#the problem with rufioh is not that he cheated on Damara

[sayakxmi]

Did we ever actually acknowledge that Rufioh started cheating on Damara before the game. They started playing Sgrub at the same age as the Beta Trolls. Which is somewhere around 13 years old. So they were, like, 12-14 when it started.

It was still awful of him, but also, he was literally a kid, so it’s possible he really didn’t know better.

[morally-grey-girlbosses]

The top two characters will be eligible for entry into the bracket!

Propaganda under the cut.

Vriska Serket:

People love her! People hate her! People want to fuck her! People want her dead! It’s Vriska fucking Serket bby! No introduction needed.

she did nothing wrong but i guess you could bring up that time she mind controlled one of her friends to jump off a cliff permanently paralysing him and then later stabbed him through the chest with his own lance or that time she killed one of her other friends by mind controlling one of her friends or that time she blinded her best friend because said best friend blew up her magic artifact causing her to lose an arm and an eye. said best friend would later kill her and then thousands of pages later rework the timeline to not kill her. and then they kissed. shes also a mentally ill neurodivergent gay teenager living on murder death planet who was forced to murder lest her spider mom eat her for breakfast, basing her entire personality off her singular role model who was a fucked up pirate who lived a longass time ago. she has a redemption arc after dying and genuinely begins to heal from her traumas and work towards being a healthier and better person and then an alternate version of her gets created by aforementioned timeline reworking and shouts at her and steals her girlfriend. she did nothing wrong. she created so much discourse. i love her immensely. shes even vriska (vriska)

It's vriska. Need i say more?

It’s Vriska.

She had her own discourse tag (Vriscourse) due to all the crimes she did. These include murder (of enemies, friends, and strangers), a revenge sprial that led to her paralyzing one friend and blinding another, and literal mind control. She was one of the protagonists. Also one of the biggest problems that needed solving. A deeply hurt and desperate teenager, she tricked a lot of her team and a lot of the fanbase into thinking she was a shallow violent "spider8itch." She earned every last bit of vitriol she got. She was a scared lonely teenage girl. Her best friend (the one she blinded) murdered her. It was declared both a just and heroic death. It had to be undone with time travel because it was impossible to suceed without her. She had so much love to give. She delivered needless pain instead. She was a result of her society and unbringing. Her friends were not nearly as brutal as her. She's like if Azula ATLA had a sense of humor and was allowed to say fuck.

vriska serket ... she is still so controversial - hence the moral ambiguity yes she does do terrible things but consider: she has an evil spidermom that needs to be fed children and she lives on the imperialist militaristic kill planet ... is it any wonder she is so morally dubious ?

homestuck.com

Damara Megido:

Damara lives in a caste based society where blood colour is tied to lifespan. She is of the lowest colour and thus she’s already on the bottom of society. She speaks a language not widely understood by her acquaintances, except for her eventual boyfriend, Rufioh. Her boyfriend cheated on her, so she paralyzed him and he was turned into a head on a robot horse body by Horuss, the guy he was cheating on Damara with. He then feels awkward around Horuss. She was also bullied relentlessly throughout her youth by literal royalty. She killed her tormenting bully, Meenah, the lowest caste kills the highest caste. She becomes so estranged from her “friends” that it’s suggested she has entered into the service of the literal destroyer of the universe. At the same time, when interacting with “friends” she portrays herself in a very sexual, horny otaku fashion, and pretends not to understand people when they talk to her. Tragic girlboss to herself.

