So, the memos. I think I used to have mixed feelings about them, but on a fresh read, there are some really funny moments in there. Karkat really is just such a dork. I mean, he tries so hard to be this tough, drill sergeant-y leader... and then he's consoling Eridan, of all people. It's adorable.
"To bring every circle closed, her partner and rival would have to be guided in tandem. The Thief and the Seer were to serve as twin lashes of the scourge cracked by a quasiroyal against her own former kingdom to settle a score. To make him pay. Scourge's black inches would rip red miles through Derse, and the bright rivers gushing from its wounds would wash her mutineers down the drains of exile. In time they would have to answer for their treason."
Oh glob. How did I not catch all this? Scourge Sisters. The Red Miles from the Black Queen's ring. One who allows others to know their choices, and one who takes good fortune from others. A prophet blinded to see the forking paths before her and a thief blinded for stealing a glimpse of the shining path not meant for her.
I have no idea where my mind is actually going with this. But I kind of love it.
Crap, now my mythological role obsession is really just going to take a majestic flying pirouette off the handle again and Obama's nowhere in sight to give me that medal...
The scene composition in the introduction of Kanaya's world is weirdly clever: You can just see her on the lip of the Forge, this little cluster of pixels, and that lets you know exactly how big this thing is. It's not that detailed per se, but the fact that Hussie bothered to put that itty-bitty Kanaya-coloured dot there is pretty cool.
Karkat really deserves a hug. I mean seriously, he's put up with a lot of crap, and surprisingly little of it has actually been his fault, but you can tell he's half blaming himself anyway.
And things will keep going on like that. Dude's a mensch. Thus, he's screwed.
So, the memos. I think I used to have mixed feelings about them, but on a fresh read, there are some really funny moments in there. Karkat really is just such a dork. I mean, he tries so hard to be this tough, drill sergeant-y leader... and then he's consoling Eridan, of all people. It's adorable.
Karkat really deserves a hug. I mean seriously, he's put up with a lot of crap, and surprisingly little of it has actually been his fault, but you can tell he's half blaming himself anyway.
And things will keep going on like that. Dude's a mensch. Thus, he's screwed.
I know, right? These two comments really highlight the things about Karkat that make him my favorite character. I just adore him and his big grumpy heart.
I think Rose might be my favourite, because she really is the best troll, but there's no slim pickings here. I mean, any conversation between Terezi and Dave—or Terezi and most people, or Dave and most people—just lights up my day, and Aradia and Vriska and Karkat are just utterly fascinating, Jade is just delightful... hell, even Eridan has his moments of just being funny.
It's probably worth noting that I like Gamzee when he is at his most unlikeable. He's a decent foil for utter nuts like Equius and Eridan early on (before the former mellows out and the latter, uh, does the other thing), but I feel like his best moments are... well, ahead of me in the story.
Yeah, Gamzee at first was kind of this weird stoner dude whose place in the story wasn't immediately obvious. He was a little too pleasant, almost like Nepeta (except his story arc went someplace).
In retrospect, I'm rather disappointed at how little follow-up there was on either Nepeta or Feferi arc-wise. Unlike Tavros—who I do actually like, don't get me wrong—neither one is a pushover by any stretch of the imagination, and yet both just kind of get shunted to the side.
Let's not forget the first thing we see Nepeta do in the Medium is tear a two-headed ogre into shreds with her claws, then turn around to see Equius, put on a silly grin and glomp him. She is not to be crossed. And then you find out about what her weird-ass shipping wall is really about and... yeah. Ouch.
As for Feferi, the whole thing with Sollux isn't explored much, nor her rapport with Vriska, which is irksome because both of those are potentially really interesting!
I mean, they do serve token roles later—and I get the feeling that they might not be done serving a purpose yet—but it just kind of annoys me.
[It's also strongly implied in the memo with Kanaya that, as much as he might deny it, Nepeta's adoration of Karkat is *not* completely one-sided. And going by what we see during Roxy's first flight through the dream-bubbles, in at least one doomed timeline, it worked out. Which makes it even worse.]
More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
The Trash Heap of the TV Tropes Forum, or "the other Homestuck thread." I like Homestuck but I forgot most of the plot by now. I will re-read whenever it gets finished, if ever. I wonder if I will still love it? Probably.
Re-reading is strangely enlightening. You remember stuff you didn't even know that you forgot, and make all these connections that never would have occurred to you on the first go. I highly recommend it when you have the time.
