#I mean DirkJake is one of the more interesting ships because of what it says about each character and

[flare-dragon]

Anyone else think that JakeHal is the peak of Homestuck ship comedy?

[davekat-sucks]

"homestuck fans when they see men: i want him to get me pregnant"

wtf which men are we talking about? they are just seen as goofballs at best or hated at worst. ive only ever seen fans fawning over dave, and even then only the imaginary uwu sad softboy they have in their heads or to ship him with karkat. speaking of which, i think a more popular mindset is that some people want to get karkat pregnant, not the other way around lol

ive also never seen anyone talk shit about any of the women except for vriska (fair) or jade/jane/feferi (unfair as fuck, and mainly because they get in the way of davekat/dirkjake/erisol or their characters were bastardized in the sequel). also ive seen more HIC thirst than hate so...

ill use this as opportunity to say that, besides vriska, porrim has the most delusional and actually sexist fans ever. they dont see how the male approved "feminist" has no personality or interests beyond fashion, her sex life, taking care of a man, and complaining about an imaginary patriarchy when her planet is literally a matriarchy and gender roles in a bisexual society where roles are given according to blood caste.

I'm guessing the other anon mean 4chan for male fans. True. Nobody imagines Karkat as top. Even if his ship name is front of something like KatNep, he's still a bottom bitch. That's why most of his ship names end with -kat. That's how much of a pussy he is. Eridan is more of an alpha than he is in that regard. All it matters to fans of Porrim is that she is lesbian like Kanaya. That's even why even nu-fans of Kanaya like her just for that. Nothing about things like moving on from loving bad people like Vriska, relying on herself to take action, or finding better trust in people like Karkat compared to Eridan. It's all about being that hot lesbian gal. She can't even be called the Mom Friend anymore, because having that label means you are suddenly an adult now and it's pedophilia if is you ship someone who is the Mom Friend. Name one fan that remembers Kanaya has an interest in GARDENING. The same hobby as Jade. The only thing that makes it questionable from Porrim is that this is the same caste that the Ancestor Feferi rules over, where all blood caste are supposedly equal or treated the same way. I'm not sure what would Feferi's stance on gender equalities would be. I'm guessing even with the equality still in placed, there's still underlying racism and sexism still around. Perhaps the fact most Jadebloods are female, there is probably still some sexism from other caste who sees Jadebloods reproducing one specific gender compared to other blood colors that have a somewhat balanced in birth rates for both male and female.

[mooniladragon]

1 for every time you reblogged that post

dirk

dave

vriska

roxy

the signless

haha Uh Oh. this is gonna be long. putting it under a cut.

this is the post in question. putting for reference (so i dont have to flip between this and my gallery a bunch)

also this post will be a formatting mess. be warned.

dirk:

fave thing about them? idk really. dirk is my favorite character. actually? probably design. yeah i like his design :)

least favorite thing? uhhh hm. idk this question is gonna be tough every time. i have a hard time picking least favorites. wait no i got this one. hes kinda relatable :/

favorite line? also a tough question. theres a lot of good ones. i think "2024. The last free election the world would ever see." is up there though

idk what a brotp is. cant risk swapping apps and losing the whole post so this question will be skipped.

otp? i like dirkjake. they have such a Dynamic (most of the shipping ones are gonna have pretty milquetoast answers. i dont do a lot of shipping really)

notp? uhhh idk dude idrc

random headcanon? um. hmm. he would enjoy heathers the musical i think

unpopular opinion? i dont know whats popular really sorry guys :/// this is gonna be a common answer for this question.

song associated? oh no by marina. (unknown if diamonds are included. im dumb) it has the vibes i guess

fave picture?

i turned it into an emoji on my discord server. extremely usable 10/10 would recommend

dave:

fave thing? i also like his design. favorites are reeeeally hard though so idk

least fave thing? uhm. difficult again. cant answer :/ ohhh wait hes kinda relatable too :///

favorite line? the jupiter thing from act 1. really funny and also referenceable

brotp skipped

otp? i like davekat. boring i know, but again, dynamics good :thumbsup: also its funny

notp skipped too

headcanon? he would like hamilton. lots of musical theater headcanons here but its like one of five things i think about so :/ sorry

opinon skipped

song? telekinesis by lemon demon. it just feels right

picture?

good panel

vriska:

fave thing? i like her design too

least fave thing? i dont like her. just in general. but i get why people do like her. i get it i just dont that much. she does have the Complex Character Appeal, however.

fave line? uhm uh uhh hm. i dunno guys

brotp skipped

otp? vrisrezi as a Fucked Up Messy Relationship. they are messed up

notp? idk again

headcanon? if she were a human highschooler shed be one of those asshole drama kids. as opposed to the normal ones. i think that makes sense? idk i can picture the type of person in my mind

song? world burn from mean girls i guess idk

picture?

no caption necessary. its just funny

roxy:

fave thing? at this point everyone knows im a sucker for a good design. which she has.

least fave thing? i still cannot answer these questions properly. i think i know the reason now too. i think most things that could qualify for like.. a "bad trait" to me just makes them more interesting, so i dont count it as a negative. huh. not really related to roxy though i just wanted to write that down

favorite line? the miss zuipperpips bit maybe? i dunno its late and my computer is dead and i cant risk swapping apps :( sorry :(

brotp skipped again :pensive:

otp? okay i like callierox. plus john. i think thats fun (not sure about what the ship name for the three of them is tho)

notp? time to say that i only kind of half knoe what a notp is anyway. anyway idk again

headcanon? she would enjoy wings of fire. terezi would too but this isnt about her

song? fine by lemon demon. its fun! it has roxy vibes to me. maybe not the best candidate, but i cant check my playlists rn either :(

opinion skipped so much that i put it in the wrong spot

picture?

party hat roxy!!!! woo!!

the signless:

fave thing? idk i dont really think about the ancestors that much. design ig

least fave thing? again nothing to report.

fave line? does he have any????

brotp, otp, and notp skipped because i have no opinions

headcanon? idk if he read warriors i think he would have mixed feelings about moth flight.

song? idk i dont have a playlist for him

opinion skipped

picture?

we are going to beat you to death

ANYWAY. TO WRAP UP THIS POST:

congrats on making it all the way through. you get a little gold star sticker. good job.

i love receiving asks! keep it up. this did take a long time to write though because: 1. i am Bad at Formatting and 2. Typing on Mobile is Hard. (also 3. It was Bedtime and I Couldn't Use my Computer)

thanks for the ask!!

