#idk who wants to see the karkat

[heavensheal]

girlfriend asked me to draw this (we fucking hate hazbin btw very important information. this is just rlly funny. kabru giving laios his period cramps /ref happy april fools said 2 days late

[writers-get-biters]

OK SO UM I HOPE THIS ISNT TOO LATE BUT WE SAW ALL THE AWESOME MIKU DRAWINGS AND STUFF AND WE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING TOO

A LOT OF US ARE HOMESTUCK TROLLS

WELL NOT A LOT BUT LIKE A NUMBER OF US

AND I CANT REALLY DRAW TO BE HONEST SO UM TROLL MIKU MADE IN PHOTOPEA

I KINDA LIKE HOW IT TURNED OUT ACTUALLY

IN MY OPINION SHES A PROSPIT FUCHSIABLOOD MUSE OF BREATH SO HER SIGN IS PIUS

HER HORNS ARE BASED OFF HER SIGN SINCE THATS PRETTY COMMON FOR US

I MADE TWO VERSIONS

ONE WITH BLACK HAIR SINCE TROLLS USUALLY HAVE BLACK HAIR

AND ONE WITH HER USUAL HAIR

I LIKE TO THINK THAT IN THE FIRST ONE SHE DYED IT AND IS JUST GROWING OUT HER NATURAL HAIR COLOR TO EXPLAIN THE LITTLE BITS OF BLUE I COULDNT GET OUT

ANYWAY I KIND OF LIKE IT NOW AND I HOPE YOU DO TOO

[masochistikitty]

mmmm one of those times where my brain is having feelings about the perpetual state of right in between singularity and plurality i experience in my identity. sometimes i think it would be easier if i just felt like different people more strongly cause like im very much not just One person but there is not enough separation between multiple people to have it be like. Multiple People. most of the time lately at least. it definitely has been in the past but then the Everyone Else just fucked off into brainy voidspace so ???????

[vampzzz64]

i think karkat being a huge romance nerd is so fitting because naturally as a self hating teenager he’d be obsessed with finding some kind of belonging with someone. especially because of his hostility he would SO obsess of the idea of someone seeing past that and deciding to love him for who he is. Karkat would so desperately want someone to love him even if they hurt him because he hates himself. He needs someone to just look at him and feel SOMETHING, anything. And because of his self hatred he’s destined to push anyone that does love him away so he finds that he’s constantly alone and then craves any kind of attention even more than he already would. Idk if that makes sense but to me it does idk,,, just karkat needing to be loved but feeling unloveable at the same time ??? yeah

[cure-typhoon]

please please please talk more about the beta troll’s friendship 🙏

You have summoned me in my favorite subject: 🎉🎉🎉🎉 FRIENDSHIP!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 Take a sit because this is going to be long, so long i may end up dividing into different posts!

Okey so sadly we don't have a lot of info of the full group dynamic besides some clues and what we know is them literally at their worst thinking they we're going to die in a meteor,after a full one month campaign in the game they had won yet was taken from them being chased by an undefeatable enemy that destroyed their planets and probably their lusus too. And at the end three of them going on a rampage and killing the rest of the team

So not the most reliable info of how their normal dynamic as a friendgroup would be, but tbh it could never be "healthy friendgroup" in a human sense because, well, they live in Alternia.

But even in hell, the flower of friendship can blossom, so lets talk about the fucked up friendship between these kids:

We know little about how their friendship started, contrary with the Beta Kids that we know because of June's birthday presente for Jade arriving in the past to young Jade with her pesterchum and her probably looking at the clouds in Prospit and seeing there the pesterchum of Rose and Dave following suit

Because the Beta Trolls are a much bigger group and we dont really know if they actually celebrate their wriggling days, as none of the trolls mentioned it but it could also be in part because of Karkat's disdain for the celebration or them maybe not knowing because he is a very private kid after all

Maybe Kanaya was the first troll that befriended all of them, like Jade was and both of them being the assigned Space player of their group and the first ones to wake in Prospit, but i also doubt that considered she didnt went through the birthday gift shenanigan that young Jade went through

So what most likely happened: The trolls who we're closest to eachother (Equius and Vriska, Eridan and Feferi, Aradia and Tavros, Terezi and Vriska* (not totally sure about that one) and maybe Sollux and Aradia/Feferi) befriended eachother first and meet the rest (Karkat, Nepeta, Gamzee, Kanaya) online and just shared their info between eachother.

I honestly wonder who thought of the idea of all sharing their Trollian between eachother, maybe Feferi? maybe it just happened overtime? but what matters right now is the

F R I E N D S H I P

So today we will talk about the underrated friendships between the group

Starting with Aradia and Tavros! Both members of Team Charge, i see very few people talk about them as friends even though they were obviously very close considering they we're part of a Flarp campaign together.

Both seem to match pretty well personality wise, both adventurous and wanting to have fun in the game, Aradia knows that Tavros picked a hard class for himself yet she still encourages him and tries to cheer him on and advice him in the case of Vriska trying to get under his skin.

