actually, Feferi was the one who set up the dream bubbles… they aren’t in every session

That is true, but it’s also kind of extraneous detail. Every session we see in the story of Homestuck is linked to them, and anyone who wants to write a fan-session is free to use the concept. A lot of making these videos snappy and interesting–which is a priority for me–is trimming out the fat.

Which isn’t to say I won’t clarify this or anything. Just that it’s a detail best suited for a later video, like one where I talk exclusively about the Horrorterror, or better yet, the one on Feferi.
I’m playing the long game, here.

catchaloststar submitted:

Hey I totally forget if I already asked you this, but I was reminded by your recent post that I had a question for you about Sylphs and fairies and Vriska’s roleplaying.

Hussie said on his formspring once while talking about god tiers that “Vriska’s true form is that of a pesky, murderous luck fairy,” which seems to go against your theory that Vriska is unhealthily roleplaying her ancestor’s god tier and is not, herself, a fairy at all. https://classesandaspects.tumblr.com/post/130602203382/hussie-god-tier

How do you reconcile Hussie’s statement with your theory? (Death of the Author is an acceptable answer.)

If you did ask, I never saw it! I think I’ve seen this quote before, come to think of it.

I wouldn’t really use DotA to discard theories because I’m primarily interested in trying to understand the comic as cohesively as possible, and Hussie’s quotes re: mindset with developing it has helped me consider how best to read it many times.

I’d really only say that this particular quote kinda has to be taken in context.
The thing is, Vriska IS definitely a fairy for the entirety of Act 5. It’s coded into the language she’s presented with both textually and visually across the whole deal.

When I say Vriska is a “false fairy”, I don’t mean that she’s incapable of creating a version of herself that plays the role. What I mean is that the roleplaying itself is toxic and unhealthy for her (holding to her Mindfang persona literally kills her, after all), and so it’s ultimately discarded as her character grows.

The question for me is: why was that element so completely dropped later?
And why is the myth of the Fairy so consistently tied to the Maid and Sylph classes–with the exception of cases like Vriska and Tavros, for whom behaving as fairies ends atrociously?

Hussie has always been cagey about telling us exactly what’s going on. So weighed against the evidence in the comic, I’m inclined to think he’s just leaving stuff out here, given that this quote is from Act 5–before we even knew the Dancestors and could put this stuff together.

I’m glad to see you disproving creative classpects theories. He’s a massive ass, harasses and bullies people who are masterclasses, he dislikes, or flat out he gets paranoid about, and is in general a toxic person who should be called out on any lie or stupidity he enacts.

I got one reblog on that post that also sort of presented me as like “shutting down” that post or whatever, and I honestly wasn’t sure what to do about it, but seeing as OP blocked me and I’m getting anons about it I want to say this:

This stuff you’re saying might be true, but it also might not be. I don’t know this person and you’re on anon, so I have no way to know.
Either way though, I wasn’t particularly out to disprove or call out creative-classpect, and I’m more than a little uncomfortable being framed that contentiously, no offense? .

I learned that there were Aranea and Meenah ghosts in the bubbles like, maybe a month and a half ago.
And it blew my mind when I did! I was mostly just excited to share that tidbit of info.

Homestuck is dense. Really, really, really dense. I don’t think there is any chance on earth a single person could ever like “Break Down” all of Homestuck and Figure It Out by themselves entirely, so I view this as a collaborative effort the entire fandom can and should undertake together. It’s a matter of discovering and then holding to facts about the story, since that makes for better analysis for what the story is up to.

But an elitist approach on my part, or an idea that I’m in “competition” with anyone who DARES step into the holy domain of Talking About A Webcomic, is like. Actively harmful to my approach in that regard? I don’t think anyone should be shamed for being wrong about something like that–again, Homestuck is complicated. We’re all gonna miss stuff.
And I certainly don’t think I’m some “Master Theorist” or better than anyone.

