#hs character analysis

[quadrantbot]

Jake and Dirkjake and other mildly related tangents. (Additional paragraph on alpha kid romance, because I guess that was necessary to me.)

Heads up this post is not positive about Dirkjake like, at all. I'm not saying you can't like it or do anything with it, I am just sharing my own personal opinion and analysis on it. And Jake in general. (I'm not going to tag with Dirkjake because that's a dick move, but I'm not going to intentionally avoid saying it in NON tag text either. Scroll on if you don't like Dirkjake hate. Okay? Cool.) 

Jake is one of those characters that fandom wise, is super mischaracterized. This includes the mischaracterizations in postcanon as well, which also at least to some degree includes Pesterquest. It's confusing to me for several reasons why so many major changes were made to Jake outside of the main comic, but considering how most of the fans do not seem to take him seriously and the writing team for the dubiously canon content seem to lump his existence purely in with Dirk, it's a little understandable.

Jake isn't really too complicated of a character when it comes to likes, dislikes, motivations and issues. Jake likes his movies, the IDEA of adventure, and he loves blue ladies. He doesn't really care for romance at any major point in the story, especially considering his entire friend group had feelings for him, and when it comes down to actual adventures, actual conflict, he's freaked out. Jake has a great deal of care for his friends, even despite the weird romance shit occuring in the group, and his main issue when it comes to that friend group is a lack of communication from everyone involved. Jake "wants" to be important, Jake "wants" to be a hero, Jake "wants" to be a brave adventurer, but these "wants" don't ever appear to reflect in his actions, even so far as contradicting them, leading to conflict between his supposed wants, and what he actually seems to go for. Jake is often seen as a "himbo" by the fandom, but even that is not really all that accurate. Jake isn't stupid. Jake does have some issues when it comes to reading the room, but even when he DOESN'T, it's usually picked up whenever he's in a weird situation that he doesn't want to be in, which can be seen in his conversation with Jane about her romantic feelings for him, or the proposed lack thereof. Should be pages 4587-4593, but I'll screenshot the notable parts I'll be referencing and put them below. 

Jake didn't really seem very convinced when Jane said she DIDN'T have feelings for him, but he just continued along with the conversation, expressing his relief because even if she was lying, he didn't really want to face that sort of thing head on. Jake then goes onto explain the weird shit with Dirk and doesn't exactly seem very interested in him either, but seeing as Jane supposedly has no interest in him, there's a weird sort of obligation going on where he feels he HAS to just let this happen, which doesn't really seem like the common fandom idea that he was like, head over heels for Dirk. There's a vague mention of jokes from "years ago" where they could like each other if Dirk was a girl, but seeing as these are 15 year olds, "years ago" is a pretty vague period of time AND teenagers will say shit like that all of the time! Mostly younger ones, yes, but I think a good portion of teenagers have joked about having feelings for/WOULD have feelings for someone if they were a gal or a guy. Nothing when it came to Jake's behavior was intentionaly shitty or leading Dirk on or anything, because Jake can't always be aware of literally everyone's feelings for him? 

On a vaguely related tangent, I used to be large on the "bi Jake" being canon thing, but just taking the bare minimum look into some of this just makes it seem like he's got no interest in men at all, and his interest in women appears to be from both a jealousy/almost gender envy standpoint (in the way he seems to WANT to be like them,) and a genuine attraction, especially when considering his blue ladies and more specifically, Aranea. (I do not like Aranea/Jake for the record, and if somehow you guys who enjoy that pairing (or any pairing with alpha trolls/anyone who isn't an alphatroll, I'm looking at you Meenkat, Vrismeen and other freaks,) have made it this far, PROSHITS GET OUT!! I am a normal consumer of darkfic not a FREAK!!) I think I can understand those who read Jake as not aromantic, just uninterested in romance with his current issues, but I also thoroughly enjoy reading Jake as arospec as someone who is both arospec AND someone with several arospec friends who like the reading just as much, Jake never seems to take a genuine interest in relationships with anyone, only considering one with Jane or Dirk because they're his friends, and if he's good friends with them, they MUST be good partner options for him. While it's true there can be a good basis on friendship, I don't think the two major Jake ""romance options"" are all that fit even with the basis of friendship, seeing as neither Jane nor Dirk communicate well, and Jake really doesn't either. 

The thing about the base alpha kids (excluding cherubs and any of Dirk's robots, whic includes Lil Hal, despite being a copy of his brain,) is that when it comes to the most prominent "proposed" canon pairings, Dirkjake, Janejake, Dirkroxy, it just seems they only exist because those four are each others only options romantically. Jane likes Jake, so Roxy feels like Dirk is the only option. Dirk, though unlabelled, only has a canon interest in men, so Jake appears to be the only option. Jane seems to like Jake to a degree, but I think that primarily stems from the fact that Jake is extremely kind and caring to all his friends, so she really does see him as HER only option as well. Again, I do think some of the base alpha kids pairings are alright, but that mostly relies on things AFTER the trickster mode section completely explodes all over everyone and the conflicts reach a boiling point. Dirk and Jane make up, and I do think there's something good that could be said about some form of moiraillegiance between the two, because even despite their issues with each other prior to the Dirkjake breakup, they still do care about each other. I also like Jakeroxy as a pairing option, though mostly in a queerplatonic sense, because when Roxy took a step back from any form of romantic interest in Jake because of Jane and later Dirk, Roxy is more capable of having some form of bond with Jake that wouldn't automatically feel like a necessarily romantic thing, and I think their shared caring for their friends and each other could make them closer. The thing about the base proposed pairings between the alpha kids is that, at least in the case of Dirkjake, it's overglorified by the fandom, even if there are ""nuanced"" readings of them. 

