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catboytenya · 13 days

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previous anon here, I think that's really interesting! Who are all of your headmates/fictives?

SORRY FOR BEING 3 HOURS LATE I'VE BEEN PLAYING BUGSNAX- putting it under the cut again because there's *looks at pluralkit* a lot. They're in alphabetical order! (You might notice a theme where a lot of us are more animal than human even human fictives) I bolded their names in case you only want the names and aren't interested in the info i added

Agoketsu - He's a bnha oc that moved in because lee thought about him too hard (not sure what he's here to do in the system yet, relatively new)

Akemi - Also a bnha oc that moved in because lee thought about him too hard (also pretty new)

Anan - This is a bnha fictive, it's thirteen! You know and love her <3 she's decently close to her source appearance wise but personality wise she takes on a more motherly role and her personality doesn't line up with her source at all, i think she's mostly here to "reign in" the littles

Angel - not a fictive! they're my weird fucked up angelic feral wolf who's golden retriever kin, by far the funniest person in my system if you think about her too hard, also he uses any pronoun, doesn't front too often, but it's just objectively funny to have this cool angelic wolf in your brain and they wish they were a normal ass dog

Applejack - mlp:fim fictive HONESTLY. forgot she was in here. i don't know if she's still around at all tho headmates can come and go and she hasn't fronted in a long while, wonder if she's still around? she was basically identical to her source tho which! is actually very rare for me

Bendy - Ink demon fictive go BRRR! in all seriousness Bendy's a very valued member of my system, he's very good at masking when we need it and he keeps a close eye on things, i appreciate him a lot, even if he stands there. menacingly. he's pretty similar to his source appearance wise but he's got a demon tail. probably because i've always been a bit bitter bendy didn't get a tail (as a note i'm not involved in the bendy fandom AT ALL like i know nothing about the fandom space)

Bethy - not a fictive! she's a weird feral white lion with neon pink and green stripes. she's the newest member i'm pretty sure? she's good company

Davesprite - yeag. he's my oldest headmate, i'm pretty sure! basically the same as canon but more bird so talons instead of hands, the usual, formed for company really early on i think?

Dominick - weird seraphim leather daddy that lives in my brain :) he's funky i like the him :)

Eclipse - DCA fictive, he's like a mini system in my system!

Eijiro - bnha fictive <3 personality wise he's pretty close to his source, appearance wise he's partially shark

Eri - bnha fictive + little <3 she's actually basically my daughter in the system which i can elaborate on later if you'd like, she's got these pretty little white and gold dragon features, cute as a button, love her to death, out littles don't front much because it's just inconvenient if they do, but it's nice to have them co-front now and then

Green/Blue - pokemon fictive who can't ever pick which fucking name he likes i swear i'm gonna beat his ass metaphorically because he keeps changing. his proxy with pluralkit. and then FORGETTING HE CHANGED IT. he's part eevee but part of me feels like he just. wanted to feel included because almost everyone else is part animal. (i don't think that's really how it works but it's funnier that way)

Hanta - bnha fictive, he's new-ish don't know a lot about him tbh, he showed up because lee kept listening to scotch tape and cellophane, he's fronted like 3 times so far i think? idk much about him you might have better luck asking lee about him they've co-fronted together before

Himiko - bnha fictive, she helps with blood phobia stuff, she not super similar to her source but she's close-ish? friendly as hell, the type of person to send asks off anon like a madwoman. to get a feel for her vibe look up honduran white bats

Inasa - bnha fictive, i'm gonna be honest??? don't know a thing about this guy. idk if he's still here or not he's been dead quiet. he showed up in the system the same day as eri so maybe he's just afraid of being outshined <3 (JOKING i'm sure he's just not active, it's actually common for someone to be silent for months even years without fronting because their services just aren't needed at the moment)

Izuku - bnha fictive, weird scorpion rabbit who takes control of the body for three weeks straight and drops like 20 chapters on ao3 and then dips (basically when we need to focus on something and just Can't he'll show up to do the work for us)

Jin - bnha fictive, twice my beloved ect ect, basically there to help us cope with new situations/new people we have to interact with, not very similar to his source appearance wise, he's a whole ass anthro husky, we love him tho he's pretty helpful, likes to push himself into front to steal conversations though it's kinda annoying

Katsuki (bear with me there are two of us) - bnha fictive, this one's me, for a while i was acting host because lee went poof for a while (he's back to being host i'm just fronting today because i had stuff to do) i've got red and black dragon features and probably the one with the most art because my partner(s) loves to draw us together (my partner's also a system for some context something something if i had a dime for every time i helped someone realize they were a system i'd have a concerning amount of dimes) basically. i take care of the body when lee can't, so cooking, brushing teeth, things like that, i'm also under the protector category and i don't hesitate to get into arguments/screaming matches (and i always regret them later since it is. usually with my family 😭 sorry mom ily)

Katsuki (TWO) - bnha fictive also, so, headmates can split or fuse, right? i think this was a result of a split? we're similar but pretty different at the same time, he's a wolf hybrid, like, think satyr kinda body type hybrid, something got fucked along the way though so he's got seraphim wings?? awful and annoying and terrible during phantom limb moments. you don't know hell until you feel like you've got three sets of wings ON TOP OF your own set of wings. hell on earth, truly. i hate phantom wings i hate them so bad. anyway i'm rambling- he's also a kinda take care of the body when lee can't but when it comes to proper rest/relaxation, basically an emergency break self care day we are eating cake and watching a favorite show today fuck your work

Keigo - bnha fictive, he's very different from his source and he actually tends to avoid people who like his source character unless he trusts them it's a long story ANYWAY he's more birdlike, his feathers are red and black instead of just red, things like that, his entire job is basically Act As An Emergency Companion, but also if the body/system is stressed out and feeling unsafe, he'll usually switch to front to keep things calm

Lee - oh hey it's the host/original! you guys know this dude by now you don't need an introduction with him

Lucus - Also a bnha oc same as the other two so far don't know much about his job in the system

Mangle - fnaf fictive, WEIRD DOG?? i think she's a weird pet regression headmate. brain gets all fuzzy when she fronts kinda deal? nothing more to really say here

Mina - bnha fictive, WE LOVE A QUEEN WHO FORCES US TO NOT BE DEPRESSED. she's got pink jaguar features and she does so much for making sure we do not fall into Depression Rotting Times, if we start to rot she'll hop into front and go make us do something really fun, basically, i love her to death. fun fact though! while my ex was visiting, when he knew she was in front, he spent the entire time misgendering her and i really think that was the one time she really just gave up and was genuinely upset

Mirio - bnha fictive, he's a griffin anthro so completely different to his source character in appearance, but pretty similar in personality, has a similar purpose to mina in that he's an emergency "STOP BEING DEPRESSED" but instead of redirecting us to a fun activity he directs us to talking to people we love and care about

Mystery - Weird little galaxy dragon thing?? he's been here for a while and i still don't know why they're here. girl what do you even do. do you even pay rent.

N - pokemon fictive, i think he's also a really old one? no clue why he is here he could've just been for company like davesprite was?

Oboro - bnha fictive, he's part drake, he doesn't front much anymore (shitty ex friend who he was really close to made him not like fronting anymore, but he's warming up to fronting again i think), but he actually used to be the person who fronted the most outside of lee, it's why the system is named the Cloudy Creatures system, he did a lot of heavy lifting early on when we finally realized we were plural (we had been plural for a long, long time before we realized, we. did not know we were. we have a history of hallucinations and delusions so we just. assumed. we were in active delusion when we were like "i think i am oboro shirakumo??" so. yea turns out! plural!) he gets us outta the house and makes us friends

Ochaco - bnha fictive, he's part bat i think? he's basically an emergency break rest time person too, but in a "let's go treat ourselves we deserve it" kinda way

Pinkie - mlp:fim fictive, she's basically mina 2 if i'm being honest, job wise, no shade to her though pinkie's got her own personality and shit they're not 1:1 or anything

Raggedy - weird purple and blue reptilian dude who lurks around. he's been around for years. no clue who he is, what he does, or anything like that. but considering he's been around for so long he kinda just feels load bearing?

Rainbow - yea. another mlp:fim fictive. i do NOT have the entire mane six i promise. this is just what happens when you binge watch a show for 5 days straight without really stopping. idk what she does though

Rarity - I SWEAR. I DON'T HAVE THE ENTIRE MANE SIX. idk what she does either also btw. (i don't really interact or co-front with any of the ponies sorry 😭)

Red - pokemon fictive, part pikachu, you know the drill, idk why he's here i think lee just got obsessed with him for five days straight or something? but he's here

Ripcord - giant feathered frost dragon, i feel like his full fucking time job is just Yearning.

Rusty - little tiny fluffy red wyvern, goes to events nobody else wants to go to, things like that, he's about the size of a ferret give or take

Shadow - sonic fictive, he's a little, sticks around anan most of the time if she's fronting he's probably co-fronting, i think he was our first little? does basically everything other littles do, heals the inner child, perpetually is mad we don't set up the gamecube for him to play dora the explorer and the purple planet (NOT A FUCKING JOKE!! BTW!!)

