The history of swamp’s blog is that of a lazy, arrogant blogger smugly taking the dimmest view possible about what has now been DRAMATICALLY REVEALED to be one of the most hard-working, dedicated, kind-hearted and well-intentioned group of LGBT art creators out there, actually doing the work and taking the risks to make an IMPACT on the cultural sphere.
This has involved denigration perception of their brand among fellow fans in vicious sacrifice to building up his own status as an Ideologically Good and Correct Progressive, and literally hurting their bottom line and risking the death of their ability to make art.
And he’s done this NOW, in the age of fucking Donald Trump, when LGBT stories and antifascist stories are at more risk than they have been in the last century. There’s not much to value in his ideological legacy.
im so very furious i havent been this furious in a long time. keegan is one of the nicest and most patient people i’ve ever met and he has some of the most insightful opinions on m/m relationship representation in media and its treatment in fandom that i’ve ever seen and the fact that people like fucking arc who is a cis ace person thinks that her kweer card entitles her to the same level of perspective that keegan, a gay trans man has, is so fucking unbelievable to me because it pretty much proves so many of the points keegan has so succinctly made over the years.
this completely ignores the lesbians and trans mlm who he’s labeled ‘cishet women’ yaoi fetishizers. oddly enough, when you mislabel people over and over again for having the gall to prefer a different ship than you, and then your followers send them hate over it, people don’t end up thinking of you as nice and patient…
but instead you managed to make this about aces not being queer
This is the last thing about this fucking asshole I’m gonna say. I got better shit to do.
But let me be profoundly clear: I am not a cis ace person. I am a queer woman.
And what’s hysterically funny is that when SW first came at me and tried to drag me for being “Fake Queer”, I sent them a long message explaining why, at the time, I had been using the “ace” label. It was a reaction to a deeply traumatic event that I still have not and will not speak about publicly (half because i can’t, half because it’s none of anyone’s business). I was very badly damaged by what happened– still am– and part of my reaction was IDing as “ace” for a while even though I am more accurately “theoretically bisexual, functionally lesbian.” I’ve since moved on and recovered enough to put that “ace” label away as things get a little easier. As the idea of being attracted to people stop filling me with anxious dread.
THE BEST PART IS I explained this to your precious little friend. I told him about my extremely personal trauma. I told him because I wanted to impress on him how he needed to stop assuming he knew people based on their fucking tumblr minibio.
I gave him a show of trust that he ignored because it didn’t fit his narrative.
Your nice and patient and insightful friend was an asshole to me and to a lot of other people. And the fact you still think I’m a dreaded fake gay ace woman who has no place in this discussion makes it clear he never fucking changed his tune, he never learned, and he’s literally the sort of anti scum everyone in fandom is fucking sick of. The kind that will happily perpetuate a lie because they want to continue shitting on people they don’t like.
And people like you fall for it every time.
I’m queer. Your buddy lied to you rather than risk losing face. End of discussion.
This is the last thing I’m saying on this subject because I have actually interesting shit to discuss, which swamp wizard is fucking not.
But I want to note that I got off EXTREMELY light in the grand scheme of harassment Swamp has incited, despite the fact that I was the initial point of contact–and conflict–that got him to start tracking women lgbt dirkjake fans and making vagueposts about them and w.e the fuck.
I still kind of hold myself personally responsible for bringing up the core disagreements that led Swamp into conflict with these women, so I feel pretty lousy about that.
The least I can do is point to the fact that I, a dude, got off pretty clean, while it was lgbt women who kept getting the worst of his vagueshit and presumptuous attitude, ideological superiority and lgbt gatekeeping.
So y’know. Just a lil thing to consider there.
@Swamp-Wizard this, by the way, is what actual mlm/wlw solidarity looks like. It’s not just a meme you use for progressive brownie points, its caring about lgbt women and wanting them to have more doors open to them.
Hiveswap accomplishes this both through having new characters to relate to (like Joey) and new respected and valued content creators/role models who’s success can be an inspiration to girls like them (like Shelby Cragg).
friendly reminder that pirating hiveswap is a Shit thing to do and by pirating a kickstarted indie game no matter your opinion about it you are still actively stealing the success and income from a studio of queer folks and undermining a passion project for a number of people and you should feel Bad
[Note: Long post incoming. This is going to include hiveswap spoilers.]