[kozzax]

I do have to say that I am now reading act 6 and I will say it is somehow the most confusing of the acts so far. I also dont really care for the romance drama but I like Callie and Roxy so I'm winning.

I'm pretty postitive towards Jake, my boyfriend really likes him so i feel more inclined to like him from that. *looks around* not super big on Dirkjake other than in a friends way because Wow that boy is aromantic af. Jake i mean, not Dirk. I like the onesided crush tho, thats fun. Unsure what other thing you may be reffering to about him

No that's my big jake opinion. That's the one I'm so incredibly opinionated on. That boy is AROMANTIC as FUCK. Personally I think all of the alpha kids are various aromantic microlabels because I think it's more interesting to read them that way but Jake specifically is just. All but explicitly stated to be aromantic. Fun fact: Callie is canonically aro! She's the only explicit aro character but in the epilogues she's referred to as a "possibly aromantic skeleton alien monster girlfriend" like... one time. Please ignore the uhhhhhh. Issues. With that depiction of aromanticism.

Fair warning: one thing you're going to run into a lot of in the homestuck fandom at large Is dirkjake. It's kind of hard to avoid because it is one of the biggest canon ships. I think it's like.... the fourth biggest relationship tag on ao3-- don't quote me on that, I don't have it pulled up right now. Those of us who Understand jake english either interact with it in the correct way (jake who is undergoing incredible internalized amatonormativity and doesn't know how to address that / dirk who likes the attention and doesn't have the social understanding to know this isn't what it's supposed to be like) or say they're friends. But there's a good portion of this fandom, as with any fandom, that doesn't understand his aromanticism.

How far into act 6 are you? There's a uhhhhh. Pretty big. Thing. That happens about halfway through. You'll know it when you see it but I don't want to spoil it for you if you haven't seen it yet.

[tomatograter]

hey dirkjake guy , what makes you so interested in dirkjake so much ?

if I were to answer this with total accuracy we would be here all day and i’d have to hand you a 60 page peer reviewed thesis but since I don't have that time and i’m assuming you also don’t; There’s a LOT of things to work with if you read dirkjake as more than just… a vehicle for dirkcentric character angst. And they’re pieces actively embedded in the story! That matter! I like building fanwork around a textual basis and these two quite literally go as far back as being part of the guardians setting up SBURB beta in Act fucking 2. You can mine motifs until you’re dead. Here’s a contained, though by no means complete, list of things I particularly like about them:

1) Dirk and Jake both have highly imperfect experiences with their own gender/sexuality, partly out of societal pressure and partly because the story has decided what they ought to be. You've got two gay characters who are both a man in the WRONG way; Dirk overcompensates masculinity so hard he thinks of himself as too brash, imposing, damaging, nearly sizzling arsenic. Jake is expected to be the most perfect dude that has ever Het'd and fails in every feasible way because its not who he's comfortable being. He's not a wife-hunting casanova, He's just kind of a blatant useless fruit. Each of them thinks the other has it together and is doing sooooooooo much better than themselves, though.

I like that even though the adoration is mutual, the relationship is not smoothed out. It's not perfect from the get-go, and it's easier to make it awkward before making it good. We see them at their most immature, they have plenty of flaws, and they're extremely self-sabotaging in the way that isn't "cute" (or romantically convenient) but rather realistically concerning. I like seeing them working through it & maybe relapsing & putting in the effort to be better. They mean a lot to each other but have no idea how to go about it without putting on a show, it's comical to the point of being endearing. 

...And they're still the one person that makes the other feel like more than just a sum of poorly stitched frankenstein parts. 

2) Moving onto The Cringe Axis Of Relevance: Dirk and Jake are inextricable from the overarching plot and cyclical nature of Homestuck itself, Dirk as a motivator and Jake as a escapegoat. You could technically “pin” the “blame” of more than a dozen game changing plot events on them, and sometimes they’re not even aware of it. Beta Jake is HIC’s bastard child, a Dirk splinter is a core component of LE, Jake Harley translates the ancient runes in the frog temple containing the game code & is the one to release SBURB worldwide, eventually going on a time-displaced quest to get the game in motion; Ultimate dirk, funnily enough, is trying to do the exact same thing but much more shittily after borrowing one of Jake’s company ships and copying jadebot’s schematics for the purpose of making a robot daughter to forcefully restart Homestuck, The Webbed Comique, after its over. (Mom lalonde was Grandpa’s assistant & vaguely familial protégé, if you remember. Funny how that works!) And this is just like, in the text. Rose in the candy postscript directly drops it: 

I guess plagiarism is a backwards form of flattery :/

Alpha Jake in turn ends up flooded with promises of giving LE’s his first defeat, kickstarts a thousand little conflicts throughout act 6, brings dirk back to life with a kiss, sends the bunny back in time in the box (he was jade’s secret penpal that far back!), eventually only knocks caliborn on his ass because *Dirk* gets hurt in a fight, then it turns out davepeta is his sprite and actually the one fated to defeat the final boss, and that’s just the major stuff. Alpha Dirk & his dastardly AI-self messily usher the alphas into a new session, we only discover what the hell is up with alpha earth through dirk’s 20 page pesterlog gifted on jake’s birthday, Hal’s existence partly relies on Jake’s unending support- and so does Brain ghost dirk’s existence, for that matter. In big-scale and small-scale stuff alike, they’re tied up.