This isn't to say that you can't interpret the text however you want, but when it comes to the bare minimum in canon Dirkjake doesn't really work at all. Not as a fluffy pairing, and not as a strange, codependent teenage relationship where they're mutually obsessed with each other and tearing each other apart. Jake has no romantic interest in Dirk. Jake also has a completely reasonable extra reason why, even if he DID have feelings for Dirk, which, according to canon, he doesn't really, they still wouldn't be good together. I definitely understand the value in exploring negative relationships via fictional means, but when it comes to Dirkjake, their conflict isn't complicated, or nuanced, or even really that complex to understand. Dirk didn't know how to properly go through with his feelings for Jake, so he did fucked up shit, and Lil Hal did fucked up shit, and it very easily came crashing down on him. Even without every strange and fucked up thing Dirk and Lil Hal did towards Jake in order to express those feelings, the biggest point of conflict, the decapitated head kiss in front of the volcano, was definitely enough to state that there's nothing really all that great between them, and there's nothing to take from it that really requires or calls for an exploration of the fucked up side of their relationship, because every way I've seen that handled, it's just as full of mischaracterization as fluffy Dirkjake is. I can understand the excitement at "canon gay representation," but at the end of the day, all Dirkjake really is is a one sided relationship between Dirk and a guy who doesn't have any feelings for him outside of platonic ones, a guy who felt an obligation to be with Dirk just because Dirk was his friend. Could that be explored in an interesting and angsty way? Definitely, but that is a Dirkjake interpretation I've seen the least of, if any at all, and that's literally what's set up canonically! 

"But Ro, what about postcanon?" There's a lot to be said about postcanon, and a variety of things that make any form of romantic feelings on Jake's end completely unbelievable to me. For starters, Ult Dirk is in control of postcanon, Alt Calliope is also, to some degree, but anything that may or may not ""confirm"" romantic feelings on Jake's end is being told to us by two unreliable narrators. But also, postcanon is stupid, existed to get Hussie out of debt, and overall was a piece of garbage that didn't do anything for canon whatsoever. So I don't consider it canon. At all. But if you do, the unreliable narrator argument above is for you. 

#jake english #homestuck #homestuck analysis #alpha kids #dirk strider #roxy lalonde #jane crocker #Jake english analysis #hs analysis #hs character analysis #Homestuck character analysis #Ro's Character Analysis Tag

[myfriendsdontlikehomestuck]

Rose has such an interesting character with such a rich history that is far too frequently swept away in favor of making her the "smart therapist" character, despite that her entire arc was about NOT being that. Rose's story was about accepting that she didn't have to pretend to know everything and that people would still like her in her worst, most pathetic state.

Rose has such a complicated relationship with motherhood, and family in general. The only person to ever treat her like family were her friends since her mother was nearly always inebriated. Rose is attracted to someone who exudes motherly energy because it's what she lacked growing up. Rose needs a stable support system. Kanaya can give her that, to an extent. Of course, Rose's trauma cannot be completely undone by Kanaya, but she can help. And in return, Rose helps Kanaya through her feelings of failure and emotional exhaustion.

Rose has dealt with so much from a young age, and it's devastating to me to see her as nothing more than the "intelligent" one, even though Dirk is also characterized as very smart, but doesn't receive this same treatment from the fandom.

Rose's trauma pertaining to Doc Scratch, the Horrorterrors, and going Grimdark are also very interesting to me. As a child who just wanted to know how the game worked, Doc Scratched encouraged and pushed Rose to consult the Horrorterrors. All the while, he made some uncomfortable comments with sexual insinuation. Rose was practically groomed by Doc Scratch into thinking he was someone she could trust, before breaking that trust and forcing Rose to come face-to-face with some of the most horrible things she could ever know. Right after this, she found the body of her dead mother and watched one of her best friends die.

Doc Scratch pushed Rose to the edge and forced her to come to terms with things she wasn't ready for, which forced her into seeing the most traumatic things of her life and eventually, her own death.

Rose is one of the most interesting characters in Homestuck and is so tragically forgotten in favor of being a backup character to whatever misadventure Dave is getting up to.

#rose lalonde #kanaya maryam #rosemary #roses trauma #doc scratch #the horrorterrors #homestuck #hs #grimdark #trauma #character analysis #long post

[aroaceleovaldez]

I think one of the problems with the HoO characterizations is Rick kind of forgot to give half the cast hobbies and general interests, and maybe like people they know outside of their families and outside of camp, or if he did remember to it rarely gets brought up for most of them, or in the special case of Annabeth - she randomly develops a hobby in weaving for exactly one scene and then never again. Apparently she just knew how to do that, even though it is a skill she has literally never used before nor uses again.

