To say Homestuck is an important part of my life is an understatement. I think I was around 9 or 10 years old when I was (unintentionally) introduced to Homestuck via my older sister. She tried really, REALLY hard to not facilitate me being invested in the comic. She Failed. From day 1 I liked the simple designs and the funny visual gags and Eridan. Eridan was always my favourite. But the worst part? I didn't know how to read English at the time.
So, my entire understanding of Homestuck back then was a scattered half-comprehension of the fact that it was about something complicated with a lot of characters and aliens murdered each other a lot. I LOVED it. I theorise that it's from this period in my life that I got such an affinity for "patching up" stories, as it were. Being able to string together unrelated events in the narrative into some cohesive overarching plot was my younger self's instinct in order to make something understandable out of the monolith that is Homestuck, and today it's evolved into my incessant need for theories, headcanons that patch plot holes, and generally being overly-obsessed with timeframes and plots making sense.
It is also from Homestuck, you may rightly assume, that I got the cadance I speak in. Unironically, I learned how to read English thanks in large part to Homestuck, and it's flippent use of casual language, purple prose and unabashed swearing is potentially the biggest reason for why I speak like that myself. "Fuck" is a buffer word to me, and I blame Karkat.
All of this to say, though, that I was very, VERY young when I first read Homestuck (debatably not even HAVING a "first read"), and I was also quite young when it ended. And, truth be told, I hated the ending. I was very unsatisfied with everything that took place post-retcon (at the time not even knowing what "retcon" even MEANS so, yeah, another thing Homestuck inedvertantly taught me), and while part of that was due to my biases (I hated Vriska so fucking much) another part is that I just... wasn't media literate enough to really UNDERSTAND the comic. I went cold on Homestuck soon after the ending, other fandoms picking up the slack and letting me be obsessed, and while it remained in my conscience via a staple of my artstyle and vocabulary, it also kind of fell to the wayside. I'd attempt re-reads here and there but never get much farther than Act 4 out of pure BOREDOM with the trolls (which were originally the reason younger me even liked the comic!!)
So, think of me as a born-again Homestuck. I was indoctranated into the religion fandom at a young age, and was entirely too much of a baby literally and figuratively to understand the bible source material and what it was actually trying to convey, so I'm righting those wrongs now. I'm taking up the mantle and rereading the comic from start to finish, to see if I can get fresher perspectives or new opinions, and to finally settle the debate:Is Vriska Valid?
Was the Ending any Good?
Originally, this reread started as a scattered liveblogging attempt on Neocities, so this section of the page is dedicated to trying to reformat the limited text I wrote over there into something tangable and readable on a non-social-media site.
All of this is post-moving the liveblog to Neocities so it's formatted for the site specifically, and also I'm not constantly cutting myself off to fit within the post limit.
(2655) I find it interesting how quickly Vriska generally just Latches Onto John the moment she starts trolling the humans. She's physically and literally drawn to relevance and John, as the literal main character, is a hell of a vessel for that. It's akin to how normies just like whatever is popular, but in Vriska's case again it's a lot more wholesome and more deeply rooted in, like, her perpetual need to be in the spotlight, and John just kind of has a lot of naiive attention to give.
(2658) No-one but me gives a shit but I love the fact that, after her dream self died, the first thing Jade does is go back to sleep. Queen shit. I'd do the same. And it's equally as TRAGIC to be when I remember her narcolepsy is eventually "retconned" (not really retconned) to actually be Vriska's fault/Vriska's doing. I wish Jade was just eepy constantly like I am and that it wasn't some paranormal bullshit, it's just more interesting that way to me.
(2660) For a lot of reasons I genuinely feel for WV and his plight, the one moment he tried to do something great it immediatly blew up in his face and "caused" a massacre. He couldn't have known that it wasn't his fault that his people died. But also, it once again makes me wonder how the carapacians have such rich lives and yet they're "robbed" of a greater purpose, of any formal god-tier titles and any roles in the story that don't wholely depend on the players. It just seems cruel on a cosmic level. I'd honestly extend the same reasoning even to the consorts. Just because they're smaller than us and communicate differently than us doesn't mean they're unimportant, that their lives shouldn't be dignified. Sburb is a universe-perpetuation machine that Doesn't Care about the ruin it thrusts it's own universes into in order to achieve that goal. It's fucked up.
(2661) John and Vriska's perpetual goofing is really actually kind of interesting to read. Up until now I've always found John's conversations with ANYONE to be a fuckin riot, and Vriska's conversations in constant need of psychoanalyzing for me to be able to fully be invested in, and now it's like putting them in the same room has caused an equilibrium. There's nothing to "psychoanalyze" per se, but there's also not much to be hoolering and hooting over like I usually do. They're both genuinely just acting like normal kids and it's weird to me because, up until now, "wow they're just normal kids" is kind of a hard observation to come by. Mostly thanks to the writing style and vocabulary all the kids have tbh.
