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unidentifiedfroggy · 2 years

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this is not a new subject but it's one am and i have no better place to put my scattered thoughts on the topic. this is definitely something ive seen mentioned before but i think it's something worth repeating and fairly crucial to understanding the beta trolls and alternia as a whole, which is that alternia, as a society, ostracised and punished all of the troll cast we encounter. working solely off the text of homestuck we can't reliably extrapolate to how the "average" troll might be treated (hiveswap is a different beast), but i think it's valuable to realise that none of the beta trolls were in a healthy environment and all of them were victimised to some extent and punished simply for existing, simply as a mechanism of how their society worked. even equius, gamzee, eridan and feferi, who are at the very top of the social hierarchy and are generally subjected to much better treatment especially than the lowbloods, are still victimised and treated badly by alternia as a system and as a society, if to a lesser extent.

equius is explicitly stated to be "a freak", and is repeatedly referred to as off-putting by the narrative and other characters, and though he clings to the hemospectrum as a really shitty coping mechanism, to me it's a fairly reasonable reading that a coping mechanism is all it is. part of his development, if he ever actually got it, would likely involve letting go of his privilege as a means to make up for his personhood, and coming to terms with the realities of alternia as a systematically harmful society to him and the people he cares about.

eridan, too, clings to the hemospectrum to make up for the fucked up stuff in his life. he's a shitty guy, but he's also growing up alone on murder planet, and is expected to murder other kids' parents so his best friend's mom doesn't exterminate society. his genocidal tendencies are pretty clearly stated, i feel, to be hollow, and i imagine he would have similar elements in a storyline to equius. eridan's position as orphaner inherently ostracizes him, and we see that although he is absolutely privileged compared to the other trolls which should not be forgotten, he is still in a position to be victimised and punished by alternia for his deficiencies.

gamzee is a bit of a joke character before murderstuck, but we get repeatedly informed that he is actively nonconforming to society's expectations of the aristocracy, with a negligent parent. he is the model of what the aristocracy is not, a definite other on alternia, as exposited by equius a bunch, which makes it kind of ironic that when he snaps we see him exert his violence primarily through exploiting the existing class structures that permeates the trolls' relationships with one another. but, once again, gamzee is an isolated kid, and i think his active displacement from the traditional hierarchy and suffering at the mechanisms of alternia is a reasonable angle to understand his character.

going to wrap this up soon bc i need to go the fuck to sleep and this is way longer than i expected it to be, but even the highest of the high, feferi, is a relative outcast from alternia. something about her arc here sorry im tired.

my point is not to ramble about highbloods bc frankly i am a lowblood enjoyer but i do think it's worth acknowledging and understanding how all of the beta trolls were othered by alternia, even those who conformed the most to its systems, and what it says about alternia as a society and the beta trolls as characters

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nonbinarygamzee · 10 months

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hii i want some meenah (and or kankri) analysis >:3 love the way you explain things

HEARTTTTTTT thank you mio <3333 you will have to forgive me because the beforus trolls really really are not my wheelhouse outside of, like, talking about the ways that they represent (generally) interpretations of the beta trolls that hussie found shitty and obviously the whole obsession he had with owning the teenage SJWs for being messy about their critique of him as if he did not create the confines and energy of that space in the first place.

that said meenah is one of my favies of the bunch and i think i already have said a little bit to you about why i find her compelling on twitter before but UHMMM cracks knuckles

okay so i am a big fan of the characters whos isolation plays into the ways that make them harder for the rest of the cast to sympathize with. isolation is obviously an element of homestuck that is generally relevent to every characters story but for some of them that makes the friendgroups they have cultivated a source of empowerment and for some of them it functions to magnify why they hold whatever particular place in the narrative they do. why the narrative, as something alive and malicious to the characters living within it, grants some of them agency and denies others. and in some ways meenah gets agency, i mean she is the catalyst for every major decision that ensures the outcomes of her session! she has massive influence and control of her own future and is very strongheaded in her refusal to give that up, i love it for her.

that said she also is another victim of fitting into a character slot influenced by hussies biases. i think it is a little bit too simplistic when people try to paint the hemospectrum as just racism flipped on its head (plus that doesnt really account for the lowbloods who are written to be brown), but the makaras and the peixes get the worst of the messiness that IS there, where both on individual levels their characterizations end up saying some extremely fucked up things and revealing a lot about what hussie thinks black culture, like, is. and in a more general sense they invoke the uncomfortable undercurrent of antiblackness and anxiety surrounding black culture becoming a dominating cultural force that troll society is built upon. ive seen this spoken about better, and by actually black fans, so i wont try to hard to restate it all, but the ways that alternia (and beforus by extension) invoke black culture especially in the trolls we are meant to understand as holding societal privilege is like, so so so fucking weird!, and the choice to insert meenah the way that he did, long after discussions about this had started to really permeate the sphere of critique to me cant really feel like anything but a conscious decision, and retroactively erased any chance at him claiming ignorance with what he was doing with gamzee. the decision to double down on the concept that any of these behaviors are instinctual is also the bane of my existence. all of these characters who are loaded with blatant racism and then forced into roles of antagonizers are the ones i feel the most need to align myself with forever no questions asked.

