#newgen lore

Years in the future, but not many... a wayward vagabond records a stuttering step in the sun-bleached dust. The EP "Land of Dogs and Oil" showcases my musical contributions as a "newgen" (blind reactor) to the 2025 re-release of Homestuck. I shall publish one of these compositions every day until I run out of them.

A definitive collection featuring selected fan music from everyone in the newgen community is yet forthcoming.

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#1: Sun-Bleached Dust

This first piece is about Wayward Vagabond, the first character newgens on Discord were exposed to beyond the comic, upon a directive that oldgens "not tap the glass" of the newgen enclosure. Theorized names for this mystery stranger included gardenGnostic (the fourth kid), Eden Holmstuck, and Gringle Gok — a biblical trinity of fanon identities in a constant tug of war.

here's gardenGnostic everybody! She's a professional hula dancer with a skin condition!

By the time of ACT 2, the congealed mass of slapdash theorycrafting and inexplicable hornyposting had bestowed upon WV the moniker "Eden 'New Reader' Holmstuck Bec the Radioactive Oilslick Sonic-the-Hedgehog Mummy He/Him Butch Lesbian Catgirl."

While the name's fallen out of favor, to this day I headcanon the Mayor as a he/him lesbian on the grounds that it would be hilarious.

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Row! Row! Fight the power!

The EP "Land of Dogs and Oil" showcases my musical contributions as a "newgen" (blind reactor) to the 2025 re-release of Homestuck. I shall publish one of these compositions every day until I run out of them.

A definitive collection featuring selected fan music from everyone in the newgen community is yet forthcoming.

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#4: Zathura Ultima (vs. BRO)

Zathura (2005), the sequel to Jumanji, stars two brothers on uneasy terms who play the titular sci-fi board game that catapults their house into space. The first obstacle they encounter is a meteor shower bombarding their house. SBURB is like the ultimate Zathura, hence the name.

It's fascinating that new readers clocked Bro Strider's vile and abusive nature immediately when the old fandom apparently treated him like slightly more attractive version of Spencer from iCarly.

There's a tendency in any given fandom to overplay the character archetype as innately pathetic or perpetually embarrassed, like casting a spell on a boggart to elicit laughter instead of dread (e.g. Mouthwashing). This is why we kept calling Dave's brother "Gilbert" and produced this speculative design based on his silhouette:

It's harder to make Elmo ahegao than most people give credit for. Truly a team effort.

Then Bro Strider swiftly and irreparably forced us to respect him. He' a goddamn force of nature. He's the anti-Kamina.

As in, Kamina from Gurren Lagann, the unadulterated badass and epitome of "supportive older brother" whose sunglasses do not adorn Gilbert's visage by coincidence.

Instead of fostering and nurturing Dave, Gilbert shut him down and groomed him. If Dave is akin to Simon the Digger, then his older brother is the power to row against, to touch the untouchable, to break the unbreakable. "Zathura Ultima" embodies the anathema that someone so horrid could not only be anime-tier badass, but justifiably indispensable.

Dave still loved him. Maybe Bro really did love Dave deep down. But to other people there is no deep down. Not really.

Yours truly was able to correctly "romainticize" (our word for classpect) Dirk Strider before his first appearance via mental algebra. If the anti-Kamina outputs a Knight of Time where a Vanilla Kamina would output Simon the Digger, then by identifying what domain (aspect) Simon struggled with most, we find out what Bro stifled or took from Dave, assuming this oppression was indicative of role (class).

The easy answer would've been Hope, but what Kamina really instilled in Simon was not belief for its own sake but the self-esteem Simon needed to facilitate belief in himself, whereas Gilbert crippled Dave's sincerity as an individual. Ergo, his post-scratch self could be a Prince of Heart — for our understanding was that, in the end, a domain lived or died at the Prince's mandate.

I could not wait to get into Bro's head and see what kind of deranged moon logic made him tick, just to find more reasons to be disgusted and then to revel in his aura that overshadowed all else. Dirk Strider proved surprising, but the opposite of disappointing.

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Presumably.