(2662) John asks the question that's been burning in my mind as well - Why does Vriska want to help people? This point is touched on more later on if I remember correctly, but as it stands now it's a perfectly valid question. The trolls are already doomed, and the humans are doomed too (from Vriska's pov), but I think her main motivation right now IS a sense of purpose. She's immediatly making it about her rivalry with Terezi, she's trying to be helpful in that meddlesome "Kanaya" way that's expected of Sylphs, and she's doing it for seemingly no reason at all. "Grand plans" my ass, I think she just wants to be involved in something and doesn't know how to do that without making it ABOUT her.
(2663) "Winning is the only point of anything" girl go to therapy. It really is interesting to contrast her "winning attitude" to John's, though. John's idealism and "winning attitude" stems from hope, he doubts that things are bleak, partly out of denial, but also partly out of just calling bullshit. Lived experiance of this game has, thus far, taught him that there's a way through anything, even things that seem impossible. (This will change when his dad dies, but) Vriska's attitude, meanwhile, stems from hopelessness. She's attempting to give her life purpose via winning, and sees no point in doing anything else because it doesn't contribute to the grander role of "being important". It's the same reason she scoffs at him for saying he has friends to rely on. She thinks it's lame because her relationships have been nothing but miserable encounter after miserable encounter, while John is happy to play a game with his friends and if there's a greater purpose along the way, it's a bonus. It's vaguely existentialist, in that John finds implicit purpose in living life for the sake of living life, while Vriska has a predetermined goal that she crumbles when she doesn't reach, because it's her only source of confidence and identity.
(2667) I love John using The Dad Voice to get the imps to leave his fucking room. This kid is a riot.
(2672) It's actually kind of poignant that John and Vriska's conversation about home veers into talking about shitty movies almost immediatly. I think Nick Cage represents childhood for them BOTH. John will eventually grow up to hate the movie and god, fucking mood on that front, but VRISKA starts off hating the premise only to realise she's like in love with sweaty Nick Cage or something. And I kind of can't help but draw a parallel to the fact that, yeah her life on alternia sucked, but the friend she DID make on that horrid path DID bring her joy. Her and Terezi's bond was forged under the worst conditions but it was genuinely something special, and Vriska's buried those feelings so deep that her nostalgia is being represented in-narrative with something completely fucking unrelated and nonsensical and comical. Which, yeah, it just fuckin be like that sometimes.
(2674) I love the stupid bucket thing it's completely incomprehensible. And I love John and Vriska being stupid fucking kids. Clueless dork who doesnt hide he's a dork, and clueless dork who's trying SO HARD not to look like a clueless dork. It's peak, actually.
(2682) The contrast between John and Rose always makes for a really fun dynamic, but at this point in the story, about halfway until the reckoning, they've both grown so much and yet their dynamic kind of stays the same. John is as optimistic as always and Rose unironicly compliments him on his, like, inability to SEE the hoplesness of the situation, and there's a moment of John mimicking Vriska's expressions when Rose tells him he's the leader. This is super surface level reading I'm aware but John has the same relationship to leadership that Vriska has to acteual friendship - forged on accident and very lightly regarded, but one of their most important roles nonetheless. I think I just really love this page because I love John and Rose's dynamic LMAO
(2685) I'm forced to read HS from my shitty laptop monitor today instead of my actually good larger monitor, which means that I don't. see Rose's face. The difference between the white and extremely light grey of her eyes and mouth are so subtle this shitty ass laptop can't pick up on it and Rose just looks like Slenderman's cool wizard daughter. It's a little insane.
(2692) Kananya I love you. The way she stammers her way into admitting she read Rose's guide is so like... packed with gay confession tones but in a lowkey way. Kanaya you're a sap and I love you. And I LOVE Rose's casual tone in reffering to Kanaya by her first name and negging her a bit on her rambling it's so fun and it's such a quick and easy way to establish familiarity in the form of an informal bond. OUGH I love it. A tiny bit of writing that does so much lifting.
(2694) I'm aware I have decidedly very little to say today about the dialogue I'm reading on account of the fact that my brain isn't working, but I still feel the need to comment every page or so because it's just fun. Like, Kanaya calling Karkat their leader as a contrast to Rose calling John THEIRS gives me slight Nepeta/Equius vs Feferi/Eridan vibes, though that may just be because of hindsight. What I mean is, my usual interpretation of the conversation is a straightforward if sentimental parallel, where Kanaya's bond with Karkat is akin to Rose and John's, and the conversations parallel each other in both themes and wording. My new and somewhat more cynical interpretation is that, while the Wording is paralleled, the meaning is opposite. In that, Karkat's behavure isn't really that of a leader, but someone trying really fucking hard to be one anyway, as opposed to John who leads somewhat effortlessly if unintentionally. I think I stand somewhere in between these two interpretations. I think Karkat is a different KIND of leader to John, and while the difference in intensity is comical, the entire parallel speaks more to Karkat's shortcomings than they speak of John's successes. I also realise the hypocrasy in saying "I don't have much to say" and then writing an entire paragraph while only halfway through the pesterlog.
Ok the only thing I have to add after the rest of the pesterlog is that Karkat is weirdly a lot more sexist than I remember him to be. Hm.