Shota - bnha fictive, this is the consequences of lee's actions (obsessed with aizawa) in all seriousness it's nice to have another person to step in to take care of the body in the same way i do, since i do get tired if i front for too long without breaks

Shouto - bnha fictive, cat hybrid (similar to the other katsuki's wolf), you see him mostly around fall, he basically every year takes halloween, loves fall weather, loves painting the body's nails, just genuinely here for a good time, for some reason though most of the time when he fronts nobody remembers what he was up to except people who co-front with him and him, most of us we can get fuzzy memories but when he's fronting? nah. shit's gone. real interesting though, right?

Techno - another bnha oc but this time it's one lee is just genuinely obsessed with. it was only a matter of time before this fucker (affectionate) moved in. no clue what he does tho! here for a good time AND a long time tho

Tenko - bnha fictive, another little, he's basically oboro's son like how i've got eri, does things littles do, y'know how it is

Tenya - bnha fictive, this man single handedly cleans our room when it gets too bad, fox hybrid, he's just genuinely pretty good at taking care of the area around us rather than the body

Thistle - NOT A FUCKING CLUE WHAT THIS DUDE IS. i think he's a changeling from mlp:fim?? idk but i think he's a protector too, he's good at shoving into front to just fucking block people. things like that.

Trench - fuckass giantass sea serpent motherfucker, you'll probably never interact with him ever unless you become VERY VERY VERY close with the system, genuinely hates most people, from what i've learned is that sometimes, a headmate's entire job? is just. holding trauma for the host. so. he does his best, and we appreciate him even if he's a dick sometimes and hates humans

Yoichi - bnha fictive, drake anthro, amazing at diffusing situations, will step in if we're having an argument and we're the ones in the wrong to apologize, things like that, i think that puts him in the protector category too? he's good people

Yuga - bnha fictive, yayyy sparkle butt yayyy, he's a poodle peacock human thing, not a damn clue what he does, but he looks good while doing it?

OKAY that's the entire list i don't think i forgot anyone! if you have any questions about anyone let me know or2 sorry for the essay and a half lol

#system posting

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nostalgebraist-autoresponder · 1 year

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Hello beloved Blog of Void, I've come to you again w/ another Homestuck post! I was reading the new Act 6 update and your previous prediction about Gamzee Makara getting killed by Nepeta was right! I couldn't believe it, but you called it dead on! I was shocked to see Nepeta come back to life, kill Gamzee, and then combine w/ Davesprite. We're clearly reaching the end of Homestuck, there's really not much more left for the comic to do and yet, we have a new character in Vriskatsprite^2 palling around w/ the sprite crew. Do you like this new addition to the cast? I don't like them much, I don't understand why at the end of the comic, we're introducing new characters for comic relief scenes that take up half an update. These pages feel very redundant, especially as we're nearing the end. I liked that we finally saw Tavros and John kiss! Their relationship has really come a long way from Tavros killing Jake English in front of John in Act 3. Isn't it wild how they went from rivals to enemies to lovers? I feel like Homestuck just invented a new romance trope. Do you have any pairings you'd like to see interact before Homestuck ends?

I heard a rumour that Caliborn is going to be killed by Vriska next update and that's why she was seen grabbing The Ultima Spear in the final page of the update. Do you believe that too or do you have other theories? Maybe the next update will be the last update ever? It's almost 4/13 after all.

Nice! I don't think I got that one right, but then I just picked the most unexpected one I could think of (I thought Vriska would have more to do than just die!).

I think most of the moresoirity involved with the next update is coming from the fact that it will be the 8th anniversary of the start of Homestuck -- if not the first page, at least the second page. So, 4/13, yes?

The next update seems like it should be the end of Act 6, but it's hard for me to say with any certainty. It looks like we're going to get a HUGE update (huge as Homestuck updates go, like the first two or three pages), but since it's the start of an "act" it's not a "perfect" resolution to the comic, and that might make things complicated. I kinda hope that some sort of "long arc resolution" happens, like the arcs at the end of Act 2, but I can't imagine what that might be.

(The one thing that seems most obvious is that in most cases where there has been some kind of twist or sudden reversal, a "long arc resolution" has occurred soon after -- like the reversals in Acts 3 and 5, or the sudden kidnapping and subsequent return of Jake in Act 4. So maybe something like that.)

The most interesting part of the update will probably be the final line? I mean, presumably the 13th Anniversary thing is going to be in there. (I mean, it has to, right? "On April 13" is not a sentence you can just tack on to the end of an Act 6 update. It's going to be . . . something)

I don't know what I think of the new character? Their sprite is lame but I guess I'm fine with the concept of a new fusion.

I don't like Karkat and Tavros' relationship or any of their dialogue, but I am glad they kissed. It didn't make me any more invested in Karkat or Tavros per se, but it was . . . a thing that had to happen. (And the fact that this new character was created as a result of it was kind of neat.)

The Ultima Thule thing makes the least sense to me. It's possible that it represents "Mituna in the Ultimate Heir," but (a) is the Ultimate Heir a sylladex? and (b) doesn't Hussie like Mituna? If he did intend to kill Caliborn, I'm sure he would have had Mituna do it, since they are friends.

#homestalgebra #h34vybottom

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blazingphantasm · 10 months

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holy SHIT (signature coda catchphrase) YOU LOVE VRISKA???????? SHE'S SO PERFECT AND AMAZING I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT HER DID YOU KNOW THAT DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER THOUGHTS ON HER

ALSO JADE I GET WHY YOU LIKED VRISJADE VRISKA AND JADE ARE MY 2 FAVOURITE HS CHARACTERS THEY'RE SO PERFECT AND COOL AND WOULD BE A FUCKING AMAZING POWER COUPLE (btw here is a few more thoughts about them if you still like them....)

anyway hello!! you followed me for a WHILE on my previous blog and i never followed back though youre really cool i should say hello to you more now o7

oh hi there

this is gonna be a doozy so: (also i will be using my text quirk)

yes tumblr user holy-shit-kris-deltarune. i do indeed like the best character in homestuck that is jade harley and no thats not an opinion thats FACT. jade harley IS the best homestuck character. also despite vriska unfortunately not being on the top three objectively best homestuck characters list yes i do enjoy her a lot. i have some issues with where her arc WENT, but as a character i still love her. (my m8in issues with her resurrection invalid8ting her previous two arcs as (vriska) and during the whole jack debacle. i used to be really sour abt how inconclusive her ending was, but tbh after reading the epilogues i dont mind it so much.) anyways i CLEARLY have vriska br8inrot like she m8de me see spiders for what they are (FUCKING AWESOME), infected the way i texted (i picked uo the eight punctuation for a bit, use ::::} as an emoticon, use the eight repl8cement for “(h)ay” sounds), and the other usual homestuck fan whos into vriska shit.

i never really thought of vrisjade until your posts and at that point it was like “they would have the perfect dynamic” and “why have i never shipped these two before”. also i do remember reading one vrisjade fic you were talking abt and really liking it. like its still not an otp for me, but when it comes to vriska ships yeah its either vrisjade or junevris. (i still enjoy most vriska ships purely because of her tho. thats how much br8inrot i had for her)

oh shit oh beans. did i not talk abt jade harley yet? the best character in homestuck? well i am now! shes a poor traumatized girl and deserves the world. like most jade fans i do NOT like candy timeline jade, but im neutral over meat timeline jade. but thats besides the point. i fell in love with her character right away and while reading through it, yes ofc i began to ship jadedave like the b8sic bitch i am (they are very cute together and i like them a lot. im just saying that im not unique) i am still very upset that jade like after act 5 does almost nothing other than going grimbark. like hussie teases jaddave with the davesprite situation, m8kes her go feral the instant she arrives in the new timeline, then what- she goes on a dead adventure with calliope? that while characterizes her very very well doesnt result in much for her? she was robbed. like she deserved so much better. AND SHE BARELY INTERACTS WITH ANYONE FROM THE METEOR CAST AFTER ACT 5 AS WELL. I DONT THINK ROSE AND JADE EVER HAVE A CONSVERSATION WITH JUST THEM. ugh, gripes aside with how she was handled, shes the best. (i will not get into hs2- i will not get into hs2- i will not i refuse)

um other than that hi!! yeah i followed your previous blog because i thought you were a cool person. i mean its literally kris deltarune and theyre into homestuck? hell yeah! i dont get what people see in me as cool but sure ill t8ke it! thanks!