3) Overabundance of referential motifs: Homestuck is practically a big collage of character-relevant media. You can talk about things like some of jake’s favorite superheroes being similar to dirk, or how dirk and jake’s romance is jokingly compared to the Princess Bride via their planets/personalities/BGD literally quoting the movie and acting out the same sword movements, or how they both have a thing for artisanal puppetry, or how dirk is a history buff while jake is a time-displaced verbal oddity, or how Dirk's concerns with narrative philosophy and clean logic make him squarely Apollonian in certain lit terms & that is perfectly opposed by Jake's haphazard Dionysian approach! Or how Grandpa has an orange-lit room of knights and a replica of Iron Man’s armor (widely known for his fragile heart) to stand in for Dirk while Jake has his knight genre movie posters and dreams up dirk to serve the same role, or how the brobot, built with jake’s help, eventually has a nervous conniption and rips his heart out so it can be used as a battery - and while the moment is reminiscent of aradiabot's blue blood breakdown, the heart is actually the same kind grandpa had installed into jadebot; as both were created to protect someone dearly beloved.

Funny how that works x4

Or just how like, Jake fantasizes about Avatar while kissing a poster but mentally he's having an elaborate dream of putting Dirk in the role of the movie's lead to prove how Awesome And Perfect life can be. Or how brain ghost dirk tells jake he looks good when he's feeling like shit and jake, in turn, says his gay little prince outfit looks pretty sweet and not dumb at all, in a sort of covert pep-talk system covering for both of their masculinity hang-ups. That works too.

4) They're the only ship I can confidently compare to Shrek, the Movie, and make that into insightful commentary.

And lastly:

[utopianparadoxist]

The Meat/Candy Binary-Homestuck Book Commentary Submission

OP: Hey, I thought I’d share this commentary I saw in book 3 about [S] Jack: Ascend, because I thought you’d probably find it as interesting as I do (also it’s too big for an ask so I have to do it as a submission sorry):

Hussie quote: “[…] I think this one marks the start of Homestuck’s trend thereafter of dropping exceptionally violent, high-octane, game-changing animations out of nowhere. There are so many like this from on, right up to the end of Act 5. Only then does the number sort of taper off. But from this point on I just sorta started shoveling more and more red meat into the story’s maw. This stretch is where I was starting to get a feel for this type of sensationalistic storytelling content as something I’d later code (mostly for my own internal purposes) as “meat,” in the meat/candy binary of storycraft theory. I really shouldn’t talk about this yet, though. It’s too soon.”

This quote threw me for a loop, to be honest, and I’ve been mulling it over the last couple days. I wasn’t sure what the Meat/Candy binary was referring to at all, I was just kind of like uhh wtf?

Then I remembered this exchange, and I think things started coming together:

Meat and Candy are all Caliborn/Calliope eat. Which makes sense, since they’re the ultimate audience stand ins.  Hussie gives us a good sense of what Meat means in his description: Very violent, very game-changing animations that move the story forward. Parts where people die and/or Get Shit done, usually delivered with a lot of visual spectacle.

Caliborn gives us a pretty hefty clue as to the second. Odds seem good “Candy” refers to shipping, or at least the very particular kind of shipping Caliborn is interested in.

Which is to say, Caliborn isn’t interested in watching Roxy and Jane have a real relationship, or grow as people, or wrestle with real feelings. He’s interested in the physical titillation they can provide him with by acting out the cute parts of a relationship. See also: Trickster Mode, where the characters indulge candy and become saccharine sweet and affectionate to each other while being entirely detached from their conflicts and issues.

Unsurprisingly, Caliborn’s also only interested in “candy” that caters specifically to his own sexuality, insofar as he consciously performs it.

So basically, Meat and Candy both provide different forms of titillation and satisfying “content”, from the fandom’s perspective. Meat gives us raw plot, the satisfaction of Things Happening, steaks being raised, etc. Candy gives us shipping fodder, absent conflict and growth that real relationships require.

This log also introduces a third concept into the equation, presenting an alternative to the Meat/Candy binary: Pumpkins, or Vegetables.

The implications of this one seem fairly obvious to me. Vegetables may not be tasty or satisfying to eat, but they’re good for you and necessary to a healthy body. Eating one’s vegetables is considered a sign of maturity, or at least being on the path to maturity.

I’m going to guess that in this framework, vegetables refers to content depicting the characters actually reckoning with themselves, facing their feelings and flaws, and growing as people, friends, and relationship partners. This is explicitly built into Dirk and Jake’s relationship symbolically, but really it applies to every endgame ship and to the character’s arcs more generally. Caliborn doesn’t give a shit about anything that has to do with the characters actually growing up.

Pumpkins are also Void items, which makes me wonder. If the most “important” romantic relationships for each character, the ones that help them grow as people, are the ones considered “Pumpkin” matter in the story, maybe that goes some way to explaining why we get so little explicitly romantic affection shown between, say, Vrisrezi, Davekat, and Dirkjake. That’s candy.

If that last idea is accurate to the story’s internal logic, it makes me think of this quote from The Little Prince:

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Anyway if I’m right about this at all, the real takeaway is that @sam-keeper​ was writing about this aspect of Homestuck openly way back in 2016. So, you know. Homestuck was good and meaningfully constructed all along, and everyone should listen to Sam forever. What else is new.

[hootpoop12]

Ok, Meat route feelings:

Ok, this is...by FAR the superior route just saying. Not. That that is saying much seeing what the candy route was but every time I fall into despair over this I just grit my teeth and think about how parts of meat weren’t terrible pfft

-Lets get the johnrezi out of the way cause that’s kinda my thing. So. Good shit pfft I will admit I was little worried that Calliope and mainly Dirk could have tampered with them a bit but I’m pretty sure for the most part they didn’t? Dirk kinda made John feel weird post coital which kinda pissed me off but other than that. Them feelings 100% legit. These two people genuinely love each other. In both routes John’s thought would ALWAYS drift back to Terezi and Terezi’s only comfort was having John’s body with her after it all. Their romance is both cathartic because they are two MISERABLE people who only have each other to understand their feelings and fucking tragic because in candy all he had was a picture and in meat they had a physical confirmation of their feelings only for it to be voyeur’d and then ripped away by fucking John’s death. If there is more to come- I can only image there is- Terezi and Vriska will hopefully somehow team up and look for a way to revive John. Even If their romance was fleeting like 95% ship in Homestuck their support and care for one another is fucking REAL. It was straight UP the only real thing in Candy and I will fight others who say differently. 

