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;)

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this is me btw

this is the wizard behind this blog

all of that deep, interesting analysis you like to read? it’s all me, baybee

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Space, Mind, and Void: Getting to Know Your Neighbors

Let's talk more about Space for a moment. (Can you tell I'm a little fixated on this Aspect right now?) Space is not just the Aspect of creation, visual arts, and literal space. It's also represented by the classical element of Water. (There are people out there who will tell you that Space is actually Earth, and Blood is Water. These people are wrong.) Space is "concerned with the big picture," sure, but what does that really mean? Strap in, because we're going to get a little bit ~conceptual.~ This Aspect is vast, essentially containing everything that is.

If we look at its neighbors, Mind and Void, we can understand Space as their intersection. The universe is not a "conscious" entity in a way we as humans can relate to. After all, it is a frog. If you take the instinct of self-propagation and expand it out into a literal universe-sized organism, its methods of attaining that feat would look a lot like conscious choices from someone on our level of complexity, wouldn't they? Ask yourself this: does a person consciously tell their bodies to produce new cells? What about the reproductive cells responsible for new life? There are forces within the universe that have their own desires—and the players themselves are invaluable, as their cooperation and success provide the only way that a universe can propagate—but the Genesis Frog simply is.

The Genesis Frog "contains every single instance of the universe that is within him," which naturally includes every choice one could make. Unlike Mind, however, Space itself is largely unconcerned with causality. It is merely the stage upon which the play is set. So, Space and Mind aren't the same thing. Why, then, are they neighbors? Put simply, the domain of Mind is not restricted to the choices one makes. Mind is what allows us to conceive. It's what allows me to find patterns and relationships in Homestuck's cosmology and Classpect system, just as it allows you to come up with your own interpretations of the same. Concepts, ideas, philosophies—these belong to Mind. The intersection of Space and Mind is, quite literally, the galaxy brain meme. Space provides the backdrop, but Mind invites you to imagine, to engage with possibilities as limitless as the universe itself. Mind brings you to a million crossroads and asks one simple question:

What will you do?

Let's take a look at our neighbor on the other side: Void. This Aspect is also characterized by its breadth. Much like a dark and impenetrable ocean, those who flirt with the Void without a proper appreciation for its nature may find themselves sinking helplessly below the surface. A Hero of Space may have difficulty teasing out their purpose in the game, chewing on the grand mythology their Land offers them free of charge. Nevertheless, the writing is often already on the wall. A Hero of Void, however, will find that their purpose has been translated through dozens of foreign tongues, with plenty of key information lost to time—or purposefully redacted. The result is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, pocked with uncertainty and doubt. Whereas Mind encourages its players to parse through a vast array of known options to find a way forward, Void demands that its players conceive the inconceivable, creating something from nothing through methods best described as arcane.

There are two kinds of people in this world.

1. Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data

Space and Void both share a profound connection to Water, and they both possess a certain vastness that can only be truly understood through experience. These are both true of Mind as well, though Mind's connection to Water is much more abstract. (Appropriate, considering Mind sits above the Aspect Wheel's horizon, in the World of Ideas, while Void sits below, in the World of Matter.) Yet, they all deal with a theme I've mentioned several times now: conception. Birth. The new replacing the old. Space and Void both conjure up a sense of creation that's almost miraculous in nature. To create a whole universe, even for the most powerful Space player, is still incredibly impressive. To create something from nothing—whether that "something" is a physical object, an idea, or a secret third thing—is no less astonishing. A Mind player can synthesize information, make inferences based on what they know, and use that understanding to chart causality. All of this, however, requires prior information to work from. A Void player is capable of seeing the unseen, understanding what cannot be understood, and acting based upon that. They flirt with paradox and fuck the ineffable. Our familiar celestial bodies are the source of much inspiration, and we pay homage to them in so much of our art. Yet, like silence to a song, Space is defined not just by the stars themselves, but by the void between stars, and it is in these dark waters that Space and Void become one.