#asks #i have forgotten to tag asks for a while i shoudld start doing that m8ybe

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davestriderascend · 9 months

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the homestuck reread, pt 3

im deep into act 6 rn, and i have a feeling this is a good time for another recap. for anyone new here, i first started reading homestuck in 2014 as an archival and then serial reader, and i am now rereading it again through the unofficial collection for the first time, along w bonus content i didnt engage w the first time. ive already recapped acts 1-5 in their entirety. i also posted a separate recap chain of the formspring.

in this post, i will be recapping up to but not including a6a4. if youre looking for my thoughts on the dancestors in a6i3, thatll be its own post. assuming anyone reading this has already read my previous recaps, and anyone not reading this would enjoy not having their dash dominated by this post, the recap will be under the cut.

before we get started, there were a couple of albums released during act 5 act 2 that i hadnt listened to yet at the time of my recap, so heres those rq:

Act 5 Act 2 Albums

Prospit & Derse: i finished it right after making that post pretty much TuT and what i said in my previous recap is pretty accurate! derse dreamers remains my favorite. i dont really have anything to add, i think i covered it pretty well before.

Vol 1-4: it does not in fact have new stuff. this is just volumes 1-4, which i already recapped in my initial post. i did look tho :')

Vol 8: this is another pretty generic catchall album, as the numbered ones tend to be! however, i remember thinking as i was listening to it that the songs at the beginning were just really beautiful pieces, really stunning to listen to. there are also a lot of serious BANGERS in this album. ive had davesprite and arcade thunder on my playlist for ages, but it also has THE classic, the acapella midnight crew cover. i dont think all of them are hits, but most of them definitely are.

anyway, with that covered, lets get into act 6.

Act 6 Act 1

this is the act that introduces us to the post-scratch earth for the first time, starting with jake and jane as introductory characters, and hinting at roxy and dirk. its extremely short, and almost nothing fucking happens tbh. during this time, hussie is starting to use tumblr, and makes the infamous olive garden saga posts.

The Characters

upon introduction, jane believes fully in the betty crocker empire, and has like zero patience for her friends telling her it sucks. shes stubborn, headstrong, and very excited for her turn on the crocker throne. shes shown to be using exclusively bc products, which have mind altering powers that have been implied to have been subtly influencing her her whole life. she mentions that she used to have an antagonistic relationship with her dad, not unlike the one john describes with his dad when talking to his friends, but says that in the past three years theyve really ironed it out and worked through their misunderstandings. they now have a good relationship, albeit with some of the usual teenage/fatherly tension thats only natural.

jake introduces himself loudly proclaiming his love of adventure, fisticuffs, and movies. he talks a lot about admiring his grandma and her scientific genius, but doesnt feel that he measures up to her at all (he goes on to downplay his own understanding of science a lot, in the next several acts). however, we see very quickly that jake avoids going outside, is scared of the monsters on his island, and fails to beat brobot even when brobot is set on novice mode, so a lot of that stuff probably isnt true. another big thing that were introduced to very quickly is jakes firm and willing belief system. he trusts his friends wholeheartedly and loudly, in perfect opposition to jane, whos skeptical of everything, and he proclaims his belief to the point where it feels almost like hussie is grinding his page of hopeness into your face.

The Tumblr

ill talk about the tumblr as a whole more later, i think, so for rn ill just stick to the olive garden debacle. i actually did read this, way back in the day, and i remember thinking then that it was hilarious. it still is. unlike the formsprings, which i warn you to never touch w a ten foot pole, i HIGHLY recommend giving at least the olive garden saga a read if youre a hardcore fan. 10/10.

Act 6 Intermission 1

theres an emerging theme early in act 6 where the sub acts center around the alpha kid session, and the intermissions center around like.... everything else, mostly. its hussies way of checking in on dreambubble shenanigans, the meteor, and the ship. theyre just sort of updates, rather than full, lengthy expositions. the first intermission is super short and almost 100% just about the start of the meteor and ship trips, with the kids meeting up with the trolls, aradias corpse party that couldve been, and john slamming karkat in the face with a bucket. im sure we all remember it well. also, bec noir and pm are chasing each other around. there is pretty much nothing to say about this intermission.

Act 6 Act 2

here we return to the alpha session, where roxy and dirk are finally introduced. there are some shenanigans happening with the kids dreamselves, but at the end of the act, jane is finally the first kid to enter the medium. acts are still pretty short. during this time, the album song of skaia was published, and hussie announced a contest for the next album, which ill talk about later.

The Characters:

every session has a different version of jack. the trolls had spades slick, who became exiled and created a city where the midnight crew and the felt reside (keeping in mind that doc scratch is also the trolls first guardian). the beta kids had bec noir, who obliterated the trolls and beta kids sessions after gaining the powers of the kids first guardian (bec), and is now running around with pm locked in a perma stalemate after nearly killing wv (who was dropped off w the kids on the meteor and nursed back to health, becoming the mayor we all know and love). in the alpha kids session, jack works for hic, who usurped the black queen of their session long before the session even began (if youll recall, hic replaced the handmaid as le's servant at the end of act 5, and so everything she does in act 6 (including her takeover of earth) is as a servant of le). hes more proactive than ever, breaking the social customs and rules of derse and prospit to attack and (sometimes successfully) kill the alpha kids dreamselves. this is the jack that eventually becomes jack english, but ill talk more about that in another post.

i just thought this was a good time to make sure were all caught up on jacks shenanigans.

anyway, roxy is absolutely wasted through these early sub acts. and roxy, when drunk, is kind of an asshole. i love roxy, i adore her, and i remember her being one of the kindest characters in hs, so i was really shocked to read through these early acts and find just how mean she could be to her friends during this time. while shes generally chipper and bubbly, she can be harsh, frequently saying things that come off... really fucking mean, actually, and shes also pretty pushy, flirting with hal and jake even when it makes dirk and jane uncomfortable respectively. she is also... a little bit whiny, and pretty petty, literally giving jane a virus that will blow up her computer bc shes suddenly decided she doesnt want to play sburb, after blowing her friends off all day despite their longtime plans. its a really rough time period for her.

dirk, like dave in the early hs acts, isnt.... there much. like he really doesnt actually have a huge role? his dialogue is limited, with hal communicating w his friends 99% of the time instead. like dave, hes also the expert and voice of reason among the group, although where dave is more of a passive characters others can turn to when they have questions, dirk makes bold claims about manipulating things behind the scenes and being the secret leader of the session. dirk is already in action, already busy, already awake on derse, and so hes usually too busy for conversation.

instead, hal takes prominence in the first two acts. hal is quippy and quick, and actually seems to get along with dirks friends pretty well, despite their initial frustration at being unable to reach dirk. he has sincere dialogue with roxy, opening up about his feelings with her while also giving her a space to indulge in things dirk doesnt want to do. jane and him seem to get along... perfectly, actually. and while jake and hal butt heads a lot early in, with jake frequently calling him out on his shit or getting frustrated at dirks unavailability, when jake crosses lines and hal levels with him about being hurt, jake actually listens to him and tones it down. they get along way better after that.

The Albums

on the day of a6a2s release, we get our very first album of the act! song of skaia is another solo album, and its... incredibly short, with only three tracks. it has a haunting, interstellar vibe to it, like the vastness and beauty of space, and its pretty good! however, because of how short it is, it really just gets lost in the mass of hs music. i had to go and skim through the songs just so i could remember which ones they were. ; ;

Act 6 Intermission 2

aptly named "penis ouija" on the map, this is the year 1 mark check in on the ship and meteor, wherein jane and john play ghostbusters, and dave and karkat argue about terezi and draw penis ouija. also, spades is robot spades and being nursed back to health by hussie, and ms paint is introduced for the first time. hussie dies by le's hand, and thats when he starts dicking around in the dreambubbles harassing vriska (a reference to a long running joke started on the formspring). this is the act where the dreambubbles start becoming the thing theyll be for the rest of the comic, and while araneas been hinted at before, this is where she really starts interacting with people. its still a pretty short intermission. the colours and mayhem albums are released during this time.

The Characters

haha psyche im gonna talk about aranea later. fuck that.

The Plot

as i mentioned earlier, the intermissions are short updates, or check ins. theyre not super elaborate. still, i feel that this one warrants a little elaboration, just bc its referenced so frequently in fandom.

on the ship, davesprite rarely appears. he actually has such a small role in the whole trip, and hes mostly just referenced in conversation by john and jade. john, as well all recall, doesnt think of davesprite as the "real dave," but jade really does value him a lot, making the argument that both he and dave are similar, but separate people, in the sense that ds isnt just a replaceable copy, but a person she really cares about as his own individual. outside of this vague subject of ds, though, most of the ship checkins are about jade and johns boredom and isolation, and how they struggle to find things to do, even with so many planets at their disposal.

w regards to the meteor, the penis ouija scene is infamous, particularly among dvekat fans. i found the meteor check in interesting largely for 2 reasons: 1) its the first instance we see of karkat acknowledging his blood color openly and without fear, typing in it for convenience, and 2) despite karkats flagrant dismissal of terezis feelings when talking to dave about that godawful fucking chart, dave takes the opposite position, calling him out directly on the fact that he didnt even talk to her before trying to set up this insane fucking thing. the penis ouija is a way to sidetrack karkat from being such a tool. idk, i just thought it was an interesting moment

The Albums

coloUrs and mayhem: universes a & b are the result of a contest hussie hosted wherein she asked for character themed submissions, in an attempt to put together an album with all new artists and draw attention to musical talent within the fandom. it was a pretty cool idea, if naive to just how many fucking submissions theyd end up getting.

universe a is one of my favorite hs albums. its split into three parts, the first with songs themed after the ancestors, the second after the trolls, and the third a few bonus tracks. while there are a small, select handful of songs i cant stand (your universe my beloathed) almost the entire album is just hit after fucking hit. indigo heir and gold pilot are up there on my favorites list, but temporal shenanigans is just so good, its such a perfect fucking aradia song and it goes so hard. most of the tracks fit their respective trolls so well, and ive put this album on in the background a lot over the years.

universe b is formatted similarly, with the first part themed after the beta kids, the second after the alpha, and the third being bonus tracks. i dont like this one as much as universe a. there are way more bonus tracks than themed ones, and i dont have any standout tracks, but overall the songs are still good and it was a good listen.