When Vriska starts to surrond him, she tries to communicate with her first, but sadly she and terezi where distracted by Doc Scratch, so he gets paralized

Side note: After Aradia and Terezi, his third option for asking for help is Karkat, which is...interesting, they dont talk a lot but when they do its Tavros trying to get advice/help from him (2 out of 3 convos), so either Karkat and Tavros have more convos besides the ones showed (very likely) or Karkat just having a reputation of helping with issues that he is the first one who comes to Tavros's mind

also Karkat calling him bro is so fucking funny cdbhd, idk if its sarcasm or if its genuine like with Eridan but he seems worried for a little before going on a rant about how stupid this is, only to come back trying to advice him to do this in private (also he winks at him as GTavrossprite but thats smt for the Tavkat shippers)

Anyway, back to Aradia, after her death we dont know about their relationship that much, we know that the whole reason that this whole revenge cycle was because Aradia wanted to avenge Tavros

But after her death, we don't know if they talk or if Tavros even knows she is dead, as it was mostly secret that only Sollux, Vriska, Terezi and Equius seem to know,

What we know is that Aradia keeps Tavros close to her heart, as the only reason she didnt straight up kill Vriska is

Because he was there to see it

And thats all the info we have of their relationship while Aradia was a robot, is more than likely Tavros confronted Vriska (besides creating Bec Noir) because Aradiabot had just exploded and he was blaming her for that too (especulation)

Their post-death/revival shows them having the same relationship pre-aradia's death, after they find eachother in the afterlife

Theyre big pals :)

Staying with Tavros, another friendship people dont seem to talk a lot about is Kanaya and Tavros, which tbh, we dont have a conversation on screen between them, but we know they talk and Kanaya tries to mediate to help him when Vriska is bullying him

And also, even after she cut Vriska out because of the whole ''Having a crush on her but finding out she has a crush on Tavros'' (probably because she was sulking) she seems to have a fine relationship with Tavros, as she made a Tinkerbull plushie for him

To other friendships, Kanaya and Feferi! Another group of trolls with very few coversations, but we can easily tell in those that they cared for eachother

They have a lot in common, being of the few trolls who woked up in their moons before the game, having a huge responsability as their lusus can either kill or revive their entire civilization, being in a unhappy moiralliagance (with their cases kinda mirroring eachother, with Feferi not wanting to be in any quadrants while Eridan wants to change them, while Kanaya wants to change quadrants while Vriska seems to be fine with where they are) and knowing their lusus were going to die when they were 13

Feferi and Kanaya seem to have very a similar relationship as Karkat and Eridan, where they advise eachother about their moirals + possible romantic relationships. And their very contrasting personalities helps them balance eachother out

Feferi is even comfortable enough to invite Kanaya to the horn pile and knowing Kanaya's expressions enough to guess that she is nervous about coming off as meddling with them

After Feferi gets killed off, Kanaya is already ready to attack, only waiting to see what Eridan is planning to do, attack her first or trying to escape

If it weren't for Kanaya distracting herself with the matriorb, and Eridan inmediately picking on this opportunity

To piss her off enough to set her off and attack him first

So she is an easier target that he can kill her off without a fight

Speaking about this two, next time we will to talk about the complicated (annoying) friendship between these two, why next time? because this post is already getting to fucking long!

Come here for Part 2 -> Here! (when its done this will get updated with a link lol)

[nekropsii]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[meowcatmutie]

hello. here's a post about homestuck characters' typing styles, but mostly focusing on punctuation because that's something i see a lot of people get wrong when they write homestuck characters

read this post if you care about writing them perfectly! if you don't give a shit about this feel free to scroll past. I'm very autistic about all of the little things in homestuck like this so maybe i'm the only one who always notices these things. idk! i want to talk about this anyway

john/june types in all lowercase and generally uses all proper punctuation.

dave almost never uses punctuation or capitalization! this is very important! he does not use apostrophes or periods practically ever unless it's in an ellipsis (instead of separating his sentences with a period, he just writes each sentence in a new message), commas very rarely, and he only uses question marks when they improve the clarity of a sentence (i.e. if it wouldn't have been easily understood as a question otherwise). he may use exclamation points or all caps if he is shouting, but he doesn't shout often. he also very occasionally writes a word in all caps for EMPHASIS.

jade almost never uses apostrophes or periods (unless in an ellipsis), and types in all lowercase unless she is shouting. she DOES use question marks and commas, and she uses exclamation points liberally.

rose, dirk, and jane all use perfect grammar. this is pretty obvious.

jake capitalizes the first letter of each sentence and puts a period (or whatever else) at the end, but in between those there is Nothing. no commas or apostrophes, and he doesn't capitalize proper nouns.

roxy types in all lowercase, doesn't use apostrophes or periods (unless in an ellipsis), only sometimes uses question marks, and uses exclamation points frequently. her typing style is the least consistent otherwise.

aradia's typing style is very similar to dave's, but with slightly more exclamation points.

mostly everything about tavros's typing style is pretty obvious and also not all that consistent so i don't have much to say about this, except that the word "i" is always lowercase, and he uses apostrophes in their normal places.