to roll back around to meenah's isolation though, i think a lot of people kind of forget that for as much as she idolizes her post-scratch self, she felt so trapped by the prospect of ruling on beforus that she literally chose to run away and go into hiding and live! all by herself! this is so sad to me and especially drawing back on that metanarrative string of being a marginalized girl we are supposed to read as privileges (eugh!), i think it speaks so blatantly to her want for a nice life where she can be with her friends, even if i think her own conditioning makes her not entirely aware of that because shes spent her entire life being told she is meant to want power and her attitude of embracing that in the least-beforan way possible is so clearly the escapist fantasy of a teenager whos been told all her life how to be who hasnt quite unlearned the idea that power and riches and status are what makes you important.

even despite our entire view of her through her active role in the story being basically hussie telling us over and over and over again what a violent and selfish person she is, everything we hear about her actions in their session point more to meenah just being an abrasive girl who doesnt really know how to express her feelings, especially the ones that make her feel vulnerable or forced onto equal footing with people when shes always been told that isnt what shes meant to do. she bakes them a cakeeee for their anniversaryyyy come onnnn :o(((( i love her. even the stuff she does to damara is all only ever done with the intent of making sure her team can survive the game she has brought them all into (their dynamic is my favorite part about the beforus trolls one day i will speak on it). and ofc her entire plan to kill all of them to make sure they dont all end up wiped from existence!

ok um i am admittedly losing steam with my thoughts here so i will end this there but tldr she is everything to me

#also admittedly i dont think about kankri much outside of like how i wish he couldve been utilized and how much i hate most of what we got #but for you....... i will do my research and get back to u #also i love what u do with their dynamic big fan of vantas wifeguy trutherisms #meenah #ask #meta #<- feels a bit sillay to tag as usual idk if im actually saying anything not surface lvl here lol

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nekropsii · 3 years

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The forever-repeated sentiment that analyzing the Alpha Trolls or taking any level of the content of their character seriously is “stupid” or “a waste of time” due to them being “intended purely as jokes,” especially regarding various social media cultures at the time, double especially in reference to the- at the time- current Homestuck fandom climate is… Aggravating.

Yes, the Alpha Trolls ARE, on various levels, easy to brush off as “purely joke characters,” but you want to know what else was? The Beta Trolls. They functioned practically the same exact way upon their initial release- the ENTIRE concept of Trolls in Homestuck is literally just based on Internet Trolls! Back in the day, they, too, were received largely as jokes! And they kind of were! A big reason we take them so seriously now is due to their inevitable plot relevance and screentime.

My prevailing hypothesis is that one of the few main reasons the Alpha Troll cast is/was often brushed aside as pure, unanalyzable parody and nothing else is the reverse of why the Beta Troll cast eventually WAS taken seriously- screentime! And their… Lack thereof. We take Meenah decently seriously, just as we take Aranea decently seriously- and that’s because out of the Alpha Troll cast, they got the most screentime!

Due to the nature of them being short-stay characters, their nature as being partially based in satire had to be... Well, inflated. Do you remember the first interactions the Beta Troll cast had with the Beta Kids, and how they were… Very much so more blatantly just Internet Trolls? That’s what I believe is going on. Everything had to be pushed to the max, obnoxious behavior due to a millennia’s worth of brain rot being put pedal to the metal. They’re very straightforward characters when you look solely at their interactions with each other, no thought to any deeper psychology... Kankri Vantas, Seer of Blood, is an amazing example of this who I often see... With offense intended to nobody, largely mishandled.

Off the bat, it’s very easy to recognize exactly what he, as a character, is parodying, ESPECIALLY if you were on Tumblr during his relevance. He’s largely a satirization of the at the time overwhelming, severely misguided Discourse and Callout Culture permeating through the then-present Tumblr sphere. Not only that, but the commentary on it as a whole and what kind of people for the most part perpetuated said online political climate was very, very interesting and, shockingly, very, very true. Let’s get this out of the way- Kankri is most definitely intended as a White Tumblr Teen circa 2013.

Kankri Vantas is an honestly pretty good tongue-in-cheek satirization of old Tumblr “Social Justice” politics in the fact that it was perpetuated largely by (mostly) white, very online, sheltered teens with little to no actual life experience in the things they want to advocate for or against. The result of this often meant an echo chamber-like circle of kids of similar age and experience regurgitating the same topics, buzzwords, opinions, etc. over and over again. Due to the nature of being a teenager, there’s a persisting need to feel both special and like you belong to something- which is where Kankri’s ties to MOGAI and otherkin come in. (This is not an invitation to start discourse on the validity of either, I am simply stating facts about the character.)

