I wanted to talk about at least some of the Friendsim trolls, so for now here’s a look at my favorites: Folykl and Kuprum. I’m really only hazarding guesses as to what their Classes might be, but this feels like a good match considering what we see in Homestuck.
Linked below are also some longer articles I’ve written about Knights, Witches, and some other stuff you might like to check up on.
PS: I decided to forego censors on this episode since it would be pretty hard to convey Folykl and Kuprum’s personalities while blocking out every other word they say.
This time we go over some of my wilder thoughts on the potential identity of A. Claire, and explore the only other title for Joey that seems like a solid possibility to me, based on Act 1.
But you know, that’s just a theory. A Hiveswap theory. :o)
Today’s questions are: Do you think Joey’s an Heir of Life, or a Maid of Light? Think there’s anything to this stuff with A. Claire? Think I’ve finally lost it completely? Lemme know :3
A special shout out has to go out to the tracks I used from the NEW HOMESTUCK-THEMED ALBUM, p[S], by Casual Sunday. Casual Sunday is a new musical group made up of former Homestuck music team veterans, and they’ve really outdone themselves with this album, so I encourage showing them some support!
I actually don’t, I’ve tackled writing one before but it just didn’t come together in my head. But its together now so here we go, I’m making it now JUST FOR YOU.
I really love Roxy and this isn’t me trying to shit on her, to be clear. What I’m describing is something Roxy addresses and feels regretful about herself, as she describes to Jake.
But honestly becoming aware of how rough Dirk gets it from everyone made watching the most common fandom takes on him pretty much insufferable to me, so I do want to use this as an opportunity to knock some more dents into the terrible “Dirk was an aloof, cold manipulator who lacked Heart” fandom metanarrative.
Because frankly the shit he gets from Roxy puts into perspective that in canon, Dirk is a deeply loving and self-sacrificing boy with the patience of a goddamn saint and the self-loathing of a particularly repressed catholic, so let’s run through the greatest hits.
Let’s start at the Trickster arc, where Dirk plainly expresses his awareness of the behavior Roxy was describing above.
By this point in the narrative, Roxy’s feelings for Dirk are an open secret that goes unspoken since Dirk and Jake are dating during the 6 months of the session, but Trickster Mode dredges it all back up instantly.
Now let’s go back to the start.
Right in the pesterlog where Roxy asks Dirk to think about what it’d be like if they had kids together, she quickly alternates between being dramatically despondent (gotta wonder why this doesn’t get mentioned the way it does when Eridan does it to Feferi, btw) and outright aggressively disappointed in Dirk because of his sexuality.
This is Roxy being really forcefully clear that Dirk is gay, and that his gayness is a huge fucking drag for her. And we really have to point out that Roxy is the only actual friend Dirk has who he’s even out to at this point in the story! Jane is completely clueless, and the only other person who knows is Hal, who is the manifest opposite of healthy emotional support.
When we see Dirk and Jake talk at 13, Jake alternates between reacting sharply negatively when Dirk so much as mentions the word gay and avoiding the subject entirely when Dirk tries to talk about gayness.
So like, sure Dirk’s emotional constipation has a lot to do with trying to live up to ideals of masculinity, but then again it’s not that Dirk doesn’t try to talk to anyone about his honest feelings? It’s that everywhere he could turn he’s met with some combination of disapproval, defensiveness, ignorance and/or disinterest.
It’s a pretty shit environment to be a gay guy in, honestly! And Roxy’s in the best position to understand and empathize with what Dirk’s going through, which means I’m inclined to hold her a bit more responsible than Jane and Jake.
Speaking of those two, this is also the period when Roxy A) Wants to stop everyone from playing Sburb at all, and B) starts playing matchmaker for Jane and Jake. And her feelings for Dirk put a bit of an edge on her actions, because sure, I’m sure a real part of her just wants Jane to have a fair shot…
But then again, if Jane and Jake hook up, that means Dirk’s got nobody but her, doesn’t it? Even when Dirk is denying any possible future for them outside of Sburb, Roxy questions the fact, still holding out that Dirk will get ‘ungay for a while’, as she puts it to Calliope.