-John going back in time to round everyone up felt weird. For the first time they all really felt like children and them all fighting lord english? WOW. Ouch. Especially Dave?? This Dave was the last to go and in the most brutal fucking way?? Kid had to watch Rose and Jade die and still fought pretty well, though. which goes to show Dave is a fucked up dude but when it comes to shit that needs to get done he can hold his own. Thaaaaaats why Adult Dave in both epilogues kinda grated on me a little? Not to fucking say UGH Dave is now more healed and stable this sucks!! I’m more saying there’s a lot of fics that whumpify Dave into a soft boi who too pure for this world and it slightly reminds me of it. That’s probably more of me just being to attached to MY view and headcanons of Dave, though, and maybe I need to let that go a little? 

-Davekat finally fucking happened. Ten years is too long of a slow burn for me I’m sorry lmao seriously I sound like Dirk when I say this but I really thought they sac’d up during the meteor and were already in a relationship. Dave’s whole conversation with John on the lilypad.......literally sounded like he was in a relationship with Karkat.......what the hell, honestly...........I’m glad it was on Dave’s own volition rather than’s Dirk’s gross as fuck pushing at least.

-That brings us to Dirk. The man who has been making my stomach church whenever I remember. My feelings about him are...............fucking complicated. I’ve been reblogging and bitching about him being “ruined” or whatever but.......That really is the simplified version of what I’ve been thinking. I think.....He’s been corrupted by his aspect or he’s just taking this heel “must be the new villain” too seriously. Like, I fucking despise it when people go off and say Bro was corrupted by Cal or Gamzee was corrupted by literally anything cause those two are just fucking trash, I’m sorry. I think I’m mostly upset by Dirk more than anything because his WHOLE thing was that he was a controlling dude with the potential to become an atrocious man and that he was starting to really take control of his path and work his way into becoming a better person. His talk with Jane on his sacrificial slab? His talk with Dave on the roof..........His heart aspect had begun to bring all his splinters together for his ultimate self and when the majority of your splinters carry a very sociopathic personality..............Man, there was literally no hope for him ever, huh? Literally none. The theme of working towards a better version of yourself is MEANINGLESS if your name is Dirk Strider. A character who struggles with depression, suicide, and absolute self loathing and his only path is this. Become the monster he was always terrified to become. Like I’m straight up about to cry writing this holy shit. Dirk is one of my favorite characters of all time- my FIRST favorite character when reading the comic- one of my MAIN reasons for reading it because I heard there was a canon gay character and I needed that in that time of my life. What almost hurts just as much as Dirk being a good guy and forcefully having this fate thrust upon him is that Roxy, the person Dirk cared about the most,.........Like............misgendering them. and being incredibly flippant and rude about trans stuff.......I can’t even begin to describe how much it hurt to read the character you looked up so much fucking being terrible about something that means so much to you. I’m agender and it just hurt is all I’m saying. This leads back to the bizarre issue of Dirk also being sexist and using gay in a strangely duragatory way. Like, Dirk grew up not really putting values on labels so for him to be weirdly transphobic does lead back to the ideas of this being a corrupted Dirk or him just playing the role of a villain. I do believe there is still the old Dirk we know in there, however, as even now Dirk states he could NOT hurt Dave. So some hope?

-Jake. I’m pretty sure Hussie fucking hates the dude like holy shit lmao......lmao in the least funniest way..............In both route Jake is jerked around like a plaything, having his personality dampened by the oppressive narrative. The one time we see Jake have repreive from such a shitty fate is when he’s talking to davekat about the election. That was the single moment we saw the curtain fall and the “intelligence” reenter the dude. I know this is like the “fanon” version of Jake. Every single character has fallen to that: whumpified Dave, puppet master dirk, bitchy mean jane, ect but litereally reading about him coming back to himself fucking HURT. Him being made to be obsessed with Dirk was so fucking gross I was cringing the entire time. The last few months I’ve been slowly accepting DirkJake back into my heart and this just fucking SHATTERED that warmth holy shit. Jake’s struggles with non-consensual bullshit is really starting to wear me down I just want him to be happy and RESPECTED. 

-Alrighty heavy stuff out of the way I will say this: I read candy first and at the end where Alt!Calliope is speaking to Aradia I had almost no goddamn idea what the fuck she was talking about. I even started to get kinda angry cause Homestuck tends to not take itself TOO seriously? There are some philosopical mind melting shit to read and consider but never too much where it’s incomprehensible to me? So when I finished candy I was like alright. Hussie just wanted to jerk himself off. whatever. Then I read meat and was like. OH. This.......this is actually fantastically interesting I can do this meta bullshit! and despite everything I just said about Dirk..........I fucking MISSED reading in his voice and it caught me off guard SO much which is what I love about Homestuck. There were a lot of tip offs but the one that really stood out to me before finding out was the Jake and Jane makeout. It kept going back to Dirk and I was very surprised by that? Jake sounded like he was over Dirk and yet here he was......unable to stop thinking about it? Shit makes. SO much sense I definitely am gonna reread it to look for other stuff, too. The tug of war via the narrative was incrediably entertaining as well.....Dirk is like a super sensitve incel now (caliborn would be proud) so it was hilarious to see him lose grip of it to Calliope. UGH I’m a little guilty to say it but I’m such a slut for anything Dirk I’m also KINDA looking forward to see where this goes and enjoying him being a villain A LITTLE. I know I sound wish washy but hey sometimes feelings contradict!

[ardenttheories]

if you were made the director for a Homestuck animated show, but could revamp it however you want, how would you go about producing it?

Firstly I’d probably hire fandom talent rather than big-name talent. At this point I have very specific voices that I associate with each of the characters, so ensuring that was as on-point as possible would be a significant goal. Also ensuring I got the same sort of people who did the original music (or the fan albums) to make every sound in the show, even down to ambience or sound effects. It’s got to have the sound of Homestuck, above anything else. 