Come, friends. Let us bask in the now, in what is. Let what must be remain in the fiery bosom of Time. Breathe, and feel the universe breathe with you. Allow your conception of yourself, of your planet, of each cell in your body to shrink as you inhale, to expand as you exhale, until the microcosm and the macrocosm are utterly in sync. Visualize every physical and conceptual boundary you can think of, and allow them to dissolve. Do the same with those you can't. Allow me to ask you one simple question:

Have you ever rotated a tesseract in your mind?

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GUESS WHO’S BACK IN THE blog HOUSE

HEELS CLICK-CLACKIN’ ABOUT

FINE, FRESH, FEMININE, STYLE TO 11

I’M DIVINE, SO HEAVENLY

GENTLEMEN SWEATIN’

IT’S DIMES ACROSS THE BOARD WITH NO DOUBT

BODY LIKE WOW

PUS—

[I am forcibly removed from the Dashboard.]

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If you could choose any player to add to the canon beta kids’ session that would have helped them out massively, what would their classpect be and why? What about the alpha kids’ session?

This is a really interesting question! It's difficult for me to really say, with regards to the Beta kids' session, since their session did run about as smoothly as one could imagine, aside from the outside forces that made things go so utterly awry. Dave kept things fairly tight with the timelines, especially as he began to quickly correct his own missteps, though his biggest weakness was his constant fight to establish a true, authentic identity. John's ascent to true Hero status was complimented by his love for his friends, and he greatly impacted the trajectory of their lives even as he was "doing his own thing." His biggest challenges, from what I recall, came whenever his freedom was severely restricted, though the best example of this was his time spent on the three-year universe-spanning trip. Rose had some very unique struggles with her Classpect, but ultimately came out of it with an incredible breadth of knowledge and experience—not to mention a true appreciation for Void, Light's opposite. Jade also faced her own demons—including her prototyped dreamself, which forced her to come face-to-face with the things she hated most about herself.

In truth, a Hero of Heart would've likely helped things go a little smoother in the "identity and self-reflection" department, but this would not be without its own risks. This session was made up of three Passive players (Heir, Seer, and Knight) and one Active (Witch), though Rose attempted to shift that balance during much of her time pre-Scratch as she inverted to the Witch of Void. Given the time it took for Jade to grow into her power, it makes sense that the balance felt even more misaligned for some time. That said, they may have benefited from a Heart player with an Active Class—one whose journey toward self-actualization would at least inspire others, even if they don't go out of their way to play therapist.

Speaking of Classes, a Prince of Heart is out of the question. Their destruction of Heart would not bode well for a session that desperately needs more, and Dave suffered enough at the hands of Bro, who carries all the qualities of his post-Scratch Classpect, plus the influence of Caliborn/Lord English through Lil Cal. (More on that another time.) A Thief of Heart would also be inadvisable, for fairly obvious reasons. If the team needed another powerhouse, a Witch of Heart wouldn't be a terrible idea, but Witches are known for having powerful familiars (such as Becquerel and Gl'bgolyb) that often overpower the will of their Witch in the early game. The Page, Maid, and Mage could all fit the role well, particularly if they're likeable enough. This wouldn't be a problem for a Page of Heart, who would have an uncanny magnetism that might just pull the team through a little quicker toward self-actualization.

As for the Alpha kids, if we're taking into consideration the fated expansion of the Beta and Alpha sessions into one big eight-player session, then Space and Time players aren't necessary, so we don't have to worry about those. (I do, however, have some fun ideas about what might've happened if Roxy had attempted to create a Genesis Frog using the same principle she did for the Matriorb, by "stealing" its nonexistence, and how she'd be the best candidate to do so, due to her Class and her Aspect's placement in the Wheel. I'd like to keep this from becoming a thesis paper, though.) The Alpha session had the opposite problem of the Beta session: three Active players (Maid, Prince, and Page) and one Passive player (Rogue). Since Maids start out with a more Passive lean, this is where we see the initial illusion of "balance" coming from. By the end, though, it's obvious that we've got too many motherfucking cooks in this motherfucking kitchen, and every single one of them is putting up a front of some kind, as if you could win a prize for being the most emotionally opaque player in a session. What they really, truly need is someone who will inspire them to sit down and be real with each other—someone who can help them cut through the noise, and also make sure Roxy isn't the one saddled with holding the friend group together. Someone like...the Sylph of Blood.