Meanwhile, she passes the time by alternating between flirtlarping with Hal, a cybernetic 13 year old Dirk (Dirk feels deeply conflicted about having created) and switching back to flirting at him when he asks her to stop.
She even outright complains that Dirk isn’t more like the AR, pressuring him to act more like he used to before he started really becoming aware of his sexuality, or at least before he stopped wanting to own it honestly. In other words, Dirk is being pressured to feign interest in Roxy, with his own AI doppleganger being held over his head as a “superior” verison of himself.
Hal is fully aware Roxy is doing this, btw, and he uses it to further manipulate and guilt-trip Dirk as a way to lash out due to his own issues. And we know that on some level, it works, because when he talks to Jane on the quest crypts he comes clean about the fact that he actually DID feel guilty that he couldn’t just be into girls and give Roxy what she wanted.
All of this plays into every aspect of how Dirk relates to himself and the people around him–He feels guilty for not wanting Roxy, he feels guilty for viewing Jane as competition, he feels guilty for making Hal and subjecting him to his torturous existence, he feels guilty seeing Hal act out a warped, juvenile, toxic version of his own affections for Jake..
And he’s confused into conflating Hal’s agency with his own and taking responsibility for all of this as indicative of his own personal failures without ever considering the faults of anybody else except Hal, who he perceives less as his own person and more as a particularly damning extension of himself.
It is not a wonder that Dirk feels innately fucked up and toxic by the end of Homestuck!
But it IS kind of infuriating that so much of the fandom takes his description of himself at face value, because most of what he feels guilty for isn’t actually his fault. Like, christ, Dirk confesses he felt guilty about Roxy not long after Trickster Roxy sexually assaults him. That’s what this scene is! It is a non-consensual act of sexually charged contact! This is literally on the level of Crockertier Jane delivering her sex slavery speech to Jake.
But nobody really talks about it that way here, because Dirk’s whole thing is taking everything stoically on the chin and holding nobody responsible for anything bad that happens but himself. This panel is basically the epitome of that.
He thinks about punching Roxy to defend himself, given an opportunity to be a “man of action” for like, maybe literally the first time in this session and solve a problem head on, but he doesn’t. Because ultimately, he can’t bring himself to consciously hurt Roxy, and his desperate need to be a Good Person simply outweighs his desire to be left alone.
Anyway it all works out in the end, and Roxy correctly deduces she ended up messing with Dirk’s head, so I’m glad they presumably worked through all that stuff on Earth C. I just wanted to try to impress what a rough ride this was for Dirk with regards to how he was treated over his sexuality specifically, since I think it’s gone so under-discussed in the fandom.
Now Dirk is happy with his boyfriend Jake and his best friends Roxy, Jane and Callie, and he’s got a cool brother who loves him, and he has everything he deserves and more which means all is right in the world.
Roxy is in a way better, healthier, happier place too, with anywhere between one loving snake girlfriend and two girlfriends+maybe an eventual boyfriend if she and John ever decide to do the dating thing.
The sky’s the limit and she’s got all the romantic attention she could want, which is what she deserves because she’s a gem and a treasure who does her best by her friends even if she fucks up sometimes.
Homestuck is good. The end.
Find me at my own Patrons-only Discord, or the r/Hiveswap reddit and Discord:
Joey Claire is SO good, you guys. Joey’s a stellar depiction of growing up in the 90’s, and she’s taken a very special and personal place in my heart. I really hope this video helps draw people in to her story.
This is a look at Joey’s arc in Act 1, using only one guess at her potential Hero Title: Maid of Light. Our lack of canon confirmation of Joey’s actual Aspect or Class combined with my personal thoughts on Roleplay mean that this is really just a guess at her title, even moreso than the Xefros or Dammek videos.
I can think of one other potential Classpect for Joey based on the evidence we’ve seen, but this one contextualizes her struggles in Act 1 best in my opinion, so I wanted to share it here. Whenever new information comes out, I’ll probably release a follow-up video, especially if it turns out this interpretation doesn’t tell the full story.