(2696) On the one hand the constant talking about the humans being "pink" and "white as a ghost" (specifically in Rose's case here) really DOES seem to hint at the fact that the humans were all always intended to be white as fuck. Which, yeah, is a little disappointing, but even when ignoring that there's the entire trickster debocle and the "peachy" joke, which... yeah lack of racial diversity is kind of baked into homestuck, isn't it? It's a shame, since the style really lends itself to a wide range of possible interpretations for the character's race (like a better version of Kris and Frisk's yellow skin in UT/DR), but I guess there's no fighting Hussie's lack of forethought on the matter.
(2703) Does ANYONE know how the fuck the horseshitometer or whatever the fuck it's called even WORKS? I keep not knowing what the fuck makes it swing in which direction.
(2712) Kanaya's "maddedning curiosity" about Rose couldn't be any more lesbian coded if she TRIED. ESPECIALLY knowing her investment in the situation because of the walkthrough. It's so much it's SO much and I love Kananya so so much.
(2716) I'm not gonna lie I lose the plot every time I reread this entire endevour from Kanaya's point of view. I think I just have trouble keeping up with linear time that this hopping around is just twofold confusion for me and I end up sitting back and just kind of. Watching from a middle distance with varying degrees of invested.
(2722) "Do trolls have names?" ROOOOOOOSE after my own heart as well as Kanaya's... But yeah no it's that sort of friendship only Rose is capable of where, after extended periods of antagonising, she just goes "yeah I consider you a valueble member of my inner circle and I'd like to know you better." I love these dumbass gays.
(2724) Kooki with the pointless parallelling and philosophising, but I DO think there's something to be said about the way John/Vriska and Rose/Kanaya mimic each other and yet end up entirely different dynamics. Kanaya's begun scheming while Vriska's begun meddling. And, god, there's SOMETHING here but my brain, again, isn't at full capacity right now. Something about how Vriska pushes John to what she wants, while Kanaya and Rose just observe and learn about each other for what they are? Vriska trying to mould a breath player to her liking again while Kanaya becomes enthralled with another light player... No idea. Just something about heteronormitivity vs queerness. I don't think Rose would even use labels for herself without a LOT of prodding but like, Kanaya piques her interest, you know? Again brain not working and also I'm in a crowded place where a lot of people are talking so I can't fully formulate thoughts. Ough.
(2725) I fully ebrace my formerly undercooked thoughts and now present to you the thesis: John and Vriska are each other's beards. They're both pretending to be perfectly straight and they're mimicking what straightness is supposed to be, down to the fact that Vriska is nagging and bossy while John is just kind of helpless and gullible. Vriska keeps talkign about fashion and John keeps complaining about her meddling without properly standing up for himself. There's some genuine connection/vulnerability buried deep beneath this, one reminiscent of their first conversation/s, but what it's devolved into now is a LOT more grating to read. Vriska keeps, just... insisting on completely pointless garbage with the same intensity that she tries to assist with important things, it's infuriating. And John isn't a peach either! He's just getting pushed around for no good reason and rolling his eyes as a form of halfhearted protest. Congradulations guys you've become insufferable.
(2726) The IMMEDIATE jump to Rose and Kanaya's 16th conversation when the last one we witnessed was their 8th is also striking to me. Genuine wholehearted bonding contrasted against whatever the fuck Vriska is trying to do. I have so little patience for that girl when circamstances for reading aren't perfect I swear to god. But, to focus back on Rose and Kanaya,
(2727) They kind of effortlessly both open up to each other via proxy of the walkthrough. Rose describes it as desperate and pointless and melodramatic, while Kanaya regarded it as both useful, informational, and (implicitly) comforting. Like she wasn't alone in the vastness of space, struggling with a game stacked against her, playing for the goodness of her entire race. She idealised Rose, but now that she's met the real her, she's so much more infatuated than she thought, or at least I bet she is. The way she speaks makes me think that, anyway. She's spending time with Rose just for the sake of spending time and it really really strikes me as that kind of "I want your attention but don't want to interrupt your general existance with my own."
(2728) This is actually a fadcinating moment of contrast between using "the gods" versus Skaia as a means of divination. Skaia is like a scrying mirror teetering on sentience, with a decided benevolance and almost Love for the players that will ultimately use it for their own means. The relationship is reversed with hte dark gods, as they are fully autonimous entities that are not as invested in petty human lives as they are in their own agendas, and direct action only so much as they see fit to get a job done. Skaia gives you what you need, the gods tell you what you want. There's a big difference and it's also clear in the way Kanaya and Rose speak to each other. Rose is direct and set in her own path, while Kanaya is helpful if a bit aloof and overly invested in perception. It's a fascinating dynamic I love it a lot.
(2730) Is there any part of this conversation that ISN'T fascinating???!?!?!?! Kanaya talking about "falling into those patterns again" reffering to how she fumbled Vriska and kept doing favours for assholes like Eridan, as a means of pacifying dangerous people. Partly she doesn't want to repeat that with Rose because of self-preservation, but I think more interestingly, she's being cautious of which quadrant she appears to facilitate with Rose. (This will be broken later as Rose asks her to show her "all the quadrants" when they kiss, cementing them both as queer in their respective cultures, but until then) Kanaya seems to Remember what Eridan told her a long time ago, and has taken it seriously enough to let it influence a new friendship/relationship. I just think Eridan's mild influence on their dynamic is really, really fun. But moreso I find Rose playing Kanaya like a fiddle to be infinitely more entertaining.