News on this front finally reached me and I’m fucking LIVID that this was going on so, for once, I am getting in the discourse, and I think from now on my official discourse policy is I’m not bothering unless what’s involved is shitty enough that I’m willing to call a spade a spade.
To be clear, I’m naming Swamp by name only because he’s the one who’s actions and words I am currently furious with, but the influence he’s had on his groups moral and progressive priorities is worth bringing up. Plus he’s gone so no one can fucking aggro at him “For” me or whatever.
I will not be naming anyone else he engaged with by name in this way, because it is Swamp specifically and his toxic ideological influence on ***MOSTLY MINORS*** that I care about.
Every single person currently defending swamp and who has been engaged in the actions I’ll be describing is a rational thinking and feeling human being and they are also, for the most part, minors. They’re also pretty much all drama hounds so they will absolutely all see this and come to their own conclusions.
Let them think things through on their own, and most importantly leave them the FUCK ALONE. I want zero direct interaction between me and these people, even through the proxy of someone unwillingly taking what I say and using it as justification to send them anon hate or w.e If you do this it will be expressly against my wishes, and I will be pissed.
Are we clear? Good.
So it turns out I’ve got some stuff to say.
I’ve had swamp-wizard blocked for months because they were kind of this weird pedantic double-faced asshole to me for months. There were a number of incidents that led me to finally giving up on pursuing a friendship with him, including swamp inciting harrassment against actual lgbt friends of mine like @callmearcturus .
One such early incident was couple peeps in his crew coming at me personally for being a furry. Which Swamp “disavowed” at me publically but given that he’s been a two-faced liar about everything else, his credibility with me is zero and I do not trust him. Even if he’s not personally responsible there, it’s a good example of the absolute NONSENSE priorities his particular brand of moral purity encourages kids to engage in.
Because furries are a known cultural bastion for LGBT sensibilities, so there’s a long history of furries being mocked which has absolutely EVERYTHING to do with their close relationships with self-idealization, self-love and being, you know, LGBT which makes the whole practice of mocking them fucking hilariously anti-progressive.
To be clear, I am not upset and don’t care.
I only and exclusively mention this because the hypocrisy endemic to a bunch of people goddamn fucking OBSESSED with the idea of being Morally Pure “Progressives” cheerfully making fun of people for identifying with a group historically about, you know, positive depictions of LGBT identity and personal upliftment is relevant to what I’m going to say:
Swamp Wizard doesn’t give a fucking SHIT about women or queer people, and the piracy of Hiveswap is proof. Everything OP said above? Goes double given that Joey Claire is a fucking marvelous character who already EXPLICITLY, CANONICALLY, CONFIRMED BY SEVERAL WP STAFF an exploration of compulsory heterosexuality and literally, explicitly a lesbian.
She’s also a fucking MARVELOUS protagonist. She’s a good big sister! A brave and willing friend! She’s a goddamn HERO, and the kids at school call her a poser for liking games and not being “girly” enough and she’s neglected and angry about it and LOUD about her anger and the narrative regards her as *completely in the right*.
Hiveswap’s narrative is one DEAD FOCUSED on the big, ugly, bitter, complicated feelings of a teenaged EXPLICIT lesbian already, feelings that are treated completely seriously and given the absolutely spotlight, and we’re only on Act 1.
Hiveswap is a DIRECT response to the rightful complaints fans have had about Homestuck’s relative lack of direct stories about female sexuality, and that should be taken seriously, not shoved under a bus because of some dude’s petty fucking bullshit about not liking a tasteless joke and jumping to conclusions about stuff in a game that is JUST NOW beginning.
What this showcases for me is a stunning and complete lack of any kind of common god damn sense or perspective. Swamp apparently hyperfocused on one off-color joke and one panel of EXTREMELY AMBIGUOUS BLUSHING on the part of a boy (Joey did NOT look interested), that WP staff themselves SAID was ambiguous, NOT NECESSARILY ROMANTIC blushing….
and spun this whole fucking self-satisfying, morally superior yarn about how this was DEFINITELY ABSOLUTELY HETBAIT and hiveswap was RUINED because…xefros and dammek have conflict. that the whole series will likely center around given that dammek is the fucking PROTAGONIST of Hauntswitch.
But basically what you’ve got here is swamp overvaluing the fanon ideal of a m/m relationship and his personal views on the male creator of the game to the point that he COMPLETELY skipped over what a narrative like this can mean for lgbt little girls and grown lgbt women, and completely ignored the voices of the FEMALE creators ALSO WORKING ON THE GODDAMN GAME that loudly confirmed this was intentional.