If my writing on Homestuck seems good to anyone, well–I owe that to heavy and fair scrutiny from lots of friends I’ve disagreed with on all sorts of Homestuck stuff for ages, as well as to the tons of friends I’ve made also working on Homestuck analysis and thinking about the comic! There have been plenty of times when I’ve presented counterpoints to their views, and times when they’ve dazzled me with some marvelous insight into the comic I hadn’t at all picked up on. @betweengenesisfrogs pointing out that Lord English’s cueball can be seen as a Cosmic Egg is a perfect example.

My point is I guess that I just don’t really want to be framed as being “in competition” with anyone on this stuff, and I don’t particularly like people upholding me as someone who’s like, an Authority on the True Homestuck Facts, because I’m not. I think the story is coherent, and I’m willing to write embarrassing amounts of text explaining why. I’m also willing to hear out a lot of different people’s thoughts, and freely incorporate them into my own when I think they’re right and enrich the story.

That’s about the extent of my skillset. I’d really rather that instead of dedicated “”theorists”” competing against one another, we all try to work to understand Homestuck better, together.
That might be naive, but it’s how I feel.

(1/3)Let me start by saying that I absolutely love your essays on the classpect system, after reading them I felt I was seeing Homestuck in an entirely new light. In fact, it’s because of this that I wanted to run an idea I’ve had about a certain classpect by you. That classpect being Seer of Blood. For the longest time, I considered just how this particular combination would actually work.

(2/3)We know that the Seer class experiences visions of the future through the vector of their aspect(or perhaps guided by their aspect), and this is clearly demonstrated by Terezi seeing the future as the myriads of choices the players can make while Rose seems to be capable of seeing the “true” path or the most fortunate path. So how could the Blood aspect, or rather bonds, be used to see the future?

(3/3)I thought about what a bond really was, and realized that a bond is simply the accumulation of shared memories and experiences between individuals, in other words a shared past. Then I remembered Signless, the visions that prompted him to start the revolution were of Beforus, of the past. I think that rather than being a pre-cog like other Seers, a Seer of Blood is actually a post-cog who uses their visions to empathize with their players and unite them.

1) Thank you so much! I’m really glad you liked them, and I hope we go on to learn a lot more about the system together 😀 I’m sure I’m wrong about some stuff and I’m sure there’s more to learn–it’s part of why I’m so excited for Hiveswap!

2) Yeah, I’d say I more or less agree! The only point I’d differ on is that I don’t think Terezi and Rose are specifically Pre-Cogs, and I don’t think a Seer of Blood is necessarily a Post-Cog, though the Sufferer certainly experiences his powers that way. I’d say all types of Seers could likely develop both properties.

I say this because time simply isn’t linear in Homestuck at all. Hypothetically, if none of the seers had any limits on their power, then for the Sufferer remembering past bonds would inevitably lead him from Beforus to LE, and from LE to the Alpha kids, from the Alpha kids to the Betas, and back around–though obviously, as his focus is Blood, he seems to cap out with the Beforans.

But even that’s more complicated, because the Sufferer isn’t technically remembering the past, but rather an alternate timeline/universe entirely, isn’t he? We saw it with the kids: The beta kid and alpha kid timelines are actually mostly concurrent to one another, despite the fact that the Betas created the Alpha’s timeline.
Jake and Jade grow up loosely in tandem.

So whether they’re inclined to remember moments related to the future or to the past, what it seems to me all Seers are mostly able to do is see sideways–into other universes, other timelines. That makes the concept of pre- or post- cognition tricky, because different universes’ temporal envelopes are wholly irrelevant to one another’s.

Terezi distributes some pretty remarkable recollection of her own timeline and the results of changing it at various points, which seems technically post-cog? Though again we fall into that timeline ambiguity. And while it’s not in canon exactly, it seems easy for me to imagine pre-cog showing up for a Seer of Blood–seeing someone and instantly knowing you’ll be friends or lovers, for example? That kind of thing.

anyway none of this is to say you’re wrong at all. It’s definitely correct that the Sufferer has a heavy disposition towards elements of reality that, through various vague and complex mechanics, read as “Past” events from his perspective. I just find the Time mechanics in Homestuck irresistible to think about because they’re so fucking weird x3.