(CORRECTED FROM PREVIOUS VERSION) sollux uses periods at the ends of his sentences, but he uses apostrophes inconsistently.

karkat uses all proper punctuation, but on rare occasions might omit the period at the end of a sentence.

nepeta doesn't use apostrophes or periods (except in an ellipsis), DOES use commas, and uses exclamation points VERY frequently. also, she uses cat puns, but she doesn't shoehorn a cat pun in every 3 words, and she doesn't tend to replace very common words with cat words. (yes, this is about people having her replace "you" with "mew". it bothers me)

kanaya is pretty obvious, but i'm going to iterate anyway that she almost never uses any punctuation at all.

terezi DOESN'T use periods (except in an ellipsis), and frequently omits apostrophes, but not always. also, most people know this already, but sometimes i see people get it wrong, so i will note that she only replaces the letters A, I, and E with 413.

vriska uses perfect grammar and uses exclamation points liberally. her usage of 8s to replace letters is typically confined to only B and eight/ait/ate sounds, she ONLY replaces other vowels with 8s when she is very agitated/angry/upset. often, when an "eight" sound is in the middle of a word, the T will be retained, e.g. "explan8tion", "rel8tionship", "n8ture".

equius uses almost perfect grammar, except that he ALWAYS omits punctuation at the ends of his sentences.

gamzee uses all proper punctuation.

eridan NEVER uses any punctuation.

feferi mostly uses perfect grammar. obviously she uses a lot of exclamation points too, because she is -EXCIT-ED.

thx for reading. if you ask me to beta your fic i will do it btw

[valle-de-sombra-de-muerte]

Homestuck Reread: Act 5-1, Part 1/5 (p. 1989-2099)

Read the previous post here.

Well the last post got a much more positive reception than I expected, so that's a relief. Anyway, get the grey face paint ready, because it's time for Act 5-1.

Alternian script is the Daedric alphabet from The Elder Scrolls series flipped upside down, which I'm sure most fans know already. The user tries entering "Turdodor Fuckball" for the planet's name.

Interestingly, the correct name is not "Alternia" but "Trollplanet." Is that what Alternia translates to into English? There's like zero discussion at all about troll language because Hussie did not give a single shit about developing this alien society beyond "grey violent humans with horns."

Right out the gate, Karkat's intro leads with his key character trait: his crippling self-loathing. Everything about him, from how he excessively plays up his competence and knowledge to his naturally angry and defensive disposition, stems from the fact that he views himself as a defective freak that constantly needs to prove himself.

His interests are similar to John's. He likes bad movies, specifically romcoms, which ties into his greater passion for romance and the study of interpersonal relationships as a whole. He also has an inexplicable interest in programming. It's at least implied that Karkat only attempts to learn so he can try to compete with Sollux in a futile rivalry. The reason why John likes to program is anyone's guess.

His greatest dream is to join the Alternian military, which is probably the only viable career path for someone of his pariah status. He's constantly in danger of being culled, so he wants to prove to the Empire that he's more valuable to them alive rather than dead. In order to preserve his life, he's willing to serve them and become a tool they can use to further their intergalactic conquests.

"Trolls think fashion is stupid." A simple phrase that is regularly ignored by people who create fantrolls with garish and elaborate outfits.

A good programmer would have no trouble with this modus, so Karkat forces himself to use it until he gets good. Even though it's frustrating and causes him misery, he's so stubborn to prove himself as a good programmer that it reaches the point where Sollux has to take it away from him. Probably because it has become too much of a hindrance. IDK, we never see much of the trolls' session to find out, which is a fucking shame.

Karkat's stubbornness is also a key part of his character. See also: his trolling scheme of trolling John backwards through time is something he admits is stupid, but he continues to go through with it. He will admit he's wrong, often begrudgingly and self-deprecatingly, but will double down and refuse to change course despite that. Giving up is synonymous with failure, something he is deathly afraid of.

If Karkat is so afraid of letting his blood color become known, why does he have candy-red awnings outside his hive? He might as well have a big sign alerting everyone that a mutant lives there.

Everything about Karkat has to be big, flashy, and important. His huge ambitions compensate for his self-loathing so that others don't view him as the worthless mutant he sees himself as. He has to prove that he is a good programmer, he is a strong leader, and he will be the best threshecutioner in the whole military!

This pretty much summarizes what Karkat wants in life: to overcome caste discrimination and gain prestige and respect.

It's tempting to call Will Smith Karkat's "patron black celebrity" but I won't because 1) that whole thing doesn't carry over to the trolls, and 2) this is actually relevant to Karkat's character and not some bizarre, nonsense """joke""" like with the kids.

I've always been a big fan of "angry/uptight guy" and "goofy dumb guy" dynamics, and Karkat and Gamzee fit that to a T. Even though Karkat is extremely rude to Gamzee, he doesn't ever dispute the notion that they are in fact friends. Their friendship is being treated as an established fact, something Karkat uses an excuse to further whinge about how much his life sucks.

Gamzee drops his typing quirk momentarily. This doesn't happen often in the comic, but it's something trolls only ever do when they're close to someone, if they want to express something serious, or both.

Even before the introduction of quadrants, we see hints of a pale dynamic between them. Gamzee is the perfect sounding board for Karkat's vents, doesn't object to the verbal abuse being slung his way, and is implied much later on to be a somewhat of a calming source for Karkat. Yes of course I ship them pale. I just think they're neat, okay? <> :)

Gamzee very inelegantly changes the subject after mentioning Sollux and Karkat's friendship. Karkat may be Gamzee's best friend, but Sollux is Karkat's best friend. That must be a sore spot for him. But beyond this, we never ever see what Sollux and Gamzee's relationship might be like. It would've been nice if Gamzee was more jealous and protective of his best friend/moirail and not like it when Karkat shows more favor to anyone else.

