I think my favorite bad anti-dirkjake argument is when people go “Oh Brain Ghost Dirk/The Masterpiece happened in Another Timeline” because they genuinely seem to think it diminishes the weight it carries in the canon when actually
all they’re arguing is that Jake not only loves Dirk but loves him consistently, across multiple timelines, and demonstrates it by either:
A) choosing Dirk as his protector, which not only comes with gay romantic coding but also references a movie with philosophical undertones, reflecting both of their main interests
B) choosing to act as Dirk’s protector, which has also comes with gay romantic coding and especially connotations of jealous and protective love
or C) You know, literally decides to live with the guy and hold him close for pictures to their friends & family
Wow yeah you’re right all of this stuff happens across different timelines? Shit then I guess it makes sense to assume Jake doesn’t actually feel anything fo Dirk and it was one-sided, it’s not like the comic ever implies anything about what it means for relationships to survive timeline resets–
i will say that i’ve heard somewhere that jane could be talking about ectobiology here. and she could be. but i think her comments on jake’s body give it a sexual meaning, and also, if the roles were reversed and it was a guy saying, “your only value is being hot and i’m going to force you to have children with me,” it would not be ambiguous.
(also the prime time of jake’s life was after the brobot was in it which reveals that he never really found the robot more of an annoyance and inconvenience at times and certainly not as a sexual threat. because jake is scared right now, and i posit that if the robot really had been that kind of threat, jake would not be wishing to return to a time where it was in his life but i digress.)
“no, why does everyone want to kiss me? aranea, stop!”
context: this is after the conversation with crockertier jane. aranea has said before that she knows jake is attracted to her. she is about to “heal” jake and turn his hope powers up to maximum radiance and was going to do it by kissing him. jake Does Not Want to be kissed.
this is brain ghost dirk, during jake and crockertier jane’s conversation.
“look at our god tier pajamas. i look really stupid and it’s weird that my leg hair is gone! but i think your pajamas are decent.”
(and then like twenty minutes later brain ghost dirk, who canonically represents jake’s subconscious desires and understanding, calls himself jake’s boyfriend.)
like you don’t have to care or believe me. i’m sure i skipped some things but these conversations which all happen really close together have always really stuck out to me. but i’m just saying, please listen to what jake is actually saying and thinking. he’s not scared of dirk.
Yeah I keep hearing people say “It’s common to want to be protected by someone you’re scared of it’s a common facet of abuse” which is great and all except Jake…literally never once makes a comment even remotely implying he’s scared of Dirk, or really the Brobot for that matter.
Also worth noting Jake wants to go back to when he was dealing with “being tackled by a feisty robot”, not, say, back to when he was with his Grandma. The way Jake reacts to Jane and Aranea and describes Brobot also casts a lot of doubt on the idea that the Brobot’s “tender” behavior was anything other than some pretty chaste romantic overtures.
Also: People have argued this is Jane line is about ectobiology? Sorry to burst bubbles, but it’s not. She references the trickster mode “zillion babies” thing, which explicitly describes sexual relations. This is Jake being threated with sexual assault. It’s not particularly ambiguous.
I’m glad you wrote this out cause I’ve been meaning to write a post about how Jake literally never implies being scared of Dirk even a little. Thanks
making dirkjake the lovers card in your homestuck tarot is an obvious bias
im no expert on tarot, but heres what my tarot app says about the card:
the obvious choices for the lovers based on that description are vrisrezi and rosemary
both rosemary and vrisrezi have themes of unity between them, a balance between two opposites who are really the same
sun and moon, good and evil, terezi’s scales and the ambiguity of vriska’s death being heroic or justified, rose’s destructive tendencies and kanaya’s themes around birth
they both trust their partners with their whole hearts and feel incomplete without them because of how much better they make each other
dirkjake lacks those themes. they care deeply for each other, but are out of step, they dont balance each other well at all. they break up because they are so discordant with eachother and can only reconcile when its implied they finally talk to eachother
to pick them for the lovers tells me you didnt even consider the women for whom those themes are essential to their stories
Not sure how this ended up on my dash but alright I guess I’ll comment:
I wouldn’t really contest that rosemary and vrisrezi have those themes of unity and complementary duality, they’re some of the most romantic stories put to text imo. They’re also in Davekat and Javepeta because…yeah…Hussie’s a good romance writer?
But, like…Dirkjake is too. Those elements suffuse Dirkjake in a lot of ways, that I’ve written about, extensively. You’re presuming other people have a reading of Dirkjake as cynical as yours is, and that’s just not necessarily the case. A lot of people think it stands up there with the rest of the canon Homestuck romances.