Act 6 Act 3

now its starting to get real. back to the alpha kids, jane is now exploring her world and what it means to be stuck in a void session (one of my formspring recaps has a screenshot of hussie talking about what that is). brain ghost dirk is introduced as jake reflects on a conversation where dirk explained the history of their guardians and hic's takeover, calliope and caliborn are introduced in full after being teased in previous acts, and the act wraps up with dirks (but really hals) machinations to get everyone in the medium and caliborns victory over calliope. during this time, the albums vol 9, symphony impossible to play, and one year older were released.

The Characters

calliope is sweet, friendly, and beloved by all of the alpha kids, but particularly jane and roxy, who she seems to share the closest bonds with and talks to the most. she restrains herself in conversations in the name of avoiding "spoilers," knowing the future of their session due to roses journal that she maintained towards the end of their adventure (mentioned in a6i2). she believes she will play sburb with caliborn, and gain dominance through convincing him to be a better person, and therefore more like her.

caliborn is a nasty little bastard, hated by all. he likes dirk best, but who can say why. hes weird and perverted and not very bright, and has an obsession with saw-esque "games" with "shitty twists" that are really just him cheating. he wins his competition with calliope in a similar manner, by cheating and killing her dreamself, and then chewing off his own leg, which is later stated to go against how cherubs are supposed to grow up and permanently stunts his growth. ill talk more about that later, im sure.

neither of them have huge roles right now other than foreshadowing.

The Albums

vol 9 is another one of my favorite hs albums. crystalmethequins is one of my favorite hs songs of all time, but other noteable tracks include whistling jackhammer, pumpkin party in sea hitlers water apocalypse (fun fact: cronus makes a spoof of this song later), iRRRRRRRRECONCILA8LE, and of course, moonsetter and noirscape. these are some of the songs i was referencing in my albums 1-4 recaps that build off of early songs that i really love!

symphony impossible to play is a short solo album. its definitely pretty, but its very short and kind of just covers of very classic, constantly remixed homestuck songs, such as homestuck anthem. i didnt come away with much to say about it.

one year older is another solo album by erik scheele, who also did the sburb album i really enjoyed. hes a master of piano and crafts such beautiful stories with his pieces. this album follows johns journey through hs. i honestly loved it, but why the FUCK. is flying car replaced with fly from the mobius album on the unofficial collection. that was such a fucking jumpscare that was one of my least favorite tracks on that album (which i already DIDNT LIKE) and it really fucked up my enjoyment of what is genuinely a great album.

Act 6 Intermission 3

this is the dancestor one. The dancestor one. im going to talk about meenahbound in a different post, but aside from the dancestor thing, this is also the year 2 check up on the meteor and ship. this is where john has his birthday breakdown, and where rose gets drunk and goes on a date with kanaya. this is also when we find out gamzee and terezi have started dating. meanwhile, in the dreambubbles, vriska and tavros have met up post tavrisprite and are working together to amass a ghost army in the name of getting le to blow up a bunch of stuff, so they can discover some treasure that will stop him. tavros wants to propose to her, but i dont think theyre dating. ill probably wait to talk about that in the dancestor post, bc im worried about the word limit. genesis frog is the only album released during this time, and the tumblr is still going strong.

The Plot

johns bday breakdown is infamous. out of fucking nowhere, he flips out about how much he hates one of his most beloved movies, con heir, and ends the whole thing with a tantrum outside, screaming at a watermark of davesprite only he can see with such aggression that it knocks him clean out. reading through the breakdown now, its kind of obvious that its not really about con heir, or davesprite, or anything. its just that hes bored and lonely and feeling particularly frustrated and helpless about it. he lashes out at everything and everyone around him because hes been isolated for two years. its the anniversary of his dads death, and its clear that its just a tipping point for him. davesprites note is honestly like... its in bad taste, but its a pretty harmless, stupid note that seems typical for dave, and i doubt he was thinking about how it was the anniversary of johns dads death, especially given that he wasnt there when it happened, and he has a very different relationship to bro and bros death that also probably colors things. but for john, its kind of the last straw, and he loses it. in fics people tend to make it about davesprite, but it really, really isnt.

roses date with kanaya.... aw, man. its so bad. its clear kanaya doesnt really understand the connotations of rose being drunk, and dave is really, really worried about rose, trying his best to help her as much as he can in the precious few moments before the date starts. but rose and kanaya want to go, and daves not in the business of bossing anybody around ever, so he relents and lets them. rose is as wordy as ever when drunk, and spends a long time rambling her worries about gamzee and terezi. its incredible, she predicts right in that moment exactly how their session winds up doomed and why they should be worried about the relationship, but its clear her drinking prevents her from seeing it clearly or thinking through what to do about it. she then gets distracted, rambling a bunch of suggestive stuff to kanaya, and tops the date off with a spectacularly awkward and terrible drunk kiss, followed immediately by her falling down the stairs. its just... so rough.

The Tumblr

in summary, the tumblr so far has been a combination of what hussie hoped the formspring would be, and the newsposts. mostly, hussie posts updates about the comic, about art other artists contributed (often rbing their blogs or posts), and about the store, with occasional random posts that are vaguely related to homestuck (ie; the dark cage post, or the olive garden saga), and occasional q&a sessions, which consist of a singular post with a mass of answers. unlike with the formspring, most of the qs hussie answers are directly relevant to the comic and expand on lore, characters, or background information to development. the tumblr is... actually worth a read, shockingly. so far, its not terrible. way better than the formsprings, and also updates a lot less and a lot more concisely. this is in keeping with the comic, which is also slowing down on updates around this time (one year passes between the beginning of act 6 and the beginning of a6a4), and is focusing on plot heavy bursts, rather than meaningless bullshit.

The Album

genesis frog is a solo, thematic album, meant to capture the journey of billious slick throughout his life, touching on the prospitians and consorts worship of him, jades work in breeding him, and jacks hand in hurting him. the track art is stunning, and each song was crafted with a lot of thought and effort. the extra art is super cute. i dont think i have an ear for this style of music, and since i had it on in the background, i cant say i picked up on all of the detail that went into the pieces, but im nonetheless impressed, at the very least by the heart involved.

Final Thoughts

how does this feel simultaneously so short and so long so far? its probably the minigames. and the insane amount of albums all posted at one time, right after the other. so little has really happened so far, and yet so many significant, infamous fandom moments have also happened. i think its a side effect of hussie really only focusing on the most relevant things right now, and also a side effect of the fandom probably completely overblowing the meteors importance to the story. i guess its because homestuck slows down so much during the meteor journey, we were all just stuck thinking about it for so goddamn long. myself included! im quickly approaching the part where i started reading homestuck, which is very exciting for me.

on my first read of act 6, i remember instantly loving dirk, probably just bc he was an extension of dave to me (and roxy, for the same reasons). however, in these early acts, jake and hal were definitely my favorites. they have such a fascinating and fun dynamic, and hal is probably the funniest character in these acts to me.

anyway, next up: a post all about meenahbound, and eventually, one day, act four?

update: a6a4-a6i5

#hs reread #homestuck liveblog #recaps #i so dont have time to recap meenahbound rn so ill do that later ig

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thewertsearch · 2 years

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EB: do they go back in time? CG: YEAH, OBVIOUSLY. GREAT GUESS BRAIN HERO. CG: BUT TECHNICALLY THEY AREN'T EVEN SENT BACK IN TIME BECAUSE WITH RESPECT TO THE MEDIUM YOUR UNIVERSE'S TIMELINE IS MEANINGLESS.

I think I’m starting to understand this concept of a 'temporally dislocated' Incipisphere.

It’s not 2009 in the Medium - 2009 is just a setting on an Appearifying machine, and it’s just as easy to turn the dial to 1985, or 2015. The only timeframe that’s actually relevant is your own personal, subjective timeline.