Gamzee and Karkat's dynamic is something that I believe Hussie wanted to set up throughout the Act so that their eventual confrontation would have a bigger payoff, but he fumbled massively with the execution. Either because he doesn't really give a shit about Gamzee, or through sheer inept writing, I can't say. But it sucks because there's definitely a lot of potential here.

They're the first trolls to interact in this new Act, but they don't really ever talk much after this point. They're only ever seen together sporadically and it's implied a handful of times that they're closer than Karkat is willing to let on, but there's never anything beyond that. They really needed to speak more so their relationship could be fleshed out. I'll talk more about this as I move along because this lives in my brain rent-free.

It's really dumb how Gamzee's "rather obscure cult" ended up turning into a religion that pretty much every purple blood follows, but I'm not going to talk about post-canon garbage. I get a headache just thinking about it.

I do like the Joker Card posters in his room. I had that Riddle Box one in my own room for a time.

He likes to "chat a lot" with Karkat. So I guess they just talk to each other way more than what's shown in the text. Thanks, Hussie.

Gamzee never received a proper upbringing from his guardian and had to essentially raise himself. In the process of this, he became addicted to mind-altering substances. To everyone who says Bro is the worst guardian in the story, I gladly point you all to Goat Dad.

Terezi is being intentionally annoying. I know most of the trolls are assholes, but why do any of them waste their time with Terezi when she makes it a point to be obnoxious? It's even more baffling when people try to paint her as one of the more "well-adjusted" trolls.

Karkat fantasizes about making doomsday viruses, huh? I'm going to keep a pin in this for l8r I mean later...

It's funny how Karkat both admires and envies Sollux. Their relationship is also one that doesn't get a lot of attention, despite ostensibly being the "John" and "Dave" parallels of the troll cast. Oh wait, I guess John and Dave's friendship ended up being really shallow and one-sided too. So this tracks, actually.

Sollux disparages Gamzee's religion and expresses disgust when he suspects Karkat might be a convert. So again, I think there's definitely some conflict between these two. Two of the trolls that Karkat is closest to don't seem to like each other. It makes me kind of wish we got some auspistice action between the three of them.

Even though Karkat is regularly rude to his friends, he still values their company deep down. He might be one of the most personable trolls despite his grouchy attitude. He not only tolerates the obnoxious people in his contacts, he actually considers them his close friends. Gamzee is a total dullard and Sollux is crass and moody, but they're also the ones he's closest to. Out of the main cast of trolls, there's only one whom Karkat actively dislikes and makes no real attempt at being sociable with. I'll talk about that when I reach that part.

"Orchestrating the demise of the wicked" yeah I'm sure John was guilty of being very wicked and dastardly when she sent him to his death.

Terezi has a passion for justice, but keep in mind that "justice" on Alternia is equivalent to sentencing people to death for the pettiest of reasons. So no, she is not at all some moral, upstanding heroine. She's a psychotic gremlin who enjoys killing people if they violate her draconian interpretation of the law. She does not care for defending victims of injustice, she enforces the will of the state.

Part of Terezi's core conceit is that she's this half-assed Daredevil parody. She's 1) blind and has super senses 2) uses a cane to fight, and 3) is a "lawyer." Aside from that, she shares nothing else in common with Daredevil. I imagine Hussie does not know anything about superheroes beyond superficial, pop culture knowledge.

I remember when people loved to portray Nepeta and Terezi as good friends, but Terezi doesn't actually like role playing with her. She treats her like a joke, much like everyone else. Poor Nepeta gets such a raw deal.

In Nepeta's very first speaking appearance, we get a glimpse of her horrible relationship with Equius. Despite the physical distance between them, she's so browbeaten into subservience that she feels the need to ask him for "purrmission" before doing anything. She is scared about expressing her honest desires around him, preferring to skirt around the issue and just blindly hoping that things will work out and he won't get mad at her. It feels like someone trying to wear kid gloves around an abusive partner or parent. Despite Terezi's concerns, Nepeta tries to downplay the issue and pretend everything's fine.

This conversation is honestly sad to read. "But nooo they are bestest friends!" I hear the fans cry as they flock around the flanderized, fluffy art of Nepeta and Equius. Is that why she straight up admits that she's scared of him? Fuck Meowrails. I hate that shit so much. I'm going to spit so much acid every time it rears its ugly head.

We have to constantly be reminded of Terezi's blindness since it really doesn't impact her character in a meaningful way. Sure she can't see, but she can navigate the world around her so adeptly with her super senses that it's a non-issue. Nobody would even notice that she's blind if she wasn't always pointing it out.

Eridan is mentioned as being part of this inner circle that's in the know about Sgrub. Huh.

I'm old enough to remember when Eridan had yet to be revealed and the only information about him was this page. Some people thought he'd be some kind of environmental activist. It's funny to think about now, but I really miss the days when fans would theorize about future updates and unseen characters. All that guesswork and theorycrafting led to some really fun discussions and fanworks. The boundless creativity shown by the fans was what made the Homestuck fandom something really special in those days. And it's something we lost once the comic was finished and Hussie's completed product didn't measure up to the fans' expectations.

I really really miss 2010-11, you guys...

I really have to question the logistics of this convoluted reproduction cycle. If the adult trolls are off-world, how long does it take the drones to transport the genetic material back to Alternia? Are they just zipping all across the galaxy to do constant jizz runs?