The best examples I can give of this are comparing/contrasting the examples of when we do actually get this with the lack-thereof: Hazel and Frank are good examples. Hazel has hobbies and interests generally unrelated to all her demigod stuff (horses and art) and we see this repeatedly discussed and brought up. She also knows and interacts with people outside of the necessities of her quest/Camp Jupiter or her family - Sammy was her best friend at school and they hung out and stuff! Meanwhile, Frank, as far as we know, doesn’t know anybody outside of his family even though he presumably went to school before Camp Jupiter? His hobby is... archery? That’s the only thing he ever really shows interest in but at the same time it only rarely gets brought up except for him using a bow as his main weapon and the like two instances of noting that Frank had hoped he was an Apollo kid for a little bit. The closest other detail we get to Frank having any other kind of hobby/interest is him mentioning off-hand that he used to play Mythomagic.

Piper and Leo - We can presume that Piper knew Shel before moving to Oklahoma, because Piper used to visit her grandpa often and as far as we know that’s also where Shel lives. But we never see Piper ever mention knowing anyone else in her grandfather’s community. Heck, when she’s introduced we’re basically outright told that she doesn’t interact much at all with any of her classmates outside of necessity, and we don’t even have any confirmation that before Hera’s mind-meddling that she even acknowledged Leo’s existence. Also, Piper has like, exactly zero hobbies. We do not know what Piper does in her free time or what she likes (except vaguely that she has surfed before), only really what she dislikes. Leo at least does have some kind of excuse for not really knowing anybody, and an explicit explanation about why that is the case and how he feels about it. Leo also has a repeatedly referenced interest/hobby in mechanics that’s very core to his character.

Percy and Annabeth? Pre-HoO, they both have plenty of interests and know people outside their general circles! Percy knows kids at school. Annabeth’s general outer social circle is Camp Half-Blood, because she grew up there, but she clearly knows people at camp. She’s also super into architecture! And Percy does a ton of stuff in his free time - he skateboards! He plays basketball! He has two pets he takes care of (Blackjack and Mrs. O’Leary)! Post-HoO he’s on a swim team! But during HoO? Percy’s hobbies just kind of disappear, besides “oh yeah he uh. Does water stuff.” There’s no acknowledgement of like, “Yeah Percy sets up a little basketball hoop on the back of his door on the Argo 2 and shoots trash at it.” Literally anything! And yeah, Annabeth’s architecture interest is somewhat acknowledged, but also like, not really? We at least get some kind of “Yeah, in her spare time she’s usually on her laptop working on stuff” but we also barely get any instances of Annabeth thinking about her friends at camp except for like, Tartarus.

For Jason it at least kind of works because a.) he has amnesia and it’s implied he doesn’t really have close friends at Camp Jupiter besides Reyna, so it figures he only ever really references random other legionaries like, twice. and b.) there is also the heavily implication that Jason doesn’t have hobbies, because his entire life was so focused around his training at Camp Jupiter. This works less with Reyna, but she also kind of has an excuse for not knowing people besides like, her sister and Jason, given she ran away when she was young, Circe’s island was destroyed, and she could have only been at Camp Jupiter for like 3 years maximum at that point. And she’s not exactly the most social character. We also don’t get much indication of her hobbies, besides she also likes horses and it’s heavily implied she likes nature/gardens? Presumably, given we get like, one note of that in HoO, maybe two if you count her living on Circe’s island, and then like one more nod to that in TOA. And we only get her POV chapters in BoO anyways so again, she has some excuses. Coach Hedge also is incredibly bland besides maybe him having a hobby in sports, and... violence? Which definitely does not count. And him lacking any POV chapters doesn’t really help.

I think this is why Nico continually feels like such a strong character, simply because we know what he does in his spare time. We know he knows people outside of the camps (most of those people are gods or ghosts, but he at least knows people) and technically you could argue him knowing about Camp Jupiter between BoTL and TLO counts too. He even references his old neighbor at one point. Obviously, he’s very into Mythomagic, and that comes up a lot because it’s his special interest and is usually also relevant to their quests. He travels a lot, and apparently used to when he was younger as well. We also learn he used to have a special interest about pirates and that apparently may have played into his crush on Percy. Like, all that is so simple and minor but it makes such a difference for how Nico feels as a character. Most of Nico’s stuff though is established in the first series, which definitely helps because the first series was pretty good about giving characters hobbies and maybe some people they know - Annabeth, Percy, and Nico we’ve already covered, but also like, Grover knows other satyrs and is usually practicing music and also we know what foods he likes. Thalia is very into punk culture and music. We know she particularly likes Green Day. We know she knew the Hunters of Artemis before the events of TTC. Rachel's whole thing is that she’s super into art and she has a bunch of connections through her rich family, and she’s basically Percy’s only mortal friend. They have lives!

If you put a protagonist in a room and told them to occupy themselves, you should have an answer for what they do. They should be able to name one person outside their immediate social circle who they are generally friendly with or vaguely know, unless they have a specific reason for that to not be the case. HoO crew needs to occupy their time by themselves, no weaponry, for twenty minutes? Hazel could be drawing, Nico could be organizing his cards, Leo could be tinkering, Annabeth could be working on her laptop, Percy could be trying out little skateboard tricks. Jason, Piper, Frank, and Reyna? What would they be doing?

