burningthemidnightcityoil

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

ON TYPING QUIRKS

When you look at typing quirks, they're considered the truest "speech" of a person in Homestuck.

Now take the personified speech out of it.

1). Troll typing quirks, almost all of them, are nearly illegible for automatic readers. One could make the argument that this is on purpose, given the dystopian society of Alternia would would include extranet scanning.

And now the most important answer...

2). Think normal Texting.

They're all "internet trolls" after all.

We'll go Troll by Troll.

Aradia's is understandable. Her's is just replacing O with 0, sort of a side association. Its not totally obstructive, and sometimes, can come off as someone who keeps slipping and hitting the Zero instead of the O.

Tavros' comes off as awkward. Reversing capslock speech and replacing the period with comma, indicates someone with either poor keyboard skills or just a poor keyboard.

Sollux is just on the edge of Leet speak, and is showing off what his obsessions are and how he uses them "cleverly". Its annoying and pretentious.

Karkat's Caps lock, then and now, still comes off as Yelling.

Nepeta is just roleplaying. Posts and comments get hijacked by roleplayers, even now.

Kanaya's constantly capitalizing isn't terrible, but, It does comes off as over empathizing words. We Only Talk Like This If We Want Attention Here.

Terezi, just like Sollux, is edging on Leet speak, and like Karkat, she is Yelling. Its still annoyng and pretentious, but now its LOUD.

Vriska is leet speak only in 8s, and because of how similar 8 can be, and how it can be pronounced--you either are left not noticing the 8 or it stops you reading completely--bit like Vriska herself. Its Clever in how Annoying it is.

Equius is also roleplaying, like Nepeta. The difference is, is that he think he's the character he RPs and it comes off as Inappropriate.

Gamzee's is the interesting one, because remember, the best way to give a Maliciously Mocking Sarcastic Tone, is tO dO tHiS. So no matter his stoner persona, his typing quirk is still Malicious Sarcasm.

Eridan's, no matter how "accented" he claims it is, comes off as someone's V and W button being broken.

Feferi is the only one who edges on Symbol Talk. If she symboled anymore, she wouldn't be understandable by Anyone.

#homstuck #trolls #typing quirks

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

Take it a step further.

Whole reason this even fell apart as bad as it did, is because they Never had the boiliing point-- where you get so mad at the stupid you make it Stop (Rage).

All of this has no thought process, no thinking, no consideration (Mind).

There's simply no End in sight or even cathartic destruction (Doom)

And lastly.

There's no bonds here. No ties. No, reality to grasp to when everything has turned topsy turvy up. (Blood).

( One might make the argument of "Hold on, Karkat is there!" Karkat is Troll's Blood, not humans. He was the patchwork job SBURB introduced in order to have a "Blood Aspect" to make the new universe--but as a player of a different session who already made a universe, and indirectly, the very SBURB session that lacked a Human's Blood Aspect--he's not exactly the best fit. He's more Grandfathered into the situation. )

( And it's human peoples who are making the problems right now. THe whole Universe Ending Catastrophic Problems. )

in the meat timeline, they lost the embodiment of breath, the aspect of freedom, thus the narrative binds them to the narrators wishes, twisting them to his desires

in the candy timeline, they lost the embodiment of heart, the aspect of the soul. they lose their sense of self, becoming more and more detached from who they are as a person

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

The thing about the classpect system, is that, it doesn't stop once you found your classpect.

Homestuck goes step by step with this.

Your Classpect is your core Character. This is how you act, with what you have and what you don't have.

( Dave is a Knight of Time. His natural reactions to people is to give (serve) them his time. Usually through long obtrusive ramblings. The dude is a talker. )

Above that, you can have a different favorite classpect to follow. This is what you aspire to be, or work towards.

( John is, at his core, an Heir of Breath, but his aspiration is to be a Bard (and in one life he succeeds--he becomes an Actor), he simply combines the two--an Heir (the wizard) and the Bard (the entertainer) is a Stage Magician. )

And above even that, you can learn how to combine additional classes and aspects.

