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trojanteapot · 1 year

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INFINITY TRAIN CLASSPECTS

In this post I will be merging my two "hyperfixations" / "special interests" by assigning Homestuck Mythological Roles (a.k.a. Classpects) to some of the Infinity Train characters.

What the fuck is a Classpect?

Classpects are like Zodiac signs or Hogwarts Houses except excruciatingly convoluted, because it’s from Homestuck. I will attempt to simplify them as much as possible.

Basically every character receives a title in this format:

[Class Role] of [Aspect]

which, in Homestuck canon, gives the character sweet reality warping powers!

Some examples include the Witch of Space being able to shrink entire planets, or the Heir of Breath whipping up tornadoes out of nowhere! One of the coolest examples in canon was the Rogue of Void can steal non-existence from an object and make it real!

But the titles are also assigned based on a character's personality, goals, how they interact with others, and their overall character arc. And because they are Zodiac-adjacent, it also means that classpects can be applied to any sort of character in any media in existence.

Why are you doing classpects for Infinity Train you cringey Hussie simp?

First off, I don’t care for Andrew Hussie beyond the fact that they authored Homestuck, and one can certainly argue it wasn’t entirely on their own. This is an irrelevant tangent.

Secondly, both the video game Sburb in Homestuck, and the Train in Infinity Train are essentially character arc generators.

This means it’s extremely straightforward to assign classpects onto these Train peeps because their character arcs have been spelled out for us, in the same way that Sburb spells out the character arcs for the Homestuck characters when they play the game.

SUMMARY OF CLASSES

A Class determines how a character is, or acts, or behaves, they are analogous to D&D classes. This system is based on the one developed by @optimisticduelist2 and @homestuckexamination

Role Active Passive Description*

Create Maid Sylph Create or Mend for self / others

Destroy Prince Bard Destroy or Subdue for self / others

Change Witch Heir Change or Manipulate for self / others

Know Mage Seer Understand or Learn for self / others

Give Page Knight Give or Serve to self / others

Take Thief Rogue Take or Steal for self / others

*Note: Just because a character is in a passive or active class does NOT mean they must ALWAYS use their aspect in a selfish or selfless manner!

SUMMARY OF ASPECTS

Aspects are analogous to classical elements (Water, Earth, Fire, Air, etc). They come in pairs that counterbalance each other like Yin and Yang. I also try to summarize their core concept in as little words as possible. (Note if you are using the dark theme some of the font colours might not show up properly. Just highlight it if that's the case.)

Space - Creativity Time - Inevitability

Light - Knowledge Void - Mystery

Life - Abundance Doom - Futility

Hope - Faith Rage - Chaos

Mind - Motives/Decisions Heart - Identity/Emotions

Breath - Freedom Blood - Bonds

***Key point: Thinking about the character’s Character Arc is the best way to classpect them!!!***

If their character arc revolves (mainly) around themselves, they are an ACTIVE class.

If their character arc revolves (mainly) around other people, they are a PASSIVE class.

CHARACTERS AND THEIR CLASSPECTS

Tulip Olsen – Mage of Light

“One who knows Light for themselves.”

Tulip gained the most knowledge of the Train other than Amelia out of the main characters, and her understanding of the Train (the world around her) as well as her own issues allowed her to free herself from the Train. Her knowledge inadvertently led to a better Train system through her teaching her knowledge to One-One (mages are great teachers).

You may be wondering, if her knowledge also benefited others, why is Tulip a mage and not a seer? That’s because Tulip took the initiative to seek the knowledge of her own volition (i.e. actively), and is more open to accepting and assimilating new knowledge.

Seers on the other hand, receive a ton of knowledge passively, but it takes them time to parse the amount of information, and seers tend to struggle to understand the meaning behind the information they receive (Rose, the Seer of Light in Homestuck suffered the brunt of this early on, and Terezi, the Seer of Mind, had this struggle in the middle to the end of the webcomic. Also see the entry for Simon).

Amelia Hughes – Maid of Doom

“One who creates Doom for themselves.”

I don’t think I need to explain the ‘creating doom for herself’ part of Amelia’s whole schtick, since doom is tied to futility and suffering. However, looking more deeply into it, you can say that she has created so much suffering on the Train that to make amends (hehe mends), she needs to go and fix the mistakes she made, thus also mending her own Doom and mending through Doom.

By taking Hazel in, not only is she mending the doom that she had brought onto Hazel by creating her in the first place, but she also averted Hazel’s doom by saving her from Grace and Simon. [non-canonical tangent: in my fanfic, she helps Simon realize what his issues were, thus averting his doom as well].

In addition, Doom is tied to technology and systems, and Amelia is an engineer, and if you buy my idea that the Train itself can be seen as an Agent of Doom, or even the embodiment of Doom, then her creating Train Cars to reenact her past life (also an act of futility) also falls very much in line with Maid of Doom. Also she is basically MADE of doom as the False Conductor.