And then he used this to justify stealing ACTUAL MONEY not just from the male creator but from the women who clearly worked on developing Joey’s story, too! Because apparently their feelings and work and need to survive dont fucking matter! And neither does getting to see Joey’s incredible canon depiction continue!
Hiveswap could be fucked up and problematic in EVERY OTHER RESPECT and Joey as depicted thus far would still make it one of the most progressive works in history. It would still be worth it. It would still be important.
And if missing that fact is not the most fucking typical result of this self-righteous anti bullshit, I don’t know what is. Listening to people like Swamp means hurting the progressive cause and real, living and breathing LGBT people who care enough to MAKE this art and risk their livelihoods and probably suffer economic hardship for YEARS to get this story about this little girl who likes girls out there–in favor of what? petty ego, bad analysis, and bullshit short-sighted, mean-spirited, CRUEL fan entitlement. It’s disgusting.
I’m beyond glad he’s fucking gone.
the new tumblr meta is criticizing ‘critics’ for their stale hot takes.
The take audience is getting really burnt out with the smug, complacent stagnation of self-assured ‘critical’ bloggers convinced of their own self-righteousness and would just maybe like to see them put in some effort into coughing up a lot of nonsense, alright?
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.
Saw a post where someone says Thomas Sanders “is almost 30 and actively encourages minors to send nsfw art.”
Found out that what actually happened was that a kid who purposefully took their age out of their bio before submitting the art because they were afraid Thomas might get in trouble later forgot about it and re added their age and then people went digging through Thomas’ blog after he made an ace positive post and found it. Dog pile ensues. Thomas apologizes for mistake and says he should have found out the person’s age before publishing.
Y’all have GOT to stop acting like a fucking gaggle of church gossips about this stuff. There is a universe of difference between accidentally accepting something from a minor and ACTIVELY ENCOURAGING it. But someone uses that phrasing and it just gets repeated and twisted even after the minor in question explains what happened.
People already act suspicious of gay men that are just “too” nice and I’m so tired of people constantly looking to prove someone is actually the worst kind of person ever just because they don’t agree with them.
Back up your arguments rather than digging for unrelated dirt.
I don’t care about this guy. At all. But before you make serious charges with real-world repercussions (like pedophilia), you must at least have the common sense and restraint to look at the original evidence and consider any available information that contradicts it. Not just hit reblog because it makes you feel like you belong and gives you a rush of power. That’s some Cultural Revolution Red Guard-spirited bullshit.
I’m sorry if your parents failed to raise you to even the most minimum human standards of decency, but you’re out amongst humans now, time to learn.
Signal boosting because I have seen mutuals reblogging stuff about he regularly posts nudes (which seem to be shirtless pics ironically tagged nsfw) and that he solicits nsfw art from minors.
holy shit. thomas sanders is a fucking SAINT and he still gets this bullshit?! the poor guy is the most Unproblematic Fave I can possibly imagine on the face of the planet and people will still do this
why?????????
Let us also not ignore that the whole reason people went looking for dirt on him was because he made a post supporting asexuals.
This is what I was talking about in my post earlier when I said TS. This is how vile and disgusting you aphobes are because you want inclusionists to do something about our problematics when you can’t even control your own.
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–
Oh. Oh right.
Anyway Dirkjake is canon thanks
Can we get an article on why Dirkjohn is terrible because I only discovered it yesterday and it makes me angry and upset for reasons I can’t vocalize.
‘No!’ I cry. ‘No, this is a wrong thing!’ but I can’t explain why.
I’ve been getting asks about this on and off over time and I’ve heard some suggestions that people have the wrong idea about where I stand on this, so I hope you don’t mind if I take your reblog to make my position clear.
The answer to your question is no, sorry.
I’m never going to write a big takedown of Dirkjohn, or really any other fanon ship, or fandom stuff in general, for a couple reasons. Like everything I write, those reasons got long, so I’ll put them under the cut:
Even with what I already have planned, the amount of writing and general Content I have slotted to produce is pretty much inexhaustible, and I only keep finding more interesting things to say about Homestuck along the way. So I could pretty much always be writing something better. That’s #1.
#2. I don’t like Dirkjohn, and I don’t particularly make that a secret. But it’s not like I have an axe to grind with the ship. It’s pretty ooc, which makes it uninteresting to me, and that’s pretty much it.