The EP "Land of Dogs and Oil" showcases my musical contributions as a "newgen" (blind reactor) to the 2025 re-release of Homestuck. I shall publish one of these compositions every day until I run out of them.

A definitive collection featuring selected fan music from everyone in the newgen community is yet forthcoming.

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#9: Nepeta Does Something Badass

For the original artwork concept:

Picture Nepeta with her arms crossed, wearing Equius' blood-stained sunglasses, posing atop a descending Akira elevator — SSJ2 Gohan moment — before being distracted by someone waving a laser pointer on the floor and deflating all that aura she just accumulated.

Unfortunately, I am short on time and need to take a flight tomorrow. Instead, have this, and mourn at what could have been.

Also, here is my unjustified and comedically exaggerated crashout (feat. @solargirldreams) upon learning that, not only had I been spoiled for Davepetasprite^2 before I started the comic, but all the oldgens were laughing behind my back for months when I became convinced I hadn't been spoiled.

As for how this is relevant: I put leitmotivic foreshadowing within "Nepeta Does Something Badass" and "Zathura Ultima (vs. BRO)" that tied together Dave and Nepeta thematically, with the same pan flute and everything. I thought I was being clever.

Really I was just oblivious, and trying to flex to the oldgens in the peanut gallery with how clever and sneaky I was opened me up to getting bamboozled. Didn't help that Davesprite and Nepeta kept fucking dying.

But in the end I WAS RIGHT. I hedged my bets and CAME OUT ON TOP, BABY!

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You admit the thought of carrying an imprisoned tailor wherever you go is gratifying for personal reasons.

The EP "Land of Dogs and Oil" showcases my musical contributions as a "newgen" (blind reactor) to the 2025 re-release of Homestuck. I shall publish one of these compositions every day until I run out of them.

A definitive collection featuring selected fan music from everyone in the newgen community is yet forthcoming.

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#5: Don't Bleed on the Suits

Hey, isn't this just "Graveyard Stuffers" again? Why yes. Yes it is. Or rather, Saruman as he should have been.

On the full release of the fan music compilation I keep bringing up, tracks like Graveyard Stuffers wouldn't make the cut. But formatting my compositions into an EP has given me the luxury to literally release the same song but better.

No newgen loredrops this time, I'm afraid. Can't think of anything particularly relevant to talk about. Instead, let's talk shop.

So the VGM Sound Sources community (which catalogues what instruments or samples are used in a given videogame) had a spreadsheet about stuff identified in Homestuck music. I'm not sure why. I suppose it's videogame-adjacent? Toby Fox-related?

Such a treasure trove ran the risk of me getting spoiled by future album releases, but I figured that Midnight Crew: Drawing Dead was self-contained enough to safely scavenge "comic-accurate" VSTs like the saxophone, piano, and chiptune blips you hear now.

Hell, I thought, why not listen to the full album while I'm at it? OOOh, this one track "Liquid Negrocity" is a banger, how about I sneak that melody into "Don't Bleed on the Suits" on the theramin?

After all, it's not like Liquid Negrocity will get a Toby Fox remix, keep cropping up throughout the comic, become the motif of one of its primary antagonists, and spark accusations that I've been reading ahead. I mean, what would be the odds of that happening?

EDIT: I swear I didn't mean to quote Catswing from Deltarune either. It just happened.

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Upon his execution, it was said the Sufferer's compassion for his people underwent a divine transformation, into limitless, burning rage. His vitriolic death rattle pierced the cosmos like a final sermon, and somewhere encoded in its wavelengths was the very truth he forsook, for any soul thereafter who dared entertain the heresy of peace.

The EP "Land of Dogs and Oil" showcases my musical contributions as a "newgen" (blind reactor) to the 2025 re-release of Homestuck. I shall publish one of these compositions every day until I run out of them.

A definitive collection featuring selected fan music from everyone in the newgen community is yet forthcoming.

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#10: Sojourn of the Signless

This piece was written for flute, vibraphone/crotales, two violins, two violas, cello, and contrabass. It is intended for live performance.

Sheet music is provided below:

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