But there’s a few very important thing one needs to note about Kankri- of which needs preemptive statements. Yes, he is a minority himself in the fact that he is a mutant limeblood. No, this absolutely does not stop him from being an abhorrent little shit when it comes to minorities. Which was ABSOLUTELY a huge problem in old Social Justice circles, and it still is today! We see him exhibit this type of behavior several times- he’s EXTREMELY preachy about supporting any and every type of minority, but then we see him CONSTANTLY talking over and bullying actual minorities, even down to policing the language they use to describe their own experiences!

He openly harasses a once-physically disabled man for using words he CAN, in fact, reclaim, which he used in reference to himself to talk about his own experiences, (Rufioh)

Harasses another disabled man by calling said literally disabled man ableist and saying he’s “perpetuating a harmful stereotype,” not for saying or doing anything harmful, but for wearing something which he needs to wear due to his disability AND his hobbies- said item being a helmet, and said hobby being skateboarding- all of which is done in a condescending fashion. (Mituna)

Not to mention he actively denied systemic misogyny exists to a woman’s face even when given a very intellectual explanation as to why it does, as well as slut-shaming her several times, once again to her face. (Porrim)

This guy fucking sucks! And on top of that, a fun thing to notice is that he’s a total bootlicker! Everyone he harasses are minorities, oftentimes in more ways than one- he’s bullied Meulin, who is a deaf, lowblood woman, Rufioh, a lowblood man (of color!) who was once quadriplegic, Mituna, a lowblood bipolar man with brain damage, and Porrim, a midblood woman with a shamelessly active sex life! But he’s all supportive and buddy-buddy with Cronus, highblood pseudo-royalty who also harasses/abuses people with minority status!

There’s so much that’s worthy of discussion, even just pertaining to Kankri’s character- and he by far is not my favorite! All of that character, all of that psychology, hidden JUST beneath the surface-level reading of “Kankri is a Tumblr parody.” THAT’S why the Alpha Trolls getting brushed off so quickly as topics of analysis is just so frustrating to me! There’s so much to consider, so much to notice, so much to analyze, and plenty of room to fill in the blanks left by canon!

And if no one else is going to do that level of analysis on them, then I will. That is a threat AND a promise. Sylph’s honor!

#homestuck #homestuck analysis #homestuck fandom #alpha trolls #alpha session #kankri vantas #cronus ampora #rufioh nitram #porrim maryam #mituna captor #meulin leijon #kankri.pdf #nekro.pdf

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notable-phlyarologist · 3 years

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Okay so a little while back my friend @inklesspen shared a chat we had in which I explained a bit of my homestuck quadrant romance headcanons. Given that I am now attempting a tumblr, I figured it was as good a time as any to elaborate on those. Feel free to remix as you please.

So okay to start I'm going to address why I find quadrants useful. I see people sometimes say things like, "As humans we just aren't fundamentally able to understand kismesisitude," or "Quadrants were concieved of as a joke and shouldn't be taken seriously," but I personally find them an interesting and helpful way of categorizing and referring to different kinds of love, at least with other homestuck people. Given how often our media presents things that seem like kismesisitudes, or how they've cropped up within my own life, I think it's nice to have language to refer specifically to those sorts of things.

However, I do think that, talking from an in-universe standpoint, there are a lot of aspects of the quadrant system as its presented to us that are heavily colored by the whole fascist alien empire deal. So one of the things I do with regards to my headcanon-ing of quadrants is I try to pick apart what seems fundamental and emotional, what differences and similarities there are between the quadrants, and what seems like an enforced aspect or something tacked on culturally or systemically. That's how I came upon my auspictism headcanon.

Within the English language, we only have the one word for love, which we use for romantic love, platonic love, familial love, etc etc etc, and it carries certain connotations along with it when we use it. This all-encompassing nature of the term love in English is part of why I break from the explicit description of the quadrant system-- love in English does not just refer to matespritship. You can love your best friend, you can love your rival, you can love the gang of dumbasses you roll with to play dnd. So that's my starting point-- the quadrants are not distinct from the human concepts of love but rather a specific categorization of largely universal feelings.

Now, as it is presented to us quadrants are divided along two axes. Sexual and nonsexual, and loving and hateful. Troll society in general seems to romanticise hatred and violence in a big way, emphasizing the importance of black romance in doing so, but I don't think these terms are exactly right, even just with regards to what we see within the story's canon (especially john's hatecrush on terezi). See, the connotations of hate or enmity in english imply things like wanting to not interact with the other party, wanting to tear them down, and i feel like thats not a useful way to refer to kismesisitude because while there is rivalry there you don't want them dead and you don't want to stop interacting with them.

Rather, you want to compete, there's a sort of passionate drive within a rivalry to show what you can do, to tease and rile up so you're both actively doing. This is how I prefer to think of the red-black axis-- rather than love or hate, red is about passivity and black is about activity, red is about contentment and comfort while black is about passion and striving for more. That's not to say either of these are exclusive to any particular quadrants, nor that you need to do kismesisitude One Particular Way or it doesnt count, relationships and emotions aren't clear cut! These are general categorizations to give you an idea of what a relationship is like, not titles a relationship gains when you prune it to look just right.