I also just don’t want to imply that anything about my view of the Classpects implies any Class ever has to “just” be X or Y, you know? I don’t even think the archetypes I claim the story puts forth for the class pairs work that way, which is something I’ve been thinking about and needing to clarify for a long time because I’m worried I haven’t been clear enough about it. So let’s get into this tangent for a minute, if you’ll indulge me.

Maid/Sylphs as Fairies, for example. I do think it’s definitely true those classes are coded that way in the story of Homestuck, and that they flesh out our understanding of what their key verb means, and so what they can do/how they think and process reality.

Now, does that mean all True Maid/Sylph OCs, in my view, should parse themselves in terms of fairies? No, I don’t think so. I think Homestuck uses the symbol logic of fairies to clue the reader in, but there are myriad ways you could use mythology–or simply narrative– to get to the concept of a Player creating their Aspect or being made of it or both.

It would be just as evocative and powerful, in my view, to base a “Maker” informed by the mythological idea of Creator Goddesses, or even a specific creator goddess. You could go with Summon Spirits from JRPGs, who embody many of the same tropes of elementals while being a bit distanced from the idea of fairy-dom.

You could get more specific. It would be pretty easy to imagine a Fairy class Hope player who literally becomes or already is an Angel–they’re Made of Faith, after all.

The classpects are hyperflexible, and I like the Unifying Myth concept because it gives us handy ways to interpret any individual member of a given classpect to specificity. Or, of course, you can use no unifying myth or broad historical archetype at all, or make up your own consistent worldbuilding for whatever you’re thinking of making.

To personalize and flesh out the character by drawing on archetypes and mythology outside of the base Classpect system in order to give resonance and meaning to the classpect that is relevant to that specific character, the way furries work for Jade or Trolls for Callie or Rainbow Drinkers for Kanaya or so on.

So I definitely think The Sufferer reads strongly as a Post-Cog. I’m way more hesitant to allow myself to say a phrase like “Seer of Blood is post-cog”, though, because I’m unnervingly aware people might be starting to give a shit what I have to say? And I absolutely never, ever want to be limiting.

A Seer of Blood can and will be anything. The only limit is what kind of story you want to tell with one, and how much thought and nuance to want to put into the telling of it. Homestuck gives you a lot of tools to build the same kind of compelling nuance it does itself in your own storytelling, that’s all.

Sorry if I’m rambling! I wasn’t expecting to come out with this right now, and I’m sure there are more elegant and coherent ways of saying it, but I really felt like I needed to get this out there. Thanks for giving me the chance and sorry for the wall of text!

I’m still going to respond to the Hope/Rage speculation! But in the meantime, wanna know what pisses me off about classpect? /u/rachelpumpkin on reddit said ages ago that “This was actually two years ago when Andrew put together an info thing for himself on GT aspects.” There is an actual canon Hussie-created info compilation about the aspects in existence, yet we’re down here arguing over the crumbs and hints he deigns to give us ლಠ益ಠ)ლ

I like the crumbs and hints approach, personally! Partly because understanding Homestuck’s referential/symbol language is crucial to understanding it’s broader themes anyway, and partly because…I’m a Soulsborne addict and this type of storytelling has natural appeal to me so I’m not really an objective judge xD

I would be really happy to get more crumbs though. Given my model, I’m really interested in knowing if Xefros’ relationship to Butlers implies any relationship to Knights or Pages, either because he is one or because it’s a case of roleplay. If neither’s the case, I might have to reconsider everything, which is always exciting.

God I want Hiveswap. I’m so excited all the time ;w;

So I was rereading your essay on Dirk and Rose being furries (love it, btw) and you mentioned that every other kid except Jane was also a furry. Would you mind telling us why that is? Jake’s and Dave’s evidence is pretty obvious, but I’m curious about the rest. I don’t doubt it at all btw, in fact I think the reason I’m asking is because I think I noticed evidence for one of them and then promptly forgot, which annoyed me. So yeah, if you wouldn’t mind enlightening me, I’d be very grateful.

