More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
Act 6 is the perfect blend of everything good in HS, I think. :D Act 5 is like the Mario Madness of the comic and Act 6 is like the Super Mario Bros. 3. :)
I could be overly pessimistic, but I feel like Hussie's kind of been resting on his laurels since Cascade.
Well, not actually. More like he started to have a life outside of drawing Homestuck (albeit still closely related to Homestuck), and that caused the quality to drop a bit. Which is understandable. No one wants to be completely chained to their work for five years running.
Oh, Cronus? Yeah, he's a massive douche-nozzle. He even almost had an epiphany about it... until Kankri stepped in and screwed everything up. I do appreciate how well the sleaziness was rendered, though; it is really uncomfortable to watch him act like that.
On the positive side of things, Porrim is great, and Kurloz is... spooky.
I would say that strictly speaking Caliborn should be worse, but he's a complete psychopath and actually poses a threat. Cronus is just an awful, narcissistic creepazoid, which ultimately makes him... the worst character in Homestuck. Wow.
-pours generic-brand sports drank all over Sredni-
Wouldn't showering me in the wicked elixir be more thematically appropriate?
^ Done properly, that could be absolutely hilarious. Which I am going to assume that it is.
VWHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST FUCKING SAY A8OUT GREASE, YOU LITTLE 8ITCH? ILL HAVWE YOU KNOWV I GRADUATED TOP OF MY CLASS IN THE NAVWY SEALS, AND IVWE 8EEN INVWOLVWED IN NUMEROUS SECRET RAIDS ON AL-QUAEDO, AND I HAVWE OVWER 300 CONFIRMED KILLS. I AM TRAINED IN GORILLA VWARFARE AND IM THE TOP SNIPER IN THE ENTIRE US ARMED FORCES, YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME 8UT JUST ANOTHER TARGET. I VWILL VWIPE YOU THE FUCK OUT VWITH PRECISION THE LIKES OF VWHICH HAS NEVWER 8EEN SEEN 8EFORE ON THIS EARTH, MARK MY FUCKING VWORDS. YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AVWAY VWITH SAYING THAT SHIT TO ME OVWER THE INTERNET? THINK AGAIN, FUCKER. AS VWE SPEAK I AM CONTACTING MY SECRET NETVWORK OF SPIES ACROSS THE USA, AND YOUR IP IS 8EING TRACES RIGHT NOWV SO YOU 8ETTER PREPARE FOR THE STORM, MAGGOT. THE STORM THAT VWIPES OUT THE PATHETIC LITTLE THING YOU CALL YOUR LIFE. YOURE FUCKING DEAD, KIDDO. I CAN 8E ANYVWHERE, ANYTIME, AND I CAN KILL YOU IN OVWER SEVWEN HUNDRED DIFFERENT VWAYS, AND THATS JUST VWITH MY 8ARE HANDS. NOT ONLY AM I EXTENSIVWELY TRAINED IN UNARMED COM8AT, 8UT I HAVWE ACCESS TO THE ENTIRE ARSENAL OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS AND I VWILL USE IT TO ITS FULL EXTENT TO VWIPE YOUR MISERA8LE ASS OFF THE FACE OF THE CONTINENT, YOU LITTLE SHIT. IF ONLY UOI COULD HAVWE KNOVWN VWHAT UNHOLY RETRI8UTION YOUR LITTLE “CLEVWER" COMMENT VWAS A8OUT TO 8RING DOVWN UPON YOU, MAYBE YOU VWOULD HAVWE HELD YOUR FUCKING TONGUE. 8UT YOU COULDNT, YOU DIDNT, AND NOWV YOURE PAYING THE PRICE, YOU GODDAMN IDIOT. I VWILL SHIT FURY ALL OVWER YOU AND YOU VWILL DROVWN IN IT. YOURE FUCKING DEAD, KIDDO.
I would say that strictly speaking Caliborn should be worse, but he's a complete psychopath and actually poses a threat. Cronus is just an awful, narcissistic creepazoid, which ultimately makes him... the worst character in Homestuck. Wow.