The idea that blackrom has to specifically be hatred falls within that same headcanon of cultural bleed that permeates my auspictism headcanon. It's a romaticization, a mutation of the idea over milennia of fascist propaganda and rule. The same can be said for the idea that you can only have one relationship of each quadrant, and you want to fill all four-- again, relationships are fluid and dynamic, and as a poly gal myself i find the idea of having, say, three moirails and zero kismesises a perfectly valid and fulfilling experience as one of each.

All that im mind, here at the specific thoughts I have about each quadrant.

Matespritship ❤: A matespritship is a sexual relationship defined by contentment and safety-- the kind of partner you'd want to spend all day in bed with, make meals together with, whose arms you fall into after a long day of work for quiet calming cuddles. That sweet, lovey-dovey, everlasting honeymoon phase kind of feeling, defined by kindness and support.

Moirailship ♦️: A moirailship is a nonsexual relationship defined by contentment and emotional needs being met. The kind of person you can always vent to, chatter to, always find an open ear with or be an open ear for. Moirailship is defined by communication and openness, activities together with a moirail often being secondary to simply being with them and talking with them.

Kismesisitude ♠️: A sexual relationship defined by passion and action. The kind of person who drives you to act, to better yourself, who you in turn tease and encourage even as seeing them succeed spurs you onward as well. The kind of person you wrestle with in the grass, who drives you a little bit crazy but you can't get enough of it. If it sours it can turn to hate, sure, but its not about hating your partner its about wanting to chase each other.

Auspictism ♣️: A nonsexual relationship between three people defined by action and social needs being met. I've talked about this in the text post, it's the sort of those-three-people relationship where you're scheming together, cracking jokes together, doing things together, always in motion. Usually there's one person who's ostensibly the leader, but that's not the crux of the relationship.

Thus concludes all of my thoughts on quadrants as far as I can remember at the moment. Drop me a line if you want clarification or smth, haha.

#homestuck #homestuck quadrants #matespritship #kismessitude #moiraillegiance #auspisticism #headcanon #long post

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ditheringluminary · 4 years

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hi there! can i get an analysis of a 12 troll session? (there are repeats, i know- it’s my friend group’s trollsonas so there were bound to be some.) for derse, we got an indigo mage of space, a blue thief of time, a jade seer of hope, a bronze prince of blood, a gold prince of life, and a teal witch of mind. for prospit, we got a rust prince of heart, an olive maid of rage, a fuchsia sylph of void, a violet heir of heart, a purple rogue of breath, and a lime mage of void. (it’s an au) tysm!! :0

You got it!

Time and Space are here and accounted for! Let’s begin!

Mage of Space: Space will permeate your session, even after it is over. Creation, and possibly isolation will be a constant theme in this session. Even afterward your players might feel slightly separated from one another, unless they do something about it themselves. At that point you’re more likely to take the benefits of Space’s creation aspect.

Thief of Time: Your session will have Time taken from it. Seeing as Space will be something that is the lifeblood of this session, you’d better get used to it. Not only will you be Space-themed, but at a certain point you’ll lack Time. This can take the form of something that solved your problems previously now IS a problem. Think of Becquerel. Having a space-dog is great, but then it became a serious problem when he was prototyped.

Seer of Hope: Your players will try to win through Hope. Hope is the aspect of positive emotions, yes. But it’s also the aspect of delusion and unwavering devotion. Your players may try to be TOO hopeful just to counterract what horrible things happen. Pushing down feelings and bottling conversations for the sake of taking care of the physical game issues first. It’s likely they think that if they win they’ll just have the time to talk all their things out, but they can do both at the same time. In fact, its likely they HAVE to.

Prince of Blood: Your session has too much Blood. Links with the Mage of Space and it’s hint at a theme of isolation. The Prince of Blood will break these bonds and possibly isolate the people around them, dispersing them almost. However as usual this may be a necessary evil for the Prince. If people are split up, they are more likely to be disillusioned to their Hopeful ways and, after a while, they can come together and use Hope the right way.

Prince of Life: Your session has too much Life. I personally can see this fitting the Seer of Hope as well. Life IS about healing and betterment, but Life players have a habit of enduring intense emotions for the “greater good” until they explode at the person they’re angry at. Your session has too many people holding things in and not enough Doom, which, while it embodies suffering, also embodies empathy. Without revealing what’s bugging you, you and your group will lack solid empathy with one another.

Witch of Mind: Your players want to win Mind. Again, I can easily link this to the Mage of Space and Seer of Hope. They players WANT to work as a team. They don’t want to be isolated from one another and want to be able to link their minds together and work as a collective.

Prince of Heart: Your session has too much Heart. Too many people being “unique” and doing their own thing, which normally is good. However this is leading to everyone being de-synced. As said previously they want Mind, working as a solid group. Because of this the Prince is more likely to be seen in a positive light, since they are working directly towards what the group wants.

Maid of Rage: Your session will be negatively affected by an outside force of Rage. This seems rather simple, actually. Something so confusing and irritating (something like a glitch maybe? sburb is a game after all) will affect your session, and likely piss everyone off.