( John's Retcon Powers. While as an Heir of Breath, he can Change the Plot--the very act of changing it via Retcon, is literally taking the pace of the story and then changing it. As he's taken the pace forcefully for his own benefit and from Caliborn, A Lord of Time who commands the story and its pace, he has Stolen Time. John's additional classpect is Thief of Time. )

We see what happens when you fail to understand yourself, thusly, your core classpect.

(The Beforus Trolls are proof of that. Only about two achieved any classpecting powers. )

And we've seen what happens when you try to take on a different classpect without your self understanding.

( Rose with the Void Aspect. Truth is, she was just using another form of the Light Aspect with the Aesthetic of Void. When she tried to dive into the void, via drinking, she simply messed herself up more. )

( Vriska with the Sylph Class. She claims to help, but look how many people are dead or hurt because of it. )

( Dave was raised to be a Prince, and it rain contrast to his Knight behavior. He doesn't like putting people down. )

But John is the first on-screen example of successfully adopting another Classpect, without the cost of yourself.

You can easily have more than One Classpect, if you want it.

#homestuck #classpect #analysis

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

you are so very homestuck knowledgeable. when you have the time and should inspiration strike, please tell all your headcanons about oliveblood trolls.

ooo what a great question! for this one i think first we'd need to break down current stereotypes about olivebloods. there's actually not much that we're given about them tbh

according to the homestuck wiki, which is based on info from both the comic and more dubiously canon things like friendsim and hiveswap, the olive caste's two singular traits seem to be "wild animal" and "romance liker". both of these, obviously, are traits pulled from our wonderful main girl nepeta, who was the singular representation of the olive caste for a long time; alongside her dancestors. which is quite cute, who doesn't love nepeta?

the thing is though that i am one of those nitpicky people who likes to say, "well, hey now, nepeta isn't actually representative of her caste at ALL." in fact, none of the beta trolls are. i honestly feel like it should be assumed that just like the beta kids, the beta trolls are weirdos, and not really the 'norm' in their society.

nepeta lives out in the wilderness very specifically away from society in a way that is remarked on as being unusual even for someone of her color; and she does not even understand what role her caste would have given her in normal society. and i mean... considering aradia tavros and sollux are LOWER than nepeta, it doesn't really make sense for them all to have nicer houses than her unless she's unusual in her situation.

^ nepeta is in fact NOT a good representation of olivebloods.

which means... no, i don't think all olive trolls are romance obsessed wilderness girls, actually, sorry, hiveswap friendsim, i have to shelve you from my alternia analysis for now.

luckily, there ARE other olivebloods in the series!

first of all, the other leijons. unfortunately, none of them are really "good" examples either. meulin is from an entirely different planet, and disciple is from an ancient history perhaps even less representative of "normal" life than nepeta is. all we really get from them is stuff we already knew from nepeta-- the wildness, the relationship interest. with an added fact that both meulins seem to be somewhat bookish.

and so who does that bring us to? the final canonical oliveblood.

that's right.

troll will smith.

troll will smith is canonically an oliveblood. not only that, but he's a famous actor, which means he is basically a "model" for society- for what it looks like once you "have it all made". i would imagine this goes even more for alternia, supposedly a very movie-geared society.

the two troll will smith features that canonically exist on alternia are Fresh Prince and Hitch. in both of these films, will smith plays a character that is self-made and clever, a regular guy who is just skilled. it should also be noted that while a "threshecutioner" is a job with a heavy blueblood populous, greenbloods can also be one, and it's common enough that a show about it wasn't cut by the alternian dictatorship.

so therefore, what traits can we pull that all of these olivebloods (and equius lol) display to us?

olive trolls are lower class, but they're capable of working up through their connections

likely due to this, olive trolls are often clever and self made. they're likely quick-witted and sharp

they're good at their jobs! most olive trolls that are seen in the comic are very good with their respective practices (be it drawing, writing, bookkeeping, or melee fighting)

it's possible that olive trolls have a good intuition, and are fairly in touch with their own instincts. this would explain why some of them seem to fare better in the wild or in fights, and also why they are stereotyped as having a natural inclination for relationships. i think this is also a good transition ground between the impressive physical psionics of the castes lower than olive, and the emotional/mental psionics of the highbloods above them.

so, there we go. these are my olive headcanons! they're not comfortably well off or anything, but they're not wild animals either-- they're hard workers and skilled at what they put their minds to. probably usually working a nine to five and doing their best in life hoping to move up with a good quadrant or promotion. at least, in my headcanon anyway- no need to take this as fact!