None of this really matters because as previously established, the main trolls were not born in this manner. They're all slime constructs born from an entirely separate incestuous slurry from natural trolls. I think Hussie just has an obsession with creatures being birthed from goo or something.

One of the biggest problems with Act 5-1 is this rushed tone it has. It's weird to say because I remember how often people complained about how long the Act was taking to wrap up, but it's true! Hussie really wants to zip through these character introductions without elaborating on any of the worldbuilding he touches upon along the way. It's what makes troll society as a whole feel so shallow and not well thought out.

These characters really needed their own story divorced from that of the kids and Sburb. A story where the Alternia setting could be allowed to breathe and be explored more thoroughly and thoughtfully. I think that would've made for a more entertaining read.

Sollux gets this fake-out intro that's basically a retread of Dave's. Aside from being kind of standoffish and tech-savvy, this parallel doesn't go anywhere. There's little else that connects Sollux with Dave because Sollux is hardly a main character. He is the tech guy who has mood swings, doesn't like to be involved with shenanigans, and has visions of doom that make him depressed. He's a glorified background character.

Okay, "beenary code" is kind of a lame pun, but I do think "silicomb" is clever.

Kanaya lives near the ruins of Alternia's frog temple. Both she and Aradia are kind of the "Jade" of the trolls' session. Aradia by means of doing background plot stuff, and Kanaya through... I suppose theming? Both she and Jade are isolated, considered "outliers" in their culture/friend group, receive regular visions from Skaia, and are the teams' Space players.

It's worth noting how both the "Jade" trolls wind up being the most stoic, unflappable characters of the cast and mostly serve the purpose of being exposition-dumpers and plot devices. Kinda like Jade herself, except instead of being deadpan she's quirky and all over the place.

I feel like this post could've been a lot longer, but I'm limiting myself to only five posts for this Act. I don't want to stretch this project out too long, lest I be yapping about the trolls until the end of time.

[cringefail-clown]

Soo, uhh, what's the story on how kankri got his sign and all? As an ancestor lover, I'm curious about what happened to kankri's ancestor. Was it one of feferi's first instances of being a cruel empress? (idk if that's what I should say, but oh well) Does kankri have a vague idea of what happened (if something bad did happen) like how karkat had an idea of what happend to the sufferer/signless?

Anyways, I love your AU and the art you make for it!

the symbol came from the same place - the irons that bound the signless hand, but how it came to be is a pretty different story.

im trying to think bout it from the classpect angle - like how in canon the signless was post scratch kankri, so his abilities as a seer of blood allowed him to get glimpses from his pre scratch life, which inspired him to try and change things for the better. but in the au, its karkat who's in the role of the signless, and he aint no seer, hes a knight, he protects with his aspect and protects his aspect. i think the blood powers would carry some memories as well, maybe not so clear like how it was for kankri, but karkat would get the vague feeling of this is wrong.

i think hed see what feferi as empress was trying to do, and would be like "wait a fucking minute she just tries to treat lower classes like some kind of animals that have to be under care of highbloods" and hed be PISSED bc hed rather die than have some highblood asshole coddle him his whole life just bc of his blood mutation.

so hed be like "actually fuck you and fuck the monarchy" and hed start preaching bout the better world where all the blood castes have a say in how their society works (like how it was on tb!beforus) and karkats really good at getting people to follow him. so thats how the movement against the empress would start, and when the news about the revolution would reach feferi she would be pissed then, bc she wants a better life for them and this is how theyre repaying her, by wanting to overthrow her?? and it spirals from here into karkats execution and feferi becoming more and more paranoid

as for if kankri knows how things went, well he does! he gets visions of his past and future selves through dreams, some are nice, but most of the time theyre terryfying (so he just,, stops sleeping). its a mix between his time on beforus and how society was like there, some of karkats memories as the signless get into it too as they're kinda bound by blood ie. the ancestry stuff, and also he gets some visions of the post-game on earth c! those are his favourite. im thinking hard bout everyones aspects, i also liked the idea of kankri being able to "sense" past and future relationships between ppl (for example he can vaguely tell when ppl have history between them and if its positive or not, or he just gets one look at roxy and porrim and goes "yeah theyre gonna be insufferably in love"), its all a work in progress tho!

[sadevergreen]

THIS IS WHAT JADE IN THE EPILOGUES COULD HAVE BEEN

(ramblings of a lunatic about meat timeline of the epilogues as of part 23? im very passionate ig despite being VERY LATE to the party)