Sylph of Void: Your session will be positively affected by mystery! Seeing as Void players have some kind of default monitor-breaker whenever they’re present, the Sylph of Void might be this positive force themselves. Whatever’s watching and manipulating your session (which there almost always is) won’t be able to decipher this session to the fullest. Lucky you!

Heir of Heart: Your session is ultimately about Heart. Individuality and identity. Seeing as your players are isolated and want to be working together, this makes sense. Your players are really trying to figure out who they are and how they work together as people, and yeah this is typical for Homestuck already, but this session makes it take center stage.

Rogue of Heart: Your greatest asset will be Heart. While your players are quite isolated, they really are able to hold their own when they do their own thing. When they enter their Land, it’s likely they’ll dominate it much like the trolls did in their session.

Rogue of Breath: Your session’s greatest asset will also be Breath! The freedom and impact of your players will also give you the edge that you need to win, or at least not fall off the deep end. Given that individuality vs. unity is a big theme in this session, freedom within that unity will be the best part of coming together. You keep the positive aspects of Heart, being free individuals but still working together.

Mage of Void: Your session will also be themed with mystery/nothing. Your Mage of Space contradicts this a bit, as Space is about creation and Void is about nothing. These two players are likely to clash in their information, and just clash in general. Session wise you might be stuck between constant mystery and constant isolation, at least until you get the full picture.

Warnings: You have a LOT of Princes. Like I said for the Prince of Heart, they may be less “destructive” as they are working towards the goal of the players anyways. Your Maid of Rage might be a very destructive force if not cared for properly, especially with Rage’s propensity for breaking every rule imaginable. The Thief of Time is also someone to watch over, lest they treat time as their own tool for their own means.

Goodies: You have two Rogues, who are very good supports! The Heir of Heart also sounds like a very good and supportive resource, and it’s likely that they will be offering the most relationship advice for the group. The mages, while clashing, still will offer useful information for their respective topics. Not to mention that the Mage of Space should have the knowledge to successfully breed a good Genesis frog.

Another solid session! The Thief of Time might... be iffy about initiating a scratch, but it also sounds like the group might achieve victory right from the get go, despite interruptions. But the Mage of Void kinda foreshadows something unknowable coming your way... so keep an eye out.

#thief of time #rogue of breath #rogue of heart #heir of heart #prince of blood #seer of hope #mage of void #mage of space #maid of rage #sylph of void #witch of mind #homestuck classpect #homestuck #session analysis #homestuck session

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thirtyskeletons · 7 years

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i just saw someone refer to the sbr/jojolion universe as "post-scratch" i hate this

#why must homestuck permeate EVERY ASPECT OF MY LIFE

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biologybrat · 6 years

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nine

9. why were you drawn to each one of your characters?

well! for dave, i really was enthused about the idea of playing a character who was interested in what i was, somewhere where i could happily babble about the things i love and really indulge in that longwinded, metaphor laden, souped up sort of style that i naturally fall into but have to curb for yknow, claritys sake quite a lot of the time or ease of communication: and that isn’t as appreciated on other muses because (elliot voice) he’s a strider. he’s allowed to talk. let him babble!! cause you kind of expect daves to be chatty, yknow what i mean?

i don’t have other muses who are into the same things as dave is, like, i have an oc who’s very into environmental sciences, but even then, she’s very woodland oriented and not super applicable: whereas i have more free range with dave because my god, dave striders morbidity and jade harleys general scientific and gadgetry combined is like, the IDEAL, the only thing he’s missing is a little side of ai personhood questioning and delving into the human psyche, but he’s really nailed my special interests that range between “the interactions between humanity and their environment, primarily lensed in with a medical and morbid flair, and ransacking the hell out of history for fun facts about development”

and it’s just… fun writing dave? he’s CHATTY, like my oc is, but he’s also just way more upbeat and loving, and explores themes of vulnerability but at his core is just… a good guy. a good guy who just wants to be loved, and who has some very sweet ideas about what constitutes love and man, he’s as in love with the universe as i am: he’s head over heels for science, the labor of love it is, the discipline, the rigour you have to exercise with it: and he’s very playful and whimsical about that (re: rekitting out a purple fitbit from a cereal box, or tracking his island just to have a pop up map of where frogs n bug friends are LOL) and of COURSE i’m just homestuck trash at heart who LOVES writing muses with my best fucking friend ahahah even if pubby drags me on main all of the time

to put it shortly: special interest man 9000.