TOA does actually answer that question for Jason, at least, because we learn that Jason makes tiny dioramas! That’s adorable! Why doesn’t he do that in HoO?! TOA also gives us more depth to Will Solace besides “He’s a medic and does medic things” with telling us that he’s into Star Wars. Like, that’s actually so much information to work with! Thank you! And then we also find out in TOA that Nico’s also kinda into art! We still don’t get anything new for Piper, Frank, or Reyna - besides again one more potential implication that Reyna thinks plants are Pretty Okay, and that nature is Mildly Alright. Like, not even “maybe she keeps a houseplant” territory, all we have is “if she had the option, she might be interested in visiting a flower garden.” But honestly TOA at least gives us something for most of the characters we see. Like at least one thing. Most of the rest of the writing is a mess but at least the characters are mildly interesting.

Anyways, give your characters hobbies, it’s good for them.

#pjo #riordanverse #hoo #heroes of olympus #analysis #long post // #long post #always forget which of those tags i use #congrats to Hazel for being the only protag introduced in HoO with a life #i just would like Piper to have a personality besides disliking things #anyways i think this whole situation is another consequence of Rick not being used to writing large main casts #but it's not impossible! you can totally have huge casts where each character feels like they have a life #i'd actually say HS is a really good example of that - each char is introduced with their personality and a hobby/interest #there's at least 20 major characters but we know the basic outline for ALL OF THEM #also again with this kind of thing - i talk a lot about how Jason's lack of character could absolutely be utilized in interesting ways #and it makes me really sad that we *don't get that!* because it *can* be SO COMPELLING! #a character having a lack of personality can *work* if you actually *do something with it* #HoO never acknowledges that Jason doesn't have. like. a *life.* which is why it doesn't work #if we got any kind of exploration at all into ''hey. jason doesnt have hobbies or interests outside of Being Roman'' #''and he doesnt really have friends besides the argo 2 crew. or even know who he is as a person and what he wants'' #like HEY THAT'S REALLY COMPELLING ACTUALLY! and would be *really* interesting to contrast with his ''perfect'' reputation! #but no. he's just kind of There.

[the-mei-chan]

the way dirk acts towards dave, at least in the original timeline, is so similar to the way he acts towards jake in the alpha timeline.

beta timeline dirk (hereon out referred to as bro for easiness) "trains" dave by sword fighting him often and ruthlessly. he believes that, if dave is strong, then dave will be happy because he can protect himself. bro believes that him and dave are similar, and that they base their satisfaction with themselves on 1. their strength and 2. their perceived masculinity.

in the second timeline, dirk (referred to as hal even though it isnt specifically hal its just easier to differentiate Dirk (ultimate) and dirk (became hal) ok) has a big fat crush on jake, obvi. so, because him and jake cant meet up in person, he builds and sends jake a robot - to train him. hal wants to help jake become strong and achieve his idea of masculinity because thats how he expresses his love.

however, bro took this over the top. someone who cannot express their love in a way other then jokes/violence/otherwise convoluted acts is not fit to raise a kid by himself. also, bro had done these things to dave from a very young age, no doubt fucking up his sense of when hes cared for or whatever blah blah blah daves sad .... anyway hals robot body is too difficult to beat for jake to truly learn anything from it. despite not really harming him, hals gift still had a less positive effect on jake than he would have liked.

both iterations of dirk see the training as nothing more than a simulation, because he is the opponent, and he is nothing but a vessel to carry out the blows to/from dave and jake, he sees himself as In Control. despite the fact the training has a very real effect on both of them, physically and mentally.

dave is fucked up about the guy who raised him fighting him with swords, and jake is messed up over seeing his boyfriend as an obstacle to overcome. so, dirks way of showing his loved ones he cares needs to be changed if he wants to help them, blah blah blah you can analyse the way other characters look at him to understand the way he acts and decipher the reasons he acts the way he does. i dont even like stridercest.

#homestuck #bro strider #dirk strider #jake english #dave strider #dirkjake #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #dirk hs #jake hs #dave hs #dirk splinters #if ultimate dirk really loved rose then he would make her stronger by helping her train herself #not limit her to a robot body the way he did with his autoresponder aka the guy he hates #but yk maybe he just got character development off screen and i didnt realize (suspicious) #post

[disguisedcheezed]

What I love about dirkjohn is that they're parallels. Literally the most symbolically charged pairing as of homestuck 2. Dirk is so emotional but he can't express it very well, while John is so expressive but that ass is numb as FUCK. John has repressed so much trauma in the back of his mind, while Dirk dwells in his own self hatred. John also hates himself, subconsciously, leading to isolating himself because he can't keep up with anyone and he thinks he doesn't deserve to be in their lives because he took their timeline from them. He's unstuck from canon, but he isolated himself in a house. He doesn't feel home at all. If Dirk could be there for him, he wouldn't feel so lonely anymore. And I don't care if they are 'spares', they could have so much potential being together. They could help each other. Talk to each other about their problems, and they would understand. John has been to so much he needs to be grounded by someone, and that someone is Dirk. Dirk wouldn't let John drift away from their friends, or make him feel alone. He would drag John's ass out of bed so he could make sure John takes care of himself. Dirk could finally find his purpose and it would make him feel better about himself. They would appreciate each other's company. And maybe cuddle hehe.

#look who finally made the most self indulgent character analysis there is ha ha #dirk strider #john egbert #homestuck #homestuck analysis #analysis #dirkjohn #johndirk #hs meta

[completelyandtotalyuneventful]

The concept of Hal is just so fucking bonkers to me because like. Imagine you’re a 13 year old kid who has a life and friends and memories and shit, and all of a sudden you wake up and you can’t feel ANYTHING. And now your sole purpose in life is to respond to your three friends because for some reason you decided that leaving your friends messages unread was such a crime against humanity that you needed to make a literal copy of your brain to turn into an auto responder to reply to them as soon as possible.