Lake – Thief of Breath

“One who takes Breath for themselves.”

Lake wanted freedom from their existence as a reflection, and then they wanted to be free from the Train like a passenger can eventually be. Lake wasn’t afraid to get their hands dirty in order to obtain that freedom as well, something thieves are prone to do. We see them try to trick Tulip in the Chrome Car in order to escape from the mirror dimension, and they also full-out killed a cop they were handcuffed to so they could be free.

Jesse Cosay – Knight of Blood

“One who serves Blood to others.”

Blood is tied to bonds in terms of the bonds we create between people, i.e. family and friends. Jesse’s key issue was that he was giving too much of himself to his toxic friends and his swim team that he hurt his little brother in the process, and he needed to learn to give in a healthier way.

He also in a sense has to ‘set boundaries’ with others too, and not get too influenced by peer pressure. Finally, the most important use of his aspect was he was able to free Lake by offering (giving) his friendship (blood) to them.

Grace Monroe – Witch of Heart

“One who changes Heart for themselves”

Grace is basically the queen of putting on masks in order to get what she wants from others. She acts in a friendly and understanding teacher/guardian manner to the younger Apex kids, but in a cool girl big sis kind of way to Jesse in order to convince him to join the Apex. So not only does she exhibit the changing of identity, but also to change how others feel about her, both to her own benefit. She is really the most “herself” only with Simon.

Grace’s entire character arc is centered around her having a ‘change of heart’ too, re-evaluating and changing her whole identity once she found out she was wrong about numbers and denizens. She will then change the hearts of the Apex kids as well, changing the purpose and identity of the Apex.

Simon Laurent – Seer of Mind

“One who knows Mind for others.”

You're probably rolling on the ground with laughter right now. Believe me I was too when I thought of this. But let me explain.

Because Simon’s arc ended in his tragic death, then we need to see what he did wrong in order to figure out his classpect. Simon’s troubles started when he rejected new information about the Train, when he refused knowledge. In addition, he was so sure of his own correctness that he couldn’t properly understand Grace’s motivations and couldn’t predict her decisions. He forcibly peered into Grace’s private thoughts for himself, and then came to the entirely wrong conclusions.

He was, in essence, completely unaware of the minds of others, and thus blinded himself to the truth. Thus, he is the Seer of Mind.

We can therefore imagine that if his character arc had run its course not to tragedy but towards self-actualization, he would have become somebody to understand other’s minds, and to know his own mind for the benefit of others (cough my fanfics coughcoughcough). This will not be easy for him, because as mentioned before, Seers receive information very naturally but struggle with understanding it and synthesizing it into a coherent whole.

It is also possible he was exercising some of his knowledge of mind in a positive way by being the Apex’s second in command, as he was the strategist to Grace’s commander.

Ryan Akagi – Heir of Space

“One who changes Space for others.”

Ryan is a creative spirit, with his eyes to the stars. He’s always making plans to spread his art to the whole world. He is driven but in a way where it seems like creativity is driving him, and he is just along for the ride.

Yes, music is normally associated with time, but Ryan isn’t cynical, dwelling on the past and worrying about the future. He is a guy that’s in the present moment. Plus, his gigs include lots of theatrics and visuals… when he is able/allowed to accomplish that of course. So this aligns his musicality more towards Space than Time.

He inspired Min-Gi to follow his artistic pursuits. He also finds creative solutions to Train cars that his companions didn’t see (especially the Art Gallery Car, where as soon as he found the solution he literally changed space). He definitely fits the ‘driving inspirational force’ that Heirs are for others.

Min-Gi Park – Page of Hope

“One who serves Hope to themselves.”

Min-Gi didn’t have faith in himself and his musical abilities. He dreams of being a musician but he did not ‘believe in himself’ enough to follow that dream. In the end, he had to have faith in his abilities, to allow himself to hope for the future that he wants. Pages also have very slow progression rates, and Min-Gi certainly fits that; not understanding his true calling until his best friend/crush accidentally dragged him into several repeated life or death situations in another dimension.

[Non-canonical note: Min-Gi having the Hope aspect could be why I headcanoned him and his family as religious for my fanfics (Hope is very much tied to spirituality and religion, and the hope symbol is a pair of angelic wings for crying out loud). And also apparently that was a lucky thing I did because Korean-Canadian immigrants in the sixties were all just missionary families sponsored by the Presbyterian Church!]

REFERENCES

Homestuck Character Classes (Most Official Fanon): https://homestuckexamination.tumblr.com/post/175472060924/homestuck-examination-classpect-analysis https://mspaintadventures.fandom.com/wiki/Class

Homestuck Cosmic Aspects (Canonical): http://hs.hiveswap.com/ezodiac/aboutaspects.php

#infinity train #homestuck #classpect #classpect analysis #character analysis #tulip olsen #amelia hughes #lake infinity train #jesse cosay #grace monroe #simon laurent #ryan akagi #min gi park #this is extremely niche #but i dont care #image descriptions in alt text

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