for my oc, although she’s shelved and on my backburner at the moment as academia grinds me into the fucking dirt and i just need to take a couple steps back from her because she is an intense muse to play, claudia explores several themes that resonate with me deeply? the after effects of childhood abuse and how that permeates your identity even as you grow older, and learning how to come to terms with who you’re growing into. the concept of the “idealistic” and the “messy” survivor and what its like to be considered a worse survivor for how you coped. the idea of family being found, that family is intensely, deeply important due to a lack of having it as a child. how people in your life can change you, for better, or for worse: but how they’re a part of your story too. a love and appreciation for nature: for it’s brutality, the nature’s maw that dave speaks of is very much so present in her as well. being smaller than your anger, and learning self control because without it its so easy for you to hurt other people, intentionally or not. learning how to shed unhealthy ideals even if they’re what got you this far because you can change, you don’t have to be static: and learning how to take personal responsibility and exercise empathy? she also dabbles around with my own cultural background because i felt like that sort of accurate representation was important, and i saw like, 0 of it in any media reflected around me?so, succinctly: (elliot voice) fine bih im taking unexplored themes into my own grubby paws.

my dirk and my AR are primarily reserved just for pubby over discord these days and theyre on and off muses, but dirk was always meant to be an exploration into reconciling what you are taught with what you experience, in particularly towards morality: (being lawful does not make something good) as well as struggling with emotional articulation and gradually learning how to… fucking show you care about people, dirk! (he cares deeply for his friends, but he’s terrified and awkward about emotions, which uh, big mood.) he also was the OG look into “usefulness = value” that capitalism beats people over the head with that dave struggles with, because they have a hard time finding inherent value in themselves for yknow, being living, breathing human beings who enrich the lives of others who love them deeply, and so default to acts of service to try to… validate themselves and the things they have in their life? also, personal responsibility again: i tend to have a few central themes you’ll find a lot in my writing, and growing into that arc is a BIG one, because it… can be scary, acknowledging your mistakes, faults, and flaws: but you gotta fucking do it sometime, yknow? dirk absolves his through religion, rather than family like claudia does, and dave doesn’t have it as bad, but would pin it onto his loneliness growing up, and AR is anger at the mechanisms behind his existence and dirk “stealing” his life from him.

tl;dr: emotionally constipated man 9000my AR was a convoluted character, i never really wrote villains before but? he was a deep trawl into identity issues, and the idea of humanity = personhood and all the ways that that sentiment is outdated and to be honest, kinda fucked up hahaha, i have a lot of strong feelings about AI characters and philosophy surrounding death / life, and AR was poking into “so what does happen to a thirteen year old dirk who just wakes up in shades and has to watch the “real dirk” take over his life?” and the deep set hurt of rejection from everyone around you as well? really about “so you give this guy an idealistic life and then tear everything about it away from him AND taunt him with the shadows of it on the wall and no means of making his own new start, whats left” as well as a general conscience foil to dirk: AR is angry, AR is inhuman, but AR is more genuinely emotional and lovable than dirk is, the stony monolith of a man he is, and… AR’s anger is rooted in some pretty fucking valid stuff? the way he goes around dealing with it isn’t, healthy in the slightest, but i always thought anger was an interesting narrative to explore and he and dirk really resonate with each other because theyre in this stupid fucked up cat and mouse game of revenge cycles that really does neither of them good, that hinders both of them: they both use each other to hurt themselves, even as they lash out at the other, and AR really manifests that inability to both take responsibility for your own life but also to let go of resentments that hurt you more so than help you, and how in blind pursuit of vengeance you really lose a lot of yourself and out on a LOT of really GOOD things that would be so much better to nourish with that same effort (in the style of macbeth and hamlet and their own arcs)tl;dr: angry robot baby

#long post /#ooc #mun talks #Anonymous #album: ask games

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intermission-trash · 7 years

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Just saw a Skulduggery Pleasant post and was forcibly reminded how I spades-ship Skulduggery and China Homestuck has permeated every aspect of my life I can't even remember if mom downloaded the SP audiobooks before or after I started reading HS But to be fair the quadrant system is just so fucking efficient

#kat noises #except for auspistism #sorry ashen quadrant ily but ur really difficult to apply to other media

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mrgameandpie · 7 years

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So hey, I was tagged by my pal @cynicalghostie to list off ten of my favorite characters from my favorite series! So, hey, let’s get goin’ on that one! These aren’t going to be in any particular order.

From the Kirby series, we have the wonderful, irreplaceable, Kirby! Yep, he’s the star of the show for this one. One of the coolest things about Kirby to me, at least the Kirby of the games that is, is that he’s just a kid. He isn’t the only member of his species, he isn’t some special Chosen One, he’s just a kid that sees problems out there in the world and goes on and kicks butt to fix ‘em! Even if he does end up getting the wrong person first like 50% of the time.

From the Sonic series, we have the ultimate sidekick, Tails! When I was young and the Sega Genesis was my only game system, my favorite game for it was Sonic 3 by a long shot, and one element was the ability to play as Tails and fly through the levels. Then, as the series has gone on and we’ve seen more stories and playstyles, Tails continues to be my favorite. His story about gaining his own identity in Adventure and his continuing maturity afterwards has been great, he’s probably the character with the best development in the series as a whole!

From that wonderful webcomic known as Homestuck, we’ve got the Witch of Space herself, Jade Harley! Jade became a fast favorite of mine when initially reading the comic, and continues to be in that position to this day. She’s got a seriously excellent degree of positivity and silliness, and with a variety of interests from nuclear physics to botany to fantasy, she’s a fantastic character to watch, even if she ends up not getting to do a whole lot. That’s kinda the point of her story arc, really.