#homestuck #olive blood caste #analysis #head cannon? More like headology

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

Happy 4/13 HOMESTUCK DAY!

#homestuck #4/13 #spades slick #art

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

How could I forget about this Gem I got to work on!

Voice acting by the ever so talented @jacobtheloofah

old but gold! happy 4/13 everybody!

#homestuck #homestuck intermission

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

If you're wondering why I'm so inclined to the Bard Class, is cos, well, I identify myself as a Bard.

I generally would like to produce good, or at least neutral, examples that aren't mother fucking Gamzee Makara and his murdery Bullshit.

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

Y'know, a Bard would be a helluva an Analyst.

Now you might be thinking, well what about Seers and Mages, who's whole jobs are knowing things?

Well, Data can be poisoned, that's what about Seers and Mages.

Not a single one of Sollux's "Visions" have an inch of exact accuracy, only that its hit the general area of "He'll go blind and die" and well... he's done that several times... sounds a bit self-fulfilling after a bit.

Yes, Rose' visions are accurate but look at her reactions. Her idea of trying to achieve understanding comes at the cost of understanding.

Terezi goes for reaction, but she's so focused on consequence. She tunnelvisions, which is very ironic for a blind seeress.

Mages and Seers Know things, but Understanding what that Knowledge is, is a different story.

A Bard can. How? Because as the destruction class, and the one who is the joke class, and who makes the jokes--they can allow Destruction... Via Breaking It Down.

Break something down to its basic steps. Focus on the important bits. Deconstruction of what you know.

A Mage / Seer can know a thing, but a Bard can break it down for you.

By this logic, a Prince can do, and we do see this with Dirk--but the issue is that Princes are Active Classes, ie, they do things for themselves.

A Bardic Analysis will be more in the spirit of what other people want (Think Bardic songs, they will sing what's important to others).

A Princely analysis will be more in the spirit of what the Prince wants ( A ruler will be more inclined to convince you of what they want you to believe is important. )

#homstuck #classpect #mage / seer #prince / bard #analysis

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

ON THIEVES

The Thief is the Active Stealing Class. They steal for themselves, in contrast to their counterpart, the Rogue, who steals for others.

Our most known example is Vriska Serket, a Thief of Light. A background example would be the Condesce or Meenah Peixes, who is a Thief of Life.

Thieving in Homestuck's case of mixing narration and video game logic, means taking something from your target or adversary, and enforcing yourself with it. Mostly, this is in regards specifically to the aspect of the Thief, but valuables are always a constant. (A thief, no matter the aspect, will not say no to loot and treasure. )

An example of how a thief operates can be seen with Meenah, as her many selves serve as the prime example, and her aspect is less esoteric than Vriska's.

... Meenah Steals Life. This comes to be:

Literally stealing your life (Health), as in killing you. As a thief, however, Life (Health) can be used to reinforce herself. This means, in a sense, she can vampirically take your health.

Stealing your Life (Wealth), as in robbing you of a desirable lifestyle. She was Empress of the Troll Empire, and enforced the caste system that left thousands to millions enslaved, abused and fearing execution or just executed.

Stealing your Life (Natural Abilities), by the end of HOmestuck, the Condesce had taken on the various natural abilities of all trolls. In her case, as a thief, this was probably very literally.

Stealing your Life (Growth / Experience), her method of control over Jane Crocker, robbed Jane of experiences and healthy growth. Sometimes, with literal mind control.

There is, however, an additional definition to being a Thief. It ultimately lies underneath their Stealing tendencies.

And that is "Force".

In truth, Force can also be applied to the Thief's contrasting mirror classes, Page / Knight. So in this sense, Thief / Rogue and Page / Knight fall under "The Force Classes".