Todays’ question is: Did Joey’s story make you feel like you understand what it might’ve been like to grow up as a nerdy girl in the 90’s a little better? Did it mean something to you?
If you’d like the full-length article this video is based on, nab the link here:
You’re not wrong, but I think part of what Homestuck’s arguing is that what we think of as “true evil” IS just lack of maturity, and Bro’s stoic machismo is simply one of the different explorations of this stunted lack of emotional growth and self-awareness.
Caliborn isn’t just arbitrarily an infinite evil asshole–he’s literally biologically incapable of growth. AR is the same way–frozen in time developmentally by his nature as AI. Both reflect an absolute domination that echoes Yaldabaoth, and both turn out to be mayor components of LE.
The difference between them is that AR becomes LE through heroic sacrifice, having transcended his innate limitations through connections to others by becoming one with Equius and wanting to serve his friends.
Caliborn stunts himself willingly, by making the selfish and childish choice to murder his sister and force his predomination early. This is what allows him to play Sburb alone.
But it also secures his downfall, because by killing Calliope rather than devouring her soul through predomination, he puts Calliope’s soul out in the furthest ring, thus ensuring he’d be out looking for her as LE and causing the events that end his rule in Homestuck.
(This is why there’s no Caliborn ghost corresponding to Alt!Calliope’s timeline–she predominated naturally, and devoured Caliborn’s soul/consumed his strength. This is also why we don’t just see AR/Equius/Gamzee’s souls out in the void after they become part of LE–Caliborn didn’t just kill them to take over, he predominated and made their souls part of him.)
Both are tragic heroes, in the true Greek tragedy sense. AR’s story is one of heroic but flawed transcendence out of inherently unjust circumstances that made him innately imperfect–a result of Dirk’s own childhood hubris and demiurgic act of creation. Caliborn’s hubris is his own, and it’s what allows him to both create and destroy himself and the entire reality of Homestuck.
Honestly vol 6 blindsided me, to the extent that classpect stuff isn’t even what I found most exciting about it. It ended up not being at the forefront of my mind while playing and I def missed stuff. I’ll have to replay them eventually. anyhow
MAXLOL & FOLKLYL
This is just a thought, but Kuprum and Foklyl both them seem to echo a Mage of Doom-they know how each of them are doomed, just like Cirava did, and this awareness lends to a self-serving nature and a sense of self-assured arrogance. Starting to remind me of how all indigos seem to evoke pages.
I’m not sure about Folklyl’s Class. I kinda feel like Thief, kinda feel like Page, could go either way if she’s a creator class. Rogue almost makes sense but I consider it less likely since we have a Rogue of Void in Roxy already.
Maxlol I suspected was a Knight of Hope as early as Troll Call, and everything I saw confirmed as much for me. I suspected he’d believe in the empire a lot and serve “through Hope” that way
And Maxlol DOES turn out to rationalize his service to the empire through Hope…but it has nothing to do with faith in the empire or Trizza. It just goes through the Hope player sexuality filter. Which is. hilarious, frankly.
He uses his powers to serve (help, give, protect) his friends Hope, or serve (totally own/defeat/beat) his enemies through Hope–literally, through his Hope and Rage colored psiionics. Goldbloods’s duality motif manifests as Maxlol seemingly using both his primary aspect and its complement.
Bonus points for the fact that even in a situation Maxlol might have interpreted as him getting cheated on or w.e, his instinct is to help the MSPA Reader give Folklyl power–Folklyl has to literally tell him to “stop helping”. An event that’s pretty Hope coded–kisses, shows of affection, the general nsfw-y nature of it all.
ELWURD
Strikes me as a witch of hope, mainly because she seems quite disappointed at her inability to Change bronya into a bad girl. The MSPA Reader quite gleefully parses as someone who tries to become her familiar figure, joining them in Hope-fueled pretense, moving the Reader to lie to Elwurd directly or to lie to Bronya with Elwurd.
Either way, the ability to commit to a lie remains a powerful Hope motif. As does horniness. Elwurd’s true “familiar” figure in this paradigm would likely be Bronya, who Elwurd can’t get over and also can’t stop lying to.