We've seen what the power of a Blood player can look like, even without ascending to God Tier. Karkat was a tour de force as the Knight of Blood, uniquely capable of keeping the members of his session in line long enough to almost win the damn thing. This is even more impressive when you consider that he and his friends were members of a violent species whose society was developed with limitless cruelty baked into every system and institution. Even worse—they were teenagers. While there's certainly no reason why a Knight of Blood couldn't have helped the Alpha kids, Knights are known to put up fronts of their own in order to protect themselves. That's the last thing the Alpha kids need. A Sylph, meanwhile, would be just as skilled at encouraging the kind of raw emotional honesty their session desperately needs, while also being more likely to show their own vulnerable side. Whether they do this by sitting everyone down for mandatory group therapy sessions, or spend much of their session browbeating their teammates to just fucking talk to each other, is up to the individual Sylph. Pick your poison.

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Interlude: Space and Time

As many have said before, Space is often associated with visual art, and Time is associated with music. That said, some forms of each medium can be said to have more influence from the opposite Aspect. Take photography, for example: a visual art that is nonetheless closely associated with Time. If you're a fan of Life is Strange, you may recall Mr. Jefferson citing filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock for the phrase "little pieces of time" to describe film—or, perhaps, photography. Now, I couldn't find a damn thing on the web that attributes a quote like that to Hitchcock, and I'm not going to take the word of a man who says "selfie-expression" as gospel. That said, it's a perfect way to describe Time's association with photography. Time is concerned with moments, distinct spaces in each timeline which can be occupied and then manipulated by a Time player. So, although photography is a visual medium, the principles of Time have a lot more influence.

On the other hand, if you've ever been to a Catholic Mass—one where the whole congregation sings the hymns together with the choir—recall how the music and chanting grew to fill the entire space, how each arpeggiated chord extended from the mouths of the faithful and seemed to echo from every corner. Acoustics is a branch of physics which describes how sound moves through a space. Knowledge of acoustics is vital when designing a space for optimal sound quality, whether it's a church, concert venue, theatre, et cetera. It's important to note that physics and theatre performance—in particular, the stage and setting—are also closely associated with Space. By using principles of acoustics, one can ensure that the right sounds are amplified, sharpened, or sustained through an echo, while filtering out undesired ones. The Time Aspect is also closely related to technology, as well as repetition, so it's not unusual to see Dave modifying samples in his music, or Aradia's association with the music box. Space, on the other hand, is associated with organic sounds and symbols—the croak of a frog, for example, or Jade's ability to encourage her plants to grow by playing music for them.

It's important that one understands both their Aspect and its opposite. Without this deeper knowledge and appreciation, players risk becoming obliterated by the most negative qualities of their Aspect. Equius refused to rise up against authority and take control of his place in the narrative, so he was swallowed up by the Void and became largely irrelevant to the big picture. Gamzee even used his indigo blood to omit key information in Rose's journal, before it made its lengthy journey through space and time. Engaging with Time while failing to appreciate Space means that a Time player will struggle to see the bigger picture, always rushing from moment to moment and judging each without its proper context. They want to be present for everything, to have a hand in shaping fate—much like an overzealous Light player, who feels they might wither without the spotlight, or the self-obsessed Heart player, whose Main Character Syndrome can easily become terminal. (These three Aspects are next to each other in the Aspect Wheel for good reason.) In the end, they'll likely burn themselves out from the effort. Meanwhile, a Space player who neglects Time risks relinquishing their ability to impose their will upon the universe, favoring passive observation and failing to act when they're needed most. Like an overly-cerebral Mind player, paralyzed by choice, or a sullen Void player, unable to break the surface of an ocean of doubt, a Space player who has receded from responsibility will be a whisper beneath the waves. Drowning, after all, is actually a deceptively silent affair.

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Are you still taking asks on this blog?