heavy inspiration from Marceline in Obsidian (and her song Woke Up). the epilogues fucked her characterization SO BADLY !!! hhhhhh >:(( I WANT TO SEE WEREWOLF ROCKSTAR THAT TOURS HEAVILY AND WHO HAPPENS TO BE MAKING HUGE SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS IN HER FREE TIME AND THUS IS RARELY HOME SO IT DIDNT FEEL RIGHT TO SETTLE DOWN AND GET A PLACE SO INSTEAD SHE COUCH SURFS AND SLEEPS AROUND/ CANT HOLD A RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE SHES ALWAYS ON THE GO!!! LIKE THAT IS A BETTER EXPLANATION HHHHH!!!! maybe exploration of aromantic pansexual jade? that could be a cool arc!! IDK i just need something to work with here because jade that can calculate that 86.234% of her romantic advances on karkat and dave were outright rejected and assumes that means it’s accepted BUT CANNOT CALCULATE HOW MUCH IS BEING RECIPROCATED??? makes no sense to me. but jade being slightly more out of touch because of her fame AND THEN trying to just mend or deepen friendships could be interesting and even a middle ground. i think jade would’ve cared about seeing john more too. i think anytime jade was in his area she’d show up and crash at his house, and then kick him out of bed and into therapy!!! or make him hang out with his friends!! get this boy on some anti anxiety/ depressants because he is sounding remarkably like my older sibling with extreme social anxiety who, when finally put on meds, moved out within the year and got a girlfriend !!! john’s battle with depression and living in the past without being able to move on just makes so much sense. i wish they focused more on that. i want him to be able to explore that. GRAIN OF SALT BECAUSE IM NOT FINISHED READING YET UH WHOOPS- so maybe some of this has been dipped into, but not from what i can see. karkat and dave are honestly keeping me reading. im in love with them. (i think it was dirk but correct me if wrong) fuck dirk for calling dave the weakest of the strider/lalondes!! MY BOY IS RECOVERING FROM CONDITIONED CHILDHOOD TRAUMA FROM A VERSION OF DIRK!!! ofc mid transformation Ulta Dirk fucking thinks that, Bro was the one to instill that dave was week and he needed to train him. dave disengaging and allowing himself to be soften by karkat is g r o w t h !!!! so fuck off fr

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

I don't even CARE about Karkat but after seeing your endgame ships I absolutely need to hear your opinion on Karezi since..Kalliope (???) is so far out there. (We don't talk about Davekat)

LOL ok good i also don't want to talk about davekat

but yeah karezi... interesting! I don't mind it, i think it could work, but I kind of can't help but feel like they deserve better, y'know? (which is incidentally how i feel about davekat too, to a greater extent).

Like, i don't think they're BAD for each other, and before Terezi met Dave, she and karkat definitely had mutual crushes - karkat's most obviously, but eridan's "whoa, did she really say that, can you copy exactly what she said" about feferi is actually an echo of terezi's line about karkat. so, mutual flushed crushes: confirmed.

i guess what i mean by deserving better is just that, like... terezi deserves someone who thinks she's fucking hilarious, and is willing to play along with her little games. as much as she likes karkat's overblown reactions, he's not exactly a good sport, and that's not even getting into his mixed signals. Despite the two having interest in each other since at least the beginning of sgrub, by the time they're talking to the kids, Terezi's surprise when John jokes that Karkat said he was in love with her indicates that he's managed to send such mixed messages that she genuinely isn't sure how he feels about her, and he later berates his own past self on the meteor for the exact same, and of wanting her in every quadrant, his "spirited platonic contention" objectively construable as pitch flirting.

Meanwhile, on Karkat's end, he fucking loves romance. Cheesy, corny, sappy romance. Soul mates and destiny. If you want to understand Karkat, watch Serendipity, one of his favorite movies. My god. If he showed that to terezi she would never let him live it down.

He laments to Vriska that nobody listens to him talk about quadrant shit, even though it's incredibly fascinating to him. This is a lie; ERIDAN listens to him. But this means that Terezi doesn't, and neither have we ever seen them discussing it, so that's kind of what i mean by both of them deserving better? Terezi deserves someone who can play along with her jokes and mind games and karkat deserves someone who is interested in his quadrant discussions; she deserves someone who can put their whole ass into saying they dig her and he deserves someone who doesn't mind his vacillatory mixed signal nonsense. idk. i dont think they're bad for each other, i just think they can do better, lmao. again these opinions are just opinions and idfc what you (general you) ship

[davekat-sucks]

Idk if this is an unpopular opinion but it annoys me when trolls use the word gay or any kind of LGBT-type language when none of the have a historical or societal context of any of those concepts or words, they think the distinction of sexualities is silly, they wouldn't understand using gay as an insult or a term of endearment, fucking stop it.

I wouldn't mind if it was used as insult like how Karkat said the word FAG to Vriska, despite said language doesn't have a deeper meaning like humans for for Earth when someone says it. Same applies to even abelist slurs like autistic and retard. I think it's more of the fact that since people in the fandom push the labels too seriously on the trolls that don't know the concept of certain gendered pairings having labels, like how we see many times people push Kanaya is ALWAYS lesbian, it gets confusing. Nobody wants to accept the fact that a troll preferring one kind of thing about a person for their quadrants, IS A FETISH. Kanaya liking mostly girls is just a FETISH. Eridan flirting with the human girls is a FETISH. It's all normal. If they had accepted Equius' FETISH for wanting lowbloods dominating him, then they should do the fucking same for the rest of the troll cast. Kanaya isn't a lesbian in troll standards. She just has a fetish for bad girls like Vriska. Karkat calls Nepeta autistic as an insult because he think Nepeta really acts like an idiot, not the fact he acknowledges she has a disability. Trolls saying retard is normal for trolls because being rude is one of the more ways to communicate with other trolls. Insult one another is the norm. Nobody on Alternia is too nice. And I think that's the point. They forget Alternia is a fucked up planet with its own messed up cultures. But the nu-fandom thinks trolls are just GREY people and think they can apply their real life rules and principles to it, when they shouldn't. The fandom should just accept the trolls saying slurs is a thing and will ALWAYS be a thing and they can't stop or censor it. And those who do, miss the whole fucking point of what makes a TROLL a TROLL.