Rose Lalonde:

this is my... twelth or thirteenth submission? i think. and not going to lie its all blurring together for me but rose is my ultimate blorbo of all time. shes a lesbian nerd with a degree in wikipedia psychoanalysis she uses to call her friends gay. she ends up involved in the end of the world and makes a plan to destroy the main villain which involves her own death. she consorts with eldritch beings and succumbs to their grimdark influence. she is shtity to her friends and is very self important. she cares deeply for them. she is a flighty broad and she has a lot of snarky horseshit. said grimdark episode is after her mom dies. she gets stuck on a meteor for three years and ends up becoming a teenage alcoholic. she goes on her first date unsure its a date and totally wasted. she flies around blowing up the structures of innocent turtles and consorting with dark cosmic entities. she gets stabbed through the chest. she dies three times over the course of the comic. she even gets gay married. shes such a girlboss and look its homestuck of course shes problematic. ultimate blorbo ever. vote rose

Terezi Pyrope was submitted without propaganda, but I am familiar enough with Homestuck to attempt to write some myself. Here we go:

She dreams of becoming her alien society's equivalent to a prosecutor, whose job is basically just to murder criminals with little to no evidence. She gets involved in a huge revenge spiral between all her friends. She fucks over one of the main human characters and ends up creating one of the worst timelines because of it. Despite all that, she ends up working for good in the end, and helps that same main human character rewrite the entire history of three universes to create a more favorable result.

[homestuckexamination]

Selfish Vs Unselfish

Jesus. Yeah I have nothing to comment here, I’m going to read this later when I haven’t just woken up.

You know the drill. Put it under ‘Read More’. A matter of perspective it can be, but there can be an objective truth to sort that out. Let me e x p a n d on this matter using Homestuck and some philosophy. And for those who missed the last ask on Active/Passive divide, please do remember that these labels are on a continuum, not strictly boxed categories. “UNSELFISH” or UNSELFISH - The passive classes lean more to this. How? By being group-oriented. Like support classes in RPGs, their asset comes mainly from a drive to benefit others. Roxy is one of the best examples of this. While she was passive-aggressive in her pursuit of romance, she is ultimately willing to put her self aside and bettering herself if that meant making sure the group stays together. She does this by, to quote Dirk, never turning the tables to make a talk about her when she knows her friend needs something.

TG: i was gonna say why i finally quit drinkin TG: i mean if you want to know GG: Yes. GG: Actually, once you did stop, it made me finally realize it was a problem for you for a long time. GG: And I didn’t say anything at the time, but it made me wonder if I wasn’t doing the right thing before. GG: By failing to point out you might have a problem? Or just going along with it and participating in lively banter any time you clearly had too much to drink? GG: Was I just being a bad friend? TG: nah it wasnt your responsibility to fix my shit TG: and anyway i think i made it hard for anyone to come at me like it was a real problem TG: i was always joking around so much and havin a good time like kind of overzealously so TG: that i probably just made people feel like a shitty wet blanket for even mentioning it

She wants to be of use to her group. However, the downside to this is that, as passively Roxy can be, she often needs them as well.

TG: and now dirk knows that too and for some reason letting him down feels like the worst part?? TG: which is equally lame and weak cuz i should care for my own sake not for how it makes a dude see me but it still just really bothers me ???

TG: i didnt want her to meet a sloppy embarrassing mess of a daughter

TG: even if she did like to drink at some point it was kind of a childish idea that doing so myself would make me closer to her or help us bond or whatever TG: anyway i think i might of overestimated her drinkin habits

How would you know if a class is truly passive when a character just been a really selfish a-hole through the story? It’s how they mainly rely on others as well. Let’s use Aranea as the main example of a selfish passive Sylph of Light that tries to emulate a Thief. Aranea says that Sylph is a healer type of class that involves boosting others, even excessively. However, while she claims that she merely wants to help and shepard the Alpha timeline by taking control of it, Meenah says otherwise. What Aranea has been doing is a self-aggrandizing act to get into the spotlight and not sit on the sidelines anymore, much like her fellow Serket. Like Kanaya, she is meddlesome. She asserts that what she does is for the good of all, even if that means doing something others would object to. They don’t want that. But, she does it anyway.

