Tag: Anonymous

bro showing up would be fuckin great because even though he is possibly brainwashed and definitely unfit for parenting he’s still my favorite guardian? he’s just so fascinatingly terrible. some things tho: dirk still has smuppets, so those aren’t on bro, those just seem like a dirk thing. Saw’s a cal thing probably yeah. but dirk also sends jake the strifebot, & yeah jake asked for someone to rumble with, but there’s like this go hard or go home thing both dirk and bro show in “training” matters

Jake didn’t just want someone to tumble with, he wanted adventures. Which is what Dirk set out to provide. I’ve written several essays on this. I don’t feel theres any evidence Dirk was as motivated by imposing training on Jake as he was by trying to give Jake what Jake LOUDLY said he wanted. 

If it was about training: Why not train Jane with lil seb, too? She was in as much danger as Jake, would also have to play the game, and was WAY less prepared than Jake was to begin with. So see, Dirk as this ruthless trainer figure just doesnt add up to me at all. 

Also Jake likes the brobot, it’s AR he actually had a problem with and Dirk wasn’t in charge of AR.

Also Dirk likes smuppets but smuppets aren’t….nefarious? Theres nothing problematic about smuppets as long as they’re not forced on a child along with snuff films, they’re just silly vaguely phallic puppets he likes lol. Know who else likes smuppets? Jake and Grandpa. Pa’s keeping an absolutely huge one stuffed in the basement–its in the background.

Bro has one distinguishing interest from Dirk, and it’s also the evil nefarious one: SAW. There’s little reason to ascribe it anywhere but to Caliborn.

oh yeah I’m not saying like, the guardian versions are EVIL, at least for the most part (looking at you bro) and at least not deliberately, like, we know grandpa knows what’s going down, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still pretty much terrible anyways (bro’s situation with cal is so. idk clearly there was probably some fuckery there but We Just Don’t Know how much is on cal because dirk DOES show some of those same tendencies so how much of it is cal and how much bro is ? hard to say)

I used to think the question was unanswerable and I didnt think Cal had much influence on Bro at all. 

I don’t think Dirk really demonstrates his proclivities, but AR certainly does, and is a good example of what Dirk is like when isolated and unable to connect to his friends, 
so I thought the isolation and self-destruction was enough to explain Bro’s descent. 

Then @jadedresearcher pointed out something kind of obvious:

Dirk has no interest in SAW, like Bro exhibits. SAW has always been Caliborn’s thing.
So I think Cal’s influence was substantial. Finding out the specifics about that is part of what I’m interested in seeing in Hauntswitch, assuming Bro shows up. 

I’m starting to get super serious about thinking that the guardian versions of all the kids are like, the worst possible versions of themselves like. Bro: awful. Mom: not great! popop crocker: complicit in the condesce’s whatevers probably. alpha rose: left her daughter a whole house full of booze. jane and dave? probably something. and while grandpa was always WEIRD, now he’s got NEGLECTFUL PIECE OF SHIT TO HIS OTHER KIDS added onto that so like. worst versions or worst versions y/n?

Grandpa was always kind of a neglectful piece of shit–he let Jade play with loaded guns. To be clear, I think its likely Grandpa very much does care for Joey and Jude, and he probably maneuvered the portal and other events to ensure they’d somehow escape their certain doom on earth. Let’s not forget this man is preparing for what he knows full well is the apocalypse, as is MOM.

Which isn’t to say that Joey’s anger isnt justified. Pa is still a shitty guardian. But that isn’t news, and it doesnt mean that Grandpa is now unambiguously terrible in all things. He’s probably responsible for saving vast swathes of humanity through sburb, and he orchestrated the salvation of the Beta kids at the very least. Odds are, he’s done the same for Jude and Joey.

But there’s a measure of truth in your idea, especially about the Alphas–l felt the same about the Betas until literally today when I had a conversation that made me reconsider a bit, so I’m mulling them over.

But like. The Beta Guardians have always demonstrated how much the Alpha kids love and need each other. They are terrible, non-functional, broken people by themselves. The only SORT OF exception is Jane/Nanna, but even she lives a life that leaves her unfulfilled and unsatisfied by her own choice to limit her impact and potential, which is why Nanna is so moved to know about Alpha Jane’s potential. 