Which…it does. Because those themes are there, and if you want to debate me on those terms I’ve always been happy to discuss it. So that’s plain old not what’s happening.
Any fanwork presenting a celebration of one ship isn’t doing so at the cost of others? Nobody’s ever tried to say Dirkjake are the Canon Tarot Lovers Ship, someone just liked making a fanwork depiction of the ship they want to celebrate. I don’t really see the issue.
Hey. Archie here. Sorry this ain’t fic or meta or anything.
I just wanted to say that… If you create content for people in this fandom to enjoy, you’re a fucking rockstar. If you signal boost cool content for your content creators, you are also a rockstar.
If you’re writing your first fic ever and you’re nervous, you are a brave person and I’m proud of you, my dude. We all start somewhere, and every other writer around you has been in your shoes and gets it.
If you are writing your hundredth fic, dude, not only are you fucking awesome, you’re generous as shit, thank you for sharing with us.
If you have a doodle to share, people wanna see it. If you worked on a piece for days or hours, people wanna see it.
Thank you for making cool shit. And even when you make something that isn’t exactly to everyone’s taste, I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we are still glad you are making it. Not all stories are for everyone, but every story is for someone, and you never know how your work can help your fellow fanfolk.
There are people here who are hype as fuck to see your content, and I know the environment around this pairing in particular can be soured by jealous tryhards, but believe me, more want to cheer you on. Take some goddamn pride in the fact you are contributing positivity to a fandom instead of subtracting from it.
You’re awesome.
I think Homestuck is really, truly, deeply worth celebrating in this regard, and I want more people to feel that way too because I think this is a powerful story that uplifts the experience of lgbt people. I know that sounds pretty intense and w.e but like that’s honestly how I feel about Homestuck’s romance writing on the whole, so. That’s just how I am.
T B Q H given the sheer number of memetic/deific iconography surrounding all of the kids you could legitimately make some really terrifically cohesive/interesting Soul Portrait shots of them even if they also looked like horrendous hilarious shit
I would pay genuine money to see that come into existence it could be really great. hmm.
TBH i have actually thought about this before, like if fraymotifs could be used outside of combat, could a seer’s powers combined with heart or blood get you something like that? probably not, since there’s no indication that the seer of blood (kankri) could literally see the connections between people, but it’s a fun idea. (dirk voice: rose, did you know that your soul is a writhing mass of orange tentacles? pretty dope.)
alternatively, they could alchemize a camera that lets you photograph people’s souls, or make a horrible soul portrait, sort of like how dave alchemized a camera that turns everything into sbahj
FUCK FUCK FUCK THAT THAT LAST THING
I WANT AN ENTIRE 30 CHAPTER LONG FIC ABOUT DAVE MAKING A SOUL PICTURE CAMERA AND TAKING HIS FRIENDS PICTURES, BUT LIKE, THE PICTURES REVEAL REALLY GAY SHIT ABOUT THEM ALL
He takes Rose’s picture and at the core of her there’s just like, a sun, a blazing blinding sun the surface of which is COVERED in Kanaya’s virgo symbol, like a delicate threaded cage holding in the sun.
He and Rose stare at it and Rose is like. I won’t put a curse on you if you just hand me the picture and never speak of it again. Dave is like fine. Rose is like also send me the captcha code for that. Also take a picture of Dirk that would be handy. Dave is like for what. Rose winks at him and his spine crawls.
Dave takes a picture of Dirk and Jake and just ends up handing it to them misty eyed like sorry i never took this bye
Dave takes a picture of himself and karkat and they get married.
why is everyone in this comic so beautiful and in love and gay 😥
dave: uh jake do you know that you have like… extra soul? a soul hanger-on?
jake: huh?
dave: it’s pink, does that help
jake: OH thats just dirk’s soul. he gave me a piece of his soul when we were little by accident when he fell in love with me! i call him brain ghost dirk and sometimes he helps me out a jam. hes a nice fellow!
dave: thats………gay
karkat, eavesdropping: what the fuck, i have never heard something more romantic in my entire life, why dont YOU literally give me your heart dave
brb im printing this post out and making a shrine to it
pining is 100000% the most important aspect of pre-relationship fic for me. good-natured whole-hearted pining filled with lovelorn gazing and chest aching and fluttering touches, that’s my top priority. i was put on this earth to watch characters suffer over the profundity of their love for another person. unrequited love is why god made me. characters finding out that their feelings are reciprocated after long months/years of suffering is why the universe was assembled from nothingness. amen.
Flying through Storytelling 