February 2020

Explain to me why anyone should give a shit about your worthless fanfiction when there's an official Homestuck sequel?

This sentiment + a couple other comments have actually been a sincere point of interest for me. They create a spectrum ranging from the obvious to the non-obvious, in terms of like, the inanity of the statement;

It’s plain fact that people become interested in fanwork and always have, regardless of the existence of official channels, and in fact because of them. That’s so obvious it’s kind of boring to point out so I suspect you are just angry at me about something totally unrelated, which is fair.

On the other hand I once read a comment on the incomplete [s] resolve (a good comment, one I took under consideration) that was like “this is well made, but it’s a bunch of wishful thinking that we’ll never ‘really’ have.” What a strange phrasing, though! We really had it right now, right then, right in front of us, because it was made. Yet some essential validity seemed lacking. I still think about this comment all the time.

If homestuck^2 in any way diminishes other fanworks or vice verse, that’s in a pretty cool synergy with the themes in both texts anyway, isn’t it? Dirk’s pursuit is a sort of parasitic or colonialist force, or a purge of some other encroaching corruption. Anyway, sorry you don’t like it.

If it's not written by Hussie it doesn't matter. Just get rid of it.

I don’t know if you’re more disappointed by my not being hussie, or by hussie not making more homestuck. But I would generally discourage this attitude, not just because the guy’s spoken of passing the torch afair but also that you are genuinely missing out on some amazing fuckin stuff.

I’ll admit being put under this scrutiny is totally my fault because I have intentionally adopted identical (redundant) and invasive aesthetics, and it’s really fair to ask me “why the hell have you done that.” But I’m trying to let the work answer for itself on why it makes that choice in particular, because it’s a theme. Thank you for your thoughts, anyway. I wouldn’t be the “sylph of rage” if I didn’t find a way to negotiate with this perspective.

i know that one anon said basically said "who gives a fuck about act 8 when homestuck 2 is a thing" but i honestly gotta say, so someone who genuinely hates / is very uncomfortable with the direction the hs team is taking the "real" ending and like what you seem to be doing much more. I hope you finish this through because knowing there's an "alt. ending" that's closer to the happy ending i wanted makes this fandom much better.

I’m pairing this with another ask since they feel similair;

i honestly would like this homestuck 8 thingy to not really be like the epilogues / homestuck 2 just because there there may not really be a point to having an different fanmade continuation to everything

Right, exactly. Though I want to make it clear I have no spite towards these people (i am extremely happy for them that they are getting to do what they want to do, I know some of them, some of them know me!) It is also clear, without me making it so, that I have different artistic sensibilities. I’m uncomfortable with many of the choices in the epilogues/hs^2 in the plainest sense of my own taste, maybe I also have some differing opinions on what is fair, appropriate, true-just-essential as well. But even if none of that was true I still imagine I’d be making a different thing by virtue of being a different person. I’m glad to be giving people more options and I want to try to see if art can fill in some of the gaps in people’s current experiences with the homestuck ‘field.’ (I am even fine with it if I get the reputation of being 4kids homestuck, gentle homestuck, gamzee trash homestuck, dumb girl homestuck, whatever.)

I’m pairing another ask with this to omit vile slurs;

The Epilogues taught us that we’re [VILE SLURS OMITTED] scum for caring about Homestuck. Why should we trust anything?

The Epilogues did pull some cheap tricks on you, I’ll admit. Think of homestuck as a bucking bronco trying to resist domestication, maybe. It’s such an old wild beast it probably resents the very expectation that it was ever beholden to you in the first place. Even that much we have to guess. We can never know with horses.

You have no reason to trust me other than 1) if I have given you a good impression of myself somehow up until now 2) you will believe me when I say “I am not a horse” 3) I am not a horse.

Man, I’m so sorry about this rude anon :(. For what it’s worth, I’m really glad for all the work and effort put into act 8; I really love it. As someone that is reluctantly reading HS^2, but that has kind of disliked the direction Homestuck is in since the epilogues, act 8 just makes me feel very good. It feels more like canon Homestuck than the new material, to be honest. Anyway. Sorry if I’m bothering you. Just wanted to say that my day is made whenever you guys update :3.