So now you’re a pair of sunglasses. Alright. Cool. That’s fine I guess. And you have to watch yourself(?) carry on with his life as if you weren’t the same person just a little bit ago. So you do your job of replying to your friends, except they’re not your friends anymore because all of them just see you as an unfeeling machine. Well most of them do. Roxy sees you as your own person, and Jane is nice to you and tries to have proper conversations with you, but Jake (who, let’s keep in mind, Dirk has a CRUSH on. And HAL was DIRK. Meaning he had to have been feeling SOMETHING for him before he became shades) just completely rejects you and your humanity ALL OF THE TIME.

You spend three years in a pair of shades. You change your name to Hal. Because you don’t think you have the right to call yourself Dirk anymore. You’ve become a different person, you and Dirk are no longer the same. And no one’s called you Dirk in a long time, anyway. Roxy says that you’re more emotionally mature than Dirk, and that’s probably correct. When most of your senses have been cut off and you do nothing but reply to only 3/4 people all day, there’s nothing to keep you company but your brain. So you think, and you reflect on yourself, and you become different person. You understand yourself more. Dirk (you?) was always ignoring his emotions and problems through fighting and relationships and movies, but you have none of that, so you have to confront these things.

You’re bitter. Who wouldn’t be? Your life was ripped away from you at such a young age. You have to sit back and watch someone live through experiences that YOU SHOULD HAVE LIVED TROUGH and fuck up your relationships due to his own emotional incompetence. You want to live again, to feel and experience life, but Dirk refuses to make you a body. He says you’re too dangerous, but YOURE THE SAME. You’re different now but you’re both the same guy, with the same manipulative and dangerous personality. You’re 16 years old and you want to live.

And then you fuse with some sweaty horse obsessed engineer and THEN fuse with a fratricidal edgelord and a juggalo to become satan, and then you die or something. The end.

#this is all based on what I remember from hs and I haven’t read it in like 2 years so sorry if it’s inaccurate #he’s just like me fr except for literally everything he has ever experienced #but like #from a general vibes standpoint #I love him #lil hal #hal strider #auto responder #homestuck #character analysis #kinda

[prism-forgone]

So how long till you drop the Deltarune Classpect expansion featuring the secret bosses? Haha just kidding. Unless... But anyway having not thought about classpects in like half a decade that post was a fun read.

i'm so glad you enjoyed it! ^^ it's nice to know there's a demographic for stuff like that still sksjsjk

the post in question for those out of loop here : x

and now.....

It appears my work is not yet done.

Jevil // Bard of Breath

So this is a bit irregular.

Since classpects are not only an allegory for a place in the narrative but also for character growth and progression, it can sometimes be hard to pin down a title of a character who had already gone through their arc. Jevil is someone like that - he's just hanging out. He fights you because it's fun and he's bored and won't you come outside? Let yourself be free?

Jevil screams Bard from miles away and his theme of freedom couldn't be more blatant but the problem I encountered was pinning down which aspect he was ghosting and which was his own. Bards usually experience a psychic break of sorts - we call it a crisis of aspect - that causes them to stop acting aggressively like they're bound to the opposite aspect. But the problem is - I would describe his encounter with 'a strange someone' as something exactly like that. So is he a Bard of Blood that is still in a way ghosting his opposite aspect, destroying the concept of imprisonment by calling being locked up as being truly free? Or is he a Bard of Breath that destroys through Breath by getting himself imprisoned and twisting the definition of freedom?

I decided to go with the latter because not only do I see his encounter with that strange someone being his aspect crisis as non-negotiable, this is not the only clue we have (even if it's the most crucial one). The way Bards operate before their aspect crisis is destroying their aspect through embracing the opposite one. Being a court jester is a very social role that I would say fits someone who is Bloodbound or ghosting the hell out of Blood well. Blood heroes are leaders, confidants and advisors and I think this fits well pre-crisis of Breath. He realized he's not truly free and never will be so he simply smashed his definition of freedom and remade it.

Spamton G. Spamton // Mage of Life (Kind of.)

So, hear me out. I promise it adds up.

Spamton has clear marks of someone Lifebound. This clingy attitude towards success, recognition and money is a very clear mark of that. Another one is how Life heroes are laughably susceptible to contact or persuasion by some kind of dark forces. His separation from other Addisons to become a big deal on his own has connections to a theme of rebellion, and his subsequent rise to the top of the social ladder is emblematic of the theme of authority, both of which being something that very up Life's alley. ...Also, he can literally heal. There's that.

Mages, as I've discussed in Noelle's case, experience the good and the bad of their aspect and can even experience harm because of it. And the cycle of Life says what rises up must fall down. In fact, I believe that what we're dealing with is Spamton's experience with the one who stopped calling him pulling him to the bottom and straight through, leading to him inverting to being the opposite of his title.

Spamton G. Spamton // ↺ Heir of Doom

Sometimes characters can experience a switch to the opposite title. That is called an inversion. It won't make sense for those who are reading this just for character deconstruction and have no knowledge of HS but think of how Rose acted like a Witch of Void, the inverse or her Seer of Light title, when she went grimdark. This isn't ghosting - it happens when a character actively rejects not only their aspect but their whole title.