A more recent fandom I’ve become involved in, from the Touhou series we’ve got the shallow and thoughtless human really cool third goddess of the Moriya shrine, Sanae Kochiya! The first Touhou game I played was 12, and I really enjoyed her dialogue when playing as her, plus she also has some of my favorite shot types and absolutely fantastic spell cards/bombs. As I played more games and learned more about her, she quickly jumped to the top of my list. I mean, her line from her boss battle in 11, “You can’t let yourself be held back by common sense in Gensokyo, right?” She says that when she’s roughly in her mid-teens, and I know I said stuff exactly like that when I was that age. With interests in space and nuclear physics (like a character I just talked about) she’s just generally really fun and cool to watch.

Overwatch has a colorful cast of characters who have fantastic backstories, designs, and gameplay, but by far my favorite of them all is Mei Ling Zhou. The Pyro was one of the characters I always played back in TF2, so her gameplay came fairly naturally to me with a similar primary fire. She has some really cute and fun voice lines and interactions, and the degree of ingenuity and hope she displayed in her relatively recent animated short was absolutely fantastic, she’s just really great in general. Even if people do say she’s cancer.

Speaking of online multiplayer shooters, in TF2 the one character I play more than Pyro is none other than the Medic. I like being a support player when available, and the Medic excels at that role in a fantastic way. He’s also got some really hilarious dialogue, and I absolutely love Meet The Medic.

Returning to the world of 2D platformers, the Mega Man series has a ton of Robot Masters and equivalent characters to face off against, but my favorite of them all has to be Mega Man 4′s Bright Man! His level is cool with some neat light gimmicks as well as INTENSE GRASSHOPPER SPIKE JUMPING. His fight is also pretty cool with a unique gimmick where he’ll use his time-stopping weapon only at certain levels of health. And then there’s his weapon, which stops time! I use it a lot throughout the various levels in the game, definitely the best time-based weapon the series has to offer. As a whole, a really fantastic robot master, Dr. Cossack did a good job with that one!

Speaking of franchises with a lot of characters, Marvel’s cast dwarfs so many fictional universes out there, it’s pretty tough to choose just one! However, one hero stands out from the rest of the crowd as being truly Unbeatable, she’s none other than Squirrel Girl! I like the silliness and fun of her stories, a real shift away from the excessive darkness that tends to permeate the world of comics these days. Plus, she’s got rodent qualities, I LOVE rodents! A really fantastic character design in her recent series tops everything off to be my favorite Marvel character. Sorry Mr. Fantastic, but ever since Marvel stopped making the Fantastic Four, someone had to take your place here.

In a similar vein to my favorite Marvel character, my favorite DC character follows a lot of the same beats. I’m not even sure if he still exists in the DC universe right now given the New 52 and such, but he’s been a mainstay in the comic world for a long time now, he’s the ever-flexible Plastic Man! Admittedly, I know him more from animated appearances like Batman The Brave And The Bold and the recent Justice League Action, but I love every appearance I’ve ever seen him have. The silliness, the fun, the creative use of his stretching powers, Plastic Man is truly a guy to look up to, someone who turned his life around for the better after hitting rock bottom. Plus, he’s got a son that he’s had some absolutely wonderful interactions with over the years, some real heartwarming stuff right there.

So, we’ve reached #10 now, the last character I’m gonna be talking about here. Clearly, there isn’t any character I can possibly talk about other than Mr. Game & Watch from, well, the Game & Watch games, but more specifically Smash Bros! He’s been my main character since Melee, and the surprising depth he received in Brawl’s Subspace Emissary was really cool! I do wish we’d get another Smash Bros game with a story mode, maybe we’d get to see G&W do some even cooler stuff! There’s a reason I’m mrgameandpie, and it’s because this guy looks, sounds, and plays really uniquely!

So there we have it, a solid top 10 right there! I’m not particularly gonna tag anyone here, but hey, if you find this and think it looks interesting, launch some cool characters my way! Or Tumblr’s way I suppose. It’ll be a good time I’m sure!

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ditheringluminary · 4 years

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Could I have a session analysis for a Taurpia Maid of Light, Gemnius Witch of Hope, Caniborn Page of Rage, Libza Rogue of Mind, Virsci Sylph of Life, Scorgo Heir of Space, Caprimini Prince of Doom, Pilo Mage of Heart, Leus Bard of Breath, Aquacen Thief of Blood, Arittarius Seer of Void, and a Sagirist Knight of Time?

First big fella! Here we go!

First off: Time and Space? Bingo! In fact this is one of the most stable Time and Space players so far! Usually we get Knights who hide from their aspects or... destroyer classes :p

Maid of Light (Bronze sign, Dersite): Your session will be negatively affected by a force of Light. Ironically this may just mean that you be extremely unlucky when things need to be more fortunate. Hence why the Maid of Light is supposed to create more luck and fortune with their great power.