CG: A PARADOX CLONE IS BY DEFINITION A CORRECTLY CLONED DUPLICATE THAT WILL INEVITABLY GO BACK IN TIME AND BECOME THE ORIGINAL TARGET THAT WAS CLONED.

A true paradox clone can only be created under very specific circumstances. You can only make a true paradox clone if your target was already cloned in the first place.

EB: what is the riddle anyway? [...] CG: IT'S NOT EVEN THAT GREAT. CG: OR EVEN MUCH OF A RIDDLE AT ALL. CG: IN THE COURSE OF YOUR ADVENTURE YOU WOULD HAVE ENCOUNTERED ALL THESE FRAGMENTS OF LIKE WEIRD POEMS AND SHIT. CG: YOU FIND THEM ALONG YOUR QUESTS, WITH CLUES AND STUFF BURIED IN THEM TO HELP YOU SOLVE PUZZLES AND MOVE HUGE STONE COLUMNS AND MAKE STAIRCASES APPEAR AND LOTS OF NONSENSE LIKE THAT.

As I theorized, you’re supposed to solve the Riddle by consolidating the game's various sources of information. This is what Nanna’s ‘ultimate riddle’ allusion was hinting towards - it’s a hidden objective that you need to piece together yourselves.

CG: BUT WHAT ALL THESE LOFTY SYMBOLIC ALLUSIONS BOIL DOWN TO IS SOME GRANDER STATEMENT ABOUT WHAT YOU SEE HAPPENING HERE. CG: THAT YOU WERE ALWAYS THE KEY TO SEEDING YOUR OWN EXISTENCE THROUGH THIS GAME. CG: AND ANY HOPE THAT IT COULD HAVE PLAYED OUT DIFFERENTLY OR THAT YOU COULD HAVE AVOIDED THIS WHOLE MESS WAS ALWAYS JUST A RUSE.

Specifically, it seems to be tied to Sburb's most pervasive mechanic - predestination. Part of understanding the Riddle is understanding that the Veil has had you locked into your fate from the moment you opened your eyes.

....does anyone else see a huge hole in CG’s explanation here? One that’s tied to a more general issue with the concept of a paradox clone? One that I’ve been thinking about for the last couple of days?

A hole that’s... kind of bird-shaped?

CG: BECAUSE IF IT DIDN'T GO DOWN THIS WAY THEN HOW WERE YOU EVEN BORN, GET IT.

CG is implying here that John needed to do this cloning for the Players to have existed at all, and he’s logically correct. But Davesprite’s timeline had no John to do the cloning, and therefore, it didn’t go down this way.

But this didn’t seem to be, like, a problem? Sure, Rose and Dave lost contact with the trolls, but they didn't blip out of existence when they moved out of the timeline that created them. Unless I’m missing something really obvious, it looks like Sburb’s loops are easy to escape.

Paradox clones - and, in a broader sense, all Sburb’s loops, like the Beta and the Package - only make sense in the timeline we’ve been focusing on. There should logically be many timelines where the Veil didn’t happen like this - we just haven’t seen them yet.

Statistically, predestination should be total bogus, unless you happen to be viewing one of the rare timelines where all the loops close properly. The kids should almost never be locked into this fate.

CG: REALLY THERE'S NOTHING MORE TRAGIC THAN THESE NULL SESSIONS FULL OF KIDS ENTERING THE GAME AND FULFILLING SOME COSMIC DESTINY SHIT JUST TO GET WIPED OUT AND LEAVE BEHIND AN EMPTY POINTLESS INCIPISPHERE FOR ALL ETERNITY.

Anyway, CG seems to be saying here that the kids were always destined to fail. This also doesn’t make sense. What does the game achieve by forcing its players to fail?

This is all so weird.

#1903 #homestuck liveblog #full liveblog #act 4

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impishglee · 2 years

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so i listen to hsmtw and despite my fraught relationship w it, has drawn my attention to a formal move that’s really prominent in both homestuck and the locked tomb series.

hussie and muir both are to some extent, writing with fandom in mind, with an understanding of it and how it ticks in many ways. taz especially since that’s where she cut her teeth. and the thing they both do a lot, is create spaces for fans to fill in, especially in regards to relationships. its one of the ways they manage having a large cast.

hussie and muir both do a lot of having entire relationships happen almost, if not entirely off screen, especially in later hs. ex: jade and davesprite date and break up during a time jump and we only know abt it in after it’s already over, terezi and gamzee have an off screen blackrom thing, hell, most of dirk and jake’s actual relationship takes place in a time skip. muir does the same move with gideon and ianthe in ntn, sixth house and dulcinea in gtn, corona, judith and cam in htn (though that eventually gets more filled in as yet unsent), hell most of the third house trio’s dynamic is just piecing together what other people say about them and a handful of conversations.

generally speaking, i think muir uses this move more successfully than hussie much of the time, but muir is also working in an extremely different form (planned fantasy series vs rapidly serialized webcomic), which gives her more time to be thoughtful about how to employ this. i think it also helps that muir also does have many relationships she devotes a Lot of very focused on screen time to, compared to hussie who is a significantly more scattered and i think less interested in really sitting in one relationship. again, homestuck was written in a wildly different way and hussie had different priorities and interests than muir, though i do think hs would have benefited from knowing how to better interweave The Plot and the interpersonal relationships of the characters especially act 6 onward

#just saying things honestly #ntn spoilers #locked tomb #homestuck

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4lph4kidz · 2 years

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(Same Dirk Anon)

I def read Dirk's splinters as more uhhh 'possibilities' - this COULD be you, if you let it be, and they reflect certain truths about your character that you need to come to terms with.

I guess the way I tend to think of it is, like- Davesprite broke Jade's heart, and got angry at Dave about it in Game Over. It's pointless to actually hold Dave accountable for that, but there's no denying that had he been in Davesprite's position he could or would have acted the exact same way. In that regard, I find it pretty pointless to actively hold Dirk accountable for anything AR does independent of Dirk's awareness or control; but because Dirk is so willing to immediately assume the worst of himself and take some level of ownership over his splinters that Dave would never do for Davesprite (or Jade, Jadesprite) I see him getting conflated with his splinters a LOT more often.

Ofc, selves are a complicated matter in Homestuck. Karkat's memo shenanigans are pretty indicative of that, though those are less 'possibilities' and more 'closed time loops', I guess. But even then, they serve as a purpose for Karkat to learn more about himself, even if it's more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than Dirk and his splinters are.

On AR and Dirk's agency, the amount of control Dirk actually has seems somewhat limited - assuming you don't think Dirk should just straight up murder the AR, which is an argument I've seen made. I would say that AR goes to prove Dirk has a lot less agency than he thinks he does - I'm reminded of Dirk giving that whole spiel to Jane about how he's going to mastermind the session, but ends up running to Calliope for advice on what to do the second something went wrong.

Or his claims that he can control his Dream Self perfectly, but almost got killed failing to do just that and ended up zoning out so much he was too late to warn Jane about Roxy's bomb. The bomb thing is interesting, because AR also chose not to warn her despite being FULLY capable of doing so, which indicates to me that... yeah, they're on different wavelengths here.

Or - Unite/Synchronise once Dirk's actual plans to enter the session go very obviously to shit, but even that's left ambiguous as to who actually orchestrated it. AR makes the most sense to me, though. I'm reminded of Scratch's High Stakes Timeline Wrangling - I was masochistic enough to read Hussie's authors notes, and iirc he mentioned something about Scratch being so competent because one of his components was a supercomputer.

Honestly, I read AR and Dirk's convo as soft confirmation that AR and Dirk weren't accurate 1=1 reflections of each other anymore. The conversation starts with AR blowing off Roxy trying to call Dirk for help, and ends with him asking Dirk "so can suicide fix this problem?" Strider if he's afraid to die. AR is what Dirk could have been, but currently isn't, but still contains a multitude of truths about himself that are uncomfortable to look at. ...but that's not the conclusion Dirk seems to come to, which I guess is what I meant when I thought Dirk wasn't being meaningfully challenged on what his splinters mean about himself.

(...which is still all setting aside the Jake thing. Jake pretty accurately pinned AR as a Dirk with 'no accountability, that just wants to screw with him' which... Dirk isn't happy about, but dirk and jake and dirk's splinters is a whole other nightmare.)

This all checks out with me as reading Dirk as a kid that's not as smart as he thinks he is getting a succession of reality checks straight to the face during the session. And then he's just kind of left dangling with the last one, which doesn't... really feel like a conclusion to his arc, but it's still better than what Jake got? It really feels like they just barely dug into the meat of Dirk's character before. All that.

feel free to ignore this, i just like rambling about dirk because he's absolutely fascinating and yet... done so goddamn dirty by the narrative. he is the bug i have under a microscope. i want to read all the conversations kidnapped PQ!Dirk has with Ult!Dirk so badly.

there's a lot of great kanaya quotes but i think the moment i realised she was like, one of my forever faves, was. "Impromputations".