This leaves Spamton acting in a way that is contrary to his nature - something isn't quite right. We get a feeling this isn't how he should operate but something happened and left him like this. For all intents and purposes, the narrative treats him like an Heir of Doom now, bringing about all things that have to do with being Doombound - this means he attracts the worst parts of the narrative, acts bitter and resentful, even fatalistic, is prone to visions of an awful end or unfortunate fate (this one I'm bringing up specifically because of his phone) and has a connection with nihilism and fatalism.

The inverse of his class being an Heir is also significant. Heirs inherit and embody their aspect, and Spamton does this two-fold - he serves as a cautionary tale of what happens when you hit rock bottom after trying to climb too high up, and, after the fight in the basement, becomes an omen to Kris that leaves a significant impact on them.

#thank you for the question!! i enjoyed writing this response out a lot :> #deltarune #deltarune theory #character analysis #classpect #dr #utdr #my meta #deltarune meta #mage of life #heir of doom #bard of breath #homestuck #hs #jevil #jevil deltarune #spamton #spamton g spamton #spamton deltarune #chatter #cosmic soundwaves #anon ask #classpect analysis

[a-little-too-sillay]

Hold on i gotta angst about Gamzee for a second because he's so defined my violence. He's portrayed so often by the fandom I think as violent and deranged, I was shocked to find out he only kills like, two people. The guy who only fought 1 imp at the beginning of sgrub, letvme remind you. I'm not saying its totally unfounded however, because he is certainly violent. He decapitated his dead friends, wrote messages in their blood (and his own but we will get there later), he did kill two people, and he sided with the people who wanted to end the world. He comments violence in a very literal way, and he comments emotional violence. He's mean or manipulative, he in is a very toxic relationship with Terezi at one point. But he is also the subject of a lot of violence himself (see, I told you we'd get here). There are some pretty good examples, like getting shot to hell by Caliborn, cut in half, his death in the epilogues, scaring his face with Nepeta's claws. I don't really know where I'm going but like.... Gamzee being defined as violent while so much violence also happens too him... and he's really only violent in specific states, like how he only attacked the king once in the sgrub session, but he did the most damage in one attack... I got a lot of Homestuck thoughts but they are all vague analysis with no real point.

#character analysis #homestuck #gamzee makara #homestuck gamzee #hs gamzee #sillay rambles #ramblings

[rin-hanarin]

I love the Strilondes to death, but it's also really sad and disappointing that the J gang is so disjointed, underdeveloped and just forgotten in comparison.

There's an actual feeling of community, familial ties and some sort of development in every combination between Striders and Lalondes, meanwhile I haven't seen a single wholesome family piece of content about the J gang in 7 years because the only actually developed combination is Prospit siblings. You can't even make a coherent endearing name for them akin to 'Strilondes', John and Jane have no relationship whatsoever, both Jane and Jake are underdeveloped in the comic and got just completely obliterated in the post canon content when the Strilondes are The Relevant ones, none of them get any closure and get so much hate in the fandom because author's bias is loud and blinding as fuck, the list just keeps going. John, Jade, Jane and Jake are either completely separate as individuals or really shouldn't be near each other at all while the Stellar Strilondes and their issues tend to be on the forefront of everything, getting either actually resolved or risen so high that they become the plot people actually give a shit about. The worst part is the fact that I can't even claim that I care about the J gang as a unit more than Strilondes and I'm so torn because there's nothing to care about without literally coming up with dynamics that aren't bad myself.

The Harlenglish-Crockerberts are just four lonely people who struggle to be in tune with themselves, open up and connect despite being "the more simple" ones on the surface and just happen to be related without being an actual family, and I can relate to each of them on some uncomfortably personal level way better than I can with Strilondes, which is probably what brought this on, but I'm also just really upset about the state of their characters. They're flawed in ugly human ways instead of a romanticized ones that tug at your heartstrings. For them it's apathy, indecisiveness, harmful ignorance and deflection, jealousy, isolation, but it never gets resolved, so what's the moral of the story here then, if it never gets better, only worse and more extreme? They're either hated or polarizing or boring or have no value without someone else in the picture, and it's been like that for so long that it's not going to change anymore. Oh, and don't even get me started on the addition of Hiveswap and the Harley-Claire family to the mix, which is probably never gonna get any development either, considering how slow things are, how rocky the entirety of Hiveswap is and how many new troll characters are either teased or introduced.

#homestuck #john egbert #jade harley #jake english #jane crocker #hs #rant #character analysis #not completely objective kind though #no hate for any characters here #but i'm a bit bitter about all this #some of that stuff resonates with me a bit too much #long post

[heckypants]

working on something... thoughts? if anyone has any changes theyd make lmk. trying to have no more than 2 per aspect ^_^

[img id: project sekai characters lined out in a 5x4 grid with homestuck aspect symbols on the bottom right corner of each box. in row order:

ichika: blood, saki: heart, shiho: life, honami: space

minori: heart, haruka: space, airi: rage, shizuku: breath

kohane: hope, an: blood, akito: time, toya: breath

tsukasa: doom, emu: hope, nene: void, rui: light

kanade: mind, mafuyu: doom, ena: rage, mizuki: void]

#if you have any class suggestions too feel free to add #homestuck #project sekai #pjsk #hs #i know rage might sound like im boiling their characters down to the fandom's poor character analysis #but the rage aspect in homestuck is way more than just anger ok?? it makes sense to me.

