#Minus Codes

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Would love to hear your thought on meowrails break up and who they end up with?! Especially interested in Hal <> Nepeta!

Ok! Just a disclaimer before anything: this is not at all saying you shouldnt ship the meowrails, this is just a canon discussion blog and I have noticed... some stuff... but ship whatever you want, I literally don't care, all HCs are valid, etc. etc.

"Everyone has an important job to do." This is a phrase that gets repeated in Hivebent a few times, which makes it important, as Homestuck often uses repetition to build up an "internal lexicon" and deliberately highlight when situations have similar connotations (Hussie discusses this on their Formspring). So what's the context for this specific phrase? Well, it shows up three times, and for at least two of those times, it's associated with failed moirallegiances.

GA: But It Just Means Theres Got To Be Someone Around To Keep An Eye On Them GA: And If Not Me Then Who GA: Everyone Has An Important Job To Do AG: Ok, so you're spying on me. Kind of creepy! Man, m8y8e you should get a l8fe.

And

CC: I will need to connect after my goofball moirail does so I can keep my goggles on )(is nefarious escapades. CC: Its a toug)( job but its important! Everyone )(as an important job to do.

So, okay, apparently the context of this phrase is "this person is in a moirallegiance that will NOT work out"... well, here's the third time it pops up (though it's the first time chronologically):

Your best pal of all is A LITTLE BOSSY, and people wonder why you even bother with him. But someone has to keep him pacified. If not you, then who? Everyone has an important job to do.

So... hm. This isn't the only thing I have to say about meowrails breakup, but it is the most prominent one, and maybe the most damning, depending on how much weight you put into Homestuck's oft-deliberate use of parallels.

Maybe something a bit more damning is the way Hussie speaks about them in the book commentary? Pretty much every time they turn up, he has some comment to make about how Equius doesn't really "need" Nepeta, and about how he tends to talk over her and usurp her agency, like so many shitty boyfriends IRL.

We don't know much about Equius yet, but we get an awful lot of info about him with this excerpt. He's racist, a huge snob, doesn't like swearing, is stern and controlling, has a patronizing fondness for Nepeta, and thinks archery is cool because of its association with nobility. Combine this with the snapshot of his room we'll see soon, and suddenly we have an extensive character portrait. This was all important to establish quickly, because it helps us understand in record time that Equius is in fact one of the greatest characters ever created.

Equius says he appreciates that Nepeta's angry. I guess meaning that he respects an angry disposition, like his own. Especially early on in his characterization, it's suggested he has anger issues (like him taking his rage out on robot dummy combatants). But I'm not sure this trait holds up. Over time, he seems to show a lot more passion about his weird stuff, his passion for archery and muscular horse men, his submissive obsessions, his deference toward those higher on the hemospectrum and fetish-like indulgence in depraved attraction toward those lower. Ultimately he comes off more as a ridiculous nerd, with a soft spot for a lot of silly and creepy shit. My view on this is, it's not that the text lost track of the fact that he was supposed to be angry. It's more that this was his initial state of mind early on, and the more he started blowing off steam with his various indulgences (Aradiabot, etc.) the less he had to be mad about. We just meet him at a really high-strung point in his life. I think it's more accurate to say his "anger" is a form of hyperintense focus on being stern, aloof, proper, and averse to nonsense, which is a facade serving to cover up his inner personality, which is barely in control at all. Like Nepeta suggests, deep down he wants to play the kinds of silly games she plays. He wants to let go completely, and indulge every ludicrous and depraved whim he has. His arc tends to be more about caving to these indulgences, and all the mixed consequences that follow, than resisting them.

Here's [S] Equius: Seek the highbl00d, another playable RPG game. [...] But Christ, why am I talking about that garbage when we are about to review some truly choice material focusing exclusively on your favorite meowrails. It is a great illustration of their tragic dynamic; deeply committed and caring partners in the diamonds quadrant, and yet compromised by Equius and his stubborn class-driven faults, his pathological reverence for his superiors, his forced and probably not genuinely felt sense of disdain for lower bloods like Nepeta, and ultimately his failure to rise above these flaws when presented with a real test of character and friendship. A test imposed, of course, by a boorish murderclown, who from this point onward just ruins fucking everything, constantly.

Hussie is an unreliable narrator (of the "he's deliberately playing a character who's biased, opinionated, and sometimes wrong, because a major theme of Homestuck is that you have to question who's telling the story and if they can be trusted" variety), so it's difficult to parse exactly what he's saying is salient, especially since he talks so damn much. But even so, he constantly goes out of his way to highlight how the meowrails DON'T work out - which is even pretty canon in the comic.