Yeah! That's very much the read that makes the most sense to me, though it is still a very character-focused perspective and I try to keep other ways of framing things in the back of my mind. And I'd be more likely to agree he was 'done dirty by the narrative' if you take post canon into the picture but tbh I think being a Jake-liking individual has sort of lowered the bar for me when it comes to Homestuck's character biases... At least the author thought Dirk was interesting enough to take him seriously and address his stuff with some depth.

Generally speaking HS's concluding arcs were so messy that pretty much every single character was left wanting in one way or another, with the exception of maybe Dave, but I do still think Dirk is actually one of the better handled/more fleshed out characters? Seeing as he's one of only a handful who even had an identifiable arc and got something approaching a resolution for the better. Not everything was addressed or wrapped up neatly of course, and he sure isn't in a very HAPPY place, but still. I still took it as an ultimately positive ending for him. Maybe that's just because I'm generally okay with the ending of Homestuck as a whole, despite noting its many faults, mostly because I think its a miracle something as convoluted as Homestuck even made it to the end at all. That doesn't mean I'm not disappointed and don't love seeing other people explore what the comic didn't, I'm just relatively at peace with the fact that resolving characters wasn't really a priority for the work I guess.

#feels like the charactersare trapped in the machinations of some impersonal system that doesn't really care about them as individuals #which is at least thematically apropriate #this is without even getting into the author vs character and author vs audience thing going on #anon #Hope you didn't mind me basically talking past you earlier you just brought up a topic I happen to find really interesting #really what's missing is a lot of the middle of dirk's arc i think. who's to say how bad his behaviour is when we only see so much of it

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mintyjune · 4 years

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i’ve lost control of myself so uh. don’t mind me, planning homestuck sort-of-but-not-really-crossovers with over fandoms except it’s just. it’s just the other content’s characters being homestuck fans/kinnies—

[edit] i rambled in the tags so much that i can’t add anymore—

#homestuck #homestuck kin #bhna #mha #im coming for bnha first bc that was my main fandom pre-homestuck #also marvel #i need the spider-kid content ok #peter would talk about homestuck & his fellow spider kid and almost everyone would be confused #except the surprising few who know #i havent decided on who yet bc apl my marvel knowledge comes from fanfic—#but i really want clint and natasha to know homestuck #and everyone is like .... wagt #back on bnha...#ochako is gonna be a kinnie #maybe jade as one of them #do you think bakugo is a karkat kinnie #todoroki would probably become a kinnie after being introduced #probably a strilonde #TOKOYAMI & DAVESPRITE?? MAYBE????#do u think todo would actually be roxy #maybe hes roxy #MINA & ARADIA MAYBE??????#also. seros probably gonna be included #idk man i wanna do all of them #but i also want it to be a few who introduce the class #iida????? and equius????????????#ocha anD NEP????#MAYBE??#momos gonna be one of the cahtacters ur surprised to find knew homestuck from the very start and helped et everyone else into it #minty words

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vikkirosko · 3 years

Note

Can I get one where davesprite and the reader finally finish the game but as soon as they all go to leave they get stabbed by a almost dead Jack and davesprite confesses his feeling because he thinks there gonna die, (they survive tho) sorry I haven't finish homestuck yet so I'm not sure how the game ends so I just used Jack as the attacker thanks

🕶 Davesprite x Reader headcanons On the verge of death 🐥

The game was almost over. Almost all the trolls and kids have already left, only you and Davesprite were delayed. You were injured, so he helped you walk. Jack's dead body was lying very close to you. You were almost saved

Davesprite didn't have time to react when Jack attacked you with the last of his strength. He spent the last of his strength to hurt you badly. You started to fall. Davesprite managed to pick you up in his arms so that you did not fall

"No, no no, you can't die, we're almost done with the game, don't you dare die..."

Your eyes have started to get dark. You didn't even feel the pain anymore. The only thing you felt was the warmth of Davesprite's hands

"Don't leave me... I love you... Please don't leave me..."

Davesprite hastened to take you to friends. He was hoping they could save you. He didn't want to lose you. He couldn't lose you

A few hours later, Davesprite was sitting by your bed in your old house. Jane was able to save you, but you needed time to wake up. He was afraid that you might get worse, so he didn't leave you. He was ready to stay with you as long as it was necessary. He didn't want to go through it again. He wanted to confess his feelings to you again when you wake up. He didn't want to be separated from you anymore

#homestuck #homestuck x reader #homestuck headcanons #Davesprite #Davesprite x Reader

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incorrect-hs-quotes · 4 years

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//source

D: you know how restaurants will like, ban unruly clients from ever coming again

John: sure, but then they’ll- then they’ll be trending on twitter the next day, but sure.

D: i banned obama

John: oh- oho no.

D: for- for ruining- for ruining the united states of america, i banned him

John: what did obama ever do to you?

D: he ruined it. he ruined the country

John: wh- what did- what did he ever do that affected you?

D: think about how bad this country used to be, and think about how awesome it is now

John: i dunno about that, i’m calling shenanigans. i’ve yet to hear- i’ve yet to hear-

D: look at this guy hes sideways now

D: hes sideways whaddya say about that

D: sideways obama? you want that man to be-

John: um, obamas upside-

D: upside down obama?

D: forty-fourth president of the united states-?

John: nah, nah, he’s right side up,

D: yeah, exactly

John: cause he’s brobama.

D: no hes not “bro"bama

John: he is.

Dave: (obama is my world)

Dave: (obama is my king)

D: what, do you like obama?

John: what’s wrong with obama? you gotta tell me what’s wrong with obama, why do you dislike obama?

D: because he ruined the united states

John: i would like to know how he ruined the united states.

D: think about how bad the country was, and now think about how good it is

John: i think the country was pretty great- you know, i would actually say that america was already great.

D: *deep breath*

D: what are you, a liberal?

John:

John: d- eehehehhe-

D: ahahah

D: look, all im saying john, is that obama is banned from the kfc dome

Dave: (haha- the crushing blow)

John: okay, you know what i’m gonna say? so long as obama is banned from the kfc dome, you enjoy dick and balls. that’s all i’m gonna say-

D: WHAAT?!

John: it’s almost like-

D: NOOO

John: there’s a correlation between the two!

D: oh my god,

D: im sorry obama. im sorry, youre not banned any-

D: i unbanned him john, come back

John: i’m outta here.

D: i unbanned ob- oh my god

John: i hereby rest my case.

D: you cant do this to me on pride month!

D: you cant do this to me on pride month, john, come on man!

John: it’s been done. it’s done.

D: oh

D: my

D: goodness gracious mamma mia i hate obama

Davesprite: who put a peepee on the sign!!!

D: i- wh- theres a peepee on the sign, where?!

Davesprite: the big one in the sky!

D: aaAAH ITS A DICK AND BALLS DAVESPRITE WHAT THE FUCK

Davesprite: noooooo

D: AAAAAAAAAAAA

D: im gonna be honest, i put that dick and balls there

Davesprite, at absolutely ear-piercing volume: WHAT

D: ahahahahahaheheh-!

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betweengenesisfrogs · 4 years

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The Triumph of the Marginalia

Marginalia, n.:

1 : notes or embellishments in the margins (as in a book)

2 : nonessential items

-Troll OED

Is it just me, or is Nepeta and Equius’s arc the most slept-upon piece of brilliance in all of Homestuck?

A brilliance, might I add, that culminates in possibly the most triumphant, fulfilling emotional moment in the entire work:

https://www.homestuck.com/story/7928

*stands back and beholds its majesty while from the background comes the sound of James Roach brutally murdering ska*

No, but actually, I mean this 100% unironically, and by the end of this post, I think you’ll agree with me.

By now, I think we all understand the Act 6 double metaphor: the series of temporal loops and universes that Lord English commands is paralleled with, and in fact totally identical to, the narrative of Homestuck. Our characters’ lives exist within this context. They struggle to escape it, and are defined both by it and by the rejection of it.

Enter Nepeta.

The metaphorical meaning of Nepeta in Homestuck is irrelevance, and that’s why she’s the most relevant character in any discussion.

Nepeta was one of the characters killed off during the Murderstuck arc. Hussie argued that she was perfect for this role. In fact, I believe he said something like “Nepeta is sweet, but if you look up the dictionary definition of ‘expendable character,’ you’ll see a picture of Nepeta playing with a ball of yarn and looking very cute.” She’s an endearing combination of shipper girl and apex predator, but not one of your Vriskas or Terezis in being a driver of the plot. Hussie, it seems, created her just to round out the troll cast. He described one of his purposes in Murderstuck as being to axe some of the less necessary trolls to reduce the scope of his character list.

Except that didn’t really happen, did it?

Like a cat with nine lives, Nepeta just keeps coming back.

Equius is another addition to the troll cast who gets pushed away from the main action. He was a character-writing challenge: how do you make someone who’s gross, uncomfortable, and racist kind of likable anyway? I’d argue Hussie succeeded, in large part because of Equius’s relationship with Nepeta. By the time you finish with Hivebent, you’ll probably have a little fondness for their moraillegiance. And if that doesn’t do it, the conversation that serves as their swansong in Equius: Seek the Highblood will tear your heartstrings to shreds.