(2733) I like the detail the Vriska straight up watched this dude undress. She didn't have to do that. But she did. She also didn't have to make him a custom outfit??? Like, ok, with Kanaya it's one of her hobbies and it's literally described as her playing dress-up with Rose which I think is an adorable girlhood thing, but with Vriska and John it, again, feels kinda controlling? Just like her meddling with Tavros was, but less... immediatly destructive or antagonistic, I guess? I'm reminded of how I said Terezi persues relationships like a trophy, while Vriska persues them masochistically. I think something changed when she reached god tier and has, just like Terezi, began trying to "own" partners as a way of proving she's won something. Again, winning as a substitute for purpose with her. We still havent gotten to Dave/Terezi or Jade/Karkat, but just with John/Vriska I have a LOT to chew on when it comes to comphet and friendships with ulterior motives. It's like, she could've broken the mould here. She COULD'VE treated the blank state as a proper fresh start, but she's almost immediatly fallen into old, controlling habits. I guess addiction is a powerful thing.
(2734) If John transitioned and like that meme ended up identical to Vriska, I think she'd take it as a compliment. She's trying to mould him to be "better" but she's literally just trying to make him exactly like her, and SPECIFICALLY denounsing Tavros and his way of doing things, when Tavros and John arguably have more in common with each other than Vriska does either of them. Really Vriska's obsession with Tavros and controlling him, even when she's micromanaging John, is really troubling to me.
(2736) One thing I admire about John is his absolute lack of shit giving for Vriska's shenanigains. He only humours her as much as he wants to and just fucks with her the entire rest of the time. He's a champ, if I were in his shoes I would've told her to kill herself by now LMAO
(2737) I love how, halfway through the maturing in their adventure, John has been having a merry old time, Rose has become the world's most jaded wizard with homoerotic subtext, Dave's gotten into cryptocurrency and stock gambling, and Jade neearly fucking died. None of these kids are ok.
Also something something John and Dave both judge each other for their respective troll closer relationships and it's hilarious. Dave's right btw Vriska IS bad news lmao
(2740) Dave in the beaglepuss.........
(2742) The comic has successfully trained me in Vriska Mannerisms because my first instinct upon seeing Terezi's latest parody drawing of Dave was to count how many O's she'd put in the "So Cool" remark. It was 8. the fact that I'm debating with myself whether this was actually on purpose from her and she's parodying Vriska, or whether it was entirely accidental and doesn't care to count the number of O's to NOT be 8 because she no longer cares about their rivalry is, frankly, a sign of good writing I think. Or maybe I'm insane. BUT!! The fact that Terezi is telling Dave to out-pace JOHN specifically makes me think it's intentional. Dave's complete lack of receptiveness, both to this and to the entire ordeal of stable time loops, kind of foreshadows his future lament a-la "Dave of Guy" and I think it's neat. He's going along with all of this out of necessity rather than an actual will to be involved in a grander plot and you can see it as early as here. The rest of the page is just completing another stable time loop in the form of a money transfer so there's not much to say for now.
(2748) I fucking love this panel.
(2749) OH GOD THE PARALLELS Terezi descending a spiral staircase in the opposite direction to Vriska's debut of this composition is in itself an interesting parallel - a literal showcase of them being on different wavelengths yet functionally the same in outcome. Terezi strives for justice, Vriska strives for victory, yet they both come out sore losers or hurting their friends. There's also something interesting about how, where Vriska's window let us peek at her giant doomsday device from the stairs, with Terezi it's replaced by the Sburb logo, almost tauntingly saying this game was more of a suicide mission than Vriska's doomsday device was. It's almost frightening to think, because while this game saved the kids' worlds in many ways it's also the direct catalyst for their destructions. It's a mess.
(2754) It's dialogue trees like these that make me ship fefeta hate Vriska because she just inserts herself into the conversation, adds nothing of substance, and leaves. She even comes back just to make fun of Terezi like WHAT is the point girl. This isn't even like psychoanalysis worthy she just comes in and is like "I'm right about everything fuck you guys" and leaves. Ugh. Anyway, I DO find it interesting that everyone seems to respect Terezi's board more than Karkat's. It's like universal that everyone just keeps up with what Terezi says more while they clown on Karkat constantly. I'd call it sad if it wasn't well-deserved, Terezi is good at maintaining a memo.
(2759) Once again Sollux and Terezi's dynamic is impeccable (and I will leave comments about Feferi's presence later) but I particularly enjoy that they're discussing the numerals of the blind prophets. Knowing Terezi herself is blind and functionally a prophet, and that Sollux will eventually be blinded, I think it's possible to assume that They Themselves are the blind prophets that the numerals originate from and correspond to. Maybe. There's also a lot to be said about Sollux' depressive episode here where he'd rather not hassle Karkat about anything because it means he has more work to do later. He's kind of in a slump and can't bring himself to do anything productive unless hassled by someone to do it, which might give a hint as to why Feferi's hanging out with him so much. Though it might also have something to do with the encounter she'll have with Jade much later on via dream bubbles, but we'll see.