In Hivebent, the two are established as working along this dynamic: Nepeta soothes Equius's anger issues, while Equius keeps Nepeta from recklessly endangering herself (for example, prohibiting her from LARPing). But as Hussie says, Equius's anger problems become basically nonexistent by the time Murderstuck rolls around, and his actual problem is his overindulgence in his fetishes; meanwhile, his bossy, controlling attitude to Nepeta was always kind of suspect, but it actively becomes a source of frustration to her that she can't wait to shirk (he bans her from talking to the humans, and she goes behind his back to do it anyways - even celebrates when Karkat gives her express permission).

In the end, they die for their failures as a moirallegiance - despite being fresh off a feelings jam in a pile, and so, supposedly at their least likely to hurt themselves or others, Equius's horny gets him killed (Hussie has always maintained across multiple platforms that Equius could've easily overpowered Gamzee, he just chose not to because Hot), and Nepeta doesn't listen to his orders to stay put. In later conversations with ARquiussprite, Equius is always framed as the one here who was wrong - who failed to keep Nepeta safe and has something to apologize for. I think it's also pretty important to notice that in the bubbles, Equius is never seen doing so - but IS seen being really weird to Aradias - fully implying that he's actually been avoiding taking accountability to Nepeta in favor of indulging in his fetish shit, out of shame and guilt.

As Hussie says, the meowrails are an important relationship, and when I say they don't work out, I don't mean they shouldn't have been together in the first place. On the contrary; I think they actually were good for each other, way back on Alternia. Nepeta DID keep Equius's frustrations in check, and Equius DID keep Nepeta out of trouble. But as time went on, Equius just got really comfortable with treating Nepeta like an object he owned - something convenient, which he can use when he's feeling sad, and ignore otherwise - and Nepeta started growing frustrated with his increasingly petty control. They grew as people, their needs changed, and they stopped being good for each other, but they stayed together - out of inertia and sunk cost fallacy on Nepeta's end, and on Equius's end, because it was convenient and pleasant (for him) and useful (for him) so why would he throw it away?

While this is something I think could potentially be worked out with relationship therapy, the thing with Homestuck is that it's big into the idea of soulmates, especially in the pale quadrant (which is described with that exact term). Its ultimate thesis on romance is that, while you have to do a lot of personal work in order to be the kind of person who can BE in a soul mates relationship, ultimately a relationship SHOULD have an element of just... easy compatability, idiosyncracies clicking together in just the right way to bring out the best in both parties. It's idealized, and there's criticism to be made about that, but that's still ultimately how romance kind of functions in Homestuck. The perfect match is out there for you, and while you have some growing to do in order to be ready for it, it's supposed to be easy once you get there. Consider how Eridan can calm Karkat down literally just by talking to him normally, or how Sollux regularly outright professes that Feferi's just fucking amazing - these are relationships where the involved parties don't need to tell themselves "everyone has an important job to do" with grit teeth to justify keeping the relationship going.

Meowrails lacks that inherent compatability, according to the evidence, but of course, that brings up the question of who they SHOULD date in pale instead. Hey, did you ever notice that Dirk (and by extension, Hal) are EXTREMELY Equius-coded?

So here's the thing. Hal's favorite alpha kid is Roxy, who is also pretty Nepeta-themed, being a cat-associated Rogue. They regularly flirtLARP with each other, but when we get a glimpse of this so called flirtLARPing, it's actually Roxy almost, but not quite, getting Hal to admit that he's actually not really that into Jake, he just feels obligated, as an extension of Dirk, to make DirkJake happen. They almost, but not quite, have a feelings jam.

Meanwhile, Hal outright calls his conversation with Dirk, as Dirk grapples with whether or not he should kill Hal, a "feelings jam", and Dirk also has a convo with Caliborn about how maybe he should consider the merits of selfcest.

What these interactions hint at, to me, is Nepeta <> Hal, and Equius <> Dirk... and I think if you consider it from the standpoint of their personalities, it works, too?

