Land of Rambles and Theories

I finished my MA (yay!) and am now waiting on results (to be released Sept 28th)

I am on ADHD meds (yay!) but had to wean off of my anti depressants, which sucked, and I had some horrific withdrawal

I actually ended up getting sick on top of that (which sucks), and might be having nausea as a side effect of the ADHD meds (which also sucks)

Nah you can keep doing it!! I find it really flattering and also really interesting! Plus like if it continues discussion then that’s always a good reason to let people use my posts, because that’s what they’re there for!! 

I’m okay, yeah! I haven’t had anything on my blog yet, thankfully, and I’m staying away from Twitter for the sake of my blood pressure and sanity. 

I’m actually kind of surprised that people are linking my posts! Like, the idea that my posts are actually spreading around like that is sort of wild. Always makes me feel a lil humble and kinda gushy that people think my posts are good enough to use as sources in debates, haha- ;w;

But yeah! Right now I’m still on hiatus because of uni - which I’m hoping to have done and dusted by the end of the week if not tomorrow! - and that’s my only source of stress. Hoping it’ll keep up like that, but we’ll see as time goes on!

I’m admittedly torn on this, because I can genuinely see two outcomes:

- June doesn’t appear in HS^2 at all. We keep waiting and nothing happens, because they decide to pull the rug from under our feet. The writers have actively shown that they hate us, and that they’re not interested in writing something that’s actually good for the fandom. Just not having her show up at all is very likely, and will probably be done out of spite.

- They do have June appear, but they fuck it up like they did with Roxy and Jade. She ends up being a transmisogynistic charicature and isn’t treated as a transwoman so much as she’s treated as a joke. That, or she’s treated as a “well, you got your rep, fuck off now” - or they just don’t write her like a trans woman, and write her like a cis man or cis woman, because apparently the writers don’t know how to write trans people.

Admittedly, I do lean towards the latter. This is the same group of writers who canonised Vriska being trans in Pesterquest, and come from the hard junebugger setting. This is also from the same group of writers who said that June could be a bisexual lesbian, and that Vriska being trans excused all of her abusive behaviours. It’s also from the same group of people who refused to say whether or not Vriska was canonically trans, despite actively shitting on people who didn’t see her that way.

Admittedly a lot of those last parts are Kate-exclusive, but she’s still in touch with the team. Even if she’s not actively writing, I genuinely don’t trust how much influence she might have over the comic - and I definitely don’t trust how often all of them have said that they own Homestuck, and they will make it hell for the fans to read.  

My other worry is that it’s treated as a joke or that they brush over June’s transition because they can’t be bothered to figure out how it’d work for an older person to do so. That like, we get a “it’s the Candy timeline! Wacky shit happens all the time!”, and June’s treated as a wacky outcome of the fucked up timeline rather than as a person who genuinely was in a position to think about her identity. Or that like, we’ll get “man in a dress” jokes over June and then no actual talk about her and her validity. 

I want her to talk about her identity seriously, maybe with Roxy, and then later see Harry Anderson correcting Vrissy and Tav that they’re talking about his mom, not his dad, and that she’s called June, not John. And then June moves forward and it’s great because it’s actually done well and she’s real and valid and they didn’t make any transmisogynistic jokes out of her.

I just don’t think they’ll actually do that. That’s how little trust I have in them at this point. I genuinely, 100% believe that they will fuck this up. I could be wrong, and I really hope I am! But, yeah. Personally? I think this is going to be a trainwreck, because they don’t have a good track record - with Vriska, with Roxy, with Jade, even with Callie. 

I’ve never really submitted anything anywhere on this site before, so forgive me if I’m doing this wrong. I just noticed how you mentioned Guidestuck continuing as well as Heinoustuck being dead. The thing is, though I haven’t read it, I’m fairly sure I’ve seen a pretty quality looking Heinoustuck^2 on MSPFA. Not sure if it’s “official” or not. Just thought you might like to know.

You did it right, don’t worry!

It’s an unofficial continuation, by the looks of it, and it’s looking pretty good so far! It doesn’t have the most frequent update schedule - going from pretty much every day from Nov-Dec in 2019 to every other couple days in Jan 2020, to once a several panels once a month in May and July with no August update yet - but the content seems amazing, and the writing is pretty phenomenal! Still in-character and very reminiscent of the original Heinoustuck despite being an unofficial continuation.

YOU. 

A.