(2764) This panel is always very striking to me, because as much as Dirk is Dave's protector and provider, he's simultaniously a juggernaught of danger and an almost constantly active threat. He picks up a horse like its nothing, yet carries Dave in his other hand quite lovingly. Dirk is a man of multituted and frankly that sometimes scares me.
(2767) This is exactly what I was talking about in the prior paragraph. He takes care of Dave, but then also very clearly abuses him in that attempt to "take care" of him. You do not need to train toddlers. And while, yes, it's remarkable that Dave has the skills he's exhibiting at such a young age, it's one of those things where it didn't have to have been found out and Dave would've been better off for it. There's a parallel to his ascension on his planet here, in that those are all trials he doesn't want, but they're ones he needs. Meanwhile, what Dirk is putting him through is, in his mind, what Dave needs, when it's actually just what Dirk wants at the detrament of Dave's wellbeing. In the end Dave never gets to consider his own WANTS, because both his quest planet and his guardian were always concearned with "the greater good", to the point that Dave's stoicism is less an expression of genuine aloofness (like it is with Dirk) and more of a crutch he leans on in order to APPEAR like he has a lot going on when, in reality, he's mostly just confused and lost 90% of the time. And it alllllllllllll stems from childhood, baby.
(2768) Call me over-interperative but this panel shows that too, I believe. While Dave and Dirk are bonding (over turntables, Dave's eventual purpose as a Knight of time), what actually takes centre frame isn't Dave's childlike whimsy, and it isn't even Dirk's overpowering presence, it's the crow. Their brotherly bond is symbolically tied to the spectre of death, something that define's Dave's life in the classpect sense (Time) but also in the familial bond sense, as Dirk's death impacts him much differently than the deaths of either dad or mom influence Rose. Because, again, their bond is DEFINED by that death, rather than death having taken away something wonderful that was always there.
(2771) This is where I kind of want to point at Feferi because I find her just. Passive Presence(tm) here very interesting. She's visually acting as Sollux' shadow, while compositionally being the only thing that's letting him not get fully pushed out of frame. I'm not saying Terezi represents his suicidal tendancies, rather I think she's just a symbol of the general pressures the rest of the team puts on Sullux because he's their defacto "tech guy", and Feferi's non-conditional presence allows a sort of safety-cushion for him to lean on. The one person he doesn't have to be someone super skilled to earn the respect of. With Feferi around he's literally just the Dave of Guy and I love that for them.
(2772) I like that Terezi and Dave's correspondance starts with, and is defined by, false pretenses. Unlike with John and Vriska where their first conversation was almost tooth-rottingly vulnerable and open, with Terezi and Dave there's a beginning air of mistrust and mind games that allows them to be good friends later on. If not for this interaction, I think Dave would've been much more dismissive of Terezi, kind of like how he is of the other trolls. But there's also the fact that she influences what his authentic style is, the style he takes on to get away from his bro's shadow. There's a metaphor in there about friendship that's so outright I kind of don't feel the need to spell it out, but there's also the weird subtext of Terezi assuming Dave is a girl (trying to put them on equal footing) while Dave assumed Terezi is a young child (someone he arguably has power over). The way they both act the same no matter the validity of these two assumptions, again, speaks volumes to me about their friendship. Terezi was raised by a distant lusus in an isolated place and has a predisposition to assuming people are *like* her, while Dave was raised in a clearly abusive household where he had to carve out his own presence despite his guardian. The fact they BOTH grow past this (Dave attempting to not perpetuate the cycle by being "nice" to Terezi by troll standards; Terezi being kind of a conniving villain and using Dave as a means to one-up her rival) is really, really interesting from an analytical standpoint. Again, their friendship is important and changes them both, but ultimately, because it's built on false pretenses of all kinds, it's important to step back and realise it's not all sunshine and rainbows with these two.
(2774) Dave's irritability with crying and Terezi's teasing him over it as an extension of my essay paragraph from above. It was sort of pre-destined shit would turn out this way and they both knew it. But also, this is sort of what I meant by Dave's stoicness being a crutch. He can't stand the display of any emotion for any reason, but his quest FORCES him to confront these uncomfortable moments head on because the session basically knows him better than he knows himself. "You've been awake all along" and all that, Dave very much understands what he's about without ever letting it be anything he can't have vice-grip-esque control over, because that's exactly the framing his brother gave him. But, in an alternate timeline, in a different world, he literally releases a movie that's shitty on purpose on a big screen, and jesus Christ I can't put into words how much guts that takes. Dave is better off when he's being genuine and true to himself, but the stoic-ness is something that was semi-literally beaten into him.
(2775) "Forgetting to forget" is a further extension of this, he remembers things that aren't "cool" to remember and he feels ways that aren't "manly" to feel, and it's his friendship with Terezi that allows him to start peeling back the layers of this complicated onion that has become his emotional and mental state. Layers upon layers of irony that are kind of like the black licorace suit he puts on to try and be unappealing to Terezi. But, no matter how hard he tries, she can smell the genuine and the lies, and his biggest weakness at this point in his story is exactly her ability to be on his level while still playing him like a fiddle. Will be cont. when the Karkat memo comes up.