It’s cool! Thank you very much. I genuinely get where anon is coming from; that similarity to canon might make it seem like i’m reciprocating an interest in a “canon without canon’s ability to refute you” which does seem unwholesome in a way. 

But what if it’s not? Fundamentally the reason I’m doing this is the same reason I’d be doing something totally original; I have a story in my brain. What if it’s not a cynical appeal to nostalgia, or a cloying desire to “posses” homestuck’s soul, but a genuine transgression I fully believe in? Would that be wrong? Err anyway sorry to ramble but thank you completely, you are very kind and I am making this for you, have a great day.

What the hell was up with Kanaya's monologue about Kate Bornstein and Sarah McLachlan? Was the latter referring to the troll version of the real life singer, or some kind of in-joke? Also, that bit of worldbuilding about the jadebloods was really interesting, albeit somewhat disturbing.

What the hell indeed! I don’t like answering outright because these things are intended to get you thinking about the question, rather than me telling you. Bornsians are “negligent” and Lachlanists are generous with force, and both schools of thought try to answer the question “how to raise grubs.” This means something in the context of Kanaya’s story and Act 8′s story.

The Sarah McLachlan joke is definitely just a reference to her ASCPA commercials. Saying that troll Sarah Mclachlan’s behavior is in quite stark contrast on Alternia, and Bornstein’s behavior is slightly more recognizable to her real-world counterpart, makes suggestions about how mercy, maternal values and femininity might be understood differently there and while regarding Kanaya’s character. At least in Act 8′s case.

I just read this fanadventure today and im really impressed!! Everything has been so well written, drawn, and planned out! I can’t wait to see more :)

Thank you! I really hope to get everything patched up soon, and the new content should be pretty exciting too, hopefully.

Friend, I hope you're sleeping well but damn if it doesn't feel from these exchanges as though you've been taking one for, like, literally all canon-divergent Homestuck fanworks. It makes me wonder if fear of this kind of response is why I can't find as many in-game canon-divergent AUs as I would think the fandom could support. Anyway I don't even feel like you need to justify your desire to write the thing to anyone -- put me firmly in the MORE CAKE crowd. Keep rocking all the things!

Thank you! Maybe we’re the cake ending… I can roll with that brand. I think there are unique challenges to this kind of project. Lots of the time I find myself imagining working on a totally different MSPFA, and maybe someday I will. But for now there’s actually a ton of stuff that’s exciting to do here, for all the other things that make it more perilous.

And the last ask for today;

Some other parts of the fandom (reddit/twitter/ a discord server i think?) have gone kinda nuclear, and a lot of their uniting points were hating the new team and hs^2 (notably for bigoted reasons rather than story ones.) So if you get an uptick of hate themed after discrediting all alt-ending content it might be some splashback from that rather than you yourself. Take care out there, lots of us still love your work! (also i feel so old to not know this stuff was happening till it exploded lol)

Yeah, I think people are mad I’m not their horse in this race (god damn, again with the horses) but I do not share that beef. Homestuck is Over. I love act 5 as much as anybody, and that’s fine, but those halcyon days are never coming back one way or another. Especially not in the ways we remember them, which are pretty illusory to begin with.

That being said, some fanventures manage to capture elements of Homestuck’s personality from those days in a really genuinely fun way, and it’s great to see those too. The stuff that exists out there right now for homestuck fanwork is seriously AS COOL AS IT HAS EVER BEEN, and I am grateful to be a part of it, and I’d hope folks who are angry now will come around to the More Cake philosophy in time.

hey! i just wanted to let you know that the ====> on page 367 leads to page 328 for some reason

Thank you, but that’s intentional! The image above is responsive, by clicking on any of the destinations it sets you back so that you can easily revisit those segments from the beginning, or progress to the new one. All of these updates are supposed to be understood as happening at the same time, and each of them gives us a new perspective on the old logs as well as new logs to read. This is a sort of experimental approach and as a result you may hate it. Sorry for that if so.

The hub page is filling in as I complete the last few updates– we should be done with this nonsense for good by March, since none of these hub type segments exist in my plan for the comic past [S] Resolve.