Y’ALL IT’S ONE OF MY FAVOURITE ARTISTS??

Holy shit hi!! I’m honestly a little flabbergasted? Thank you so much for this ask!! You’ve got me highkey speechless and maybe a little a lot happy stimmy. 

I’m glad you like the content, and also that you can handle my absolutely long-winded rambling for three hours! I’ve seen a lot of your tags on my reblogs (and also your own additions because I always read things people have added on), and you have some incredible takes as well! I think I saved your response to the Dirk/DaveKat post because it went into some depth on Dirk’s suicide that I hadn’t gone into fully, and it was a really poignent response and read. (I should hopefully be reblogging that soon-)

(2/2) I'm a fairly new reader, having read Homestuck two years after it ended. I enjoy many of the characters and the story, and I'd like to upload some artwork in appreciation for it. However, with the fandom tearing itself up after the epilogues and HS^2, I'm worried that people might see me in a certain way because I like something that people seem so negative about.

Absolutely not! You should never feel bad for liking something that genuinely appeals to you. It’s why I say, for all I dislike HS^2, that if someone likes it I’m genuinely glad for them.

The thing with Homestuck is that it’s as wonderful as it is bullshit. I’ve been going on five years in this fandom now, and I’ve seen my fair share of both sides of the argument. It’s impossible to say that Homestuck isn’t a piece of fiction that defined a generation and brought so much more to the fandom world than existed prior, but it’s likewise impossible to say that Homestuck isn’t filled with outdated humour, genuinely harmful representation, and fandom drama that’s been going on since it started.

Homestuck is a controversy in and of itself. That’s a fact. But you can still enjoy it - as much as all the followers I have on this blog do, otherwise they wouldn’t be consuming my content - and you can still create for it. People still are! The Homestuck tag updates daily, and even slightly less-popular ships (like JohnDirk) are updated at least every other day on AO3. 

Twitter is probably the worst place you could go to for HS content, admittedly. It’s an incredibly toxic environment, and not one I would advise anyone take part in - let alone someone so new to the fandom. People will always have their disagreements with Homestuck, but you can still enjoy it disregarding things like the relationships and whether or not people enjoy it on their feed.

The fandom is in a huge state of disarray at the moment, yes. But we’re still desperate for content - especially old Homestuck content. People are even hungry for more HS^2 content! So whatever it is you have to share, please, share it. We’d all love to see it, and you absolutely deserve to share your art in appreciation for something you enjoy. You should be able to have that enjoyment, too!

I gave it a quick look through, and then got entirely TOO addicted to it, so I’m definitely throwing it out here for everyone!!

Mr. Tambourine Man: Like roboticsorcerer said, this fanventure takes place immediately after Act 7. While everyone else is capable of entering the new universe, John is unable to; his retcon powers have rendered it completely inaccessible to him. There’s some amazing detail and analysis on the consequences of retcon power, and the characters so far read incredibly in character. The jokes are very Homestuck-esque, too! The only thing I would say is that it can be a little slow, but part of that is to up the feeling of isolation John feels initially; so stick through the initial frantic clicks through panels. 

The edits are incredible! A lot of love and effort has been put into this, alongside some original content (such as things odditycollector has taken liberties to put in that happened off-screen in the original Homestuck). Also, it’s really nice to see a fanventure focus on John and his feelings, as well as the feelings of his friends - who are all reluctant to go on without him. They actually feel like friends again, which is a lot more than HS^2 can say. 

I forgot about this scene! It’s the one where Vriska plays out Pupa Pan while degrading Tavros about his disability that she caused him the entire time, and upon kissing him and not having him kiss back - because he can’t tell if she’s callignious or flushed for him - she dumps him on the floor! Then, wonder of all wonders, she manipulates him into not just kissing her, but actually being FLUSHED for her! The only reason she gives up is the realisation that, yes, he is still disabled and can’t actually stand up. Again. Because she paralysed him. 

This is definitely one of the deeper problems with trying to put trans rep into characters who were never originally written as trans. No trans writer would write this scene about a transwomen in their goddamn life. Noone trying to represent a genuine and accurate portrayal of a trans woman would even THINK about writing a scene wherein she forces her abuse victim into a kiss - not just once, but twice. 

I honestly don’t think I could put it better than you did. Sexual violence is the most prominent and harmful stereotype of trans women. Nobody in their right mind would write this for a trans women unless they were actively trying to write into that stereotype. Or, as is the case here, unless that character was never written as trans to begin with and trying to retcon a trans identity on them now has deeply unfortunate implications.