When Meenah steals Life, she is acting as the Force of LIfe for Trolls. (She isn't creating Trolls, mind, that lies with the Mothergrub), but she is actively directing how Life works for Trolls.

( This contrasts with her Post-Scratch counterpart, Feferi, who seeks to Change Life--mostly hers, but in addition to others as well. )

When Vriska steals light, she is stealing Meaning, Consciousness, and Symbolism. She acts as the Prime Force of Light, actively meddling in the aspect and its power over others.

As an acting Thief, the "Apprentice of a Thief", John Egbert stole Breath--Plot, Motion, Action, Freedom. Specifically, he stole Caliborn's (By beating the shit outta him), taking Caliborn's plot of Homestuck and running with it. John's retcon abilities, which heavily benefited his allying thieves and rogues, Literally Steal the Plot by Changing It. He is the ultimate proof of success when it comes to Role-Playing a different Class (In his case, The Thief.)

And after all, Thieves are all about EnForcing and ReinForcing a thing, by taking it into their own hands instead.

#homestuck #classpect #classpect analysis #thief / rogue #analysis and speculation

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

FINDING CLASSPECTS - THE KNIGHT

The best way to find classpects is to recognize that Classes and Aspects are actual elements to character building and creation in writing, as well as narrative symbolism and worldbuilding--and that means, you use this system to analyze characters and worlds in other media and mediums.

This also works in reverse. By exploring other media, mediums and characters, you find examples of how certain classes and aspects can work.

The Medium of the Knight is... Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

The Knight is about Service.

They SERVE OTHERS as they are NEEDED. Included in that service is MASKING WHO THEY ARE, in order to face the challenges of Service and BE WHO IS NEEDED. But their true challenge is FACING THEMSELVES and WHO THEY ARE and WHAT THEY WANT.

Nobody exemplifies this more than the Clone Troopers of Star Wars the Clone Wars. They even come with an overall aspect, Space. (So Knights of Space... which, y'know, that checks. )

[ We're not here for the aspect, but that'll prolly be a fun analysis later ]

As the Knights, they show example of every form of Knight. From the unrealized to the Fully Realized (The Shinies to the Commanders), to the Knight Consumed (Order 66) to the Fallen Knight (Post Order 66).

By sharing the same face and armor, they all share the same Knight's Mask, but underneath the helmet and the face, is the true person, only just realizing themselves.

As Knights, they were trained from birth in order to fit and fill an Expected Mold that doesn't fit them at all, but they'll act the part anyway because that's what Service Demands.

THE TRUEST KNIGHT AND THUS THE LEADER OF THE SBURB SESSION... is Captain Rex. His small arc is in constant conflict in his Service to others, and whether to serve what he believes is right, or to serve the law, facing nearly every form of the Knight in the process (Nearly being consumed himself).

But in the end, he finds that the only true service is what you yourself are willing and capable of freely serving to others on your own merits.

[ I think. That would be a good wrap up for him, if the storytellers bothered to finish his fucking arc, or paying any bother with it, but well, that's why this is a homestuck analysis, not a star wars analysis ]

#finding classpects #homestuck #star wars #star wars the clone wars #captain rex #knight / page classpect #analysis

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

One thing I try to keep in mind when it comes to Classpecting, is that, Classpects are fun character creation stuff...

... But they're also a system of giving a Nature to something, or someone, through patterns and symbols and meanings and reasoning, ecctra.

So if you're going to give someone or something a nature or pattern... you generally don't want to say "Oh, the Thief class is Evil" or "The Prince class is Toxic" or "The Doom aspect is Bad".

Because do you honestly want to describe the intimate nature of something or someone as "Inherently Bad / Evil / Terrible"?

... Even Homestuck took steps to assure that what you Choose to Do and how you Act, determines the reality around you--its not something that Just Happens to Be.

And that nothing is inherently bad. Its just people making poor choices, dealing with their flaws, and the adventures and consequences there of.

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

The biggest thing I find disappointing about any of the "official" sequels to Homestuck, is that... They don't really expand on Homestuck.

