#homestuck did the ‘apocalypse has happened/is happening’ but with less consciousness of like

[wehaveallgotknives]

thing about the locked tomb that really resonates is that the apocalypse has both happened already and is still happening. the worst (annihilation of natural life on earth) has happened and is happening (genocide, enslavement, mass migration of dispossessed and traumatised asylum seekers). the is relevant to us all living in the midst of climate crisis but also particularly to those living in colonised countries. t muir is a kiwi and as an australian, living in a place your ancestors invaded and stole, living in a place you are in the process of killing, living in the edges of an empire of expanding death? it’s been apocalypse for centuries, for indigenous people.

capital and empire are the opposite of organic life, and taz does a good job of embedding that in the books without ever saying it outright.

#the locked tomb #it’s interesting in a way other ‘post-apocalyptic’ literature isn’t #homestuck did the ‘apocalypse has happened/is happening’ but with less consciousness of like #colonial apocalypses #nz does a better job of talking about the history of colonisation than the usa I guess #taz is smarter than hussie there I said it

[pika-kip]

I can understand why so many people are angry about the homestuck epilogues, especially when some of their favorite characters seemed to get thrown totally out of whack and were perceived as ooc.

The problem is most of those characters have reasons for being who they turned into. That’s not to say if things happened differently that they would have turned out more well rounded and less.... unhinged.... but the fact of the matter is that if you look at everything that has happened to any specific character from the beginning of homestuck through the context of each epilogue, it’s possible to see how they ended up the way they did- ESPECIALLY if you start with Dirk. You know, the guy who has only really ever had one version of himself wind up not being a total piece of shit? The guy who has part of his personality manifested in a psychopathic AI, which then was used in the creation of Doc scratch, and thus existed partially in Lord english? The Dirk Strider who explains that he has achieved his Ultimate Self- which is then explained AS HAVING EVERY EXISTENCE OF YOU MANIFESTED IN THE SAME CONSCIOUSNESS AT ONE POINT, EFFECTIVELY RENDERING YOU A TOTALLY DIFFERENT PERSON? That’s not the same Dirk. It’s Dirk, Bro, Hal, Scratch, Lord English- and every other splinter or alternate version amalgamated into one singular consciousness. So of all the Dirks, only one of which was close to being a decent person or having any sense of redemption- are now one person. all that bad is going to overwrite the good. So now to Jane right. The character raised by the Condesce. The character who- from a young age- used technology that was deliberately designed to indoctrinate her and install subliminal messages in her brain? Who was later shown to be fully controlled by the condesce via that technology? In the Epilogues Jane doesn’t see what she’s doing as being wrong. She is initially TERRIFIED at people thinking of her being a bad person. She wants everyone to love her. She doesn’t think the Trolls are bad, but she was literally raised by a witch who was trying to groom her into ruling via subjugation and domination by FUCKING WITH HER BRAIN. Jane starts out as doing what she legitimately believes is the right action from a logical perspective. She knows her people are terrified of the Trolls, she knows that if she doesn’t do SOMETHING the situation is going to get worse. so she does what she (mistakenly) believes to be a merciful compromise. Limit their breeding until they can prove as a race that they aren’t the violent race they once were. That way the humans can feel at ease, and the Trolls have a chance to thrive once tensions are settled. But Jane is so concerned with how she’s being seen by her people as an Heiress that she doesn’t understand how she’s being Xenophobic. She starts out misguided and then falls for her own psychologically suppressed lie. Add in the fact that Dirk has been fucking with the narrative offscreen for fuck knows how long and has likely been manipulating her as well, and it’s not hard to see how she became so twisted. Add in the power of control and rule for a few years and we see it corrupts her completely. The Jade one is a reach, but she grew up alone and isolated on an island and suddenly has her own freedoms and wants to explore the world and see everything. surprise surprise along the way she discovers sex. The Caveat, as (disgustingly) implied in the Candy route is that her having Parts of Bec extended to other parts of her as well.. I’m not going to sugarcoat it they imply she has a dog dick. It’s weird. And then I guess they took the Male dogs humping everything trope, added in a sheltered girl who finally gets to experience a world without the apocalypse looming and swings for a bit? Jade... didn’t necessarily deserve the way she was written, but I can see how it would have been possible to arrive at this point which was the purpose of this original word vomit. Take this girl who travels around the world experiencing red(and black) purely-sexual relationships, who doesn’t know how a real relationship works, how actual love and romance works and inject her in between the two people she cares about the most. She’s promiscuous, she’s flirty, she uses all the things she’s learned from her world experiences(including her blackrom flings) and tries to apply it to these two- not understanding that she’s being manipulative and selfish. It was bound to be disastrous. Karkat and Dave don’t know how to stand up to someone they care about in a way that would hurt. So they say nothing. It sucks. DaveJadekat sucks. Shit ain’t healthy. John’s Depression isn’t exactly unexpected or unrealistic, so we’ll skip that. (though if you want my thoughts on the characters I skip just ask and I’ll word vomit some more) John’s Candy route is so ridiculous and tough to deal with in a lot of ways. Vriska implies that he has way more control over this black hole bubble than he seems to think- which implies that Muse!Callie doesn’t have complete control. When he chooses Candy the world seems to adapt itself to the happiness he THINKS he and everyone else wants. The people still have their own thoughts and volition, but everything is saccharine and off to John. He basically has a mental breakdown and ignores the people around him and how they’re changing in this ‘inconsequential’ world, because he starts to believe there’s not a point. That none of this exists. Dude has an existential crisis in the midst of the readers’ third existential crisis (or like, 7th if you read meat first I guess) Meat Rose gets Mindfucked by Dirk and doesn’t have much of a character, but is otherwise on point in Candy. Kanaya is probably the most normal character here.  Roxy, in spite of being closeted as a trans individual in Candy, finds their own definition of self that sheds the concept of Gender. He’s also probably the most well grown character in Meat (Since Dirk can’t affect him) Terezi Is pretty on brand, definitely struggling with Vriska though... Vriska is of an undetermined age and admittedly it’s kind of creepy in human terms with what happens with Gamzee- but I have no idea how old Vriska is after her whole journey leading the ghosts to find the Juju to kill LE so.... I’m not gonna touch it with a 50 foot pole. Calliope sadly doesn’t get enough time to shine in either route. Dave is Pretty much how I’d expect him to be Same with Karkat. and Honestly? Jake has always been a somewhat dull pushover. It isn’t offbrand, but I do hate everything that happens to him in both routes. He doesn’t deserve it on either end :/ And that’s everyone really worth talking about.

#homestuck #upd8 #I liked the epilogues but I can see why people didn't #I definitely think some people are overreacting a bit and seeing these characters as the way they WANTED them to be #which is understandable I guess #Point is they're telling a story #Not catering to the fanbase that has- on multiple occasions shat on Hussie and drove him away