I mean Jade is also pretty self-explanatory, so at this point we’re down to Roxy and John, right? Roxy is PRETTY FUCKING THRILLED to see the birth of Jasprose, and I can’t really see her talking to Jade about furries and not being super down to draw herself as a catgirl even if she hasn’t yet.

I was almost about to admit there’s not actually THAT MUCH canon evidence of Roxy being a furry but then I remembered: She’s dating a snake girl. So yeah that ship sailed.

As for John, he literally bemoans his own lack of a furry alt-self in conversation with Rose.

So there I rest that case.

Also while it’s true I’ve said Jane isn’t a furry I should stress that comes with an appended Yet, because really the girl already made a Trollsona. Just wait until Jade has a furry themed birthday, it’s just a matter of time.

And it is my personal conviction that all these different species are mutually furries to one another anyway, because like. They are.

if you consider void, in the broadest sense, to be nothingness, that nothingness isn’t inherently physical and tangible, it doesn’t have to be. If apathy doesn’t fall into hope or rage, it could fall under void’s domain because it is an inherent lack of something, in this case caring. Maybe void is just defined by absense.

Makes sense to me, yeah. Which I guess brings us back around to Void contrasting everyone which…rip. I promise I’m not trying to be obtuse and cyclical I just…am continually reassessing and changing my mind about this stuff, it’s so fascinating and cool though im glad people are sending me asks and talking about it xD

well with that logic, everything could be defined by a lack of void, but I don’t really think thats what we’re supposed to get from it. Thee’s more to it than that, of course. And the reason the aspects tangle more than that is because every aspect is intrinsically related to every aspect in some way. For example, time and doom both deal with death, light and mind both deal with knowledge. that overlap creates situations where multiple aspects work together to create all the nuances of a concept

i think that escaped my inital point somewhat but it’s far more interesting territory to discuss just how exactly every aspect relates to all the others, more than just its opposite

I agree completely, yeah. I figured Time and Space were standouts re: Void just because they describe physical dimensions, if that makes sense? Like. Destroying Space doesn’t really create Time, and in the Furthest Ring the absence of one means the other is also non-existent.

But if someone’s Hope is destroyed, it doesn’t typically result in “nothingness”–it results in negative emotions. Either fear, despair, sorrow, or Rage, or so on. All of that stuff is under Rage’s purview, and so it makes sense for me to say the absence of Hope is Rage to a degree, and vice versa.

Do you see what I mean by Time and Space not necessarily having that relationship? It seems different in a subtle way.

Hey in terms of abstract aspects forming the universe, what would you say to the idea that the presence of each aspect is defined by the lack of its opposite? E.g. The presence of void is the absence of Light and vice versa. It works better with some aspect opposites than others, but i think you could make a case for each.

I think that’s pretty much baked into the Ying/Yang existential duality concept that both the Classes and the Aspects revolve around, so yeah, I agree.

I think it’s probably more complicated than a simple conflict between the two “paired” complementary forces, though. For instance, this isn’t really true about Time and Space at all–Void would define both of those forces in contrast instead.

There are definitely some cases where this is true, basically, but if the twelve aspects are elements of thought that describe all of reality in unison, it’s likely there’s contexts where they’re paired or related in infinite different ways. So I do think it’s useful to think more broadly than “X always marks Y”, if I’m making any sense at all?

I just wanted to thank you, because of you I started to have warmer feelings about Jake and see that we’re pretty similar and I think being selfish isn’t necessarily bad. I’m a selfish person and as long as I don’t hurt others I’m good with this trait of mine. I can do good things having selfish motives and it’s ok. I used to be mad at Jake but your reading of him gives me more understanding of his actions and I can relate to him. I also love Dirk and now I feel comfortable shipping them again.

Aw dang this made me get all weepy for a bit. I’m glad I was able to help! Encouraging people to fall in love with these characters all over again is pretty much why I decided to start doing this so it always makes my day and renews my determination when I hear someone else is enjoying the story more as a result of my writing.

And yeah I don’t really think being selfish or self-focused is necessarily bad. Being aware of one’s own tendencies is a good thing, especially if you can be honest enough about them to know when you need to course correct (and that can happen in either direction.)