(2782) The outright paralleling with Vriska and John is something I HAVE to talk about. Like, more than I have already. Dave assumes Terezi is flirting with him (when she isn't) while Terezi is very explicitly in her mind-games way using Dave as a means to fuck with Vriska and knock her down a peg. Meanwhile, John is entirely oblivious to Vriska flirting with him (boy-skylark style), all the while Vriska SAYS she's using him to one-up Terezi when in reality she has a point to prove to herself, about her own worth as a friend and a player of the game (in this sense, the romantic game AND the sburb game). It's that thing I talked about coming back, Terezi holding up relationships like a trophy while Vriska seeks them out masochistically. It all keeps coming back to that and it's FASCINATING to me.
(2784) John pestering Vriska out of boredom is very fun to me, from both an analytical perspective but also just a human perspective. John's just being a normal kid with her and it's interesting to him to have her as a friend, while Vriska doesn't know what friends ARE anymore and keeps trying to pull superiority/rank on him. He's just trying to spend time with her and Vriska's like "ok but what's the catch" even if she doesn't say it like that. Meanwhile from a human perspective it's interesting to me that he even likes her. He remarks himself that she's kind of bossy but he doesn't seem bothered by it. Seeing as he wasn't really bothered by Rose taking control of his house, either, it just seems like a weird character quirk that John doesn't really have a line drawn for what people can or can't do to him and his immediate surroundings. He even let's Terezi's murder attempt slide it's insane.
(2787) I think what Vriska likes the most about Nic Cage is that he (and you'll have to forget what actually happens in the movie here and just bear with me from an analytical standpoint) has this sort of "yearning" look to him. When he makes eye contact with the camera, what he's Supposed to be convaying is unconditional love for a romantic interest, and Vriska's infatuated with it because all her life she's literally been swimming in hatred and has developed meladaptive masochistic tendancies just to derive SOME kind of joy from it. What I mean to say is I think Nic Cage might be the reason she starts to question her ways later on, which is bizarre to write but also it's Homestuck so I think it tracks.
(2788/2789) I find it infinitely funny that the way Karkat at first adresses both John and Dave is as if he's a condescending father figure. And, this kind of tracks with his whole bullshit macho thing he has going on, but it becomes increasingly funny when we take into consideration the next memo.
(2790) There is so fucking much to unpack here. Firstly, I'll piggyback off the prior point and jump ahead in the conversation a little bit, Karkat's whole "big angry daddy" facade falls apart the moment Dave calls him out for getting rejected. Dave and John both incorrectly assume it wounds his masculinity because he's gay, but in reality it wounds his masculinity because he allowed himself to fal head-first into idealised romantic tropes and spiralled like an idiot trying to earn John's hatred, failing, and then berating himself for even developing feelings for an alien in the first place. His disdain for the guys' involvement with the scourge sisters further supports this, as while his Commrodery brain is concearned for their safety in getting involved with murderous flirts, his Self-Loathing brain (which is arguably stronger in this scenario) is trying to get everyone up to speed to his new morals, berating them from "doing" exactly what he was doing only a few hours prior. There's a lot to be said about the fact that Karkat just, like, can't function when everyone isn't doing exactly what he wants (either for team synergy reasons or self-loathing reasons), but for now I want to step back and examine John and Dave for a sec.
John readily admits to never having romantic feelings ("for a girl" he specifies) before, and he has no idea how to act in any romantic situation whatsoever. I love Karkat comically making fun of John for this. But there's also a hint of "is an egg cracking or is a closet door creaking open?" With Dave, I think (in hindsight) this is one of the conversations that hints to his later involvement with Karkat (but I have Critiques about that, mostly that I don't think it's set up nearly as well as John and Terezi's kismesitude is, or even Dave and Tavros' little encounters, and you can only assume there's subtext in what he's saying to John and Karkat because of said hindsight of future updates and developments in the retcon), specifically if we look at the way he tells JOHN he might've rejected Karkat in the past or future, but doesn't even consider himself a viable target of Karkat's flirting. In this case he's correct but there is a moment of internalised homophobia in that, the "he's hitting on you because you're a dork and I'm too cool to be gay", but with John I'd argue it's worse. "You think Vriska has feelings for me" and "I have to marry Rose?" are just. Priceless. This kid has never thought legitimately about romance in his life, ever, and the fact that he never developed a real crush before MIGHT be projection on my part but I'm fully choosing to read as an egg moment. Like, me too John. Me Too.
All in all page 2790 has to go down in history as one of the best pages ever, and I'm NOT just saying that because I love voicing Karkat's lines from this page specifically.
(2792) I had a bit of a phase where I read a bunch and didn't write anything as comments and I'm gonna try and rectify that by going back and writing down most of my thoughts. However keep in mind this is going to be a lot more scattered.
Firstly I need to complement Karkat's theme as arguably my favourite piece of music to come out of Alterniabound. Playing it in the bg as I type this. Anytway, here's some hihglights from the convos (the only things I was taking note of):
Karkat/Nepeta This convo highlights the part about Equius and Nepeta's dynamic that I adore, which is that Nepeta just doesn't fuckin take shit from Equius if it's unfounded or dumb. Also I like the canon detail that Jade is Nepeta's favourite human, as I've been seeing a lot of posts from that one tumblr blog that posts nothing but Jadenep. Love that blog on principal.