Ensuring it was done in the Homestuck art style (again, with fandom talent) would be the next key feature. And I don’t mean the sprites so much as I mean a very much more clean version of the later panels we get. Like this:

The narrator would probably disappear. In an animated show, over-narration when you can see actions taking place can get tedious - Peppa Pig does this a lot, for instance - so just having the characters explain what they’re doing would suffice in most instances. As an example, 

VOICEOVER: “John, look inside your Magic Chest” 

JOHN: oh man i forgot half of this stuff was in here! some blood capsules and smoke pellets - i guess i could use those against dad - colonel sassacre’s text - geeze, how did i even get this thing in here? - oh! the trick cuffs! sweet, i should use that for something…

Giving more time and attention to specific scenes would maybe be my next move. I know part of Homestuck is the jump-cuts, and I’d definitely keep as many of those in as possible for comedic effect, but I think it’d be important for us to stay with a character for a while and get some of their inner thoughts. Again, this would be a way to get rid of the narrator, but also to develop each character a bit more:

ROSE: I hate that repulsive wizard. Why did she have to install it in the one place I can’t avoid? You would have thought the high walls and impossible size of the statue itself would have informed her that it was not to be, but no, her flimsy whims ensured it was lowered, instead, through the roof. I can’t imagine the sort of money that must have cost. Significantly less than her daily intake of alcohol, perhaps. Spending more time on the actual workings of SBURB, too. More interaction between John and Rose, where we see Rose figuring out what each option does to make up for the lack of buttons we can press; a bit more time on Dave and Jade, so we can see more of the things they have access to - and overall, more theories from all of them about the mechanics of the game. So, for instance, more information on the Quest Beds, the Consorts, the Sprites, the Kingdoms - we’d have the time for it in an animation, ironically, because you could slip it in at any point. It’d be nice for long-time fans to get that extra information without having to read it all, I think. 

I’d definitely have more of a focus on the Beta trolls’ session. That’d amp up the runtime of the show as a whole, but it would be a lot easier to shove out than a comic is; people expect it to take a bit longer, there’s more people working on it, and the source material is already all there. So letting us see the interactions between the Beta trolls during their session, and seeing how it differentiated, without giving away the “Karkat gave our universe cancer” thing would be a really good use of the animated show. Also, it’d give us more of a basis as to what a normal SBURB session should run like, and more of an idea of what the trolls are like in various scenarios (not just “fairly optimistic” and “drearily down”/”belligerent as heck” prior to them talking to the Beta kids)

As interesting as the quadrant explanation is, I’d probably get rid of that. Not all of it, but at the very least I’d have it be a conversation between Karkat and one of the kids - probably John - rather than a wall of exposition. Instead, I’d have more of a show of what the quadrants are like, which may mean more ships within the animated show as a whole. The whole point of TV is “show, don’t tell”; let the audience see it for themselves, don’t shove it in their eardrums. So spending more of a focus there, and more of a focus on people talking about what is and isn’t okay in certain relationships, would probably be a main feature of Act 5. 

Controversially, I’d probably scrub the Alpha trolls from the show entirely. There is a lot that I just don’t like with them, as I’ve said before, and personally I’d rather see them gone. Getting rid of the Alpha trolls would also allow for more screentime overall, so I could give other characters the time they truly deserved. Which, having said that…

Show the development of relationships, especially DirkJake. It’s an animated show, I can do what I want - and that means letting us actually see the goddamn good points of the one gay human ship we’ve got. I’m completely going off the assumption that this show’ll run for several years, a bit like most cartoons on CN do, so I’m giving myself little allowances for stuff like that. 

I may or may not change certain language choices. Homestuck’s aged a little poorly with the amount of times the word “retard” is thrown around, and the amount of jokes about people being autistic if they’re a bit hyper really isn’t that great. So cutting them out or just changing the language a bit would definitely be one of my major changes (outside of the Alpha trolls, that is). 

Since this whole thing is about production as well as what I’d revamp, I’d definitely make this animation series an online thing. Not a TV network thing that happens to have an online showing as well, but exclusively online. I think that’d allow for more fandom participation, and that is one of the key points of Homestuck as a form of media; the allowance of the fandom to interact with Hussie and the comic.

Going back to voices quickly, I probably wouldn’t give the Exiles speaking roles. They’d communicate via hums, clacks, or maybe a nonsense language, but they’d never speak any human language. These segments would either be narrator-heavy, or focus more on us following the Exiles around and seeing what they do. 

Also? Expanding on the ending. Wrapping up the loose ends that were left unfinished in the original comic. So anything to do with the ghosts, the disappearance of Vriska, Jake and Dirk’s talk once they beat the baddies - all of that would get an actual explanation. There’d be speaking lines about it (such as someone mentioning that Vriska hasn’t shown up, and then seeing when Terezi decides to go look for her), or we’d actually just see the entire interaction itself (such as Dirk and Jake’s reconciliation, which is CRUCIAL character development for them both). 

And lastly, because it’s 1am and I didn’t realise how late it was, god, I’m going to say that I’d give John a lot more development than he got. Maybe not even anything overt - an animation frame of him looking like he’s going to cry, closing his eyes, and then moving on; someone mentioning that he seems a little off, and him laughing their concerns away; seeing john stumble over his usual personality the further the series goes on; a character mentioning john’s seeming lack of reaction to his Dad’s death even after three years - so long as it’s something, just to make it seem like the ending was done for an effect, anything works. 

[ajkal2]

homestuck fic recs

So I’ve been meaning to do a homestuck fanfic recommendation post for literal years, and as hiveswap is coming out (finally) I figured now is the time. Here are my personal favorite fics from the homestuck fandom, those I would select and place in an anthology to hand down to future generations. Read all of them, they are all beautiful and wonderful and perfect.

Like One Sundered Star by @sunderedstar - 1.5M words (so far) (yes thats a million) - lots of ships, starts with a focus on pale johnkat - superhero au - This fic, is amazing. The characterization is on point for every single character, and it features p much the entire homestuck cast. The plot is so so well developed, the humour is beautiful, its just a monster of beautiful words.