Witch of Hope (Gold sign, Prospitan): Your players hope to win... Hope! Given the previous classpect, its likely that your players are aware that the odds are really not in their favor, and feel rather upset about it. It’s the Witch’s job to regulate these hope levels so people don’t feel so trash.

Page of Rage (Lime sign, Dersite): Your session will WIN.... Rage... Almost the exact opposite of what you guys seem to want <:B. However! Rage often represents truth, or is at least associated with it. When you win your session you’ll win true insight and the truth of your life story, even if it doesn’t sound very glamorous.

Rogue of Mind (Teal sign, Dersite): Your session’s greatest resource will be Mind. You’ll all be great at working together as a group! Your Rogue will make sure that every idea is used to its absolute fullest and is polished to a shine.

Sylph of Life (Jade sign, Prospitan): Your session will be positively affected by a force of Life. An outside force of healing and betterment (oftentimes simply another Life player/npc) will arrive to help you out.

Heir of Space (Blue sign, Prospitan): Your session is ultimately about Space, meaning creation, the endless expanse of a story, and physical space. It’s likely a lot of creation is going to happen in your session, however since Space is often associated with loneliness, your players may feel lonely even if they’re around tons of people. A special and unfortunate kind of disconnection.

Prince of Doom (Purple sign, Dersite): Your session has too much Doom. Fits in with the Maid of Light classpect’s role. Your session is going to be riddled with unlucky br8ks and likely quite a few deaths. The Prince must use what are effectively Life powers in order to combat this and break a few rules.

Mage of Heart (Fuschia sign, Prospitan): Your session’s lifeblood will be Heart. Even if this doesn’t involve romance like it did for Meulin, it does kind of fit with the other classpects. The loneliness that the Heir of Space indicates that you will be disconnected, but still able to hold your own when you guys are alone. The Rogue of Mind indicates that while Heart will permeate the session, your real aspect to focus on should be Mind, and this permeation might distract you from being mindful. Similar to the alpha trolls session of a Mage of Heart and a Knight of Mind. You have more heart, but need to focus more on Mind.

Bard of Breath (Olive sign, Prospitan): Your session’s greatest challenge will be Breath. I see this mostly in the sense that you are all too detached from one another, and while you are okay with being separate, you’re too separate for Skaia’s liking. This can be connected to the Heir of Space again. Your session is about a lot of unique people but not many that know how to plan things together efficiently.

Thief of Blood (Violet sign, Dersite): Your session will have Blood taken from it. Given how disconnected this session sounds, its likely this will be your session’s “low point”. Your doomed timeline, your horrorstuck, whatever you call it when your last sliver of connection to one another is cut, nothing would stop you from hurting one another, intentionally or not.

Seer of Void (Rust sign, Dersite): Your session will attempt to reach their goal with... nothing. Think of it like the Fistkind strife specibus. Sure, it’s literally nothing, but its pretty damn effective isnt it? You guys will mostly be roughing it for your session, brute forcing and being solo. At least until you realize that you should be using your brains, together.

Knight of Time (Indigo sign, Prospitan): Your session will lack Time. A classic classpect, belonging to one Dave “Coolguy” Strider. As seen in Homestuck, this involves a lot of countdowns and limited time to complete the actual game. You’ll be racing against the clock most of the time in this session.

Warnings: Don’t let the Thief steal your bonds. At least not too many, or else you won’t have any left! Blood and Mind are intensely linked in the way of cooperation, and you won’t be able to have your session cooperate properly. Likewise don’t let the Bard destroy and cut off all the friendships they have in a fit when they leave Blood into their true aspect of Breath. The Prince should have someone watching them, as they might go nuts eradicating Doom and replacing it with “betterment”. Don’t let the Heir of Space isolate themselves, either. Heirs inherit their personality from their aspects and so the Heir of Space may do this on instinct. The Page of Rage sounds a tad dangerous if they are allowed to grow strong and ends up resenting their friends, as Pages are extremely powerful and Rage is an awfully confusing aspect. Finally, the Witch of Hope has a lot of power under their belt. Treat them well and they won’t be a powerhouse with no filter.

Goodies: Not to toot my own horn but the Rogue of Mind will be a great asset! They’ll be the one to rise up and link everyone together, or at least helping them with not being so alone. The Mage of Heart, despite not exactly getting something out of their aspect, will be able to see the uniqueness and love in others, and hopefully will use that to help their friends. The Knight of Time weaponizing time as we’ve seen IN homestuck is a valuable classpect, able to make absolute bank and help out others who have passed (as long as the time loop is stable).

In summation this sounds like a very solid session! Rather focused on interpersonal relationships between players, much like the Alpha kids session. Still, it sounds pretty successful and even has a Knight to help out the Space player! You’re golden!

#rogue of mind #mage of heart #thief of blood #heir of space #knight of time #sylph of life #prince of doom #page of rage #maid of light #witch of hope #seer of void #bard of breath #classpect analysis #homestuck classpect #classpect #homestuck #session analysis #homestuck session

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