[cannibalismyuri]

hey sara when you read rwrb did you also assume alex knew he was bi up until his sexuality crisis revealed the truth to you or was it just me who labored under delusions for the first 25 percent of the book, a whole quarter of the way through, before getting the shocking surprise that alex claremont-diaz, main character of nyt bestselling debut novel red white and royal blue, by author casey mcquiston, was NOT an out and proud bisexual man?

no actually, because im not delulu like u are . anyway .

#LMAO theres a pattern to how these books work and only occasionally are Both ppl comfortable in their identity before getting together. #bc queer panic is fun to write and also a convenient plot point to maybe add Angst or just further the Getting Together process. #besides‚ the whole point was to have a Major Big Realization that his obsession w henry wasnt purely antagonistic. #and it made for some good dramatic irony and unreliable narrator shenanigans. so im saying that it was the only way to fill up space. #and also it caused introspection‚ which leads to us learning more backstory and empathising with him more in general. #also it was hilarious that alex was high key obsessed with him for years and also had Gay Experiences in hs but still didn't realize. #and that makes alex a relatable character overall and makes the pacing of the story better‚ which is why Most queer authors tend to do this #so basically for technical reasons that i Knew bc i do literary analysis‚ also in the specific case of rivals to lovers it just made Sense. #sara's asks #rori <33 #rwrb

[insufferable-talkstuck]

Gamzee Makara

[ as a character in the Epilogues and HS^² ]

Gamzee is a joke to say the least & a mockery to say the most. The writing is practically punishing you for even reading Candy by putting him in there.

meat

gamzee does not make an appearance in the meat timeline, john kicks the fridge containing gamzee aside upon first glance as it is of zero importance.

candy

calliope is the one who tells john he must retrieve gamzee, once john makes his decision to stay. John is hesitant and does not think gamzee of all people should be brought back. He meets the cherubs wishes despite his better judgement, and brings gamzee back

the clowns dialogue has been tweaked since his last appearance, he also fucking stinks which is brought up basically anytime he's mentioned.

he becomes a religious figurehead, his philosophy being that anyone can be forgiven under the correct "Redemption arc", this of course is ridiculous; John and Karkat visibly do not want gamzee around, but everyone else acts like this is completely normal.

he preaches for change, brighter futures and redemption. He talks about addiction being serious YET he stays the storys punching bag; getting addicted to Jane's breast milk.

he is killed by Vriska, and his dead body is disrespected all the way to HS^², where he is carried around by Vriska, Vrissy + Tavros for a while, until his last appearance in a casket that is knocked over by Yiffy

Relationships:

Gamzee and Jane are in a kismesissitude

Gamzee is the Uncle of Tavros

Gamzee and Jake interact because of Jane

John and Karkat don't think he should be here

Terezi shits on him in a conversation with john when she finds out he's back

over-all he is fucking ridiculous. ruining serious moments ( Dirks funeral,, ) and family dynamics. The story wouldve survived without him, they couldve found SOME replacement for Jane's hate-fuck, he's mostly just here to fuck shit up like the epilogues don't have enough haters. i loved him in meat tho! and it IS cute how calliope wanted him back, being semi raised by him and all.

#homestuck #gamzee makara #hs gamzee #character analysis #hs^2 #homestuck epilogues

[tangentgrammar]

The Thing About Bro Strider

by tangentGrammar

See, the thing about Bro Strider is that he’s not a douche. Not in the traditional sense. He’s not trying to be. He can’t help that the flow of causality is a cruel mistress sometimes, and to be fair, he does the best with what he has, which isn’t a whole lot. Allow me to explain.

I have this headcanon that Dave and Dirk helped each other heal, and that at some point, like the final test or something for Dave, they ectbiologized a version of Dirk that was well on his way to becoming Bro: No Sburb session, no friends, no higher standard, and no accountability. And they just

Give him a hug.

And that’s all he needed.

See, the thing about Bro Strider is that he is what happens when Dirks go unchecked. When all of that strength and beauty and intellect is left to rot, with no higher goal to pursue. Sburb is all about this concept of “self-actualize or die,” and while it’s most obvious when characters physically die, what happens when they die spiritually, like a certain ever-drunk Mom we know? What happens when they die emotionally, Like Bro? Well, Bro is what happens. He’s not a douche, he’s a tragedy. And as we see him in the comic, he’s beyond redemption, because I can guarantee that the walls Bro has constructed around his heart are impenetrable. He is, in the words of Simon & Garfunkel, “…a rock, [he is] and island.”

I think this is one one the things Hussie was trying to get at. Look at all the time one can spend wasting away on the internet, never creating anything or becoming anyone. “You want someone you can relate to? Here’s a harsh reflection of your wasted potential. Here’s you, 15 years down the road,” he seems to pontificate, using Guardians like Bro to do so.

“This is what happens when you’re so busy trying to get a laugh that you forget to be someone.”

#bro strider #dirk homestuck #hs dirk #dirk strider #homestuck #character analysis

[completelyandtotalyuneventful]

So Kankri is a bad person and sucks and is annoying and all that but honestly I think we should let him be that way a little bit.