At first, she complies when the recipient refuses, but when it eventually comes to her ultimate takeover plan, everyone else comes second. She may believe that she’s just granting their wishes, but her underlying motive is ultimately selfish- albeit by excessively “helping” others for her own cause. Aranea failed to learn what Mindfang did:

“8ut as I sit here deciding what to do with the damna8le little sphere, I understand my error. It was not in failing to chart a course through future events to turn my fortune’s tide, even so many sweeps from now. It was in 8elieving the future was mind to know, and fortune mine to control.”

Now let’s use Rufioh and compare him to Roxy. Both of them are Rogues. Both of them are group-oriented characters that act selfishly from time-to-time. The difference is that Rufioh is more selfish. He’s extremely affable to the point of being a doormat to please others all while trying to be polite about romantic advances despite being a flirt himself. He’s reluctant to voice his own reason that he wants to leave his matespritship with Horuss. Sounds familiar? He’s the Jake of the love triangle. Rufioh cheated on Damara and never takes responsibility from it, focusing on Damara being a crazed scorned girl.

Passive players that fail to balance supporting others and fulfilling their own desires often end up being thrown in a loop. Forcing your solution solution on others for 'their own good’ is selfish. Your concern on how others perceive you may be sprouted from your own insecurity. Whenever you make a donation to the less fortunate, how can you be certain it’s not without the purpose of staving off guilt, doing it because it simply aligns with your moral code, or because it feels good? 

AG: I decided not to, 8ecause I didn’t want to 8e the one to make you sad about it.

AG: Was that selfish of me? I dunno.

It’s a gem to see volunteers whose instincts are to help people to make life more bearable, mind you. But they’re also doing that because they want to see them better and it’s often their own desire to do so and fulfill that dream.

ENLIGHTENED VS UNENLIGHTENED SELFISHNESS

-I’ve rambled on this a bit. Here’s a recap:

*Unenlightened Selfishness is… pretty much the archetypal self-centeredness that makes people jerks. It’s whenever you do something for yourself with little to no regard to other people’s desires. It’s the greedy shark hoarding all the treasure. It’s when you try to justify your actions with a perspective of “everyone else is selfish, so I’m entitled to be an asshole to everyone too”.

*Enlightened Selfishness or Enlightened Self-Interest is the opposite. It’s when you respect that everyone has their own wants and needs by compromising and coinciding them with your own. It’s like a deal. It’s the Golden Rule. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. It’s when you do things for other people for the good you’ll get from it, even when the payment is simple politeness and being generally nice. Society expects each individual to benefit the community in turn by working. We work with the expectation that others work for us. Unlike the first, this form of self-interest benefits both parties. Another term is Selfish Altruism.

We see an exercise of selfishness burning brightly through Vriska’s arc.

(VRISKA): I’m not a loser though! (VRISKA): I LIKE who I’ve 8ecome. (VRISKA): I actually feel happy and good a8out my life for the first time in… may8e forever?? (VRISKA): Like, ACTUALLY good a8out my life in a way that feels real, instead of forced. Don’t you realize that’s what it was like for us? VRISKA: You don’t have a life! VRISKA: You’re DEAD, remem8er? VRISKA: I’m the one with the life! VRISKA: And I fully intend to use it in a relevant and constructive way to help 8ring an end to all the horri8le shit that’s 8een going on for way too long. VRISKA: Remem8er when you used to care a8out that sort of thing? VRISKA: No, o8viously not. VRISKA: All you care a8out now is 8ullshit hipstery fashion trends, feeling “happy”, and… whatever the fuck it is you’re doing here? VRISKA: Frolicking with some horses in an ugly field or some shit. VRISKA: Just a8solutely disgraceful. VRISKA: How could I have 8ecome so selfish??

Vriska is accusing (Vriska) for being selfish despite being selfish herself. Remember her popular hero quote?

VRISKA: I only ever wanted to do the right thing no matter how it made people judge me, and I don’t need a magic ring to do that. VRISKA: You don’t have to 8e alive to make yourself relevant. VRISKA: And you don’t have to 8e a good person to 8e a hero. VRISKA: You just have to know who you are and stay true to that. VRISKA: So I’m going to keep fighting for people the only way I ever knew how.