Except for possibly Bro, who has been corrupted by Cal to some extent so I’m not sure what his state of mind is exactly, the Guardians and Alpha Kids all have an recurring motif of caring and loving desperately intensely, and none of their care and love helps them be good people to those they care about, because love only goes so far if you don’t learn to communicate and do the hard work of connecting. 

The Guardians show us the miserable, tragic extremes that those self-destructive habits lead them to. The Alpha Kids manage to rise above them and grow and improve as people through their connections to each other. That’s what matters to me.

So I guess what I’m saying is I kinda agree but I really don’t want us to swing to regarding Grandpa as like, Basically Evil now. It’s not that simple. Joey’s anger is righteous and I ate it up forever and she deserves her bitterness, but her perspective is also limited. We’ll probably learn more about Grandpa along Hiveswap and Hauntswitch along those lines, which’ll be an interesting ride. 

Extremely minor point of contention: Dammek’s politics are probably a little bit more anarchist than communist, given the symbol on his wall and his overall attitude, although I don’t think he has a developed sense of either since his worldview is extremely childish despite the overall goal of revolution being laudable. Under communism, personal property still exists in concept and practice–Dammek seems to be fudging the line between personal and private property for his own selfish ends here.

That’s a good point. I gotta be honest and say I’m not 100% informed on either my anarchist or communist theory atm, though it looks like I’m gonna have to brush up. Thanks for the additional nuance! 

Have you ever written an essay about vriska and (vriska) or are you planning to because your theories sound Amazing and id Love to read more about it!!!

I’ve touched on the differences between them a TEENY bit in my Class series, particularly (obviously) during the section on the Steal classes. I talk about Vriska a bit in the Create/Destroy essays, too, since her roleplaying a Sylph (and sucking HARD at it) is a huge part of her early arc. 

But I haven’t written about Vriska and (Vriska) SPECIFICALLY, mostly because there’s no way for me to do it right now without delving into speculation at the end since, ya know, the story isn’t over. And doing so would tip my hand as this huge vrisrezi shipper also and I just don’t want to get people super worked up for the potential way I think the comic WILL go in case i turn out to be wrong, you know?

But I’m starting to think it’s worth making a short post on like, the symbolism and stuff surrounding the two. It’s really fucking transparent honestly so I dont think it’d take me a mammoth amount of text. Hopefully coming soon??? ™

I think the thing most people are concerned about is that dammek will become another vriska. she was never fully redeemed, her pre-retcon self being treated as a joke for not being egotistical and getting feelings once she matured a little. She (retcon vriska) was never developed, keeping and building upon the horrible, horrible character traits that were seen as good in the stories eyes, and i think people are scared that hussie and the wp team will fall into that trap again.

That’s certainly a reading a lot of people have, and I think they’re completely wrong. 

(Vriska) wasn’t treated as a joke, Retcon Vriska was developed– in a totally different direction, not all character growth is positive–, and Homestuck isn’t over anyway.
As Andrew Hussie literally confirmed. Today. So I find the entire presumption that the story has said all there is to say about the two Vriskas kind of grating, honestly. 

I hope that doesn’t come off as antagonistic towards you, though, anon! I understand the viewpoint and for all I know you’re just voicing the fandom’s thoughts. 

But like. I’m not and never have been shy about thinking that the fandom has been really bad at reading Homestuck thus far, on multiple fronts. Which isn’t a slight on fandom! This thing has the density of the Bible–it makes sense that parsing it is going to take a lot of work, and it should ideally be a community effort.

But Retcon Vriska is set up as an analogue to fucking Lord English multiple times, explicitly and symbolically, and Terezi is currently en route to find her as we speak. This is a developing plotline, and it’s downright bizarre that the entire fandom has somehow endeavored to pretend otherwise. 

Possible Hiveswap spoilers, so only read this after you’ve finished playing I guess, But what do you think about the fact that Dammek has a camera in Xefros’ room? Like, what the fuck?

I’ve been seeing a lot of discourse about Dammek already so I’m glad I got this ask, haha.