Nepeta is pretty consistently shown to have a knack for knowing how other people actually feel. Her shipping charts are incorrect in terms of compatability, but she's got a scary knack for reading intentions and desires - as befits a non-destructive Heart player. She's able to pinpoint that Eridan's advances on her are insincere, but he's not that bad a guy; she notices that Karkat is a big softie who loves his friends so much; she correctly reads that Equius is a big ol' goofball who loves to play games. Hal, as a Mind player, and even more as originally being a Dirk splinter and an AI, is deeply distressed by his lack of "self"-hood; it's Roxy who calls out first and most blatantly that he's clearly his own guy with his own real feelings, which seems to be why he gravitates toward her. Nepeta would do this even harder, since it's kind of her entire Thing, and I think Hal would really appreciate that, since Hal is at his worst when he thinks he's acting in someone else's best interest (Sylph lol).

Meanwhile, what Nepeta really needs IS an enabler. She's a rebellious soul with radical ideas about how the hemospectrum is stupid and dumb, and she's RIGHT and she should SAY IT. Hal's amazing at giving people what they "want", pulling strings to ensure DirkJake happens, while also framing it as something that Jake would want - this bombastic, action hero kiss-in-front-of-a-volcano. Nepeta's clearly attracted to characters with Equius-esque qualities, but after spending so long with Equius, who does nothing but push her down with a patronizing "hush, greenblood, it's for your own good," I think she would do well with an insane partner in crime who instead goes "fuck yeah girl, let's make this shit happen." Especially since her personal insecurities are that other people will find her dumb and silly (an impression that Equius certainly didn't HELP with...) - having Hal in her corner going "uhhh you're literally my favorite and I will engineer situations to fall directly in your favor?" would be a huge help to her.

I'm actually not entirely sold on equius <> dirk - they're maybe too similar? - i have in my notes here john <> dirk and equius <> jake. idk. the shipping web starts to get complicated

[harmonysanreads]

I still think hyv would be making more money if they just made an otome game with their male characters

[dailyhtfboards]

The little guys (and middle aged man yaoi)

YEAHHH YAOI I like how Handy is so :]

(From TV episode 2C Ipso Fatso)

[mikimeiko]

Arcane | Season 2 (2024), Christian Linke and Alex Yee

[dramalets]

2025 Watch List part 1

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Meet me outside - Lovely little quick watch from the Philippines. Six episodes all under fifteen minutes, packs a sweet little love story into a small space. 3/5 (1/1/25)

Just Friends? - A very early one from Korea. This is from a queer director and you can strongly feel that vibe. I liked this a lot and thought it was realistic but never, as Korean queer stuff often is, particularly depressing. The leads are massive actors now and it’s clear even from here why that is. 4/5 (I actually finished this before Xmas)

Plus & Minus - Mostly fine. The leads were cute and the side couple a little dull. The last few episodes of this are poopoo bananas and pulled this down from a 4 to a 3. You could happily skip episodes 10 & 11 and go 9 - 12 instead. 3/5 (7/1/25)

See Your Love - Delightful. Leads were extremely charming with great chemistry. Personally I liked that this didn’t lean too much into the dramatic. Didn’t enjoy the needless female s/an and, overall, the two female characters felt a bit redundant. But overall I loved it. 4/5 (8/1/25)

Exclusive Fairytale - On its surface this is a very typical youth cdrama and is that but it also had more under its belt. The cast chemistry was great, it didn’t rely on having a big idol name as its lead and it tied everyone’s stories in a satisfying way. There was also a little more adult humour than I was really expecting. 4/5 (12/1/25)

The Trauma Code - I’m afraid this was made for me. As a love of OTT medical procedural shows this had everything I needed. Excellently good fun from start to finish. Would have been a five but knocked a point because it just wasn’t long enough/the episodes weren’t long enough to allow for real character depth. 4/5 (24/1/25)

Fourever You Project - I enjoyed this a lot but it also had potential to be more than it was. It was obvious the second couple needed more time and I also think more attention should have been paid to the chemistry between Pond & Earth as, especially in comparison with the 2nd couple, it was weak. 3/5 (26/1/25)

The Heart Killers - Show was an up and down one for me. I enjoyed the ride but I found it quite holey and quite a typical Jojo ‘my ideas were too big for the scale I had’ ending. The character work was strong and the acting was excellent all round. I just needed some polyfill for the holes. 3 ½/5 (12/2/25)

Your Sky - It wasn’t my sort of drama,so it was never going to bowl me over, but it gets a solid 3/5. The cast was charming and the story meandered less than I expected it might. It was still a bit over long in some places and too short in others though. Not one I’ll rewatch but enjoyable. It suffered the same thing that I hate about cutie pie; too many characters that never get developed well. If you’re giving me friendships then I want friendships. Not hollow things just there to show off sub pairings you’re trying to promote. 3/5 (20/2/25)