VRISKA: 8y 8eing me.

And a few panels after that, she does this.

VRISKA: OHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! VRISKA: OH FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! VRISKA: WE’RE G8ING TO LOOK AT WH8T’S IN THIS CH8ST RIGHT N8W!!!!!!!! VRISKA: DO YOU HE8R ME Y8U F8CK? VRISKA: I D8DN’T SCRAPE AND CLAW MY W8Y 8ACK TO RELEV8NCE F8R THIS SHIT! VRISKA: I’M DOING S8METHING F8CKING IMPORTANT! AND WHEN I DO SOMETH8NG FUCKING IMPORT8NT, EVERY88DY 8ETTER D8MN WELL PAY ATT8NTION TO ME!!!!!!!!

Sure, her resurrection got everyone’s attention, but also annoyance. A lot of their personal problems aren’t truly solved, just put on a temporary chokehold by someone with a stubborn, assertive personality. She’s taking charge so that her team won’t be in poor condition for the big fight, but also to, well, be in the spotlight. She doesn’t care how others think of her, she just wants to help… but also because it makes her important, even if that means overpowering her friends, including her moirail Terezi. Vriska’s the active counterpart to Roxy in both class and aspect. A positive part of this is that it’s easier for Vriska and other folks like her to be self-driven.

…

What am I getting at? It’s a matter of intention. Are they doing it to mainly benefit others? Or are they acting to benefit themselves? Even if it’s grey, there’s often a tint or shade that’s lighter or darker that makes someone lean somewhere. It doesn’t matter how they see themselves and how they perceive their own actions, it’s their motivation that defines the line. Accidents don’t count. It’s the will. Looking at one’s intention is a way to objectively sift through the blurriness of it their actions, even when said intention is subconscious. You can also simply take the Active/Passive divide on strictly class roles in terms of RPG abilities alone if you’re not keen on the personalities of the bunch.

[yoitscro]

How do you feel about Rufioh's character?

Rufioh’s the Scott Pilgrim of the group.

Instead of being soft spoken as people may misinterpret, he’s a quiet coward who shys away from conflict while being a main player in it, and sees the world around him as sucking and being crazy, man, while not really taking much responsibilities for his own actions.

Oh and he’s a cheater who was unfaithful to his asian gf who eventually boiled over through the betrayal and wrecked shit, but we’ll get to that.

He takes peoples breath away, probably, which is probably why he’s so attractive to his team members outside of Meenah according to him (who simply finds him cool). He should’ve been a Thief of Breath, honestly.

He’s based off a character from the movie Hook played who’s by Dante Basco, the love of my life.

The Summoner is everything that Rufioh is not; a leader who didn’t back down despite the odds against highbloods on Alternia, to the point that he started a fucking war and took charge, even up to the point of having to kill his mate (Mindfang). The Summoner is basically Tavros’ imaginary friend but real and presumably fought selflessly. 

Rufioh is a Lost Weeaboo who keeps tsking at a girl’s “overreaction” toward him cheating on her (Not that Damara’s justified for going on a rampage, but you know. He doesn’t really see what’s the problem on his end.). He’s also a coward who probably tries to avoid lots of problems, such as joining an army, dealing with his relationships, etc. Which works since Breathe players at their worst are avoidant, according to the extended zodiac.

Also apparently in Ministrife he’s seen flirting with Aradiabot so??

He’s a jerk but yall know how I like jerk characters. They’re interesting to dissect and figure out why the fuck they do the things they do.

Overall, I like Rufioh. He’s a pretty boy “bishie” with pretty wings, and I kinda feel bad about his relationship with Horuss. I’m surprised that people take him quite literally for Anti-Cronus (quote Aranea) route and never talk about the terrible shit that he did, but I guess that’s his charm rubbing off full force.