But not everyone ships or thinks that way and that’s…fine? Dirkjohn isn’t really hurting anyone the way your Gamrezi or Tavris or Dirkroxy ships are, and even really bad fan content doesn’t personally upset me unless it’s actually having broad cultural impact.
So even in the extremely specific and rarely considered realms of Things In Homestuck Fandom I Don’t Like, some lgbt people and minors playing around with an ooc ship is far from the top of the things that bother me.
I literally don’t talk about the stuff that TRULY pisses me off in public at all, because I have no way to not make it personal, and there’s a tiny bit of that on Tumblr, but most of it is elsewhere.
Which brings me to why I decided to write this.
Buckle up, because I’m gonna get really real. Trigger warnings for political stuff if that upsets you.
#3
Mainly, I’d never seriously write about Dirkjohn because I’m just not interested in writing anything in a spirit of negativity. It’s not enjoyable to me and I don’t particularly feel it’s where I shine.
It’s draining and depressing, because I just…don’t want to be engaging contentiously or judgmentally with groups largely made up of minors and other lgbt people.
I say this every so often but: there’s Nazis, guys. Like, actual fascists bigots that want to kill anyone who ships Dirkjohn or Dirkjake or Vrisrezi or Rosemary or Davekat, etc etc etc are in the white house.
Fandom shipping divisions feel pretty petty when you keep that in mind.
Some days the negativity and fear and despair and sheer sense of hopelessness I feel when I look at the state of the world pounds on me to the point I can’t make myself get out of bed.
Soon after November I saw a tweet from someone talking about how their every running thought now included the constant underlying Mantra: We’re doomed.
That’s upsettingly relatable to me. I haven’t stopped feeling that way yet, and I lost my job and pretty much my relationship in the process of figuring out how to live with it. I’m still figuring out–I’m sort of stable now, but my mental health is hanging at “Functionally Self-Sustaining” by pretty much the barest thread I have.
And this Homestuck stuff? All my writing and video making and arguing in favor of the comic? This is my way of fighting all of that. Both as a way of relieving that awful sense of doom and pressure, and, if I’m incredibly lucky, as a way of doing the same for others.
I want Homestuck–Progressive media in general, but Homestuck specifically–to be recognized as the cultural touchstone it deserves to be. Not just for LGBT people–though primarily for us, yes– but for progressives in general.
Homestuck brings something genuinely new to the table, and it’s still growing and evolving as an IP, and I want to bring that stuff to light and nurture the excitement that all of us still, on some level, feel for it. Because I think it deserves it. And because I want to see what comes next.
And like, I’m sure that’ll sound silly to some people, but it’s all I’ve got. I don’t particularly believe in God, and I certainly don’t believe in the system that put us here. I only really believe in art, and in people.
So I have to believe that if I try hard enough and I’m kind enough, something in this twisted culture where we’ve all been conditioned to hurt and judge each other and prize, above all else, the ability to Care The Least and be the Least Affected–a culture that absolutely rears it’s head in progressive circles even as we denounce it as an approach to politcs–will give.
Maybe we’ll learn how to actually be friends with each other. How to be kind.
The story of these kids rising out of impossible limitations and escaping an inherently authoritarian system that destroys them reminds me a lot about my own life and future prospects right now, and it gives me hope.
I want to pass that hope on, as much as possible. And if I can manage it, I want this silly comic that we all love to be something that binds us and brings us together, as a community. As a people.
And if we can do that, if we can stop tearing each other apart over mistakes and miswordings in the pursuit of an impossible degree of ideological purity, maybe we can make things better. Maybe we can ascend.
That’s impossible, maybe, and it might very well make me a fool to engage with this community with that motivation. But it’s who I am and why I’m here, and I’d rather be mocked for being hopeful than praised for being cynical.
As such, tearing into some ship I don’t like is never going to do nearly as much for my desires as talking about the near-infinite things about Homestuck that I DO like. Given the choice I will always, always opt for the latter.
So my genuine advice–and I really hope this doesn’t feel condescending–is if seeing any fandom content affects you negatively to the degree you wrote about there, well: I can relate, because yeah, same.
But I just blacklist it and talk about stuff I like instead. And that has done wonders for my mental health. I heartily suggest doing the same, and then devoting your energy to boosting and praising the stuff in the fandom that you DO like.