Jack & Joker - I finished this a while ago and I’ve been torn on how to rate it/what to write about it. I enjoyed a lot of this but the balance of this show was entirely off. The tone varied too wildly, for me, for it to ever be a truly quality watch. Yin and War seem to have this idea that misery, shock and pain make a show more important or a better quality and that just isn’t true. You could cut out 90% of the trauma from this show and it would be better. So, yea, I still don’t really know how to rate this because it’s not bad, it’s inarguably a well made show and it’s a huge thing that Yin & War fought to make what they wanted to make. But the tone was too all over and this is something I will never rewatch. 2/5 (18/2/25)

FC Sold Out - A short, low budget KBL that was consistently well acted and enjoyable every week. Not complex in any respect, a little rushed from only having eight short episodes but a great little show and would make a good binge. 3 ½/5 (7/3/25)

Gelboys - Just delicious. Enjoyable from start to finish and did teenage stupidity and angst better than anything else I’ve watched. There really was nothing I’d have changed about this. All the characters felt realistic and were genuinely interesting and unique. 5/5 (22/3/25)

Perfect 10 Liners - Honestly this was made for me. I love ensembles, I’m a P’New defender and I enjoy all the main pairings. Each story here was different and I enjoyed them all for different reasons. Arc & Arm was the weaker one for me but it really picked up from there. Faifa & Wine were my favourites, JuniorMark did some stunning work honestly, but I was also delighted by Yotha & Gun. (I’m so happy to have Santa back.) 4/5 (6/4/25)

Resident Playbook - This is another made for me drama. Twelve episodes all a nice juicy hour twenty to hour forty telling the story of OB-GYN residents. This is set in the Hospital Playlist universe, another series I adored, and I loved it from the start. All the characters were unique and loveable in their own ways and I enjoyed seeing them bond. 5/5 (19/5/25)

[sillylilguy999]

bro i need to draw overhaul BADLY

LIKE HORREDOUSLY

LIKE IM GONNA SCREAM IF I DONT SOON the obbession is takign over i SKHDFKJWLEIUROUWEFYOISUDOYHCKUSYDLKCBHSLKJDFHLKJHSEKUYOIUSYINUXJKJHSKJHTKWJTUDVNSOWIEURY(SI&UI

sigh

i need help fr

hes just

YGHHGHJSJH

HES SO BABYGIRL

the way i can draw him wihtouht a reference FINE is CONCERNING

sighghhghg i need to do my biology and chemistry

i hate science fr (i just wanna draw my bbgs forever)

like aizawa tooo oooooomg hes my handsome little guy (hes like twice my age)

[artisthoi]

leo valdez just collects siblings like nobody’s business tbh.hes not even actually related to half of them

[cherrystarx]

yona of the dawn is like one of my favorite mangas

please

its so so so so awesome and i was bawling last night after reading chapter 268

i was a huge fan back in 2020 and 5years later rereading made me realise i still am

[kayiieu]

how to talk to a sweet funny cute guy who says he likes u but u wanna take it slowly and get to know him first but ur scared that he's gonna lose interest once he gets to know u cus ur kinda weird no borax no glue

[bluecoolr]

I realize there's nothing stopping me from making a whole new au where Darrell and Odile and their 4 lil cygnets live in the moors like in Wuthering Heights - half-savage and hardy

[cbk1000]

Interview went well. This job is basically all the bits of my previous job that I enjoyed, minus the bits I hated, and they actually skipped several questions because I had already covered relevant experience in a previous example I gave. They have four more interviews but want to get this wrapped up quickly and said I will know by Thursday or Friday.

[eyepatchdate]

ive finally replicated all my files on the new desktop. the work zone is back babey

[mikimeiko]

Arcane | Season 1 (2021), Christian Linke and Alex Yee

[un-pearable]

i’m mulling it over but i keep being tempted to make a Zelda Unleashed joke bc everything aside from the forced transformation is just like. textually there

[lextriemely]

joined the choir at school and now people are talking about a theme park at the end of the school year after we have prom. chat. i might fulfill the ocean o'connell rosenberg prophecy !

[beheadedcousins]

okay so this is a silly thought i had when i saw this musical but here it is:

teeth the musical would be one of annleigh's favorite musicals. farrah dragged her along with her to see it, and annleigh didn't hate it and had fun watching it.