Let Saika Tell You About Homestuck: Act 3

It’s been a while since my Act 2 post, for which I apologize—I got too sucked into actually catching up to write about catching up, I guess. Anyway, if you’re here I’m guessing you’ve read all of Act 2, and you’re ready to start Act 3. That means spoilers for Act 2 are fair game after the jump. Shall we?

Keep Calm and Do the Windy Thing: Happy 4/13, Homestucks!

To most of you, this is just a normal Friday, but to one special fandom this is a day for celebration, contemplation, and, most of all, feels. Today marks the third year anniversary of the webcomic Homestuck and if you’ve been to any sort of con recently you’ve seen us. We’re the kids in the black shirts, grey skin, and candy corn horns. We’re the kids with the monochrome schemed pajamas. The kids with the ironic sunglasses. The kids carrying around buckets. We’re here and our numbers are stronger than ever.

4/13 Is Also The Birthday of the Main Character, John Egbert. Happy Birthday, Little Heir! We Are All so Proud of You (Front Page of MSPA Edited by Goggles)

For a moment, let me reflect on my time in this fandom, as it seems like today would be the perfect day to do so. I didn’t start with liking the comic. No, I was rather adamant against reading it since I was completely lost during Andrew Hussie’s previous comic, Problem Sleuth (which is good too, don’t get me wrong) and that I was studying abroad. My brother was persistent though, and when I got home he literally stood over my shoulder as I read through act one. And then I was Homestuck. No seriously. After taking the time to actually read it, I found that it really was my sort of thing and my brother wasn’t just making stuff up. I was lucky in having someone helping me through the more convoluted parts as some people give up around then, but in a comic that’s reaching its seven thousandth page it’s easy to understand why the task of picking up such a comic could be daunting.

After reading I thought to myself, “Okay, so I’m a Homestuck. Now what?” And, of course, the answer was to go on tumblr. Through tumblr, I was able to go through all stages of being part of a fandom in record time. The Fangirling. The

Obsession. The “Oh my god what are you doing stop that get out of my fandom” phase. Now I would like to think I’ve hit that plateau called the “acceptance” phase. Despite showing the worst of us unabashedly, tumblr made it easier to be in direct contact with the artists, musicians, fans, and even the creator which is terribly appealing. Being in such ‘close’ proximity made me want to get better at my arts (drawing and voice acting) with a passion I never knew before. It made me want to help more with our charitable movements such as the Can Town Project. It made me feel a closer connection to my fellow cosplayers. Through role playing this ‘verse, it also lead me to the wonderful people I know today as the best internet nakama a girl could ask for. Before I blather on any further, my point is that I have a lot to be thankful to this fandom for.

Now, you may be saying, “Rin, how can I get in on this fandom awesomeness”. Luckily for you, I have composed a list of how you could spend your 4/13 in a true Homestuck fashion.

• -Watch all of the Flashes (I recommend Make Her Pay, but not if you haven’t read the rest of it)
• -Read Fanfiction
• -Draw Shippy Art of Your Favorite Pairing
• – Wear Sunglasses
• -Fall Down Some Stairs [Should Have A Partner For This and Suitably Funny Music]
• -Type Like Your Patron Troll
• -Drink Some Faygo
• -Watch Con Air
• -Sing “How Do I Live?” At The Top Of Your Lungs
• -Expound on Your Feels
• -Just Read the Comic

Even if you haven’t read the comic, I would highly suggest listening to the music. Yes, Homestuck has its own soundtrack. Hussie and his music team have just revealed the fandom’s magnum opus ‘coloUrs and mayhem’ in a two disk set: Universe A and Universe B. All of these songs are composed by the fandom and all of the album art is done by the fandom as well. From A, I recommend listening to ‘Temporal Shenanigans’ and ‘Iron Infidel’. From B: ‘Orchid Horror’ and ‘Pendulum’. However, all of the songs truly are amazing.

So here’s to another year of brofist bunps and screaming “HUSSIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” at our computer screens after waiting all night for an update. We’ve come a long way, but the ride’s not over yet.

[Massive Spoilers in Vid]

Fanfiction Fridays: PTSD by raequiem

For the first time in, well, ever, I’m a member in a fandom before it completely dies out. In fact, I’m lucky that I’m a part of this fandom during its creative zenith. So welcome to my obsession, dear readers, and allow me to tell you about Homestuck. To try and explain this story is a joke in the fandom because it’s so fucking complicated that even a short explanation ends up being pages in MS word but I’ll do the series no justice what so ever and leave it at “four 13 year-old internet friends play a game together that destroys the universe and they have to make a new one”.

Our main characters for the majority of the story are John, Rose, Jade, and Dave. John is the resident regular kid. Rose is a psychologist in the making with a love of Lovecraft-ian lore. Jade is the sweet, but not stupid gunslinger. And Dave is the cool kid who isn’t actually all that cool (but that level of irony makes him cool despite that). Although they don’t seem like they have much in common, they’re great friends who care deeply for each other and hey, with a cast like this who wouldn’t want to make happy ending post-game fic? No one, that’s who. But with a title like PTSD, I’m sure you’re wondering what makes this happy at all. Although this fic does deal extensively with the issue of actual PTSD, in this case the author uses it to stand for Post-TimeShit Dave.

In this universe-destroying game, each character has a class that they must utilize to beat the game. Dave’s aspect was time. Whereas this means that he can travel to any timeline he wants, it also means that he has to be careful to not doom his original timeline by creating paradoxes. It also means that he has the utmost pleasure of watching his friends die over and over again in varying ways. You can see how this could be stressful.

Before I confuse you even more, I’ll just get to what I like about this fic. First off, the way the author deals with Dave’s alcoholism is not only realistic, but also very sensitive to the issue. And whereas it remains a hurdle Dave has to overcome, it doesn’t come to define him. I really appreciate how all the characters are still friends but have lives of their own. But what it comes down to is that I really love how all the characters are still in character.

Since the characters are explored only through dialogue, it can be all too easy to distill them down to a single panel. However, these characters manage to maintain their dimensions and remind the audience why we even care about them after the game. Dave is not only still obsessed with being cool, but he’s also vulnerable and defensive. Jade is still a kind, funny girl but she’s more than willing to knock some sense into her friends. The adolescent friendship is still there, but it has matured along with them.

Now, perhaps this may not seem like the “happy post-game” fic that I was talking about earlier, but in a webcomic where characters die every other page, just seeing everyone alive and adjusting is happy enough. They are together, and so the audience knows they can overcome the hardships in their lives. This is what makes this series so great as a whole: that is recognizes internet friendships as legitimate friendships and how they can impact people so deeply. Now, I have a ton more Homestuck fics for this segment, so I’ll leave this point for one that exemplifies it more.

But, if you like friendship fics with a little bit of romance and a heavy dose of reality, I would highly recommend giving this fic a shot. Click here if you’re interested.