Karkat/Feferi Feferi is SO delightfully creepy and it's moments like these that make me sad she was shafted as a character. This is the first hint to us that she was involved in the creaton of the dream bubbles and I LOVE that. I love her sm. Though, Karkat's general shitty stance on sleeping after their dream selves are dead makes me think that the sburb players are all natually attuned to the eldrich gods outside the medium, at least in some sense. It'd explain why they're able to ascend to godhood while people like the carapascians can't, and similar things. It's just a lot.
Karkat/Aradia This is out first showcase that Aradia is gonna explode in the future and goddamn it really does come from out of nowhere huh?
Karkat/Gamzee This is our first hint towards them being moirails, isn't it? Gamzee calling Karkat his best friend and Karkat ordering him around similarly to how Equius does with Nepeta. I wonder if they became moirails sometime during their session, because I distinctly remember them having a slightly different dynamic at the beginning of Hivebent.
Karkat/Kanaya I hate this sprite of Kanaya. Also "impromputations" is funny as fuck Kanaya stays winning.
Karkat/Equius Equius wants normal friends so badly it's actually a bit sad.
Karkat/Tavros I think the question about why Tavros didn't get robot legs sooner is a little absurd, not only coming from Karkat who just expressed how awful of an experiance that was for everyone. It would've required amputation either way and I think Tavros would've refused that on principal, and I think that's valid of him. Literally the only reason his disability is a problem is because his teammates are giant fucking assholes who refuse to help him. Tavros did nothing wrong and I stand by that, and I think the implication that Terezi's blindness is perfectly fine because she can approximate sight with her smell, but Tavros' paralyzation is a problem because he's not mobile enough to the author's liking is fucking insulting. There's a lot of things in Homestuck that could've been handled better, and a BIG one among them is how this fucking comic handles disability.
Vriska/Feferi I WILL NEVER STOP BEING SALTY ABOUT HOW FEFERI WAS SHAFTED this conversation and this DYNAMIC in particular always resonated with me like. Feferi can just put Vriska in her place!! Without even flinching!! Unlike everyone else she isn't nearly as scared of Vriska and I LOVE that for her. I'm kind of sad Meenah got the spotlight instead of Feferi tbh. Feferi my goat.
Vriska/Tavros For every instance when Vriska is redeemable or even likable to me, theres an equal number of scenes like this that make me want to bash her head in. Extra points for hindsight because I know Vriska is Hussie's favourite so all her actions are, to an extent, never properly repramanded. Her acting like this to Tavros every waking moment? Never punished. Kanaya punches her in the face ONCE but that's not NEARLY enough.
Vriska/Eridan Eridan being a pathetic little shit, nothing new, I just HAVE to point out how awkward shit is between them and how, like, lonely Eridan is by contrast. Vriska is constantly up to her throat in getting involved in everything, and even though she's isolated from the rest of her peers I'd argue it isn't as severe as it is with Eridan, because he's shunned by literally everyone. Vriska picks on people as a way to bond, but Eridan doesn't. All his advances, romantic or not, just get shut out the door on principle. Give by boy a 8r8k already!!!!
Vriska/Kanaya Another regular Kanaya W I'm so so so glad she has it in her to properly tell Vriska off after what happened. Girl I hope you hate her forever (I know that won't happen but shh let me dream)
Terezi/Feferi/Aradia I find it fascinating that Feferi and Aradia have a sort of "unspoken" parallel and contrast with each other throughout the whole story. Aradia starts as a ghost, Feferi ends as a ghost; Aradia and Feferi essentially swap between each other being the person who supports Sollux til the end of time; and in this small instance, we see a sort of contrast of ideologies. Feferi very much believes in hope, in the future and in growth, while Aradia views it all as immutable and stale by definition, paradoxes within paraxodes. It's just really really cool and I wish we got more of their dynamic in the comic UUUURGH.
Terezi/Gamzee Yet another one of those moments that makes me go "damn you crazy kids I wish you didn't have to grow up and become gruesome parodies of your once semi-functional lives".
Terezi/Eridan A large part of why I think this game's dialogue in specific wasn't given a lot of thought to is conversations like these, that are short, to-the-point, and lack future consequence. The most important scenes (that I'll get to in a second) are flash-forward scenes that give context for future happenings, and this game is almost like space-filler that acts as set-dressing for what the trolls' brief time on the meteor really looked like: claustrophobic, hopeless and a general pit of misery on account of the fact that none of them are really proper friends and its kind of sad. Anyway I say this all on this conversation specifically because it's really funny lmao
The actually important scenes in this [S]:
I have an entire theory about troll ectobiology that I need to get to writing sometime soon, but until then please know that Karkat's little scene with the little grubs will always hold a special place in my heart ♡
Terezi's future scene actually made me very very sad. The entire meteor has, as I mentioned, already a huge air of hopelessness and nihilism to it, this group of kids all essentially just waiting to die, but this scene with Terezi in particular makes me a little emotional because the dragonsuit, if I rememebr correctly, is like her comfort outfit that she goes to for strength. On the walls are scribbled drawings of her new friends, this deep longing and hope that things will turn out okay, that is just being violently taken away from her every moment they spend on this meteor. She's retreated to all her old comforting habits just to try to get through this utter hopelessness and, god, it's just. It makes me feel bad for this little psycho girl, y'know?