[slydroxide]

um… rant i posted on discord but now im posting here becwuse im very proud of it

so basically in homestuck both dave and karkat are knights which means they have similar ideals and morals especially when eorking with a team which knights are a helper class they make sure everyone else is okay before they help and thats corresponded by dave dying for jade and also putting his friends before himself just like karkat who keeps all his friends together and makes sure nobody is out of line which is also a blood thing but he wants the best for his friends like dave does

and they were both raised with fear mongering because dave was raised by bro to be the “perfect man” and “cool guy” with fear of getting hurt and mind games and constant fighting and manipulation and karkat was manipulated by the whole alternian society because he was a mutant which means hes an outcast and is pretty much damned to death no matter what kinda person he is because alternia is fucked up

so they both have that to relate to eachother by and also on the meteor they both get to know eachother more and learn that they arent that different especially with their ideals sure they seem different at first but really theyre both very alike and karkat has this way of seeing thru daves stoic mask bullshit and always knows the truth hes very brutally honest which is what dave needs because he had been raised on lies and so had karkat but karkat had taught himself that it was all bullshit and he is who he is and dave nrrds to learn how to accept hinself too

and yes i know plot wise davekat was added in just to appease the fans because other karkat/dave ships have more plot relevance and shit but I DO NOT CARE I LOVE THEM SO MUCH nobody can take them away from me…

idk if you can tell but i like davekat… also this is like my perspective on things and its all my opinion its chill af if you don’t agree but i love talking about my favorite things so much

okay thanks for listening bye

[shark-train]

Adult John redesign because he deserves it

Also a follow-up on my threat of airbender John aka John is basically an airbender if you think hard enough about it.

See below if you want to hear my yap session on elements of this design vvv

Okay so, why have I done this?

I wanted to make my own take on his design because I hate seeing my boy get roasted so hard by his friends for his outfit. I tried to keep some elements akin to his child-self’s design for sake of identification. I specifically kept the appearance of a crop-top (as seen in hs2 when he wears his younger self’s outfit) but with the addition of a skin-suit underneath for some actual practical protection (as I assume he will be doing some fighting at some point in the comic). I also kept his hood (it would be a crime not too) but with the addition of a collar to make it more similar to Commander Karkat’s outfit.

I also had an idea to make his outfit inspired by a Blue Tang, as his original colors are blue and yellow. I liked the addition of darker, more muted colors to keep up with the idea that they’re adults and this world they ended up in did not end up to be all sunshine and rainbows. BUT I kept his brighter colors as accents to call back to his fact. But yeah, idk why but I really liked the idea of theming aspects of his design on this little fishy vvv.

As far as the airbending aspect, outfits from ATLA for airbender are dynamic and move with the wind, which I felt suited John’s original outfit well. I’d imagine his hood will blow with the direction of wind which he is bending. Additionally, the reason he has a thigh back (other than its a little bit slutty) is that by having it attached directly to his thigh, he’s less likely to have it get in his way while fighting/wind/airbending.

Finally, the locket. I’m just a sap but I have a headcanon where he insists on fighting alongside his friends, BUT, that means he has to go off on his own a lot of the time, and isn’t able to see them or his son because of safety reasons. Thus, I think it is just a nice symbolic thing (especially because he is depressed) to have a reminder of people he cares about with him constantly.

I might in the future do a LOK screencap redraw from that scene where Zaheer uses airbending to take the air out of a person’s lungs, but I genuinely don’t know who John might do this to, other than random grunts.

[kitkat-the-muffin]

For a while I rationalized the existence of the Homestuck Epilogues just cause I like Davekat and I just wanted to accept them being canon even if it also meant accepting tons and tons of character assassination and a terrible storyline

But honestly it’s time I take off the shipping goggles and acknowledge that all of the Epilogues is a mess, including my favorite ship content. They, like everyone else, are out of character and are making decisions that they’d never do

Roxy, who once threw a whole funeral for a cat, would never show disrespect at the death of one of her best friends

Jade would never prioritize invading other peoples relationships when she could be enjoying the company of her family and friends

John would never sit back and accept his fate, whether it be straight up dying or living a life of mundanity, if it meant he’d be miserable with it

Jake would never let people use him for their own gain (again), Dirk would never manipulate people (not after his character arc geez guys), Rose would never give up the chance to fix a problem herself, Kanaya would never leave her wife to suffer alone, Jane would never become the next Condesce, etc, etc.