(note: this fic has recently been completed (but not fully posted yet) and im just. This is the end of an era, holy fuck, and sunderedstar has done so so well to finish this BEAST and i will probs cry when i read the end and just. Congratulations to sunderedstar, youve done so well and this fic is so beautiful and how did you keep track of everything and ill stop here but just wow.)

Spellbound by @toastyhat - 64k words - beta gen - magic au (?) - toasty always does such good worldbuilding, and this is no exception. The fleshing out of the cultures, the integration of aspects from canon, all wonderful. Also, again, great characterisation.

The Serendipity Gospels by urbanAnchorite - 130k words - terezi and gamzee focus, most beta trolls make an appearance - No Sburb, exploration of alternatian society - I couldn’t have a rec list without putting this one on. This is a candidate for best fic in the fandom, even though its abandoned. Such good worldbuilding, all the little details that make it into here are so wonderful. Emotional, and you really get to see these characters stretched to breaking point, pushed and pushed and held until they reform. Its abandoned, as it was simply too great for this world.

The Great Escape by elanor_pam - 67k words - karkat-centric - pre-Sburb karkles gets kidnapped by pirates - A grand exploration of child characters under pressure, and how trauma affects trust. This one makes my heart ache, as, like any good story, it’s a rollercoaster. Now I have to go reread it, excuse me.

Sea Salt by @khemi - 25k words - dirkjake, x2 multiplier - Merstuck - I loved the perspectives in this, the voice was so interesting. Also very well presented characters and romances, amazing descriptions, and generally a good fic. (also check out all the rest of khemi’s work, its awesome)

a thousand years by venusianeye - 22k words - dirkjake - close to canonverse - Amazing. I love love love all the symbolism in this, the use of god tier powers and abilities, as well as all the references to other stories and interweaving of worlds and repetition of motifs, this is just amazing. Venusianeye works have this dreamy, etheral quality to them, and its frankly beautiful. Strange, and poetic, and beautiful.

Sing A Rainbow by @khemi (again) - 48k words - Dave-centric - soulmate au - This one is a special bunny. Yes, the writing is beautiful. Yes, the characters are great. But this one is on this list because of the world. This fic takes that soulmate au idea (when you see your soulmate, you can see in colour!) to a whole new level. Ever wondered about ace people in a soulmated world, or about how the soulmate system would affect society? Wonder no more! Khemi deals with the problems of a simplistic ‘true love!’ world amazingly. This one will make you cry.

Sinking Fear In Quiet Steps by roachpatrol - 2.9k words - focuses on dirk and dave as siblings - post-canon (back on beta earth) - I love this fic. Its short, but the character focus and the relationship development that it shows are just awe-inspiring. The small character details are amazing, and this fic really delves deep into what makes these silly boys tick, and how they’ll fit together, and the similarities and differences between the versions of them in different universes.

Dave Strider’s Stupid Fucking Jawline by @cumulativechaos - 11k words - davekat - high school au - This is, in my opinion, the best davekat fic out there, if not the best fic full stop. It is so so fudging funny, and ive reread it so many times i could probably quote sections verbatim. The characterization of every single party in this fic is beautiful, and the way it sets up punchlines and fluffy moments and- it’s just amazing. Check this one out.

Who’s Asking by sunflowerwonder - 2k words - dirk-centric - canon-verse pesterfic - sunflowerwonder does the BEST pesterlog fics, and this is one of the best of the best. The dialogue feels like it’s been ripped straight from canon, and when reading it you can just picture the expressions they are making.

Honourable mentions (wouldn’t quite make it into the anthology but still amazing and worth a read):

Family Never Ends by a heartless saDIST (This fic has been orphaned, and so I sadly cannot trace the author) - 227k words - BroDave - moviedirector!Dave AU plus a bunch of other changes - I cannot with good conscience recommend this fic. This will rip your heart out, stomp on it a few times, and then nuke it. Do not read this fic. But at the same time, I can’t make a rec list without mentioning this fic. It’s characterizations are great, the plot is breathtaking, but this fic stays with you. And the ending is downright cruel. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Hopeless and Heartless by @lateniteslacker - 234k words - dirkjake - modern fantasy/demon hunters au - Good world, very very good plot, a solid au. Twists and turns and twists and turns.

Independence Week by @toastyhat - 9.5k words - dave-centric - no-sburb yes-powers au - This one requires a bit of thought, which makes it even more enjoyable. It’s a bunch of time travel shenanigans told in chronological order. It’s also a fun time to read, with some great moments and plot twists that keep you interested.

Crash Standing by askerian - 128k words - davespritekat - post-sburb au - This fic is awesome. The pesterlogs are great, the characterisation is just awesome, and I love the way Byrd develops into his own person, not just another Dave. A wonderful read.

[imploder]

Response to Ikimaru Hate/Fandom Hate in General

@miss-serket​

“Based off nothing” spend 5 mins on ikimarus blog or the homestuck store lol. Check the links I provided dude I literally typed blocks of text for proof. “Based off nothing” my ass tf

I hope you and other people read this to the end. It’s important. We’re going to go step by step here. First off, you’ll have to forgive me for being a bit over the top and angry. Sunny is a close friend of mine, so I’m sure you can understand why I’d get emotional when people not only spread unjustified hate but also celebrate it. I’m sure if someone did the same to one of your friends, you’d feel the same way.

ikimaru ruined homestuck

Complete nonsense, but I’m sure you don’t care about that one because it’s written to be a “joke.” We’ll get into why this is a problem later.

She’s lowkey homophobic. She doesn’t show it much but she’s basically a yaoi fangirl who sexualizes mlm couples

If you think Sunny is a “yaoi fangirl”/fujoshi, you really don’t know what you’re talking about. Have you seen works that actually do fetishize mlm relationships or sexualize them in a harmful way? The insistence of the seme/uke dynamic and using mlm smut as a means to their expressing their non-mlm sexuality are hallmarks of that. And those kinds of tones/qualities aren’t really found across her works. Yes, she ships DirkJake. Yes, she even sexualizes it. No, that does not make inherently bad. She’s not showing it in an unhealthy way nor is she claiming ownership of it. 

and she INSISTS dirkj*ke wasn’t abusive so a bunch of people blindly agree because for some God forsaken reason they think her art is in character and canon.