I am, yes! My inbox is pretty stacked right now, but please feel free to send in an ask! While I can't give any guarantee as to when I'll have a chance to get to specific asks, my hope is that I can give priority to older ones first, since I know you folks have been waiting for a hot minute! The mercurial fire of motivation is a difficult thing to wrangle.

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I love your classpect analysis so much, you're my favorite blog to go to when I want to read classpect meta or get a bearing on a character I'm trying to create. I use this blog like an archive for my own research; If I'm unsure of something, I consult your tags! A lot of your meta is exactly how I think about the classes/aspects but made understandable and put much more eloquently than I could ever manage lol. Reading your blog helps clarify things, especially since you reference actual in-story examples to use as, well, examples. (I'm a very literal person so I do best with seeing concrete examples 😅) It's like peeling back the layer of the characters and story to reveal the inner workings beneath, which is so cool! I have several questions on certain classpects that I could use your help on, and I actually have some thoughts on your classes of opposition theory too (but it's a lot so I won't just dump it all here) and would be stoked if we could talk about it sometime! What I'm trying to say though is that even if you don't answer any of my questions/asks, or have moved on from this blog, I am still grateful that you created it and shared all your thoughts on the classpect system- your blog is incredibly fun to read and I have enjoyed myself immensely by just combing through it.

I didn't have a gif that could properly portray how excited I am to hear this, so please have a Rose! It absolutely brings me joy to know that folks are interested in my perspective, and y'all bear with me through feast and famine alike! (I'm autistic, to no one's surprise, so my special interests will come and go like tides in terms of intensity and focus.) While I can't offer any guarantees that I'll be able to keep up with Classpect conversations in the short-term, I'm always interested to hear what people think about my theories, so feel free to drop a DM anytime! Time is sort of...non-linear when it comes to my energy levels as well, so if it takes a while for me to respond, I promise it's not personal!

Thank you so much, again, for sharing some love! I really, really appreciate such positive feedback. Words can't do it justice, so feel free to picture the coolest transmasc you can imagine just grinning like a maniac at his computer, tenting his fingers like a cartoon villain and generally vibrating like a small dog on the way to the park.

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Im sorry im so bad at uploading things to tumblr.... Ive been procrastinating this for a whole week for no good reason!

I REDESIGNED ALL OF THE HOMESTUCK GODTIERS!

Below is a google drive with literally everything Ive created for this project

The designs and color palettes are based on my own interpretations of the aspects and their classes. The rage aspect changed the most since I believe their powers are based upon all emotions and not JUST rage. So their color palette is meant to represent overwhelming emotions with two opposing colors that are very bright.

Oh also, these are 100% free to use and change for whatever you want for any reason at all! I don't care!

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how’s everybody doing tonight?

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Fuck it. Muse of Time. That’s my Classpect now. Why not?

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I’ve always loved the idea that the Homestuck universe actively rewards the intentional use of wordplay and jokes like this, as a compliment to how they manifest naturally. (Equius, the Heir of Void, dying by being “void of air” is a great example of a natural manifestation.) References, callbacks, silly puns, all these things are present in Homestuck’s meta, but they’re also an intrinsic part of the comic’s universe itself—and, therefore, fair game for Classpect powers!

If Maids are creators, and Hope is associated with positive emotions, could a Maid of Hope have the power to summon a laugh track whenever they wanted?

Rule of Thumb: It's ALWAYS correct to use Classpect Powers for bad puns, references, and dumb jokes. 👀

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Bard of Time

Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Codpiece

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Update: it lasted approximately three days. New Classpect unlocked: Bard of Time

New Classpect: Sylph of Time

How long will it last? Who knows? Who cares! What does this mean? Probably nothing right now, but if we’re very lucky, it means I’ll do a post about the Sylph of Time soon.

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The Bard of Time, In Brief(s)

Let’s be fair: the Bard gets a bad rap, and I’ve already expanded upon the Destroyer Classes a bit here, but today I want to dive into a specific Bard to show you just how many interpretations you can spin off of one Classpect. Remember: Sburb loves wordplay and irony when assigning Classpects, and the strongest associations of each half of your Title (outside of the established abilities of your Class and Aspect) are generally ones that inspire a particular turn of phrase. A Maid of Time who has a lot of time on her hands is, quite literally, “made of time.” Of course, Aradia already beat me to the punch with this joke, but it’s a good example of what I mean.