And despite my rationalization of the Davekat scene through my shipping goggles, I have to admit that Dave would never jump headfirst into both a crush and relationship, especially when you account for his trauma. At the very least, he wouldn’t confess to having a crush without blabbering on about his anxieties first, likely coming out in the middle of a rant on accident (don’t deny it, you know he would) in the same way he accidentally calls Jane “John’s hot grandma.” He’d probably say something like “I’m going through a bisexual crisis, a bi-sis if you will- oh yeah I’m bi by the way, hahah bi-by like bye-bye which is what I should be doing before I embarrass myself further ok bye”

I can see him saying all that ^ more than I can see him downing a ton of alcohol and kissing his crush as if he was in some sort of romcom. Homestuck’s always been really good at deviating from tropes and making the characters feel more like real people, and real people don’t succumb to romcom scenarios. Karkat would smack the romcom out of Dave long before ever succumbing to his own romantic fantasies (It’s like, say you always wanted to be a fairy princess but once you actually turn into one you’re like “uhhh what this is so unrealistic and kind of uncomfortable...” Idk bad example). The point is that no one actually wants to be in a romcom, they just want some of those romantic events like singing songs and having deep emotional conversations, but not suddenly kissing each other after screaming at the fourth wall that’s for sure

Karkat is knowledgable enough in romcoms to know when he’s in one, and you know as hell he won’t give into a cheap narrative like that. Karkat’s never been one to let fate strangle him into submission, he wouldn’t have survived to 6 sweeps on Alternia if he had. Also, he has no interest in politics, not after the whole Gamzee thing anyway, and while I do think Karkat cares a lot for Dave and would want to make him happy, he surely wouldn’t do so by running for President. Karkat’s the kind of person who shows affection with little actions, like drawing with chalk or listening to music. You know, quality time

And I think it’s time that I woke up from my own romcom fantasy and realized that while I want these characters to have a happy ending, this just isn’t them in the first place

I’d like to hear some thoughts from non-davekat shippers on the subject. Nothing anti-davekat I mean, more like some opinions from people who are davekat-indifferent. How did this character development affect readers without red-tinted shipping goggles?

[spookysweettooth]

I'm posting the aspect of. Family next as I have yet to have time to work on the combo aspect of cataclysms! I have mostly been busy with many side projects and wanted to at least get another analysis out while I have a creative mind set, again all of these combos belong to @superxstarzz so please go and check out their blog! They are a amazing artist!!

The aspect that is up next is family!

The family aspect is a combo aspect of rage and blood! Now let's break rage and blood down into key words, emotions, and other things so we can understand them better!

Rage: negative, positive and neutral emotions. Mental stability, emotions in general, emotional issues, pessimistic, tough love, hard outer shell and distance, hate for lies, values the truth more than anything.

Blood: bonds, loyalty, friendship, relationships, Platonic, neutral and romantic feelings. Sometimes literal blood, kinship, leadership, therapist friend, fatherly/motherly/older sibling like energy, protective of people they care for.

Much like the space aspect I see the blood aspect having a motherly/fatherly/oldersibling like energy to it. Blood is the aspect dealing with the relationships of not only the player but of the people the player, to make this a little more detailed let's bring in karkat and only karkat because I don't know much about kankri lol

Karkat is our beta troll blood player, he is a knight player as well which tells us a lot about his session, while semi success it still lacked in the end.

Karkat being a blood player naturally made him feel like he needed to be the leader (he was in his own sense even if the rest of the trolls made fun of him for being a try hard and being up everyone's ass) he made himself the leader even though a leader in the eyes of the other trolls wasn't really needed or they just didn't give a shit. Karkat is somewhat protective of his group from what I remember, he is always there to give advice to the other players that need it as well as everyone usually flocks to him for advice n such weather they like it or not, he helps his friends by helping them with their bonds to his best ability. He uses his knight ability mixed with blood aspect to protect the others and build their bonds while maybe not with him but helps them build it with the others and he slowly builds a bond with himself if I'm. Correct

Now for rage, the only rage player I think I have a little info on is kurloz as he is a prince of rage I believe?

Kurloz is a prince of rage for the dancester trolls session which had failed if I'm correct? I think the only ones to God tier was areena and kankri I think correct me if I'm wrong.

Kurloz in the session before death and the dream bubbles had accidentally let out a screech of emotions and deafend mulin(? Can't remember how to spell her name) making her deaf, as a response of the destruction he cause to his matesprite (idk if that is cannon) he sews his mouth shut to join mulin in her now silence, he destroyed a piece of his lover with his negative emotions and then destroyed a piece of himself with the same emotions in hand.

Now onto the aspect of family.

Family: I can see the aspect of family being a balance or imbalance of emotions and relationships, a player of family can either have little to no emotions, a overwhelming amount of them where it's unbearable even for themselves, little to no relationships or many many many relationships. People who become hero's of family usually take on the patental/sibling like role in their own or their sessions lifespan as they are natural family bound people, they care to deeply or care not at all, as a hero of family you may be bound to also being the therapist friend as well, caring for others while you care for yourself, hero's of family value honesty and loyalty to a fault and are either enforced leaders or natural born leaders. Heros of family can also be over bearing with concern or worry for their friends and may even forget to care for themselves as they care for others much like a parent would a child.

Powers of the aspect of family

Words of encouragement: depending on class words of encouragement can be used to heal the mental health of a person or yourself in session or during strife, the stronger the encouragement the more powerful you become.

Human shield: depending on class you can make a shield out of yourself or the fallen side of the enemy to protect other people on your team or you yourself

Manipulate: being a person of family you can easily find a way to manipulate the minds of. Others so you can stay the main protection or provider of your team, coming up with ways for you to make your teams life easier can be to. Much of. A issue right?

Backfire: when someone finds out in your session that you lied about certain things you can manipulate the negative impact of emotions for the benefit of the team.

I hope this turned out okay, sorry cataclysms isn't the second aspect on the list I originally planned for it to be but I had this drafted up already and had no time today to really do cataclysms yet, I promise it will be soon tho! Please do enjoy everyone!