DirkJake being abusive is a FANON interpretation. Sure, there are some qualities of it, but at the end of the day, it’s a webcomic in which we didn’t get to directly see any of their relationship. We are just told about it through the monologues of Dirk and Jake. Was it abusive? Maybe! It’s perfectly fine if you see it that way. But it’s not CANON LAW. 

Also insisting that people are simply agreeing because they blindly follow her is just ignorant to other peoples’ own opinions on autonomy. Guess what? Other people have different opinions than you. Scary, I know! But that’s life. Shipping DirkJake or thinking it wasn’t horribly abusive isn’t wrong.

Her treatment of roxy was BEYOND awful. She makes her nothing more than a ditsy drunk who likes cats and helps Dirk get laid. Despite her struggle with her feelings for him, but that would get in the way of Hot Yaois.

So Roxy is a recovering alcoholic. Is depicting her drinking alcohol wrong? This is a really interesting question, and is one I don’t have a straight answer to. But again, in regards to the other stuff, this is coming down to how you are policing how other people interpret and draw characters. Attacking someone for depicting Roxy as “liking cats and helping Dirk get laid” is uncalled for. Literally no one is being harmed by someone doing that. You don’t get to decide what is  and isn’t okay when drawing a FICTIONAL character.

As for the “Hot Yaois” comment, see my response above.

Evey character is a 2D stereotype of themselves, and again, people TAKE IT AS CANON. This horrible mischaracterizing is definitely something that hurts the fanbase. Also, I’m not gonna rip on her art style but she only draws characters as skinny white people or skinny white people with a tan. She may give Jane bigger boobs and a bigger butt so she’s the “acceptable” type of fat. If she draws a POC they still have white features. All trolls “just 12 white people colored gray”.

People taking it as canon is not her fault. Hussie draws all the characters LITERALLY as skinny 2D stereotypes of themselves. And Hussie’s drawings are UNIVERSALLY CANON. Does that make it not okay to draw characters with different bodytypes/skin colors/etc.? Of course not.

And again you’re policing how people draw characters. Drawing characters with less common body types or as POC is great! But that doesn’t mean drawing them any other way is bad or wrong. We can discuss to what extent it’s harmful, but at the end of the day, you’re saying all these things because you think Sunny doesn’t draw people fat enough or POC enough. You’re inciting hate because she’s drawing a fictional alien race in a way that you don’t agree with. 

And the worst part, is how the homestuck store is monopolized by her. If you want diverse designs you’re out of luck! Here’s more Ikimaru!!

All this stuff combined is a huge drag on the homestuck community in the long run because she’s so goddamn influential and everyone thinks her POV is Canon

The WLF store being largely populated by her works was and is not her decision. She signed a contract with WLF a while ago. They ask her to draw things, and then she draws them. She’s not willy nilly deciding to deciding to flood WLF with unsolicited submissions. In fact, outside of WLF, she hardly even draws or wants to draw Homestuck anymore. 

As I’ve told other people in the past, your frustration here is totally justified. It’s understandable that you want to see different things in the store and that it angers you when all you see is art that you don’t like. However, Sunny is not the person you should be hating for this. That’s all on WLF’s end, and believe me, I will not get upset if people go around criticizing WLF.

But again, other people thinking her POV is canon isn’t her fault. She’s never claimed that how she draws characters is the canon or correct way. Sure, she has a HUGE following in the fandom, but that’s just what it is: a following. People follow her because they enjoy her art and interpretations. She’s drawing fanart. She isn’t creating what is suppose the be the correct image of the characters.

Yes, she’s my friend, but I’m not going to say people have to like her or her art. You don’t have to agree with her opinions; I know I don’t, and she knows that.

I think people are honestly giving her too much credit. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen on Tumblr dozens of times before. People hold Sunny to these unreasonable standards. People put her on a pedestal like she’s the CANON FANARTIST. And when she does things that people deem wrong or harmful, it creates that much worse of a reaction and backlash.

But there’s something you and everyone else has to remember, especially when saying shitty things about someone publicly. Sunny is just a normal person. She’s human. She has here own emotions, ambitions, problems, and causes for anxiety (which I might add is pretty much 100% from people like you). You shouldn’t hold her to this ridiculous standard just because she’s popular in one niche fandom on Tumblr. You don’t know her. You do not get to make sweeping judgments based on a couple of self indulgent drawings she’s posted over the past 5 years. 

That brings me to the most important part of this. A lot of the discourse near the top about interpretations of characters is something that isn’t 100% black and white. I could be wrong about those things. But even if I am, that does not justify inciting hate or encouraging people to write horrible things like “I’ll kill her,” even in jest. SHE’S A REAL PERSON. Posting that kind of stuff publicly is NOT OKAY. That is not how you act online or in the real world. I know Sunny has been deeply affected and truly hurt by seeing things like this. The worst part is that this kind of witchhunt fandom policing is still going on after multiple instances where it caused someone to attempt suicide. Why is this still going on? This kind of behavior is unacceptable and needs to stop.

[utopianparadoxist]

Hey, I hope this isn't getting annoying, but I found two more dirkjake things to worry about answer them and I'll never send you another dirkjake ask again, I promise. So my first worry is, did they just get shipped so that the girls could get mad at them and then forgive them just why did they get shipped and does it mean anything? And I sometimes worry that Jake's not actually interested in Dirk, because he says he could never love him as much as Roxy does.