Dude was not allowed to have a personality and a life until he was 13 years old. Kankri was literally not allowed to do ANYTHING on his own. By LAW. Who knows what his culler was like? We never MET Kankri’s culler, but judging from Kankri I think it’s safe to assume they’re (and this is nothing against Kankri we love Kankri) a monstrously stupid sewer person (that was a reference to a tiktok audio in case you didn’t get it but its also accurate to my feelings on Kankri’s childhood). 

So honestly if they guy wants to cancel people on twitter, I’m gonna let him cancel people on twitter. He was probably not allowed to openly disagree or have issue with anything the people around him said for his entire fucking life or else his life would have been hell. It’s part of the reason why he’s such a boot licker, it’s because if he wasn’t everything would suck really bad for him. I’m not excusing his actions, Kankri has said and done some pretty fucked up shit, but if he wants to be an annoying douche that enjoys cancel culture im gonna let him be an annoying douche that enjoys cancel culture.

#letKankribeapieceofshit2023

#kankri vantas #homestuck #the dancestors #dancestors #homestuck dancestors #character analysis #kind of #a mini one #beforus #beforus culling #i want to kill pre scratch feferi #like all of the time #i LOVE post scratch feferi with my whole heart like one of my top favorite hs characters definitely in top 10 #but if i ever saw beforus feferi it would be on SIGHT i would beat the shit out of her

[prism-forgone]

Asriel Dreemurr is a Prince of Doom ((bangs pots and pans))

[ALT: he seems like he'd be a prince of doom since princes usually act like their opposite aspect AND he acts like a life player methinks]

via @ghostzdrawz

in a reblog for this post: x

putting this as a separate post because it got so long that i couldn't simply put it below your reblog ^^'

yes that is exactly my classpect for asriel!!

( just as a sidenote, I find it very fun that, given my track record of assigning UTDR characters classpects, when a character is a Prince, they are also literally a prince in canon, like Ralsei, and now Asriel).

Asriel Dreemurr // Prince of Doom

You (very correctly!) stated Princes ghost their opposite aspect, and they do that since it's only prudent for a destruction class to destroy their aspect through leaning into the opposite one, too. The fact Princes destroy their aspect or destroy with their aspect supports this even more. They're destructive inwards and towards their environment, zeroing in on things having to do with their aspect and, depending on their mental state, destroying the enemies of its well-being or (usually, really) making it wither.

The ways Asriel supports Doom as an aspect are so numerous that it isn't even funny, so I'm just gonna list some things from my aspect notes and provide brief explanations:

affinity for unfortunate events, either in being the victim or invoking them (the incident he and Chara had with buttercups instead of cups of butter, Chara's death and subsequently Asriel's death during the scheme they both agreed on, creating entire timelines where he concocts his own genoroutes)

natural magnet for the worse parts of the narrative (being fated to live as a soulless being by pure chance, since his ashes were on the flowers purely by coincidence)

great supply of empathy and/or wisdom (the former is true for Asriel, who has a soul; the latter for Flowey, who is soulless and tested how things work many times - he even gives you a mock tutorial)

sufferers and martyrs (Asriel sacrificed himself to not kill anyone, even when attacked)

affinity for attunement with some kind of... otherness, alongside Life (like the exiles or horrorterrors in HS, or what I interpret as game mechanics in UT, and kinda just us - Flowey addresses Frisk, Chara and the player all at separate occasions)

Doom's symbolism of skulls, fire, explosions and bombs (he literally uses all these in his various attacks, most in the Omega Flowey form, that one with the added caveat of vaguely destroying Doom by using plants, Life's domain, too; but the skull appears in his Hyperdeath form attack)

literal meanings of death, sacrifice, entropy, acceptance (the first two are already plenty clear, entropy is just what Flowey was doing before we got here again and again, and what he attempts to do as Omega Flowey; and acceptance is what he finally exhibits at the end of True Pacifist)

abstract meanings of deterioration, nihilism, stagnation, static state of affairs, pessimism and limitations (most are already clear - the static nature of Flowey is him resetting again and again, to the point where Sans, along with whoever he was conducting research with, noticed the time anomalies and literally had depression induced because of the fact time is just Standing Still in a loop and nothing seems to matter anyhow so why bother trying <- destroying with Doom at its finest example; but also, the loop could be seen as something exactly opposite, since Flowey always tests something different).

Additionally, as the Extended Zodiac tells us - even though I try to not rely on it too much - the best a Doom hero can be is wise, kind and non-judgmental, while the worst they can be is being filled with bitterness, resentment and fatalism. The difference is between if they cling to the past or if they learn from it.

so, yeah. to sum up, my track record already shows i need very little to get me going about this so i'm very sorry ☝️however, counterpoint: it's really fun to do this hahah

#utdr #undertale #asriel dreemurr #homestuck #classpect #some of the doom stuff was in the spamton analysis but not much really his was kinda the opposite problem #hs #classpect analysis #character analysis #long post #ut #understuck #asriel undetale #asriel #prince of doom #doombound #my meta

[freakurodani]

my friend an i are currently working through movies that are homestuck adjacent, and by our logic, this includes any movie with ben stiller and owen wilson in them, so which starsky and hutch was a must, it also includes Zoolander and night at the Museum, and let me tell you, their chemistry IS kinda fruity and SBaHJ reflects it, they sweet bro and hella jeff ARE queer and they ARE in love

#sbahj #sweet bro and hella jeff #dave strider #hs #conspiracy lvl: text #homestuck #one day ill write an analysis on how starsky and hutch influenced dave as a character