Elwurd’s biggest romantic obstacle is her overly inflated self-Importance(Light) which holds her back from being honest about her feelings. This culminates in an act of theft that Elwurd denied ever happening, to force continued interaction with Bronya. So i think its reasonable to suspect shes roleplaying a Thief of Light, and its not doing wonders for her if so.
Rather than a Witch, its also possible shes a Rogue with their particular fixations on romantic partners. Heir is a possibility, though I feel pretty strongly Cirava’s an Heir of Hope, so I think its likely she’s a Witch if they’re both change-classes. I may just be overstating the Change references in either of their texts, but I don’t think so.
Guess we’ll learn more later, but those are my thoughts right now!
Blood is the aspect of relationships and commitment, both on a personal level and a societal level. it’s about how people bond together and rally under a common banner/ideology. its also about attachment to physical circumstances (being rooted in the laws of outside society is important for an aspect focused on how societies collectively function).
In other words, the violence we all subject ourselves to in order to be part of society-everyone gives up SOME degree of freedom in order to enable the collective functioning of the whole.
For example, traditional marriage tends to come with an expectation of exclusivity or at least sticking by your partner even when its not convenient-its a sacrifice of the “freedom” to always look out for yourself, because you’re now bound to another. Marriage is a societal institution and a form of close partnership, so it parses in connection to Blood.
Heart concerns the soul, expression of self, and identity. its symbols are identifiers of unique personhood–nepeta’s blue cat hat, dave’s sunglasses, hats in general as signposts for an individuals’ “Identity”, whether that identity relates to work or interests.
It also relates to romance, but rather than commitment and companionship it focuses on passion and the deep inner urge towards togetherness that comes with Love. It’s concerned with soulmates in the existential sense, relationships as a means of two souls expressing the desire to Be Together.
Tetrarch Dammek is already one of Hiveswap’s most controversial characters, and he hasn’t even said a word yet. Lets see what we can learn about him using Classpects as a lens, and in the process explore how, and why, Alternia became the hellworld Joey comes to know.
I know I’ve been rather soft on him here, but let’s be clear: Dammek still really sucks for Xefros. Here’s hoping Xefros will learn to stand up for himself and Dammek will learn to treat his friends better during this adventure!
Today’s question: Do you think trolls who commit cruel deeds like Dammek, Trizza, Ardata and Zebruh are completely damned, even if they could never freely choose to be better?
Hey guys! This time we look at some neat ways Gamzee might have used his Rage powers along the course of his arc, and some examples of what “Rage powers” might actually mean.
Today’s question is: Can you think of other ways Gamzee might’ve used his Rage powers?
CG: ABOUT GODDAMN BLOODY TIME, ISN’T IT? TG: bro we’re like fuckin inscrutable by design, cut the dude some slack
Really excited to share this with you guys, I think it’s likely my best writing yet. Here we cover Dave and Karkat’s arcs, incorporating themes and beats from Hephaestus, Abraxas, Final Fantasy’s Cloud and Tidus, Naruto’s Sakura, Tsunderes in general, and the most important concept of all: Nakama.
Lemme know what you think! But also, I have a favor to ask.
If you like Davekat and this post moves you–please share it. Historically, I’ve had a pretty hard time getting my stuff circulating on Tumblr, for some reason. That’s usually not been a problem, since my Youtube audience has grown so fast. But Youtube’s been making some changes that have made my growth slow to a near stop recently, and that’s got me kinda scared tbh.
Because if I can’t grow my audience, it’s basically impossible to make this a genuine life-sustaining business for me. And the degree of effort and creative energy my content takes means I can’t really do it unless its a job, so I may not be able to continue doing this.
I doubt it will go that way and I’m not giving up til the bitter end, don’t get me wrong. But Youtube is by far my biggest platform, and the one with most potential-hence why big changes there are so scary. My only other hope for growth is here on Tumblr, and that hope only exists if people care enough to share what I’m saying. So I’m just lettin you know it’d help me out. But no pressure!
Oh, and also, I need to give out some major props out to the writers who made this post possible:
Flying through Storytelling 