They got shipped because Hussie was interested in telling a variety of coming of age stories through every character, and that meant telling a diverse pool of different queer experiences of coming of age. Jake and Dave are depictions of bisexual boys coming of age. Dirk is one of a gay boy doing so. As someone who kinda straddles the line between bi and gay, I can tell you both experiences feel true to life as hell to me. As for Dirk and Jake's specific story, they convey a lot of important and unique themes about man's capacity for good and evil, the power of faith and friendship, the shitty things we do while struggling with toxic societal ideas of what a man should be like or that heterosexual love is superior/more acceptable than homosexual love, the ideals and promise of the American dream and the tragedy of losing that dream to fascist tyranny...Their story is about a lot of things, but it's also just the story of two best friends who grow up together, love each other, hurt each other, and then slowly have to learn and grow so they can love each other without hurting each other. It's about the messy and beautiful experience of growing up. Does it really need any other reason to exist than to be what it is? Where does this stuff about the girls even come from? Kinda sounds like some ornery fan projecting their attitude onto the text and putting words/motivations into Hussie as an author when we have literally no evidence that the story was going for anything like that, to me. And yeah uh, Jake says that hes unable to love when he's at his lowest point and literally thinks he ruined all of his relationships, so I'm not any more inclined to take him at face value than I am with Dirk when he calls himself a toxic influence on every part of Jake's life, which is factually not true. When Jake simultaneously at his most powerful and most in need of protection, his ultimate fantasy of safety is still a Dirk who calls him his boyfriend and acts...frankly, kinda jealous. And that's AFTER Dirk broke up with him, when he would be off the hook for not being interested in Dirk, if he wasn't. So I think that character beat speaks for itself.

[utopianparadoxist]

Author’s introduction: An invitation.

This is a corollary post meant to connect to Love, Faith and Fantasy. Feel free to read it to understand my relationship with Dirkjake and reasons for writing to the fandom as I have been. 

Before I get into the why of Dirkjake, if you’d indulge me, I’d like to get into the why of the framing of my initial post. If you don’t want to read this, just skip ahead to the next subtitle- ‘Knights and Pages - Servitude and Ownage’. Either way, if you’re going to be reading any part of this post, then from the bottom of my heart: Thank you. As I said, it was prompted by an instinct to correct what I viewed as a fandom perception of Jake that is erroneous, and in that specific post I feel that I overcorrected a little.

But that instinct was and is reflective of a wider problem that has pervaded the nature of my writing up until now. I have been doubtful and fearful in approaching fandom with my ideas--not because I don’t think my ideas have merit, but because I am keenly aware of the nature of the Dirk Strider abuse discourse and its history.   I know how passionately people felt about it in the past, and I expected an amount of backlash or at least disinterest for the subject. I am happy to say I was let down there--everyone that has engaged with me so far has been delightful, kind, nuanced and insightful in their criticisms where they find them. Though I will say that like the beautiful trollsona Dirkjake commission @complete-bs-district  was willing to do for me, the response to this series has followed an interesting trend.

There’s been more likes than reblogs on pretty much all of them.

I can’t really be sure, but to me this sort of speaks to the possibility that a not-insignificant number of the fanbase wants to consider these ideas whilst simultaneously being afraid or ashamed of doing so. In other words: I think there’s a chance Dirkjake as a ship carries far wider appeal than it would initially seem, and a lot of it is held back by confusion and insecurity. I want to bet on that possibility, and there’s only one real way to do that I can think of. And so here is my request:

I want you--all of you reading this--to choose to trust me. And if you’re willing, I’d like us to play a game of sorts.

I want to reopen the great debate on whether Dirk is abusive on my blog, with as much of the fandom as is willing to pay attention present and witnessing. This debate will include another subject: Whether it is canonical that Jake genuinely loves Dirk back for his own sake.

To be clear going forward, let me establish what kind of Player I am: I like bad art. I do not mind imperfections. If I thought Dirk was abusive I’d ship Dirkjake anyway under the understanding that they seem to have worked things out and figured out how to be healthy--which is still true! Their relationship was toxic for a while after all--though I would argue this was not entirely because of either of their flaws but rather because the outsize responsibility of handling Hal and his manipulation exacerbated and complicated those flaws to unsustainability.

But essentially, if I was proven wrong about this argument and someone convinced me Dirk was indeed abusive, it would be no skin off my back. I’d go on shipping it with a more sophisticated understanding of the story. Abuse apologism and white knighting is simply not why I’m raising this argument. I am raising it because I feel it is the most coherent reading of canon that explains the most about the story, and because the story contained within is one that is uplifting, empowering, and satisfying to me as an mlm, an abuse survivor (and this is something I’ve written about if you need my credentials), someone with mental health issues, and someone who just likes well-told stories about people with flaws who love each other anyway. I think it makes Dirk and Jake more fleshed out, complicated, satisfying characters. I think it makes their endings more satisfying for those of you disappointed with their execution. I think it makes the Alphas make more sense as a whole, and that it not only makes Homestuck a better story--but gives us more reason to be excited for Hiveswap, too. I will admit to the fact that I hope I’m right about this. I hope you find a story you genuinely love with all your heart here, too. I hope you find a story you believe in. I hope you find the story I see. And I hope you come away feeling it made your life better.

But part of what it means to believe in things is being willing to put what you believe in to the test, and that is what I am trying to do. I swear I am being genuine in my attempt to approach this, and I will stand by my word if I find I am convinced.

If you end up feeling the way I hope you will, though, all I’ll ask you to do is this: Reblog this post, so others can find it too. And then follow me. And pay attention. I invite anyone who feels differently, who finds themselves morally outraged, or who simply thinks I am incorrect to come send me asks or submit messages or write posts and tag me and talk to me about it.

Use the comic as your source and provide arguments that prove I am incorrect, and I will happily recant or adjust as necessary.

What I want is for us all to think critically. What I want is to determine the truth about the nature of this canon--not an objective truth, because that doesn’t exist, but a new truth that is at the very least more considered and well-informed than what we’ve had until now. Through the conversation I hope this begins, if such conversation is necessary, I hope you’ll be able to come to your own conclusions about the ultimate nature of this ship, and whether I am correct or if the currently culturally accepted reading of Dirk Strider and Jake English is.

Now that I have finished this lengthy preamble, let’s begin.