They simply add problems, that weren't needed, and are churning out solutions, that didn't matter--because the problems in the first place weren't needed.

My idea of a Homestuck sequel would be to have the world-build, because now we have that idea of the "world" and how it "works", but start from scratch (haha).

Make new characters in classes and aspects we haven't seen yet, or didn't see enough of (Mages and Thieves and Sylphs, oh my, Dooms and Rages and Blood, oh my!). Make new characters that have new remixes of classes and aspects we already know of.

Make new inner memes and repetitions, Homestuck is nothing if not repetitious. Have some actual fun with your sequel. I can't imagine the current stuff being Fun, not with what's its building from.

Say something new in the story, or say something old in a different way. HS is all about ridiculous bullshit all the time anyway, just as much so as its about serious shit all the time always.

Personally, I'd rather not go through SBURB again, I'd want to see how HS works without SBURB being the main focus--or maybe have a SBURB that is completely off its knocker and is impossible to play, as its background.

( Earth C is a perfect place for that )

There are, of course, several things that can be expanded and thoroughly explored that HS leaves open.

Throughout your life, you are going to have more than one class or aspect. I know huh? Its a thing we've seen out of the Adults that pop up in HS--they always have at least one more class and aspect, and are capable of performing those classes and aspects successfully. And this even falls in line with typical character dynamics on writing and comprehension. A 3D character changes depending on what situation they're in and who they're with. And with such, we can assume that HS is about your Core unchangable Classpect--Who are you that is you?-- But now, let's have another!

All your Lives are Connected Yeah yeah sounds like Utilma-Self horseshit. But there is clearly a thing to explore here; you are connected to yourself, throughout time and space. So even if one of yourself dies, it'll still live on as long as you exist.

The Afterlife Okay, we've seen hints, maybe, but now I kinda want to know how this works without Dream Bubbles. Dream Bubbles are a SBURB thing, and even then, its only sessions that touch on the Troll Session (Like the human one), who get access. And even then... its only for Players. Everything else is a recorded memory.

What's a universe like when it has its Gods? Its clear that when SBURB makes a universe, its generally intended that its players become its gods of that universe. So... what happens when that does actually happen, and not some tomfuckery coming along.

And of course, this is just the HOmestuck World-Build stuff.

You can tell so many different stories from this, from any variety, from silly to serious (And in HS's case--both). Hell, take someone off the street, throw them randomly at this, see how they react, that sort of deal.

And it can be done, without slogging HS's characters through the murk.

If the intention of the current "sequels" were to make things tired, dragged out, and not even fun anymore... Yeah congrats. The story worked as intended. So much so that I'm not even going to keep up with it.

That's how tired its made me.

ADDENDUM:

A lot of people, found comfort, relation, and personal importance, in HS's characters.

And what was done to several character, was a horrible, disgusting, and terrible thing to do, to characters that people found comfortable, relatable and personally important.

And How it was handled afterwards, whether it was staged or not, was A Shit Way to Handle It.

Occurring at a time and place in history where you Should Not Have Fucked That Up.

Because of this, I am not going to accept the "Sequels". I'm not going to accept any justification for the "Sequels".

As far as I'm concerned, Homestuck ended with Homestuck, a silly ridiculous serious webcomic that lasted a very long time and long after the time period it was in (To a point where nobody remembers what early '10s / late 00's internet was like), no publication attached.

#homestuck

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

ok so hear me out

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

highblood: and why the fuck should i let you tell me not to kill people

lowblood whos about to invent moirallegiance: oh, havent you heard?

#not analysis #but gods this would be great in real time homestuck

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

Personally the amount of people who are either "Jake is a stupid himbo" or "Jake is actively malicious" blow my mind. No, Jake isn't stupid, and he's not evil. He's a sixteen year old who is implied to have a mental disability and/or brain damage (it's not exactly clear, Caliborn claims they have the same developmental disorder and Dirk iirc worries that Jake hit his head too much, I guess you can take either with a grain of salt but I digress), and has not had meaningful real life interactions with other human beings in years. He is in the wrong for his actions, but it feels. Purposefully ignorant to claim he's just stupid or just evil for them.