-pours generic-brand sports drank all over Sredni-
Wouldn't showering me in the wicked elixir be more thematically appropriate?
Yeah, Caliborn's the worst in actions actually done (including some stuff that you haven't quite gotten to yet), but he at least has a side that's not completely devoted to being a complete jerk (again, this involves stuff that you haven't gotten to yet). While Caliborn has two dimensions, including one that isn't completely terrible, Cronus only has one, and it sucks eggs.
this is gonna be kinda rambly and maybe pointless but im gonna do this anyway: it seems to me that the reason that most of the dancestors are so flat is because after hussie decided to include Aranea and Meenah he knew he'd have to introduce the others, and he had no idea what to do with them so he made them into one-off joke characters as a way of tying off loose ends and keeping the pace of the story rolling as much as possible. Which is rather sloppy imo, but i honestly can't think of a way he could have done it better? plus some of it was entertaining, even though openbound was more miss than hit for me personally.
this is gonna be kinda rambly and maybe pointless but im gonna do this anyway: it seems to me that the reason that most of the dancestors are so flat is because after hussie decided to include Aranea and Meenah he knew he'd have to introduce the others, and he had no idea what to do with them so he made them into one-off joke characters as a way of tying off loose ends and keeping the pace of the story rolling as much as possible. Which is rather sloppy imo, but i honestly can't think of a way he could have done it better? plus some of it was entertaining, even though openbound was more miss than hit for me personally.
so yeah u_u
More or less, yeah.
This does raise the point of 'why were Meenah and Aranea included then?".
^^ The interesting thing about some of the dancestors is that their bizarre and silly behaviours seem to have more to them than meets the eye, often in the form of playing off of what they would become in post-Scratch Alternia. Take Meulin, who is both the Sufferer's Disciple on Alternia and, in a much more twisted way, Kurloz' in the afterlife. It dovetails with her intense groupie nature, but to completely different ends.
Because they are plot relevant. Hussie needs Aranea for exposition, and also she has done other things vash has not gotten to yet. Meenah is less so so far, but i have a feeling she will be important in the fight against the condesce. if not, it could be Hussie has given her more time because he's having fun writing her or something. (*shrug*)
^^ The interesting thing about some of the dancestors is that their bizarre and silly behaviours seem to have more to them than meets the eye, often in the form of playing off of what they would become in post-Scratch Alternia. Take Meulin, who is both the Sufferer's Disciple on Alternia and, in a much more twisted way, Kurloz' in the afterlife. It dovetails with her intense groupie nature, but to completely different ends.
this is the main reason i do not actively dislike Openbound.
^^ Fish puns aside, Meenah seems like she would be a fun character to write, so I could understand that, but I do think that she will be of some importance later. Or she will be trounced in a perversely amusing way. Either way, she is not without purpose.
^ Indeed. It is an amusing little ride, but it gets draining quickly. And, again, a handful of the characters are actually interesting in a more-than-subtextual way. So it goes.
I think we could manage without Aranea. Aradia could probably double for her in a pinch.
Meenah, yeah, she's probably going to do an important thing later. And Jake pouncing on tiny sea-hitler was pretty funny.
Interesting dancestors that you've met at this point: Kankri, Porrim, Kurloz. Meulin gets an honorable mention for the concept of gifs=sign language. Aranea and Meenah aren't inherently interesting for the most part, but they have interesting relationships with other characters and that puts them into the honorable mentions category.
Cronus is worthless, as previously stated. Mituna's basically a tiny ball of 4chan nonsense, and the fact that he has a pretty strong following among the dancestors is kind of bizarre. Latula's simply dead boring. Aranea and Meenah aren't inherently interesting for the most part, but they have interesting relationships with other characters and that puts them into the honorable mentions category.
By inherently, I mean 'relating to their premises'.