I mean. It’s obviously, transparently fucked up? We know it, the narrative knows it, Joey knows it and loudly screams about it.
Dammek’s treatment of Xefros isn’t on the up and up.

This, by the way, makes perfect sense to me in a way. I don’t think this means Dammek doesn’t CARE about Xefros–I’m sure, after all, that Pa cares about Jude and Joey.
But caring alone does not make healthy relationships. 

On a related note, Xefros has numerous references to being a Page–I’ll be making a post compiling those soon–and Pages have a recurring motif of getting pushed around and “helped” by friends who care but overstep boundaries. To me, Dammek seems like an extension of the trend–the Vriska to Xefros’ Tavros, or the Dirk/AR to his Jake, so to speak.

What their relationship will specifically look like and how it will grow and evolve, of course, is still an open question. Which gets to the heart of how I feel on the matter:

I’m seeing a lot of people say they HATE Dammek now or he’s TERRIBLE and PROBLEMATIC or whatever at this point, and that seems like…really really jumping the gun to me?
It plain old doesn’t make much sense to build up all this outrage at a character whose flaws we’re learning about here, BEFORE HE’S EVEN INTRODUCED. 

Yes, Dammek is transparently, indisputably being an asshole. Dammek is also one of the protagonists of this duology, who will get at least four acts to grow and develop from the point where he’s being introduced. Obviously this is going to be a character trait that Dammek will have to grapple with and overcome one way or another, because that’s what good stories do: Introduce characters with flaws and challenges, put them through conflicts, and have them overcome them.

Especially since it’s not even like Dammek is like Vriska. There is legitimately and truly no future for either Xefros or Dammek that either of them want to be a part of unless Dammek succeeds at his wild ambitions, and he’s living in a fascist totalitarian hellscape, so there’s pretty good grounds for him to be as paranoid and intense as he is. Not to mention that he’s doing that while being…you know, a damn kid? 

We’re talking about a narrative where it’s altogether likely that literal genocidal maniac TRIZZA TETHIS will be redeemed, given she’s completely and utterly doomed by the system and timeline she’s in, so that people are SO pissed at Dammek for…being KIND OF A SHITTY DOUCHE at, what, 15? is…short-sighted, frankly. 

Can’t we focus on how nice it is that Xefros and Joey’s new friendship is already helping Xefros come out of that mindset? Can’t we look forward to character growth instead of being really really angry about INTRODUCTORY CHARACTER TRAITS? 

So like yeah I think it’s good to keep in mind that Dammek and Xefros aren’t the rosy best buds fanon imagined them to be. But spurring a bunch of outrage or w.e is just going to make the fandom really insufferable to deal with when they inevitably reconcile or come to new terms of behavior later, as with Dirk and Jake. I am begging to the spirits above we can avoid that grisly fate.

But can we avoid fandom’s deadly addiction to outrage points? Alas, likely not. 

PS: Relatedly, I have never seen a guy be more friendzoned than Xefros blushing on that deercat in my goddamn life. The fact that people are apparently complaining that that was ‘hetbait’ is hilarious, because Joey was the one with all the gay coding in this game, and she did NOT look interested that way. Just thought I’d say that too while I’m here. 

yeah true, I’m just worried that people who by chance only watch that one, or don’t stick around for the rest, will think they’re always in sessions

If people only watch this one and don’t really feel moved to check out the rest of the videos–or, to be clearer about it, Homestuck/Hiveswap in general in more depth, then I’ve kind of failed at what I’m setting out to accomplish anyway! Misconceptions over a part of the narrative that doesn’t impact much of anyone’s understanding  of the plot aren’t really a big deal if bogging myself down in contextualizing the impact of a character like, three layers of context removed from discussing the basic nature of the setting means I lose people here and now, you know?

I think this is a reasonable thing to be concerned about, don’t get me wrong. It’s the kind of thing I’m weighing myself, all the time. But ultimately I pretty consistently come down on the fact that if I want people to be interested in this stuff at all, then the pacing and flow of each video has to prioritize ease of understanding and engagement. Otherwise, the whole project is kinda bunk. That’s the nature of Youtube as a platform. 

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.