He's socially stunted. He wants to emulate heroes in movies but lacks self esteem and experience. If the alpha kids had enough time to be more fleshed out (and let's be real, if Hussie cared about Jake) this might have been explored more thoroughly. He'd never had the opportunity to learn how to cope with a relationship, how to communicate his needs, or understand that he can't control how other people perceive him like he can through a computer screen.

He doesn't know healthy boundaries because he's never had to use them, and this goes both ways (allowing his friends to sexualise him and treat him like an object, as well as constantly complaining about his relationship with Dirk to Jane) Like yeah he does run away instead of communicating with Dirk and yeah he does dump all his problems on Jane. I love Jane, but one of her problems is her bottling up her feelings and people pleasing until everything blows up. She should have told him off much sooner, and while he was being a dick, it was partly because she allowed him to feel like it was okay to do, since she never told him it wasn't after the first few times or when she was starting to get aggravated.

His problems with Dirk are a little more complicated because we're never actually shown their relationship or how it broke down, but from what we can gather, Jake felt overwhelmed by Dirk's intensity and decided to ignore him rather than tell him try and avoid confrontation but leading to Dirk being frustrated and breaking up with him. Dirk claims he feels like he bullied Jake into a relationship, and though I personally think that's him making it seem worse than it was, it does mean that Dirk probably was trying to go too fast. I've best heard it is Jake being an introvert pretending to be an extrovert.

This is not to say I don't think people can't dislike or even hate Jake, but it's like. Idk. Misinterpreting a character and disliking that version of them is a little redundant to me.

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

jane and the handmaid both share a few similarities in how they were both manipulated since birth by the condesce and doc scratch (to different degrees ofc) so they'd eventually become their servants. jane is a green character that's forced to wear red and the handmaid is a red character that's forced to wear green. yes this is a reach but i still find it interesting

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

so many people in the homestuck fandom nowadays are younger and weren’t there to experience the comic as it updated, so all they know of homestuck is what it is as a finished product in an archived state. but it hit so much different when you were there

i was exposed to homestuck in 2011/2012 (i used to hate hearing about it) but begrudgingly finally decided to check it out in 2013. the latest update was the very last update of act 6 intermission 5: “THERE IS NO DISC THREE YOU ASSHOLE. THE END. AAAAAAAAAAAAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA” (4/14/2013)

the first upd8 i was there to experience was [S] ACT 6 ACT 6, the HOMOSUCK update (6/12/13) and quite frankly i dont think i couldve asked for a better first update to jump onto homestuck with. start of a new act, and retelling no less, and fucking caliborn the funniest mf in the comic narrating and drawing it

so i was there for……..wow all of this:

the FIRST fun fact is that in the homosuck anthem made by toby fox in [S] ACT 6 ACT 6, the “mmMMmmm” sound effect is sampled from his own voice as karkat in the baby is you

the SECOND fun fact is one that those who were not there for the end of the gigapause and the start of ACT 6 ACT 6 ACT 3 wouldn’t know:

at the end of the 1 year gigapause (10/16/13–10/16/14) mspaintadventures crashed from too many refreshes. the hype for the end of the gigapause was MASSIVE.

remember this page? originally this page only said “WELCOME BACK.” and nothing else and the css style was the mspa default

luckily my blog is a time capsule so you can experience 10/16/14 vicariously

but then

on the same day

the update link was removed from the site.

remember this was the highly anticipated return from the gigapause—the comic’s longest hiatus while it was ongoing

and then it was reuploaded the next day on 10/17/14 with caliborn’s green css style with a newly added word that was basically talking to all of us in real time:

WELCOME BACK.

(AGAIN.)

and that is the cemented, final resting state of the page. and that’s also why the gigapause is one year + one day instead of just one year

and thats the story of the reason why caliborn says (AGAIN.), it’s nothing disruptive or out of place to people who weren’t there since it could easily just be played off as us readers returning to caliborn’s narration in the main acts. but for the people who were there this feels like it was more personally targeted towards them and what they experienced and i’m always reminded of living through all this when i see it lol

#homestuck history