When you read this piece, the comedic effect is meant to be at Tavros’ expense - that he’s a weak and weedy boy who can’t even kiss a girl he’s actively interested in when she’s trying to instigate - and not meant to be a slight against Vriska’s character. We’re meant to laugh because a female abuser is abusing her male abuse victim, and that makes Tavros pathetic. They’re not trying to shine a negative light on Vriska herself; you can tell this by how much they focus on her genuine disappointment that her plan fails. You’re meant to sympathise with her, somehow.

This is bad enough when Vriska is seen as a cis woman. When you put the trans identity on top of that, oh, boy does it become just ten times worse. Becuse not only does it focus on this deeply harmful stereotype, it also tries to make you think that stereotype is actively okay! That it’s funny! Again, no shit do people like Kate say Vriska can do no wrong as a trans woman; scenes like this only emphasise that fact. 

This admittedly is the difference between having a headcanon and genuinely making those things canon. 

When you headcanon someone as trans, you tend to put things into them that don’t actually happen in the comic, or you retcon out certain things because a trans person wouldn’t actually do them, or you slightly change others because a trans person would see them in a different light. Headcanon!Vriska still isn’t perfect, not by a long shot, but transwomen aren’t going to perpetuate this scene in their headcanons when it’s so genuinely harmful to them. They’re going to create scenes for her instead; experiences they’ve been through to replace some of the worst shit she’s done. 

When you canonise that identity, however, you are explicitly taking them out of that headcanoned context. You have to see them in their canonical light. You have to accept literally everything that character has done, said, thought, achieved, whether it would come across as inherently transphobic or not. Headcanon!Vriska might never do what canon!Vriska did to Tavros, but canon!Vriska can never undo that. So she becomes a transmisogynistic stereotype instead of a genuinely cared for and built up piece of representation that the fandom loves.

This is why we need more trans representation that was always legitimately meant to be trans - and good trans representation at that. The issue I just described is always, always going to be a problem unless Hussie and co. start writing trans characters from day 1, and not just writing cis characters and slapping on an identity when the fandom attaches a headcanon to one long enough. They need to start being genuinely aware of how they’re writing their trans characters and if they’re falling into - or ever fell into - transphobic/transmisogynistic stereotypes.

Trans representation isn’t good enough if it perpetuates hatred and violence against trans people. 

Unfortunately on Vriska’s behalf, there’s nothing we can do about that scene. It’s canonical. It’s always going to be there, and it’s always going to be a transmisogynistic slight on her character. I think the best we can hope for is that future trans women aren’t written like this. 

An anon asked:  Hi, may I ask what is your opinion of fan creation inspired from Homestuck? I'm not the biggest fan of where homestuck is heading but was wondering on your opinions of fan comics. I'm leaning towards reading them over Homestuck2 because of some of the writing that Hussie and his team of writers have produced in Homestuck2 feels off and a bit weird for Homestuck. (Ps. Have a lovely day.)

I forgot to answer the anon when I first got it, but since both mention fanvantures, I’ll combine the two!

I would absolutely not recommend reading HS^2, personally. There’s just a lot wrong with it that I genuinely don’t like and am deeply uncomfortable with. Futanari Jade making Rose cheat on Kanaya to have a baby she then completely abandoned is really just the tip of the iceberg, from what I’ve read and seen; there’s also just an outright lack of care for triggers (the warnings for which were taken off chapter by chapter, so you’ve got no idea what you’re going into anymore) and so much bullshit around facts from Homestuck not being taken into consideration during writing (for instance, Rose tells Terezi about the Exiles despite Terezi being the one who told Dave about them back in Act 5).

It’s uncomfortable, sloggish, uncaring, actively written to ruin Homestuck for fans, and overall just unpleasant to read. Not only is it a bad continuation, it’s just bad fiction in general. Some of this of course is exacerbated by the writers themselves, which is another reason I refuse to read it; I do not want to support them in any capacity. 

I wouldn’t say you’re missing out. There’s some genuinely interesting things in HS^2, but a lot of it is overshadowed by how bad it is. That’s why I stopped reading, personally. You could always give it a go, see what you think and if you can handle it or if it appeals to you - because it’s different for everyone! Some people genuinely like it, and that’s okay, too - but I wouldn’t recommend it.

