriska gets shot and kills a bunch of cops and journalists in the form of non-visual chapter of exclusively prose was stupidly controversial at the time ("THIS SHOULD BE A [S] PAGE" cried the very haters who pilloried andrew hussie for exploiting unpaid/underpaid fan labor in producing homestuck's many [S] pages), but it's the only reason at all i had the guts to make [S] saturday the centerpiece of chapter 8. if i hadn't been digesting that scene for nearly two years, probably the whole ending of 3.1 would have been completely different and likely much worse.

it's hard to recommend hs2 because it is, of course, on perpetual hiatus and very unlikely to see itself concluded. what's there is good but it's undeniably mostly setup for a story that isn't on the page yet, which is such a shame. nevertheless, it and the epilogues are essential reading if you wish to understand the postcanon era in any meaningful sense, and if absolutely nothing else they're a fantastic springboard for developing entirely different postcanon fanworks of your very own

[classpectchronicler]

Knight of Life? Maybe with a land recommendation?

Alright! This is a cool one, thanks for the ask!

Knight: Exploits Aspect, or exploits through Aspect.

Life: Life represents literal life, as well as the concept of life. It's also been shown to maybe relate to the concept of "power", as well as the ability to exert their will over reality, similar to hope in a way.

Knight of Life: Exploits Life, or exploits through Life. Knights are shown to protect their aspect, whilst holding a bit of disdain for it- Dave swore off time shenanigans, but used them to protect his friends by becoming more powerful beforehand. A Knight of Life would probably be a force to be reckoned with- Exploiting life is no small feat. They could exploit powers (life), to kill people with their own abilities. Hope they don't go evil, because they'd be able to use their fellow players powers against them. They'd probably be someone who'd preserve life over all things- or, someone who holds disdain for life.

Abilities:

Redirecting life: They'd be able to sap life from things, transferring it to someone/something else or themself. For example, they could take the life from a living plant, and give it to a dead one to revive it. Or, sap the life from all surrounding plants, and use it to revive someone who's died.

Boosting power: They'd be able to, as previously mentioned, sap the life from something and give it to someone else. This could be literal life, or the other definition: Power. Sapping the life from something and giving it to someone else to boost their powers.

Personality:

One-Track Mind: Once they've set their eyes on something, or had an opinion, that's their truth now. If they wish to not harm anything living, they'll make sure it happens. If they want a plan to happen, they will MAKE SURE they get their way.

Strife Specibus: Knights have used blades (Karkat, Dave), while life players have used a variety of weapons (Spoons (Jane), Forks (Jane), Worse forks (Tridents(The condensce)). Maybe some sort of polearm?

Land: Land of Flora and Amber

[thewertsearch]

GG: you said you are asking me permission first and i appreciate that GG: but if you are asking im afraid my answer is no! AT: oKAY, i RESPECT THAT, AT: bUT, i WONDER, GG: what? AT: i WONDER IF A TRULY SELF CONFIDENT GUY, wITH THE BEST SELF ESTEEM THERE IS, wOULD EVEN NEED TO ASK, AT: mAYBE THE BEST GUY WOULD JUST KNOW HE WOULD BE SUCCESSFUL, aND WOULD DO IT ANYWAY BECAUSE IT IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, aND EVERYONE ELSE'S,

I don't think Tavros is just emulating Vriska here. This is a very Alternian mindset, and it's one we've seen before.

Alternia is, after all, an empire. It's a society whose idea of success is inexorably tied to violence and domination - so if you're trying to be a better troll, you'll probably gravitate to both, even if you don't realize it.

It's not really about your personality, either. Karkat is, by all accounts, one of the more moral trolls in the party - but as we've seen above, even he's got those imperial instincts. This sort of thing is insidious, and once it worms its way into your brain, it can be hard to shake.

Tavros is a very straightforward example. He's finally gained some 'confidence' - and what's his first impulse?

To seize a useful resource from an alien, and use it against her will.

GG: that would be smug and arrogant and would make you a bully!!! [...] AT: yOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT ALL THAT, i'LL RESPECT YOUR WISHES, AT: oR, AT: wILL i? };) GG: nooooooooo dont dont dont dont dont GG: im serious GG: uuuuggghh i think my headache is coming back AT: i WAS jUST, AT: mAKING A JOKE, AT: sORRY, }:(

This dude cannot read a room. Truly, the anti-Terezi.

Oh, leave off.

AG: Next time you decide to open your heart to an alien girl…….. AG: Make sure her chat client isn't 8eing holographically projected for all to see, ok?

This exploit should apply to chat clients of any size, provided the screen is visible. Maybe John's Pesterchum Glasses were a better investment than I thought.

AG: Jade let you down too easy. She's too nice! Someone's got to tear into you for that appalling display, and once again, guess who's shoulders that falls on? AG: That's right. Vriska's, as usual.

Tavros probably does need someone to explain what he did wrong, but it should be anyone but Vriska. This is obviously just going to be more bullying, and no actual advice.

AT: i THINK SHE HAS THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF NICENESS, pERSONALLY, AT: aN AMOUNT THAT IS SOME, iNSTEAD OF, AT: nONE,

Showing backbone against Vriska, eh? Finally, a constructive use for all that confidence.

Progress is progress, even when it's just a minor clapback.

AG: Hey, I'm nice when it matters, [...]

Nope, I'm calling Vriska's bluff. What nice things has she done so far, exactly?

Sure, she made Tavros the rocket chair, but only after mercilessly tormenting him for his physical condition, which she caused.

Plus, this wasn't even a real apology gift. She kept bullying him after that, and is literally doing so as we speak.

I guess she also made Aradia's soulbot, as an 'apology' for murdering her with her own boyfriend. To be precise, she had Equius make it, with horrific results that she should probably have seen coming.

She also thought that it would be 'nice' to tell Terezi that her blindness 'wasn't that bad'. This conversation was kind of complicated, though, and I'm not sure what her actual intention was.

Anyway, it's pretty clear that Vriska doesn't really grok what 'nice' means. She gives Tavros a rocket chair, continues to torment him, and doesn't understand the contradiction, because she doesn't think his feelings actually matter.

[...] and where it doesn't strangul8te the critical development of people I give a shit a8out, ok?

"After all, no one was ever nice to ME, and look how gr8 I turned out! When you think about it, it's actually a GOOD thing that no one ever showed me kindness! It made me strong! Don't you want to 8e stroooooooong, Pupa? ::::D"

I'm reminded of this exchange from Hivebent. Kanaya recommends that Vriska practice some basic self-care, and Vriska completely flies off the handle, furious at the mere suggestion that she should be kind to herself.

Vriska thinks kindness will harm her. She refuses to accept it, and avoids showing it to anyone, which makes her remarkably consistent in her cruelty. I'm willing to bet that there's nothing she's said to Tavros that she hasn't already said to herself.