Vriska killed an innocent little cuttlefish she deserves the worst punishment known to man Vriska's section of the game is, I think, the first proper hint we get to her having ascended to godhood? Her literally being able to steal luck and all that. But it's also interesting because, all other parts of the meteor have everyone's stuff strewn all over the place, but Vriska? Vriska keeps all her items literally close to her chest, no one has her items in any of the chests, it's only her own. This serves double meaning I think. On the one hand she refuses to genuinely open up to others/be vulnerable because she's afraid someone will literally steal something from her in the process, and on the OTHER hand it symbolises her being "shunned" from the group in a sense, no-one WANTS her stuff so no one tries to take it and put it in a chest. Also once again her weird obsession with making John "the best" just to out-do Terezi is really, honestly pitiful. Like girl get a better hobby. Maybe some bitches. Idk what would fix her at this point she just kind of seems entirely too up her own ass to ever get her shit together.
(2798) This page specifically is seared into my mind because, a long time ago, when I was attempting a reread of HS, this is the page I decided to pause on and it stayed open in my tabs for like MOOOOONTHS, and I refused to close it and I refused to keep reading. So this page is just inexplicably and deeply iconic to me. I can't quite put it into words. It's just. This is the face of Homestuck to me..
(2800) Is this the first instance of John going "I never realised before how much (X) sucks"? I think it might be. It's an interesting sign of his growth and changing tastes and all that. Or it might just be spite after he realised they were made by crockercorp. (Also a note about the medalion: I think this is a sort-of not-really retcon where Hussie realised it'd make sense if the sprites were summonable via amulet, but couldn't go back and revise it so now it's an unlockable thing in the game instead of there from the start. I say this because I, personally, think it would make more sense if they were summonable by default.)
(2805) I HATE ERIDAN I HATE ERIDAN I HATE THIS SNIVLY PATHETIC SON OF A BITCH SO MUUUUUUCH i love him tho. On a real note, this is another interesting case of Eridan's words accidentally leaving a lasting mark, I think. First it was with Kanaya (when Rose asked "are you trying to pacify me?" and Kanaya went "is that what I'm doing?" I can vividly imagine her having flashbacks to Eridan's conversation about how you have to be conscious of what signals you're giving out to someone lest they get the wrong idea), and now with Rose in that he says something along the lines of "I can teach you about the quadrants" and Rose blows him off obviously, but later on her line leading into kissing Kanaya is something along the lines of "I want you to teach me about all the quadrants" and I just... I really love the idea that Eridan has 0 game at all times but by complete accident help set up these two lesbians. Yet another reason why I usually ship him as a moirail to Kanaya because it just. It Just Fits To Me.
(2806) GET HIS ASSSSS GET HIS ASS WHOOOOO HELL YEAHHHHHH
(2808) I love this entire interaction but here specifically I want to point to how Aradia is unironically so desperate to change fate that she's resorting to childish tactics that she despises in others. "If I say stop enough times maybe it'll work" and "I wish someone told me not to do it even if I didn't listen". She's clearly regretful of a lot of her violent outbursts, and a lot of her questioning of the status quo, and she must feel very guilty at being aware of fate yet completely powerless to change it, and every action she takes inevitably enacts the very thing she dreads. This poor kid man.
(2809) I like that Rose actually finds Aradia interesting to talk to, and I like that Aradia is just losing her mind more and more every second. She's had to enture so much and the cracks are really starting to show. I know she won't immediatly blow herself up after this conversation but it's a really good peek into her psyche and what makes her so, so unstable in the first place. This constant dreading of everything while not being able to do anything. The fact that she thought she was doomed from the beginning (aka didn't have a dream self, aka thought she was so broken she never bothered trying to "wake up" to reach her deeper truth), and how in reality her dream self has been sleeping on the sacrificial slab all along, just waiting for the opprotunity to open her eyes and finally reach her full potential............ Man Aradia makes me emotional.
(2812) God ok I hate to be that guy but Rose's proportions are really really super scuffed here. Her legs are fine but nothing else is. The hands? The giant ass heat? the way her arm is a toothpick wide? Ough. Anyway I love Nepeta and I love that Rose lightly teases her she's such a little shit.
(2816) This entire conversation made me so so emotional. Jasprose is the kind attentive support Rose always needed, and in this quest to save herself and her friends, she has to disregard that which would complete her - her companion and her completed planet quest. What's best for her is to listen to Jasprose, to learn to play the rain and to work on herself, to become a true seer of light, but instead circamstances are forcing her into more and more destructive habits, all for the sake of the greater good. In the same way that Dave is tortured by that imposed greater good, so is Rose, but while Dave suffers at the hands of others Rose's mental misery is almost entirely self-inflicted. She outgrew her laptop, but she thinks that means she outgrew Jaspers, too. She wants to save her friends, and the cruelest truth of all, is that it DOES require her to essentially outgrow herself, too. Leaving behind personhood and self-fulfillment in an effort to outmaneuvre the great undoing. I feel so bad for these kids, man.