Again, I hope that doesn’t sound condescending. I wrote all this so that I’d stand a chance at coming off as sincere when I say that I don’t think my approach makes me better than anyone. It’s just the only way I, personally, manage to survive.
But I also think it’s the path to a healthier, more vibrant fandom. Whether or not people are shipping Dirkjohn doesn’t matter to me. What matters is making sure to speak up positively and kindly and with a sense of fun so that the fandom can develop a better understanding of Dirk, Jake, and the comic itself overall.
And what double matters is creating a culture interested in celebrating and creating more than criticizing, although there is definitely value to both.
Sometimes, I sure wish people would just like talk to me instead of being weird vipers about stuff.
But like, here we are, and if you try to make anything ultimately there will be people who don’t like what you think or don’t agree with it. I think most of the time the best thing to do even in those cases is to talk about it! So I try to, and I’ve made a lot of fantastic friends recently just by opening conversations and being honest about what I like and how I feel.
I’ve seriously made SO many more friends than I’ve lost that way, and I’m kind of the most fulfilled I’ve ever been socially speaking for it. I’ve even made friends with people I’ve really strongly disagreed with in some respects. It’s been great!
But it hasn’t always gone that way obvs. Other times I’ve gotten people making fun of me or being disingenuous or even downright mean about stuff and like, w.e, you know, that’ll happen. So I wanted to write about how I handle that stuff and why I approach it the way I do. Here’s that ramble.
My response to that kind of thing is always the same.
It’s what I recommend everyone engaging with fandom does when confronted with stuff like that:
Block, blacklist, and forget their names. Don’t give anyone the benefit of even being a voice in your head to make you hate or doubt yourself.
Ultimately, I do everything I do with a specific perspective. My life p much fell apart in November, and now my entire sense of self and sanity is based on the reality in my head that there’s fucking Nazis out there, and they want to kill anyone with values even remotely like mine.
By and large that goes for the people who have been cruel or bizzare to me, too. I don’t really spare any resentment or anger in my heart for anyone on those terms because ultimately we’re all angry and pissed off and tired and in danger. I like to live with high hopes and a light heart, and where people upset me enough for me to distance myself, I try to remember them only insofar as in wishing them well on their path of experience and learning.
But the fact that I understand and wish I could make it better doesn’t mean that I owe it to anyone who clearly isn’t interested in genuinely engaging with me the time of day. And there are real, visceral dangers in our lives right now that deeply wish to overtake us.
Sometimes I can’t get out of bed thinking about how doomed I think we are. Sometimes it stalls me out when I’m working, or writing, or driving. Sometimes my thoughts are too jittery and nervous and closed in for me to even talk just with the amount of damnation and fear and self-loathing pent up in my own head.
So like, I don’t need extra help on that front from people who aren’t willing to actually have a conversation, you know? And probably neither do you, because like…who does really. We all have lives to live.
Part of why I do what I do here and talk about Homestuck positively so much is that I think a sense of unity and kinship is important in progressive spaces, and I can’t imagine a better story to encourage that than this inherently anti-fascist, anti-materialistic epic founded on the existential worthiness of LGBT love.
Part of why I do what I do here is an attempt to stoke a mentality of togetherness. Because on some level I hope I can make friends with people and feel less alone in the fucked up hellworld we seem to be stuck in.
So I’m invested in positivity and kindness and I don’t think being a “cool mean gay” is useful progressive praxis. I’ll readily distance myself from people who employ it at me, since it isn’t useful or constructive. And if you’re interested in experiencing online relationships in a way that isn’t exhausting and vicious I earnestly suggest picking up the habit!
Most people aren’t like that anyway, though, which is an encouraging thing I’ve learned over the last couple months.
Most people are kind and honest and willing to talk about stuff, so long as you give them the time. Don’t ever let small minorities of the mean-spirited stop you from putting art or thoughts out there that are unique and yours and full of love, no matter how loud they are. Don’t let the darkness of some discourage you from sharing your light with the many.
Whoever you are, reading this, know that I think you’re cool and smart and that we could probably have some interesting conversations if you talked to me as an equal. And know that most people think that way, too! There’s no need to let some make you feel down about yourself just because they don’t. It’s their loss.
Hopin to post that Jane meta by the end of the week! It’s p much finished, I’m just nervous and trying to polish my editing as much as possible.
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.
Flying through Storytelling 