Oh no, that panel shows up in a very different context in Act Six. You will see. But there is a morbid appropriateness to the way that panel is used to introduce the Hivebent story, on more than one level.
I agree with your comments on the memos and Karkat, BTW.
I was actually mildly cringing at the memos, in a good way, because they show Karkat's mind simply splintering into pieces.
They also remind you that John and Karkat are basically the same person facing opposite circumstances. John's friends bend over backwards to make sure he remains sane, but Karkat has to bend over backwards to make sure his friends (the ones who are still alive, that is) remain sane.
Indeed, I can already notice the minds of Dave and Rose slowly splintering similar to how Karkat's did. Knowing Hussie, this parallelism is quite deliberate and I'm interested to see where he goes with it.
It's not so much Karkat going insane as he is having the hope beaten out of him by inches, both by himself and others. He eventually does reclaim some of his fighting spirit—a Knight protects and defends—but things get complicated later and I don't want to spoil anything.
Oh, definitely. I particularly like how the sessions reflect the players and the players from the created universe reflect the players from the session that created it. And, as you know, eking out the correlation between given classes and aspects and the behaviour and abilities of the players that bear them is a weird hobby of mine...
TG: oh man i wish lil cal wouldnt look at me like that
TG: with those dead eyes jesus
TG: sometimes i dream that hes real and hes talking to me and i wake up in a cold sweat and basically flip the fuck out
It's actually kind of the best thing that this line has just gotten exponentially more meaningful and horrific over the years. I'm sure that as I reread it I'll run into a lot of things that have layer on layer of revelations like that, but this just takes the Betty Crocker brand cake.
Yeah, Li'l Cal has always been creepy but he's so much worse in hindsight, [particularly given what happens with Gamzee and, later on, the post-Scratch Jack Noir.] Uggghhh.
The Trash Heap of the TV Tropes Forum, or "the other Homestuck thread." I like Homestuck but I forgot most of the plot by now. I will re-read whenever it gets finished, if ever. I wonder if I will still love it? Probably.
Karkat falling in hate-love with John after the disastrous end of his session is one of those things where I feel this really bizarre but potent mix of emotions where I'm thinking, "This is really cute," then, "This horrendously sad," then, "OK, this is really funny and just too absurd for words," but not one of these supersedes the other.
The further I get into my re-reading of this story, the more I realise that narrative is a key theme, both in terms of fiction and in terms of how we present ourselves and see others in the context of narrative—and, naturally, how the greater narrative of reality and the nature of the medium in which the story is told (and by whom the story is told) twists and subverts these things. Homestuck is really a story about stories, particularly the creation of myths and how we relate to those fictions and fables.
Yes, I am referring to Act Six, but it really is everywhere, particularly in Rose's conversations with Kanaya in the second half of Act Five. How Kanaya sees Rose (and how Rose sees Kanaya) is shaped by her expectations and then how they are subverted and doubly subverted by the reality of this person who actually exceeds her initial projections and fantasies.
Dave, hiding behind a column, giving Dave the thumbs up. Dave is surprised at himself, and returns the thumbs up. The time loop is sealed; an alliance, forged.
I think this stretch here might be my favourite part of the comic, moments in the first few Acts and some of the crazier developments in Act Six notwithstanding.
The Nick Cave shrine remains a classic, as does Terezi's dragon cape. I kind of wish that the other nine portals in the zodiac room had some purpose, though. I like those sorts of Easter eggs.
Funny observation: I was a non-serial reader until something like two or three months before the Gigapause. Interesting timing, but it did allow me to take in the comic in a way that not a lot of other people got to and I appreciate that.
On the one hand, this is sad, strange conversation, but on the other hand it is a step toward something really uplifting. Aradia is feeling something very directly, but she isn't all the way there yet.
Karkat falling in hate-love with John after the disastrous end of his session is one of those things where I feel this really bizarre but potent mix of emotions where I'm thinking, "This is really cute," then, "This horrendously sad," then, "OK, this is really funny and just too absurd for words," but not one of these supersedes the other.
That's one of my favorite sequences of the entire comic. To me, what it's saying is if you looked at anyone's life that way--start to present, everything they've been through, all the little moments, the stuff even they don't remember--you couldn't help but fall in love. It's a beautiful thought.
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Aradia in business mode is terrifying and I love every second of it.
That's one of my favorite sequences of the entire comic. To me, what it's saying is if you looked at anyone's life that way--start to present, everything they've been through, all the little moments, the stuff even they don't remember--you couldn't help but fall in love. It's a beautiful thought.