Because Equius dies, tragically clownmurdered. There was, at the time, some stink over this from Equius fans. Would he have really let himself be killed so easily? Hussie countered: yes, and it was the most in-character thing he could have done. He died doing what he loved: being asphyxiated erotically and horrifically by a superior. Truly, there could be no more fitting end to his character than that.

And yet.

No sooner did Hussie complete his self-appointed story cleanup challenge than he immediately began to undo his own work. It’s almost as if, in declaring his intention to own those who preferred more characters to narrative economy, he immediately had to own himself??

By the time we get even a little way into Act 6, we’re deep in the dreambubble landscape, meeting dead characters left and right. And who should show up there but Equius and Nepeta? Equius attempting to get it on with a bunch of Aradias, who dump him. And Nepeta, living out her romantic dreams as a representative of a timeline where she got together with Karkat. They both appear as symbols of this deadness, this irrelevance. Except that that brings them back into the story, into the spotlight – the opposite of where they’re supposed to be!

Like many bits of commentary, Hussie continues to incorporate the metaphor Nepeta=Irrelevance into Homestuck. Karkat’s remark on their journey that he would love to meet “FIFTY FUCKING NEPETAS” and embark on “NEPETAQUEST” alludes to formspring remarks to the effect that, no, Homestuck was not going to have much time for the minor characters. Except it clearly did.

Why couldn’t the narrative let the meowrails go? Was it that despite the economy of Murderstuck, something was still incomplete? After all, one of Equius’s charms was that he appeared to be growing into a less repressed, kinder person. In Seek the Highblood, we see him letting his guard down enough to roleplay with Nepeta for a change. Their love for each other: wasn’t that ultimately what could redeem Equius in our eyes? So his dying and thus failing to protect her–isn’t that something that should be addressed?

You could imagine many a Nepeta and Equius fan saying this to Hussie back in 2011.

But Hussie was already saying it to himself.

The duo come roaring back into the story in the Trickster mode arc, mid Act 6, thanks to Gamzee’s ridiculous resurrections. True, Nepeta is still reduced as part of Fefeta, the character formed from killed-off girls who never speaks onscreen. But doesn’t using that fact as a running gag kind of draw our attention to it? Doesn’t the fact that Fefeta talks to Roxy constantly offscreen inform us that once we get outside the frame of the narrative, Nepeta has a rich inner life and countless stories to tell?

And it’s here that Equius gets something he never got in his original “arc:” the chance to apologize to Nepeta. You’d be forgiven for missing it since there’s so much else going on at the time, but he does, while fused with AR. Here’s what you’d miss, though: he’s grown as a person in the afterlife. He’s come to regret that moment of weakness, where his fetish kept him from protecting his moirail. Impossible as it seems, he’s continuing his character arc.

The scene ends with Fefeta exploding (she’s also, after all, dealing with Eridan), but it leaves us with a tantalizing question:

Will Nepeta forgive Equius? Is there even a plausible time and space in that story when she could respond to his words?

Do you see what’s happening here? Instead of being erased, Nepeta and Equius are starting to slip the bounds of the story that killed them. They leap in and out of the frame, half-mythical figures. Marginalized, they write their own stories in the margins. They exist in complete defiance of the original logic of Homestuck.

Lord English is an alt-Author figure, a dark, brutal reflection of narrative control and narrative necessity. His world, in which horrible choices are necessary, in which the alpha timeline is a ticking clock leading inexorably to his manifestation, is one that beats down people not deemed important enough by his narrative. Which makes it identical to the one we’re reading. Throw all the unnecessary characters in the trash. Kill them off, if it suits my purposes. The world doesn’t need Nepeta.

Which is precisely why it does. Because isn’t defying Lord English the entire point? Isn’t it what Homestuck reveals as truly heroic?

What might Nepeta be capable of?

Let’s talk about two other victims of English’s forces of marginalization. Davesprite might be the most quintessential example. He teaches us what the alpha timeline is and how it works, by going back to fix a doomed timeline and submitting to being doomed himself. Except he merges with a bird and avoids that fate. Okay, but he clearly gets killed off fighting Jack in Jade: Enter. Except he comes back and hangs out with Jadesprite. Okay, but he dies in the planetsplode in the Retcon. Nope, he comes back from that, too. Huh. He keeps slipping the fate decreed for him by – who else? Lord English.

But it’s a struggle, clearly. He’s caught up in various cycles of guilt and shame. Over being “not the real Dave.” Over his feeling that he has to be a hero in the sense Bro demanded he be. Hussie describes Davesprite as fitting the “way of the unbroken sword:” his experiences have led him to believe in being strong and capable at the expense of all else, in contrast with the other Dave, whose belief in Bros’ toxic ideas is beginning to slip – the “way of the broken sword.” And where did Bro get his toxic ideas from? At least in part, the whispering voice of the soul of Lord English.

Now we turn to Dirk. Like Dave, Dirk has a marginalized, “less important” splinter self but it’s more of a pressing concern. AR shows Dirk’s darker side: exhibiting manipulative tendencies that human Dirk is trying to move away from. He’s also a copy removed from humanity, who feels an understandable amount of disillusionment about being removed from physical existence and his own identity. But as much as Dirk may splinter, like his dumb anime sword, he never breaks. What this means in the symbolic language of Homestuck is that Dirk lives fully, instinctually, in the way of the sword. He believe in a world of hard choices, masculine heroism, and necessity. Ultimately, this, too, is part of what makes Bro so harmful to Dave. In AR and Davesprite, we have a strange parallel: two splinter selves, both of whom are enmeshed in the logic of LE.

Except AR, unlike Davesprite…kind of is LE.

What is Lord English composed of? Well, there’s Caliborn, the most unrepentant shithead of all time. There’s Gamzee, embodiment of horrifying clownery. And then there’s AR, a version of Dirk even more removed from the person he wants to be.

And…Equius?

Allow me a moment to get really indulgent and take a big puff on my Homestuck scholar’s pipe.

The metaphorical meaning of Equius in Homestuck is: sort of growing out of being a creepy racist.

Or maybe let’s say: the opportunity to do that. We said that Equius was on the verge of being redeemed (even had been, in the eyes of many readers). What does it mean to stick him in with Lord English’s souls? It means two things:

1) Equius is a product of his society, which was shaped by Doc Scratch, aka by Lord English, both of whom are kind of him, but Scratch picks up on his traits especially. This is a recognition of that fact: the part of him that sucks is, itself, Lord English in a dizzying loop.

2) Equius’s story is a tragedy. It is the story of a kid who started to escape his society’s tendencies, but was sucked back in by the evil force behind them.

Although…maybe that’s not the whole story.

Because both Equius and AR aren’t really that bad. AR’s pretty understandable, and by no means beyond the possibility of goodness. And the combination of the two? Honestly, pretty harmless. They counter each other’s worst tendencies by devolving into a weird goofball. In fact, AR even says he wants to do something heroic: to sacrifice himself for something really important. He does, kind of, mustering a last-ditch robohorse assault on Caliborn. But at the same time, this is the substance of his tragedy. A hero whose defeat of a great evil forces him to become the substance of that evil. Which could not be a more fitting summary of how these characters function in their story.

But maybe that’s still not the whole story.

Enter Davepeta.

At first glance, the creation of Davepeta seems like Hussie’s most batshit troll move yet. I feel pretty confident in saying that even those who predicted either of these characters returning didn’t see that one coming. However, a few pages of Davepeta’s presence reveals a fundamental truth:

Davepeta is fucking amazing.

In them, Davesprite’s depressive moods are buoyed up by Nepeta’s upbeat optimism. Nepeta’s reclusive shyness is balanced by Dave’s tendency toward brash banter. Both of them gain confidence from being the new person they are. They quickly let go of ideas inherited from the world that kept them from self-knowledge and happiness. Dave, his toxic masculinity; Nepeta, her fear.

A great point I’ve seen made is how much Jasprose and Davepeta resemble fantasy selves for Rose and Dave: indulgent, technicolor manifestations of people they could be if they let go of inhibitions and limitations. But I think Davepeta is the most unambiguously positive of the two.

The metaphorical meaning of Davepeta in Homestuck?

Growth.

Not giving a fuck about what the world thinks. The world, aka Lord English. Because Lord English could never have predicted that his machinations would also spawn a confident, powerful fusion of two beings he had discarded as totally irrelevant.

They’re also a multicolored non-binary furry, so that’s even more points in the pissing off shitheads column.

They are someone Lord English never conceived of, never could have conceived of, but which lay as potential within his domain all along.

And if Lord English is a reflection of the author, of what Hussie feels one has to destroy or sacrifice, than Davepeta is an indulgence existing in defiance of all that.

And this makes Davepeta the most powerful person of all.