Aranea can be boiled down to 'girl who talks a lot and does exposition' which is boring. Meenah can be boiled down to 'murderous fish princess', which would be interesting if Homestuck didn't already have two members of fish royalty.
In contrast, Kankri is 'a hypocritical social justice preacher' and Porrim is a 'gender rights activist in an alien culture', and those are pretty interesting premises.
Cronus needs to be dipped in a vat full of Clorox and left there. Kankri is interesting in that he tries so hard but can't help but be a dick to people even if he's being as soft as possible with the language. (It's made worse by the fact that no one seems to want to stand up to him.) Mituna...I'm pretty sure he's Troll Space Ghost Coast to Coast/Cartoon Planet Brak. That's whose voice I hear all his dialog in, anyway. Meulin and Kurloz are both creepy as hell.
Porrim I don't remember enough about to really judge, and Latula? I thought she was incredibly cute when I first saw, but that's also practically all she has going for her—she has no characterisation beyond being a Troll Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
That leaves Aranea (who strikes me as actual Troll Rose, and yes, that is a callback), and Meenah (who is by far the best character of the bunch; she gets all the best lines, has actual character traits beyond being a shallow stereotype, and while she is mean, I can see some Defrosting Ice Queen in her for sure).
Yeah, Mituna is basically Brak, but there are a few factors that make him interesting subtextually. Specifically, he was a lot more like his dancestor before something made him like that, and he apparently can communicate perfectly sensibly with Kurloz (perhaps via telepathy). There is a certain creepiness to that.
Latula becomes interesting through interaction. Her quirks and affectations are less personal defects than understandable attempts to seem "cool" to others, which is sad but relatable, as are her weird friendship with Kankri and her relationship with Mituna. Again, it comes from what is not said rather than what is.
And that is why I love them. Particularly the latter. He has all the calm, charm and flagrant insanity of a devoted cult member; and she is the perfect whacked-out groupie. It is a fantastic little dynamic.
Well, they come off as much more exaggerated personalities than the original twelve, with less time given to develop them and show them to be more than caricatures of particular concepts. Granted, if you take into account exposition and how they interact with their fellows and take the time to mull it all over, they come off a lot more nuanced than they initially seem, but that requires a bit more effort than some are willing to give, particularly given how unpleasant some of them are. I think that Meenah and Porrim in particular escape that trap, but it is difficult to say that for a character as difficult to deal with as Cronus or Mituna.
Comments
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
I could be overly pessimistic, but I feel like Hussie's kind of been resting on his laurels since Cascade.
Well, not actually. More like he started to have a life outside of drawing Homestuck (albeit still closely related to Homestuck), and that caused the quality to drop a bit. Which is understandable. No one wants to be completely chained to their work for five years running.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
It is human to disagree on things. It's a thing that we do.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Might as well milk as much characterization as you can out of them.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
This does raise the point of 'why were Meenah and Aranea included then?".
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Meenah, yeah, she's probably going to do an important thing later. And Jake pouncing on tiny sea-hitler was pretty funny.
Interesting dancestors that you've met at this point: Kankri, Porrim, Kurloz. Meulin gets an honorable mention for the concept of gifs=sign language. Aranea and Meenah aren't inherently interesting for the most part, but
they have interesting relationships with other characters and that puts
them into the honorable mentions category.
Cronus is worthless, as previously stated. Mituna's basically a tiny ball of 4chan nonsense, and the fact that he has a pretty strong following among the dancestors is kind of bizarre. Latula's simply dead boring. Aranea and Meenah aren't inherently interesting for the most part, but they have interesting relationships with other characters and that puts them into the honorable mentions category.
That's inherently interesting.
She's mean and she likes killing and hurting things.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Aranea can be boiled down to 'girl who talks a lot and does exposition' which is boring. Meenah can be boiled down to 'murderous fish princess', which would be interesting if Homestuck didn't already have two members of fish royalty.
In contrast, Kankri is 'a hypocritical social justice preacher' and Porrim is a 'gender rights activist in an alien culture', and those are pretty interesting premises.