This speaks to me on a personal level, because after diving into what it could actually mean to be a Bard of Time, I think this might be the funniest, most self-referential Classpect I’ve ever identified with—which means it’s perfect. Naturally, since brevity is the soul of wit, I will be brief: I am a musician of no small talent with an impeccable sense of rhythm, as well as an amateur poet. Beyond that, I gave myself the middle name Taliesin after the timeless bard—Shakespeare wasn’t the first to hold that title—because I have an ego the size of Jupiter and I love the romance and drama of setting myself up with a legacy to fulfill. So, let’s take a deep dive into the Bard of Time, from both my personal perspectives and a more general analysis. To hell with brevity—on with the show!

On a surface level, the Bard of Time is “one who inspires the destruction of death, certainty, and Time itself.” However, we can expand this list ad nauseum by interpreting many different functions and associations of Time—but I’m getting ahead of myself. The two Bards we’ve seen in the comic start out with an unshakeable faith in something that shapes their personalities and worldviews. Now, this could simply be a function of the Aspects of Hope and Rage, which are represented by enduring faith and eviscerating doubt, respectively. We really only have two Bards to analyze, and their Aspects are direct opposites. Still, it’s something to consider. Bards are a Passive Class, and their interactions with their Aspect usually come in the form of inspiring the Aspect itself, or its destruction, in others. I truly believe that the word “inspire” is as crucial to understanding the Bard as “destroy,” and this also has many, many possible interpretations.

The Bard can be considered a Buff/Debuff Class, though this is a bit misleading. As we’ve seen with Gamzee in particular, the Bard can become deeply affected by the whims of their Aspect. Destroyer Classes seem to be spawned into sessions with far too much of their Aspect; unlike Rogues, their purpose is not to diffuse their Aspect to areas of low concentration, but rather to destroy it outright and make room for its opposite to reign. We see this very clearly with the Princes: Dirk was part of a session rife with romantic drama and one identity crisis after another, which would have prevented anything from getting done until he intervened. Eridan’s destruction of the Matriorb, the symbol of the session’s Hope, broke the trolls out of stagnant passivity and ultimately led to the joint creation of the new universe. Bards tend to have a more subtle effect on their sessions. Their influence ripples out in unpredictable ways that can be the catalyst for, in ironic Homestuck fashion, both the failure and success of a session.

The Bard of Time will be part of a session with far too much Time. This could indicate a lack of urgency in other players that leads to a cascade of unproductive and damaging choices, since there’s “plenty of time,” or it could mean that the Bard’s allies are far too wrapped up in the implications of fate and certainty, leaving them paralyzed by inaction or even determined to spend the session fucking around based on the assumption that they’re already Doomed. They may assume, incorrectly, that their Will has no bearing on the session, much like Aradia before her maturation arc. It’s helpful to note here that the Maid is the Active inverse of the Bard. The Maid begins as a subservient to their Aspect, and then grows to heal their relationship to it, culminating with the ability to create it for themselves. The Bard starts out heavily influenced by their Aspect’s opposite, and later inspires the destruction of the most negative relationships of their Aspect in others, and in their session at large.

In addition to correcting these broken relationships with Time, the Bard would also be well-equipped to invite the destruction of damaging patterns, which can range from unhealthy habits and addictions to karmic cycles spanning time and space. Perhaps they choose to get sober, and that choice ripples out and inspires others to do the same. (This has happened in my own life, and I’ve had at least half a dozen people reach out to tell me that speaking publicly about my sobriety encouraged them to break their addictions, too.) They may also invite the destruction of the “Doomed” label given to both individuals and broader Timelines, which could be extremely beneficial to others—but could also, in theory, lead to a Timeline cursed by everlasting stasis, like a terrifying form of limbo. Given enough power, they may even be able to invite the destruction of Death itself. I’ll leave this power’s implications, both awe-inspiring and horrifying, to you, dear reader.

“That is not dead which can eternal lie,

And with strange aeons even death may die.”