If you read the Epilogues just fine, you should be okay? But if they were rough for you to read, I’d definitely say HS^2 will be worse. You can still enjoy the content on the peripheral, though; for instance, acejams/sarcasmprodigy draws some HS^2 bits, but only really the designs that she likes. Consuming fan content while avoiding the comic itself is no issue, as far as I can tell.

That said, I’d 100% recommend reading fanventures. There’s a lot of benefits to them, actually!

Firstly, since they’re made by fans doing it for free, there’s a lot of love that goes into them. You know that what you’re getting is going to some degree be a homage to Homestuck, and that even if it’s an AU or divergent somehow, it’s still going to be loyal to characters you love. 

There’s a lot less - and I mean a lot less - bullshittery in fanventures than HS^2 proper. It’s done for fun, for love! It’s going to connect with you, as a fan, a little more, because it’s literally written by fans for fans; by people who know what the fandom wants because they’re actively part of it. 

Also, the writers don’t want to ruin the characters, so that’s an incredible bonus.

That said, here are a few fanventures I’d recommend:

SOULSTUCK: A fanventure that takes place in the Soul Eater universe, following Roxy and Dirk as they work towards getting that sweet, sweet final Witch soul to become a proper duo. I haven’t read too much of it, but the art is beautiful, the writing is well in character, and it’s also pretty faithful to the original Soul Eater while staying uniquely Homestuck, too.

Guidestuck: A pretty wellknown fanventure that started up again recently, following a kidswap universe where the kids’ initial sprite prototypings (the Harlequin doll, Jaspers, Bec, and Cal) are the kids (Cal Strider, Bec Harley, Quinn Egbert, Jaspers Lalonde), and our kids are their associated items (John’s a plush toy; Bro and Dave are dolls; Jade is a puppy; Rose is a cat). Also features a very unique look at what Alternia would be like if the lusii were the sapient species, and the trolls the symbiotic one.

TLCstuck: Double Death of the Author: A fairly interesting redo of Homestuck, taking control of the narrative a little after Game Over - so, essentially completely changing the story of Homestuck partway through Act 6. There’s a FAQ to give you more information - on how it’s written, how it’s changed, and how it works overall. 

Note for TLCstuck, though; it’s very explicitly ship-neutral. This means that although characters’ sexualities remain the same, no actual shipping generally happens in the comic. It also, since it continues from Game Over, doesn’t have a lot of the content that occurred in the Retcon timeline - including DaveKat and Davepeta (alongside the other combosprites). Keep this in mind on whether or not you want to read it, but I think it’s still a good read regardless.

Act 8: Might be one you’ve seen in the tags before! Unsurprisingly, it picks up after Act 7, and works a little like TLCstuck in that it changes the narrative from that point on. Just before the kids can go through the door to Earth C, the white door explodes. It’s animated beautifully, drawn amazingly well, and is well written! If you want to continue Homestuck’s story with the Retcon changes, this would be best for you to read. 

Well, that, or...

Act Omega: Like Act 8, it picks up after Act 7, only this time before they can claim their reward, a foe we’ve seen before appears to take the win from their grasp. It’s incredibly well animated and drawn from what I’ve seen so far, with an amazing initial fight sequence. It’s well written, and even from a cursory read-through, they reintroduce most of the main characters (including the Alpha trolls) for a second try at characterisation. Pretty nifty!

Homestuck: Subscript: I know significantly less about this one, except that there is some gorgeous art and design in it. It’s an interesting take compared to the others, since it actually happens on Earth C - so it’s more of a HS^2 replacement than anything else I’ve shown so far. It’s also incredibly different, though, and takes a little more a of a Candy route in so far as it focuses a lot more on relationships. It depends on your tastes!

Karkat goes to a Convention: Everything I know about this comes from a friend talking about it. It’s entirely satirical, I think, and a bit of a pisstake more than anything else? It’s quite literally what it says; actual Homestuck Karkat ends up at a normal, everyday convention. From what I understand it does get more detailed and involved as it goes on, but it’s also good for laughs. 

Abodebound: A webcomic a friend of mine wrote! It’s a completely original fanventure, essentially a fansession. There’s music and animation, as well as Homestuck-eqsue writing and original comedy, and some really sweet videos. I’ve never read it all the way through (life’s a bitch like that) but it’s what inspired me to create my own fanventure, and for something completely original but with the same feel as Homestuck, it’s pretty spot-on.