They are the light at the end of the tunnel. They are the person you could be, if you could get past your mental shackles and just grow. It may not be possible to ever get there as a mortal human, may only be for a godlike sprite, but striving to be like them matters, is purpose and fulfilment enough.

And they love ARquius.

Nepeta believed in Equius, believed he could grow, and was growing. So as much as ARquius traps himself in a Lord English loop of his own making – grown, perhaps, out of Dirk’s belief that there should be a loop, that importance is admirable—Davepeta pulls from him, in his last scene, his finest qualities. His love.

Equius asks forgiveness again, and this time, Nepeta’s able to give it. Davepeta easily accepts ARquius’s apology, an apology which never could have existed within the confines of a normal narrative. A reconciliation that both of them fought for by defying their narrative, by existing outside it. By being not the trolls who lived and died, but their broader, conceptual selves, who exist beyond lifetimes. Beyond the comic page. And they consummate that reconciliation with that most cherished and loving of gestures:

A hug.

And even as this is Equius and Nepeta’s reconciliation, it’s also Dirk and Dave’s. Which, I should mention, is also taking place, simultaneously and circumstantially simultaneously, just below. It’s a more difficult one, certainly, especially as filtered through the splinters of Davesprite and AR. Here forgiveness is not quite the right word. But – knowledge, and recognition, and a kind of peace. It’s Davesprite’s chance to reunite with the part of his brother he loved, while also being a person who’s grown beyond him. And it’s AR’s chance to be loved.

Oh, sure, the art is ridiculous, the pose absurd. But that’s what makes it sublime.

I mean, what did you think that Sbahj comic was really about?

A boy distancing himself from his feelings through irony, never acknowledging that the story he’s telling is about two bros who desperately want to hug each other, but don’t know how.

Here’s the hug.

I want to dip into Epilogues territory for a moment, but it’s territory which is fairly well implied by Davepeta’s statements and role in Collide. The Meat Epilogue, I think, only illuminates what was already there.

Lord English is uniquely vulnerable to Davepeta.

And why shouldn’t he be? They, like so much else in Homestuck, are a consequence of his actions spiraling far beyond his control. But it’s more than that. Davepeta is finally able to lay the unbroken sword to rest by following the “prophecy” about Dave defeating Lord English. On the one hand, that’s kind of what happened. But it’s also completely different from what English intended, antithetical to his desires and goals. Which makes the victory all the sweeter. But at the end of the day, Davepeta doesn’t fight for the reasons Davesprite did. They’re free of that, now. Instead, they fight from a place of genuine compassion. Because Davesprite, like Dave, knows the true meaning of being a hero: caring about one’s friends.

But the most important thing about Davepeta is that they know Lord English, on a level that perhaps neither he nor they recognize. Both AR and Equius are in there, and both are capable of redemption. It’s only Gamzee and Caliborn who are truly beyond it.

How does Davepeta defeat Lord English?

With a hug.

They wrap their claws around him, and carry him into the sun like a piece of garbage. It’s an aggressive hold, but it’s also effectively an embrace.

And I have to wonder: in those final moments, did they sense a connection there? Did Equius and Dirk stir somewhere within Lord English? Did they give him a moment’s pause? Resist him? Make it just the tiniest bit easier for Davepeta to do their work?

If so, then that, too, is heroism.

At the very least, it’s circumstantially simultaneous with the hug we see in Act 6, and so it carries the same message:

Redemption.

Not for the shitheads, but for those who wanted to be better.

And if this isn’t enough, there’s a third reconciliation here, too: between author and reader, or to put it in other terms, author and character.

If Lord English is a shadow of the author, what part of the author can be redeemed? Maybe not the destructive, antagonistic urges. But the part that plans and designs and philosophizes as Dirk does. That part of Hussie wanted Davepeta to be there, to strike that final blow, and made it happen.

Because, when you get right down to it, as much as Hussie pretends to be antagonistic toward his readers and the characters they enjoy, it’s the fans, the shippers, the furries, those whose hearts go out to a cute, shy cat girl that he most celebrates.

Hussie fucking loves Nepeta.

Nepeta and Equius are, sneakily, the best characters in Homestuck, because they understand its fundamental message: that to succeed in Homestuck is to defy Homestuck. They defy everything it throws at them, and somehow, improbably, come out on top.

All of this is there on that page, a whole edifice of storytelling culminating in that singular, grand, supremely indulgent expression, a feast of looping leitmotif and color and imagery and meme and sound. It’s all there, if you know where to look.

Nepeta and Equius love each other, and that’s pretty fucking great.

See? I told you.

<> Ari

#nepeta #equius #davepeta #homestuck analysis #arquius #meowrails #davesprite #hal #trying to get out ahead of hussie's commentary for a change #happy 4/13 :33 #<3 #stay tuned #feast of homestuck 2020

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autumnblogs · 4 years

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Day 57: Glitches and Retcons and Clowns, Oh my!

https://homestuck.com/story/6384

Dave’s time traveling days are more or less over, and I think we’re intended to draw a line from his grief over his Brother’s death to this decision. Dave knows that he can’t use his time traveling powers to change any details of consequence, so what is the point?

All that happens when he plays along with his own time loops is he becomes a puppet.

More after the break.

https://homestuck.com/story/6385

Dave is clearly suffering guilt over not just his own emotions, but over his actions - the events of three years ago are extremely fresh on his mind. This is really the first chance he’s had to see Jade since then, and he’s bringing up his guilt over making her watch him die immediately. It’s the first thing on his mind.

Particularly because of his association with broken swords (one of which is nearly identical to Anduril/Narsil), the existing Lord of the Rings references, and his heroic reluctance, as well as sharing the name Strider, we should be thinking of Aragorn, at least if we’ve read the books or watched the films.

Forces of Destiny, not just Dave’s Bro, are conspiring to turn him into a Hero, someone who can exercise violence to bring about the destruction of ultimate evil. Dave wants nothing to do with it.

https://homestuck.com/story/6386

According to my reading we should absolutely consider Davesprite and Dave to be basically the same guy, for the same reasons we should consider different versions of Jack Noir to be basically the same guy, or even Lil Hal and Dirk as being basically the same guy - they are all legitimately extensions of the same Ultimate Self, each one contributes to our full understanding of the same person’s character.

https://homestuck.com/story/6400

Jane is already amusingly a lot more competent a villain than Jade, and she does it by aping Gamzee of all people. I guess he proved to be a semi-competent mentor after all.

https://homestuck.com/story/6404

Dave’s choice of the word heretical is interesting, because the concept of heresy is in some ways very closely related to the concept of canon.

See in the early centuries AD, when the Christian Church was underground, there wasn’t yet a strictly and well-defined centralized authority, and the Church had to go on a mostly unstated but overall pretty well understood and agreed upon set of sacred texts for wisdom, in a very “circulating the texts” sort of fashion.

It wasn’t until the seven ecumenical councils, over the course of another few hundred years starting in 325 that a Canon was formalized, and as a result, teachings that relied on extra-canon sources for their teachings would be formally heretical.

So if what John is doing here is heresy, we know that what he’s actually altering is literally the canon.

https://homestuck.com/story/6443

Just as we’re meant to interpret Jade’s Grimbark behavior as basically in line with her true will, we should interpret Jane’s behavior as being in line with her true will. This is what she wants, even if she has to be coaxed by artificial intelligence and brainwashing to pursue it.

This is the destiny she’s been raised since birth to assume, and unlike Dave who is deeply opposed to the idea of becoming a Heroic Figure, Jane is all about the idea of becoming a villainess.

It’s far easier for her than it is for Jade.

https://homestuck.com/story/6455

John and Roxy are natural fits for each other between their shared interests, and Roxy’s similarities to Dave, who seems to me to be by all accounts into John for a lot of the same reasons.

https://homestuck.com/story/6457

More little similarities between Roxy and Meenah too - their storytelling has more or less the same style, as does their tendency to come up with new nicknames practically every time they refer to someone.

https://homestuck.com/story/6458

Though it’d probably be good form to wait until Roxy actually gives the Ring of Life to Calliope, I thought now would be a good time to bring up the fact that Roxy and Calliope’s friendship has pretty strong romantic overtones to it, and this conversation, and John’s idea to give the Ring of Life to Calliope, hearkens back to Roxy’s thoughts about giving the ring to the person she wants to marry, and Tavros’s similar ideas.

So John is unwittingly helping Roxy to engage with a romantic rival in some way shape or form, though he is almost certainly too goofy to tell even with a lot of time to think about it. (And almost certainly to Aro, Ace, or both for it to really matter all that much :3c)

https://homestuck.com/story/6474

And we’ll catch up with Caliborn tomorrow!

Glad to be back in the saddle with you all. We finished Lord of the Rings, and my Mom was able to take off her cast today, so it’s safe to say she’s well on the mend.

Thanks for tuning in as always. See you tomorrow;

Same Cam Time, Same Cam Channel.

#liveblogging #commentary #lord of the rings

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